Episodes

In this episode Neel is joined by Johnny Robinson to whiteboard some Remote Local business ideas. Johnny has been on the pod before but we kick off the episode with a brief bio to catch up listeners who may not have heard him before. Neel and Johnny then go back and forth, trading possible ideas with their pros and cons, including: mobile car detailing (both Neel and Johnny love this idea, but the low average ticket amount is a concern painting (there are some challenges in making this remote, p...

In the second of an ongoing series on EOS, Neil shares his adaptation of Gino Wickman's Entrepreneurial Operating System, and how he's used it to great success at MaidThis. In this episode Neel gives strategic tips for how to deal with specific aspects of "EOS Lite," including: creating vision (dump the fluff, focus on what's real) developing KPIs via scorecards (lagging, not leading metrics that matter) and rocks (measurably quarterly goals that are reported on each week ) running Level 10 Meet...

In the first of an ongoing series on EOS, Neil shares his adaptation of Gino Wickman's Entrepreneurial Operating System, and how he's used it to great success at MaidThis. Things Neel learned in the process of creating an "EOS Lite" include: how to have quarterly meetings that ran like clockwork and had clear and measurable KPIs how an org chart can help you figure out which roles really matter how clarity on core values in concert with the org chart led him to clear out some poor fits the GWC (...

In this episode Neel shares what he learned catching up with dozens of digital nomads (past, present, and future) at a Dynamite Circle conference in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. He found out that: Travel is definitely back (except for parts of Asia, which remain closed) The Western Hemisphere, particularly Mexico and Latin America, have profited from Asia being closed Many used the last two years to create permanent home bases where they travel from There are still plenty of new nomads entering the...

In this episode Neel sits down with Donald Spann to look over the pros and cons of the various remote local business models he has tried. Like Neel, Donald was part of the Launch27 crew, aka the "cleaning company mafia," which came out of a subreddit thread back in 2013. While Neel has continued to grow his cleaning business, Donald has exited his and iterated around remote local concepts. Neel and Donald chat about How Donald started Vicki Virtual, a fully remote call center service, from obse...

In this episode Neel shares different ways to think about exiting your business, including his own current plans for MaidThis. While some might say that you need to know what your exit plan is before you even start your business, Neel very much advocates for starting first and thinking more short-term, in terms of one year. He goes on to share four frames to use when thinking about exiting a business: No strategy (buying a job) Scale and sell to private equity Legacy (pass on to family) Automate...

In this episode Neel chats with Amar Ghose, Founder and CEO of ZenMaid. Neel and Amar have managed not to meet, despite being the only two in their digital entrepreneur group in the cleaning space over the past few years. One time Amar left Chiang Mai for a few weeks and Neel happened to show up during the same time (everyone said it was just a swap out! :-) ). Neel and Amar discuss: the importance of "owning" the career ladder instead of climbing it choosing between lifestyle design and high g...

Neel recently came back from a ten-day desert island survival experience. As he switched back into work mode, he saw so many connections between what he had just experienced and how a daily business grind works. He has five lessons he learned, including: Getting your key work done when you have the most energy: stack your tasks to take advantage of when you're at your most energetic Play to your strengths to survive: lean into what you're good at You can't do it by yourself: the power of one ot...

In this episode Neel and David discuss the classic question of how to deal with angry customers. As with so many great business (and life) tactics, this starts with having the right mindset. In this case, learning how to deal with irate customers can help you develop a superpower, something that can help you walk into any confrontational situation with confidence, helping you get what you want, and defusing the problem in the process. Neel and David also discuss: Not taking the criticism person...

In another of the Remote Local Podcast's ongoing series of entrepreneurial interviews, Neel chatted with Mike Loftus of Connor Landscape . Mike got a finance degree but found out he hated working inside. He took $10k of his own savings and started knocking on doors, building a landscaping company from scratch. After building it to $750k in revenues, he started acquiring others, three so far and more in the pipeline! Neel and Mike also discuss: All the things you have to learn when starting a b...

In the last of a three-part series, Neel gives you an ultimate guide to hiring, from his own successful playbook! This episode focuses on tweaking your flywheel to make sure it's working at its best. Neel also shares: What he does on screening calls The purpose of a test job How many cleaners he actually ends up with from 20 applicants (shockingly low!) Collect all three! If you haven't listened to the first two episodes in this mini-series, do so now!

In the second of a three-part series, Neel gives you an ultimate guide to hiring, from his own successful playbook! This episode shares the six places that MaidThis posts jobs ads to find talent for their local services business. Those places include: Indeed.com ZipRecruiter Craigslist (yes, really!) Facebook (not just ads, but in groups) Oh, did you want the other two? You'll have to listen to the episode :-)

In the first of a three-part series, Neel gives you an ultimate guide to hiring, from his own successful playbook! This episode focuses on the mindset (and a few tactics) for hiring in general and putting up your job ad. Great tips which are included: How much an employee leaving can cost you How much an A-team player can make you each year Why you should ABC (always be 'cruiting...hey, close enough!) How to make your job ad STAND OUT There's plenty more here. This is the sit down and take note...

In this episode Neel interviews Chris Munn, a fellow remote local entrepreneur. Chris grew up in Detroit, now lives in LA (though he lived in Paris for a while), but has a cleaning business based in Tampa. Neel connected with him on Twitter and they had a chance to meet and connect in real life and decided to continue on some of the themes they had a chance to discuss when together, including: Chris' start in business via residential real estate Why Chris prefers the multiples on offer in real ...

In this episode Neel interviews Jodie Cook, who recently exited her remote local business (and is getting ready to start another!). Jodie knew from an early age that she wanted to work and earn her own money and be independent, and that hustle meant sometimes two jobs as she figured out what she wanted to do. Turns out that was a social media digital marketing agency that began from the desire to travel and work. It would be some time before she realized that travel/work relationship in her bu...

In this episode Neel and David talk about limiting beliefs, how to identify them, and how to replace them with empowering beliefs. David has been preparing to leave for 90 days off the grid and was worried one of his businesses would implode and Neel was battling the idea that more growth = worse life. Both of them share how these limiting beliefs paralyzed them for a while and how they moved past them. They also discuss: Why it can be hard to identify those beliefs Why you can't just eliminate...

In this episode Neel and David sit down with Derek Dodds and have a leisurely conversation about how Derek found his calling. Derek currently runs WaveTribe , an ecological surf company, has an interest in Naked Armor , a wet shaving company, and serves an advisor to a publishing company he co-founded, 2 Seas Agency . The path he took to get to those projects is anything but conventional. Derek also shares: Going from having a gun in his hand at the age of 5 and being a hunter to becoming a veg...

In this episode Neel and David brainstormed, putting the podcast itself into the frame that they discussed in Episode 32: the three levels of entrepreneurship. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, do so, so that this episode will make more sense! Neel and David consider the podcast to be still at Level 1, aka "Podcasting for Dummies." They discussed the origins of the podcast, why they prefer a conversation/co-host format, and why they keep the episodes short in length. They also discus...

In this episode Neel and David share the ONE BIG SECRET of successful remote local business owners. Okay, so the secret is...well you're going to have to listen to the episode to get it, but here are some of the other things Neel and David talk about: "Level 1" entrepreneurship, which is essentially like building and working in your own job "Level 2" entrepreneurship, which involves trying many different things while you develop a secret sauce "Level 3" entrepreneurship, in which you strive to b...

In this episode Neel interviews Johnny Robinson and Sergio Silesky, co-founders and owners of Orange Window Cleaning. Johnny and Sergio didn't grow up as entrepreneurs...in fact it wasn't until college when they found out that "anyone" could start a business and started a side hustle in residential and commercial window cleaning. That side hustle became a real-deal business when they found out that they hated jobs that they had been trained to get after going to college. And now they are on th...

In this episode Neel and David discuss his upcoming disappearing act: he's going to be totally off-grid for the first three months of 2022. David has been doing meditation for 6-7 years now and sees a three-month off-the-grid training to be a teacher in the Vedic meditation tradition as the next step. But he has a portfolio of businesses...what to do? Neel quizzes David on: What his endgame is How David used delegation, promotion, and partnership to prepare for this What "growth" looks like wit...

In this episode Neel and David build on their "New Year's Resolutions Suck" episode by reflecting on 2021. Both Neel and David built strong romantic relationships this year, and also started this podcast. For Neel, that meant getting out of his comfort zone and engaging more on social media and elsewhere. But it was also part of something that David had introduced him to the last time they spent a lot of time together: meeting people that are very different from himself. He's curious about rep...

In this episode Neel and David tell you why they think New Year's Resolutions are no good and what they have planned for 2022. David is starting 2022 with a three month off-grid meditation teacher training. Neel will be spending 10 days in Panama in the first quarter of 2022 doing some survival training. They talk about the methodology they use to make plans for big events like these and what else they have planned for the year. They also discuss: Jesse Itzler's calendar hacking Tactics to mak...

In this episode Neel and David discuss how emotions play into personal and business decisions, and a system for how to avoid making poor decisions. When Neel isn't running MaidThis he enjoys buying and selling real estate on the side and he recently got to closing day with a buyer that ended up being dishonest. He recorded this episode on the day he got the news that the buyer was trying to change the deal at the last moment so we recorded this as a time capsule of this thoughts. David asks: Ho...