Bennett Maxwell (00:02.55) Welcome to another episode of the Deeper Than No podcast. Super excited to have Dan Klaps on the show. Dan, welcome.

Dan Claps (00:08.081) Yeah, excited to be here.

Bennett Maxwell (00:09.942) And we connected, dude, I feel like you were one of the first people I connected with when I jumped into the franchise. Because it was probably a year and a half or so ago, two years ago, and that was kind of right when I was jumping in. So you were awesome. I think we connected. I was a guest on your show and then I saw you at all the conferences and you're just as friendly as can be. So I appreciate you welcoming me into the franchise. Like I feel like you-

Dan Claps (00:15.626) Really.

Dan Claps (00:34.862) It's funny, you never know like the impact of a conversation because I feel the same way about you. Actually, some of the things we'll talk about today at what we're doing with My Business Vota, I learned from listening to you on that podcast. So it all comes full circle.

Bennett Maxwell (00:47.226) Cool. Well, Dan, let's start a little bit, two, three minutes of your background. What were you doing before and how'd you get into what you're doing now?

Dan Claps (00:55.338) Yeah, franchise veteran of my 10th year in franchising this year. Quick version of my story. I started out in business in college. I had a staffing and recruiting business. It was a good business, but it was more of a job than a business. I couldn't, you couldn't pay, you wouldn't pay me to take the business. I couldn't pay you to take it. It was, it was a minimum wage job. Just if you really added up the hours, I was doing it, but learned a valuable lesson that my business was not systemized.

And so in my early 20s and started looking at franchise opportunities in the home services space, I had sold Kirby vacuum cleaners as a teenager. Home services made a lot of sense. But when I was looking to buy a franchise, I was probably just a little under capitalized. And so I ended up joining a franchise that teaches you how to buy and sell businesses. So I was a franchise part of a franchise system called Murphy Business and Financial. Did that for about a year and a half and then realized again, I was I was the business. Right. I was answering the phone. I was doing all the work.

And so I ended up leaving there and in 2016, I started a lead generation company in the franchise space, ran that with a previous partner for about seven years and then exited that business in May of 2022 to private equity.

Bennett Maxwell (02:08.098) Awesome. And now what? You're doing home services. What are the, what type of home services are you in right now?

Dan Claps (02:14.622) Yeah, so we're in the cleaning and restoration space. We're the only franchise to do cleaning and restoration. So, restoration's extracting water from a home or business or mold or fire. But what's interesting, since this is all about legacy and mindset, is when I sold that last business, literally, you can ask my best friend, I thought I'll never be able to make another business. I'll never be successful again. It was luck, it was my old partner, it was timing, it was whatever, and which was all just nonsense.

I was right about it that I would never be able to make a business that size again. But I was right because I would never make a business that small, frankly. I'm just going to make something much bigger. And so I think it's interesting because getting into this business, all I really did was increase my vision. And then because that vision was bigger, my work ethic became stronger and then everything else kind of followed. So I just think it's interesting. You'll get wherever your mind is telling you.

Bennett Maxwell (03:12.194) Yeah, I, man, I heard that for years and years and I didn't really understand it. Like the only thing that's keeping you from your goals is you. You know, it's, and it's typically, it is just thing for you. Cause I felt the same thing after exiting my solar company. I was like, well, I got fricking lucky. I still think I'm getting lucky, but at the end of the day, like, maybe I'm just a lucky person. Cause it's, it's following me or I have lucky habits. I develop these habits and either way it's, yeah, surround yourself with, with good people, have a big vision, just go.

Sometimes it's shit, sometimes it's great, but just keep going, and it seems to work itself out if you just kind of trust in the process. So anyways, I relate a lot to that. Did you go through, I went through this, and this is what caused me to do core values and mission statement when I sold a business, achieved what I wanted, and then I realized that actually that's not what I wanted. It didn't give me the joy and fulfillment and happiness that I thought it would. I mean, it did momentarily, right? And I attached my identity to...

being the salesperson in only a solar company. And that was pretty hard for me to detach and then go find the next thing. Did you go through anything similar to that? And how did you kind of get out of that hump itself?

Dan Claps (04:24.986) Oh, dude, 100%. My whole identity was that business. My whole value was in that business. If the business was successful, I felt good. If it was not doing well for a month, I felt bad.

When I sold that business, I thought that, yeah, I lost a part of me. I heard a quote from Jamie Dimon, the CEO of Chase, that really during that time stuck to me, which was he was fired from a job before ever being as successful as he is. He was fired from a banking job. And something he told himself was the business he was working in was his net worth, not his self-worth. And so selling that business caused me to go and really kind of...

get back to who I am as a person who cares about the business, who I am, what I've done, what I stand for. And that made me a way better entrepreneur. Now with building VOTA, although I do want to build it and not sell it for any foreseeable future, I am building it without my ego or identity in the business, which allows me to make decisions from a more logical place, not from Dan the business owner place.

Bennett Maxwell (05:30.01) How do you, how are you doing that? How do you shift that? I bought dirty dough, so for me I feel like it's easy because it's not grandma's recipe. I don't give a damn about anything. Let's just do whatever succeeds. But at the same time, I still do attach. I mean, everybody introduces me. Like if I'm out with friends or somebody or we're going to IFA, everybody's gonna introduce me as Bennett Dirty Dough. That's like, yeah, that's like one small part of who I am. It's still attached, whether I like it or not.

and I'm sure I attached to it more than I thought. So anyways, speak to me specifically, but also to everybody else. How do you detest, I love the advice.

Dan Claps (06:05.966) Well, the first thing is people think that, I mean, Dirty Dough is an amazing business, done an amazing thing, but you probably have something even bigger one day, right? So you're not Bennett Dirty Dough, you're Bennett the entrepreneur, you're Bennett the father, the husband, everything, right? You know, so that's everyone's like small vision of you because they only know that. So one of the things I've learned is like, you know, what I'm doing is the tip of the iceberg, but you only see the tip. So you only know about the tip of the iceberg. You don't know about everything going on underneath that maybe is in my head or whatever. And so, you know,

people's definition of you is usually just what they see and they don't know about everything else. The way that I did it was when I sold the last business, I mean, listen, it wasn't like I'm retiring on a yacht in Monaco here, but it was enough to get me some nest egg. The first thing I did though is I basically looked at that money not as money, but as capital. So it wasn't my money. It went from one account to a business account and became the seed money for Vodda and Franchise

And then I've treated that capital like capital ever since, as if it's not my money, someone else's money that was given to me to run, to grow my new business. So it's funny, last time I had our CMO Christian Betancourt, he lives near me here in Miami where I am. And we were watching the Super Bowl, went out to grab some cigars to bring back to my house. And I was putting it on the VOTA card, and it was like a $30 charge. And you know, we're together. I was like, I don't tell anyone.

And he was laughing because it's my capital, but I truly treat that $30 like, you know, like it's the company I work for VOTA and that's truly how I feel. I now take a salary from VOTA. It's not like I treat it like my business. And quite frankly, it isn't. I've got a lot of people behind the scenes, just like you went out and brought amazing people into Dirty Dough from operations to everything else. We've done that here and it isn't my business. I just happen to be the guy that wrote the check.

Bennett Maxwell (08:00.67) I like that. I mean you yeah, you're really separating and now you have to be a steward of your business as The founder of the CEO rather than odd, you know, just my money doesn't really matter Because I you definitely treat money differently if it's and like I am an investor to report to so you are your own investor super cool mindset shift, um Did that because I just flew through money way too quick And then and then it comes

Dan Claps (08:20.689) Yeah.

Bennett Maxwell (08:27.33) Fascinating, it goes even quicker. Okay, shifting gears a little bit. So, I mean, you've been in franchising for 10 years, you've done multiple businesses. If you can think about one of the lows, whether it's the lowest low or just a low, if you could speak to that, kind of what was it, how did you get through it, and what did you learn from it?

Dan Claps (08:51.501) Yeah.

Dude, I'll be honest with you, I just went through it. I might even be going through it, which was, yeah. Vote is, we've accomplished 65. We have 65 locations, about 30 owners. We're on pace to get to 100 owners and the goals that we wanted to get to. Do I feel an enhanced sense of confidence or feeling of accomplishment? Yes. On the other side, I have more imposter syndrome than I've ever had.

Bennett Maxwell (08:57.178) I'll quit. I'm in it right now.

Dan Claps (09:23.21) you know, I'm combating that by becoming the leader I need to become as a person. So, you know, it's interesting. I saw this, this book I'm reading talks about, you know, literally you can have all the success in the world. You can even be happy, but you're not free until you can remove it. Like what you think, what other people think of you. If you care about what other people think of you, it doesn't matter. You can have three beautiful kids and the money and a loving wife, and you could actually be quote unquote happy. But if you're like thinking about what other people think about you, you're still trapped.

Right? And so, you know, kind of this feeling of, man, like, I feel like I have some level of success. Why do I still not feel like the fulfillment I was chasing? How I'm going through that is kind of realizing that there's so much more, you know, to focus on. Right. So, for example, you know, instead of putting in 18 hour days and going to sleep,

And then waking up, I'm doing a little bit more of like the working out, eating right. I know I see you in the gym on social media and stuff. I'd rather be, it's funny, I'd rather be an eight out of 10 in all areas than a 10 out of 10 in one. And that shifted for me where it was like all about business and now I'm kind of spreading that out a bit more. And what's interesting is I'm actually becoming 10 times the leader by being even just diverse in travels and doing other things.

Bennett Maxwell (10:34.945) Mm-hmm.

Dan Claps (10:49.206) So it's interesting because for me, I'm 31, I'll be 32 in the near future. I know I wanna have a family. There's no way I can have a family working the way I've been working. And so currently, recently, I had this realization that what got me to here, that won't get me to where I wanna go if I wanna have anything other than a business. And so, learning how to be successful, not just by being gritty, is something that I'm working on.

Bennett Maxwell (11:16.002) I like that a lot. And I'm a big proponent of the same thing. I mean, I have three kids, you're probably hearing back that they're always playing around and running the screen. And it was a big shift to be like, oh, I'm the business owner, I have to work the hardest to like, oh no, I'm the business owner. I have to be the most mentally stable to run the business. And to be the most mentally stable, that actually means working less and it means more working out and more sauna and more ice baths.

and more vacations. Somebody told me this, Jeff Bezos, both from Jeff Bezos, he's like, I get paid, and obviously he's making a lot of money, I mean, tens of millions of dollars a day, his net worth is going up. And he's like, I don't get paid to work full-time or 16 hours a day or even full-time. I get paid big bucks to make a few pivotal key decisions a quarter, that's it. And then just to be ready to make those. And I'm like, man, that is...

That's so true. And I feel like it's, that's what I'm shooting for, but there's also that guilt of like, oh, I'm not working as hard as somebody else. And maybe they're not gonna respect me, but it's like, oh, who gives a damn?

Dan Claps (12:26.777) But that's what I'm saying. There you go. You're thinking about in that case, right? Whatever everybody else thinks. Chances are your team will like you and respect you, but there's things you can do everything in the world. They still may not like something about you, right? And so like let them like.

not about, was that?

Bennett Maxwell (12:42.126) It's always gonna be something. So I've just I've taken on the lack of free will approach of we are machines we're products of our environment and our genetics and Just be grateful that we're having this experience what happens and then I could just be like, oh whatever You can instantly forgive yourself if that's your belief system like you can't make a decision And then go back and say oh crap. I wish I would have changed something because it's like Well, you could have

Like your desires were what your desires were, your hormones were what your hormones were, you didn't control either of those and life just happened so that's it. And that's really allowed me to, I guess, adopt that like, okay, I don't need to worry about what other people think because I can't control it and I really to a big extent, I can't even control myself. Anyways, that's me preaching my philosophies, but it's helped me a lot.

Dan Claps (13:32.704) 100%. You know, I think the thing that's funny, though, is you have to be cautious as an entrepreneur because like...

So it's funny, I took up, I've been skiing a lot and now it's all I talk about. And then, you know, I started doing some other, like ice baths and working out and like, it's so funny, entrepreneurs always end up going like, way too far the other way. And then it's too much of that. And so like, it's just in our DNA to be like, probably, you know, OCD. So it's just balanced, dude. It's like, you know, maybe just doing nothing on a Saturday, watching TV or like just do nothing, which is something I'm working on.

Bennett Maxwell (13:53.922) Yeah, all in.

Bennett Maxwell (14:05.602) Dude, it took me, and I'm there now, and I do it every weekend. I don't work on the weekends. But it was so hard because what triggers me to work are the notifications on my phone. So this whole weekend, I had 15 text messages unread. I still have my box open because I've been doing stuff since this morning. And like 20 emails. And before I could not go a weekend, I would have to text them back. But the issue is, you text back those 15 people, you get 10 texts back on Saturday, and then you're starting a conversation.

But just to look at my phone and see those notifications there, I'm like, who cares? I think that took months. But I'm finally there. I can finally ignore it. I'm just like, there's nothing in this world that can't wait till Monday. There's absolutely nothing.

Dan Claps (14:45.53) Yeah. I think the challenge as you grow too is that like those 15 messages Monday, you already have a packed out day. It's like, yeah, I don't know, man. I know what you mean. Like I've come to this realization that I just, I physically can't answer everyone anymore and I don't have any remorse.

Like at IFA, I'm going to see lots of people that have texted me. And you know, one of the things they have to be, you have to be just honest with yourself about is like all these people, and I don't mean this in an arrogant way, it might sound that way, but like they're vying for your attention. So firstly, family that loves you is vying for your attention. Your employees are vying for your attention, your customers, your franchisees, your potential partners, your supplier partners. And I used to worry about like not answering someone who honestly is just, and there's nothing wrong with this. They're trying to sell me something. Right.

Bennett Maxwell (15:16.14) it.

Dan Claps (15:31.142) I don't have to answer that in any way. Even if we're buddy-buddy at these events and I see them everywhere, I don't even have to respond. No response is a response. I can see them at IFA, for example, and we could chat. If they bring up the product they're selling, I could say, hey, I didn't respond because it's just not a priority. There's no offense taken to that. But I used to try to answer everything. Remember, everyone's like, it's their agenda, not yours that they're trying to solve.

Bennett Maxwell (15:58.37) And that's such a big mindset shift because it's like, I don't expect to go reach out to a bajillion people and for them to let me pitch them everything, you know, like, but when people do that to me, I feel like I owe it to them. And it's like, no, I don't owe anybody anything and nobody owes me anything, you know, it's like, and living like that is a big mindset shift, but it is, it's very freeing to be like, I actually don't have to even tell this guy I'm not interested, I can just not reply because there's only so much freaking time in the day and to kind of give yourself that grace.

I've actually never heard anybody bring that up, but that's also something that I... Man, that's still hard. I feel like I have to tell everybody no and give them a reason why when it's just like, man, I don't have the time to do that. I just don't have the bandwidth. Maybe I have the time, I just don't want to. I don't want to provide that energy.

Dan Claps (16:46.262) Yeah, it's like, it's like, I mean, how many things do people think about?

tell you like, take two, oh, it takes two seconds. Yeah. Well, if you add up all the things that take two seconds, I mean, it's, it's a lot of your day. And I just, I know for me, I'm not going to live my life attached to text messages all because I know, yeah, I was down very similar. I have the same thing. I get those texts on the weekend. And it's like, you know, nine out of 10 times, it's not urgent. It didn't need to go to me anyway. There's a whole team of people. We all, you probably, I don't even go on your team to pay a lot of people to respond to those types of things in

in a good way because it's actually, you know, it's funny, man, I'll give you an example. I was on the phone today with one of our vendor partners for a very specific reason. And just in chatting, I asked for some metrics and we looked at them. And I kind of overstepped all kinds of channels before that were to come to me. Maybe the person that leads that wants to package that in a certain way. Maybe there's a time I'm supposed to hear about it. And it's funny, like me being an overdoer.

actually probably just disempowered my leader of that department instead of just leaving it alone. And so it's interesting, right? Do less. The CEO has to shoot the hustler that sold the solar and sold the first dirty doughs and did all the things that you've done. You have to, as a CEO, you have to go in the backyard and you have to shoot that guy in the head and order for the CEO to arise. You have to kill the hustler.

Bennett Maxwell (18:12.31) Yeah, no, I, dude, that's awesome. You have to kill the hustle of the CEO to rise. Because if you are having your hands in everything, you can't run the business. That's some profound stuff, man. You gotta write a book on that. Shoot the hustle.

Dan Claps (18:25.934) Well, it's funny because I'm trying to, it might fail, it might not work out, but I'm trying like, you know, think about it, dude, like maybe this is an exaggeration, but like if you look at most good leaders of big organizations, they're not like tapping away on computers and answering, they're like in one thing, then they go to the next thing. And so for me, I'm trying to like, my vision in life would be to, to not have to touch the computer, to basically just bounce from meeting to meeting and not have to send little messages. Maybe that's unrealistic, but

Bennett Maxwell (18:39.674) Thank you.

Dan Claps (18:54.606) I'm trying to do it. And what's interesting, I'm sorry, I'm meaning to go on a rant, but what's interesting is the people I'm not answering, I'm noticing when I'm with them, they're seeing me be present with them. So it's like, yeah, next time I'm going to answer you, just know that when I am with you, I'll be present like I was with whoever I was at that time.

Bennett Maxwell (19:12.874) Oh yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's awesome. When Dan's with me, he's with me, and that's why he's not responding to me when he's not with me, because he's with somebody else in the present. No, I like that a ton. Shifting gears a little bit, with all the different... Well, I don't even know if you answered my last one, actually. So we're in a hard time right now. What are the daily things to get through? No, maybe you did answer me, and we're gonna have to cut this out then.

You did because you told me that they're working out and more of the balance. So nevermind, cut that out.

Dan Claps (19:46.358) Yeah, like make your bed, drink some water, take a vitamin, like then see if you still don't feel good. That's kind of my new mindset.

Bennett Maxwell (19:53.434) Okay, I like that. Part two question to that then, what is something that you have learned or you're continuing to learn? Because it's very hard to get down on yourself during these hard periods. But we all have had very hard periods that we look back and we say, man, I'm so grateful for that. I wouldn't have changed it for the world because I learned X, Y, Z. Are you pulling any of those things right now during a more difficult time? This is what I'm learning and I need to focus on what I'm learning rather than just science.

Dan Claps (20:23.249) Yeah, I mean, I guess for me, like, I'm kind of going through this mindset where I went through a rough time. Now I'm going through a great time, but maybe rougher on the mind, let's say. And just this idea that everything you go through passes. And so, I saw Robert De Niro say this, like he was in some table with a bunch of other actors and he said,

He wished when he was younger, he learned like this idea of just staying calm. Um, so for example, Vodha is having tremendous success, but I'm just staying calm, um, when there's problems, I'm just staying calm, like nothing is exciting me to the level that it used to, um, in a good way. So everything I just kind of try to stay like just calm. And in doing that, I'm finding a much more even keel, like decision making process. Um,

And so when I go through something really good, I remind myself that it'll pass. So like, don't do anything crazy, you know, for example, like spend a bunch of money, let's say. And if I'm going to do something bad, I just remember that that's also going to pass. So don't make any, uh, don't make any permanent decisions to temporary problems. Like, um, I don't know. We just recently had like a hire we wanted to make and it didn't seem like the right time, but I was like, not hiring. We're going to miss out on her. That's a permanent problem to a temporary.

problem, like let's hire her and this other problem will pass much faster than losing her. You know what I mean? Like that employee.

Bennett Maxwell (21:55.57) No, I definitely relate to that. If you move from the sales world, I feel like that was what made a good door-to-door salesperson. I mean, you said that you did Kirby. Was that door-to-door? You sell and you get lots of commissions. You don't sell and I don't know if you're straight commission. All the door-to-door I've done, straight commission. And you knock on a door and you make 10 grand doing a solar cell and then you knock on another door and you make nothing. And the next day you not only don't make money but you have a cancellation, you know?

And it's not letting your highs be that high, not letting your lows be that low. And that emotional stability, I think is what really separated the really good salespeople from the mediocre. It's just, it's just that mindset. And I think it's the same thing with the, with the business. You're going to have highs and lows. How do you just kind of bring that in the middle and be calm? I mean, that's, that's a really good way to put it. Um, joy fulfillment. How is that?

I guess how has that changed from what used to give you joint fulfillment or maybe in relationship to your work as well? Or maybe were you in industries that didn't give you that joint fulfillment and how did that evolve into what you are doing now in regards to joint fulfillment?

Dan Claps (23:05.59) Yeah, what gave me joy and fulfillment in the past being a salesperson in nature from the background was probably more instant gratification, the highs of closing a deal. And as I've grown and matured, the length of time to get that high has increased. So I went from selling a vacuum that you close right then and there to selling a franchise, which takes much more time. To now, I'm working on some projects.

operationally that I don't think we'll see come to service for about a year. And so learning how to have joy in longer delayed projects, I very much like that because it's a very select amount of people that can do that. And so like I take joy in working on projects that no one even really is aware of other than my COO, co-founder, and that we're working toward, for a year out, time horizon.

And like the excitement when that year hits, like that was a year in the making versus trying to do something in like a day. You know what I mean? And so I think the next level would be able to work on something for like five years with no gratification. But elongating that need for gratification as an entrepreneur, I think is bringing me a lot of joy getting better at that.

Bennett Maxwell (24:25.634) Yeah, I like the elongating the gratification. Um, but I think the flip side to that, or what I'm trying to focus on is finding the gratification without the finish line. Like set goals because that's still good to drive you, but don't attach the gratification or the joy of fulfillment to achieving that goal rather than just the pursuit of, because in my experience, it doesn't matter how many goals you hit. Your body will come back to homeostasis.

You'll have a high, you'll have dopamine for a day, a week, an hour, whatever, and then it'll come back down, and then you're just in this endless vicious cycle of more and more. So whether you, I mean, I like how you're phrasing it, delaying it, or trying to find that gratification on a day-to-day basis, and then not attaching it to an outcome, but still having the goals, because I do feel like goals and progressing to those goals is very essential to human happiness. More on the fulfillment.

Dan Claps (25:25.54) Yeah, like, I couldn't agree with you more. Like, give you an example. Like, what if your job was just like, to Jeff Bezos' point, what if your job was just to sit in meetings for weeks and you just take your notes quietly and you don't say anything and then you come back with...

one or two major solutions in your organization. Like that's the place I'm trying to get to, where it's less those texts and those emails and those chats and all of that is action that you're chasing, it's dopamine that you're chasing. And I wanna get to the little type of leader that doesn't need any of that to feel connected to the business. Dude, I'm a, what I call a...

Teams terrorist, terrorist teams. I go on Microsoft Teams and I'm blasting people. And I think part of it's cause I'm sitting alone in a room knowing there's this pretty big business running and the teams kind of keeps me tethered to people to feel in control. But the reality is it's not even doing anything. It's just making me feel something. It's not really helping those people. And so learning how to like say, you know what? If no one talks to me today and I only work on this one project that may take six months to complete but we'll make.

this vast difference in the business, then like, so be it. And just getting comfortable with that.

Bennett Maxwell (26:39.854) Yeah. And that setting, going back to the setting a goal like year out, that's admirable, dude. Because I'm like, anything that's gonna happen in a year, I'm gonna be dead in a year. But before you know it, the year happens. I hate, the bigger the organization gets, it's like, oh yeah, for us to roll out this new cookie is gonna take a quarter. I'm like, three months, what? And then before you know it, it just happens. And it's like, yeah.

Dan Claps (27:05.402) Yeah. Used to go back in the kitchen probably and like slop up a cookie and put it on the tray.

Bennett Maxwell (27:10.166) Yes, no, that's why I still think I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, well, no, you have to order your ingredients. You have to get the POs from Cisco, then order ingredients, then produce it, then store it, then ship it to one of Cisco's 70-something houses. It takes time even if you do it today. That's just a different mentality of like, okay, there actually is time. Let's move quick, but there is time to focus on goals in a year because before you know it, I mean, that year happened.

Overestimate what you could do in a month or a week whatever but you underestimate what you could do in a year or five years So really focusing on those larger goals breaking down and then you know invite size pieces So you're on your way to that article over much longer time. That's that's awesome. I could do that something that I need to focus my mindset on is more bigger picture not just Doggy paddling to survive today All the chaos

Dan Claps (28:04.48) Yeah.

Bennett Maxwell (28:08.034) So how would you define success in what you're doing right now? If you were to look back in one year, or five years, or 10 years, was my business success, yes or no? How would you define it?

Dan Claps (28:23.198) Yeah, I mean, for me, I truly am driven by impacting people making a living off being a business owner. So taking someone from non-business owner, they buy a vote, they open their location, they make money. I am driven by this thing where I do love when people make more money than they ever made before. Like whether they work for me or they're a franchise owner, I really like that. I don't know what it is about that. Maybe I went through that, so I enjoy sharing it. So that would be one thing. Success in business for me would be, you know...

Bennett Maxwell (28:24.378) Thank you.

Bennett Maxwell (28:48.314) Thank you. And that's it for me. And I'll see you in the next one.

Dan Claps (28:52.818) My goals for VOTE are a little bit different than what I would consider. To me, success would be the businesses around the franchisees are happy. It's making money more than I need to live, which you probably could argue I've already accomplished. But a certain money goal and not being stuck in too much of the day-to-day is, to me, that's success. I would absolutely rather be able to contribute to the business where I enjoy and what I'm good at and make less money than be stuck to the computer all day long.

So, I mean, that to me would be would be success. And then, you know, having the reputation as a franchise to be kind of the best franchise partners in the system. And people say, how the hell did you guys find, you know, 100 guys and gals that are all the same? Like for us, we call them the mayor of the town. I look forward to the conference, seeing a bunch of mayor of the towns all in one location. But you know, to me, it's just it's really just it's definitely building something bigger than me and maybe just getting beyond where I think I can.

Bennett Maxwell (29:51.45) I like that a lot and I think it leads up pretty well to this last question. So your answer might be the same, but what is the legacy that you want to leave behind?

Dan Claps (30:01.406) Yeah. What's the legacy I want to leave behind? Well, I think, Bennett, that question probably comes to guys specifically more when they start to have kids. I don't have kids yet. So it's like, I mean, I think that's the legacy I'd like to be behind is some kids. But I mean, I definitely would like to see Vodda. It's interesting. I never really thought about, it's funny, I have a friend, Andy Fuller, he's the CEO of Mosquito Hunters.

And we were having a conversation over dinner once. I said, what's more important, like, you know, size of the business or household name, and he was really driven. He loved the idea of being a household name. I never really was driven by that. That has changed for me as a franchisor. There's something about everyone knowing about like Vodda over, let's say, Serve Pro would be pretty cool. That goal would take probably my whole life. Um, if you think about how big Serve Pro is, maybe I could do it in less time, but, you know, so for me.

to look back and say, wow, this thing's bigger than, than ServPro, that would be pretty cool. But I also know that as long as it wasn't in vain of everything else, because I have a feeling no matter how much money that's worth, it's gonna feel pretty empty if that's all you got. So just, you know, wherever I can get without a sacrifice in my whole life.

Bennett Maxwell (31:13.538) Yeah, I like that. I mean, and really pursuing the balance side, the eight in all aspects rather than a 10 in the few. I like that a lot. So, Dan, where can our listeners find you and including, if you can tell us about your podcast.

Dan Claps (31:29.078) Yeah, LinkedIn is probably the best place. I'm just Dan Klapst on Vota. You'll see it right away. LinkedIn connect with me. You're gonna be joining my, Ben, it's been a guest of our podcast, the I Fire My Boss podcast, but we're gonna have him on again. Definitely join that. And then that's, yeah, I'm pretty much LinkedIn. I'm all over LinkedIn. So Dan Klapst, Vota, cleaning and restoration. Or if you're interested in the business, it's myvotafranchise.com.

Bennett Maxwell (31:58.17) How do you spell Boda?

Dan Claps (32:00.134) www.myvota.com.

Bennett Maxwell (32:08.602) All right, man. Easy, easy. I appreciate you to jump on the show. Thanks, Dan.

Dan Claps (32:13.386) Yeah, man. See you next week.

Bennett Maxwell (32:16.27) Give me one second as I stop.