The Restoration Playbook Podcast

Dan Claps - VODA restoration
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[00:00:00] The restoration industry is under siege. Sales are soft. Margins are razor thin. Getting paid feels like pulling teeth. This is a wartime environment, and restoration leaders need battle tested tactics that work when everything's on the line. You are listening to Mission Critical, the podcast where the industry's elite operators share the systems, strategies and scars from the trenches.

I'm Leighton Healey, the CEO of KnowHow, and we spotlight restorers who refuse to go quietly into the night. Dan Claps didn't grow up in the restoration industry as he puts it. He stumbled into the industry and he's glad he did. Today, he's the founder and CEO of VODA Restoration, one of the fastest growing restoration franchise networks in North America.

Before starting Voda, Dan spent more than a decade building companies in the franchise world. He founded a lead generation business serving [00:01:00] franchise brands and sold it in 2022. That exit led him into the home services industry where he partnered with a Serbian immigrant entrepreneur Dragan who had built a successful cleaning and restoration company from scratch.

Together, they rebranded the company to Voda Serbian for Water, and launched a new restoration franchise network. What Dan discovered quickly is something many outsiders Miss. Restoration isn't just technical work. It's a career that attracts deeply committed people. The technicians, project managers, and operators in this industry care about the craft and take pride in the work and the business itself.

Well, when you strip back all the complexity, it's surprisingly simple, generate leads, respond quickly, show up fast. Earn the homeowner's trust, do exceptional work, get the five star review, ask for the referral, then repeat the process [00:02:00] again and again. In this conversation, Dan explains why that simple operating loop done consistently is what actually builds a world class restoration company.

Leighton: Hey friends, I'm on with super fantastic guest today, someone who I have been watching with a very keen amount of interest over the last few years. My friend Dan Claps, CEO, founder at Voda. Voter Restoration. No question you've heard about it. They're one of the fastest growing networks in the whole industry. welcome. Great to have you here.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, thank you for having me late and I'm excited to, uh, to have this conversation with you.

Leighton: Hey, you're welcome. And Dan, there are individuals who've probably seen you, they've probably learned from you because you're very generous with your advice online, but maybe they don't know you behind the CEO title. Give us, give us the 30, 60 seconds on who is Dan. Give us a little [00:03:00] bit of the origin story and bring us up to today leading this rapidly expanding network.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Excellent. Sure. I am a person that in some ways stumbled into restoration and I'm glad I did. It's an industry I love very much. My background is a little bit unique. I've been an entrepreneur and executive in the franchise industry for about 12 years. And in the home services space for now about three. My path was a little bit non-traditional. I was always a good student, but I was also always an entrepreneur. In high school, I was selling lacrosse balls to teammates in New Jersey where I grew up. In college I had a staffing business. I actually left college to pursue that. And then in my early twenties, I got into the franchise industry. Was in the lead generation space in franchising with a company I started from 2016 till 2022. And one day found myself in a big conference room with a long table and a bunch of suits, with my logo up on a whiteboard and they were acquiring our company.

So I exited my previous [00:04:00] business in May of 2022 to private equity and then took that capital to go out and start what we we're doing here with Voda and Franchise Playbook. And I'll tell you more about that exit, and why it's important later. But started looking at opportunities, fell in love with the home services space, and then ultimately the restoration space.

Met a gentleman named Dragan, he's from Serbia. It's pronounced with a little bit more of a hard R I can't pronounce.

Leighton: Yeah.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: But he goes by Dragan. He had started in cleaning and restoration in 2009 after moving to America in 2004. True American Dream. Didn't speak any English when he started.

He was a lifeguard, then a security guard started cleaning carpets out of his truck and watching YouTube videos. And when we met, about 14 years later, had built an incredible business in Northern Virginia in the cleaning and restoration space. And that's really the start of my entry into the space.

Leighton: Yeah, so you're telling me that the great narrative that is the ascent of Voda. So it has [00:05:00] the wandering night of Dan wandering into this industry. It even has a dragan, gonna say, this is the makings of a great saga. I don't wanna step on any toes, but you guys must have done something with this Dragan origin story. I mean, is there a nickname or is there anything there?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Well, Dragan doesn't breathe fire. He's a fierce guy, good businessman, but also a very big heart. Uh, you know, we met in the fall of 2022. His company originally was called DNA Pro Cleaning, and when we partnered up in the, uh, around this time, actually February 17th will be the three year mark of partnering. We rebranded to Voda, which actually means water in Serbian to pay homage to the Serbian roots, and started franchising our company in April of 2023.

Leighton: Man, I learned something already. I didn't know that Voda meant water in Serbian. And in many ways your upcoming conferences, water Con, right, you know Vodacon, right?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Exactly. Yeah,

Leighton: yeah. Yeah.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: A little Easter egg. We did it [00:06:00] to pay homage to the roots. Obviously the branding is unique and stands out. Most consumers don't know that it means that. But I always think it's an awesome kind of undertone of the, of the company. Like many of your listeners, you can get into restoration.

You could build something substantial if you work hard and you stay at it long enough. Dragan was originally a testament to that. And now across our network we see our owners following that same path.

Leighton: Amazing. So three years. I remember, I think I was at an a restoration industry event, or it might have been a, an a, a International Franchise Association event.

But I just remember an event and this really just well-spoken, sharp dressed guy makes this post walking around, I swear it was like the RIA and he's talking about how he is gonna learn everything about this restoration industry. And you're like, I'm hungry. I wanna learn everything. I wanna know more than anyone else.

I remember seeing this clip and I'm like, this guy is motivated. Um, does that ring a bell?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah. It does. My first RIA was was that [00:07:00] year. I go every year now since. I'm a big believer that if you have a respect for an industry, respect for the people in it and a desire to learn, you can learn pretty quickly. I definitely don't know more than most. That was probably an audacious goal, especially as you all know, it's a very complex industry, a huge industry.

But, I definitely know more than that first RA when I first washed up at the conference.

Leighton: I'm curious, as someone who is growing an organization very rapidly in this industry, what would you say is something that you underestimated in terms of a complexity standpoint? And what is something that you honestly think people in this industry have maybe over overestimated. What was more complicated than you anticipated and, and what have you actually found you've been able to skate through pretty easily?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: I don't know about complicated, but I did not realize the level of passion

Leighton: Hmm.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: that technicians and lead techs and operations managers, project managers, anyone in restoration, the passion that when people get into this space, [00:08:00] it becomes their career.

The amount of people that have come to VODA that have been in the industry for 20 years, 15 years, that is something that I was definitely pleasantly surprised. Again, having respect for the industry is key. We know that we don't need to be the best at water extraction and the different service lines of our business, but we need to find the best people.

And so I've been pleasantly surprised by the passion that the teammates in Voda have. From a overestimating, I mean not everyone agrees with me on this mentality, but when I look at any business, especially in home services and definitely in restoration, if you really distill the business down to its simplest form, I always say to our teams, like, our job is to generate leads, answer quickly, show up quickly.

Do a great sales presentation, win the business, win the trust of the homeowner, show empathy, have empathy, do an exceptional job, get a five star review, ask for a review, ask for a referral, and repeat [00:09:00] that over and over and over. And then try to have, you know, more money come into your bank account each month and out.

I think that this business is the definition of that. And if you could do that really well, it, it can grow through word of mouth and through relationships. For me, it's always been about, you know, we're in a sales and marketing business and we happen to help people when they have a need in their home and in their business.

But remembering that our job is to delight them, provide a great experience, and then try to remind them that we're here for friends and family if they need us. And hopefully they don't, but when they do, we're here for them.

Leighton: Well said. You know, we interface with a lot of property restoration companies and you'll see some that every time I see 'em, they still haven't opened that next location. And then I'll see brands like yours. It's like every time I look online, it's like you guys are opening new territories. A friend of mine, Lori runs, runs this massive, DKI Canada in Western Canada. I said, what do you think about this whole narrative around the industry is economically resilient and it's this just really smooth and [00:10:00] predictable industry from a volatility standpoint. And he made this comment, Leighton, I'm not in the property restoration business. I'm in the communication and customer service business, and my team are experts at that. And, if this industry goes upside down, we'll just do something else.

Because ultimately that's what we are, we're in communication and customer service, and he's a full service, end-to-end restorer and big shop. But, , I mean, what do you think? Because I think you guys are very strong at that communication and you prioritize customer service.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: You know, he and you are exactly right. I don't wanna minimalize the service following IICRC standards and providing an exceptional service. I think a big learning experience for us was the importance of training way more on estimating and how to provide the right estimate in your service.

But at the end of the day, if you can get the technical down, that is challenging in itself. But when you get that down, it really comes down to, as your colleague said, communicating, showing up on time, doing all the [00:11:00] things that our parents told us to do. Answer the phone, be communicative.

Do do the right thing if you do make a mistake, which does happen, we're running a lot of jobs throughout the country. I think owning that you're not gonna do everything perfect, but you're gonna do everything you can to solve when you, when you do make a mistake, has been paramount to us.

And we have over 10,00 Five star reviews. And I think, were all of those right away, five star reviews? No, I think it's, when we did make a mistake and we solved it, maybe what would've been a four star review? We turn it into a five star review by owning when there is a mistake, it happens. I like to think we never make mistakes, but you know, we're running a lot of jobs.

It does happen. So what do we do when we do make the mistake, how do we go the extra mile to, solve it with the homeowner or customer?

Leighton: There's clearly a recognition that the core skillset is both a mission critical aspect of the nuances of the industry and also it's a point of pride, a point of retention for staff. Has your experience using the KnowHow AI layer, has that played a role in supporting that kind of skill component for you guys?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: [00:12:00] Again, it's having respect for the industry. You know, we brought in people like our general manager, John Ortega, who is a force to be reckoned with in the restoration space. Everybody seems to know him, you know, it's understanding like what tools does he need to help enable our franchise owners to succeed.

I remember meeting you probably like the first RIA and saying, we need this tool. And then we probably ended up starting with it about a year later when it was the right time. For us, it's all about how can we automate or make accessible all of the KnowHow in one area.

And it doesn't replace the tremendous amount of experience our restoration team and success coaches have, but it enables them and our franchise owners and their teams to be able to leverage that experience in an area that is, uh, in one place, in one centralized kind of communication or learning hub for them to be able to then execute on our playbook the way that John and the team have developed it and, and created the VODA way.

Leighton: Well said. For you and your team over the last 12 months, what would you say was probably one of the toughest [00:13:00] operational challenges? And I'm curious how you guys played it out.

Like how did you guys kind of roll through that?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: I would say that the biggest, um. I remember this clearly, you know, it wasn't a huge storm year. That was, that was a challenge. But we had these hurricanes in Florida back to back. I remember it was the fall of last year. And I remember being kind of holed up in a, in a conference room in my building.

I live in New York City. I had this conference room, and I was there all weekend working with my team, and working with our franchise owners in Florida. It was amazing seeing some of the local owners going in to the, to work with the, the territory owners in that, in that market. But also realizing that we felt really called to, to serve and to help.

But recognizing that, you know, at especially at that time, we were still a small business and we still, still small and, and relevance to, you know, some of the, the, the players out there. But I remember thinking like, I wanna help more, but we can't, like, we're not, we're not ready yet. And we only have so many pieces of equipment and, and tools.

And I've always been motivated by that thinking, you know, 3, 4, 5 years [00:14:00] down the road, how much more can we serve during those times? That was definitely during those, those emergency events was a wake up call on how do we get better prepared the next time. And now I feel that we're tremendously more, still have more to do, but way more prepared for the next time that there's a challenge that our system can help with.

Leighton: Going back to that, I'm just picturing you and your team in this battle center, being able to adapt to all these kind of moment to moment things. Most would agree that you have to balance the, let's call it the, the humanity and the compassion that you need to be able to respond. And yet at the same time, you in somewhat opportunistic, in an opportunistic manner, you're kind of, you know, hoping the skies will open up. Right? And, I mean, optically, you're a communication guy. How do you think about that? Because it is, it's a bit of a balance, you know?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, I have two stories to that. So. One was a lesson. Our first ever franchise owner that joined the system, Mike Hagan [00:15:00] in Texas. We were able to, through our relationship, we secured a very large fire job, a home that was completely destroyed and it was a multi six figure job and we were very excited about it to be able to help. And I remember going on LinkedIn and I posted the house and I was all excited about it. And I would never do this now and I wasn't thinking, it wasn't anything malicious, but was excited about our franchise owner being in to help.

And someone commented like, what about the homeowners? And it was definitely a wake up call. Like we are opportunistic that during these times, but, at the end of the day, we don't want to be excited that someone has an issue, but I do get excited that we can help them during that time.

Then another one, our franchise owner in Sarasota, Nina Hunter. She was at training during the hurricane and it was a Friday. She finished the week longer, VODA university. And a friend of mine in Sarasota that lives in Ohio called me up and said, my house is gonna be destroyed.

It's a multimillion dollar house. I don't know what to do. Can you help me? And I said, funny enough, we happen to have a franchise partner finishing training. But full disclosure, she just finished training. He said, I trust you. I know you guys will do the right thing.

So she [00:16:00] flew home that next morning, all throughout the night, he's texting me and, he's like, I need her to be the first one there. And I was like, the bridge is closed. She's outside the kind of the road. As soon as the bridge opens, we're gonna be the first or second truck out there.

And we went there. She took care of the home. But I was always fascinated because that first day of business for her, her truck was there. She serviced the home. Six or seven other homeowners in that neighborhood saw the truck. She ended up getting all their business and then did such a great job.

My friend's wife who is a prominent realtor, like number one or two realtor in Ohio, had all these connections in Florida. Next thing you know, it led to more, more opportunities. But it all started with that one job, with those late night calls, making it happen, getting her there. And thankfully the training's really strong even though she was still brand new. And that led to just so much more opportunity for her and for us during that time.

Leighton: That's an amazing story. And I think, it'll be great to find a way to capture that story. I'm sure you guys have captured that story because what a great testament to, you know, [00:17:00] as long as you are committed to doing the right thing, and taking care of the customer, uh, I mean, there's so many tools and so many resources available, you know, from your network to be able to fill the gap, let's call it, on the technical component and whatnot. And, so I wonder. You know, just, to bring us to where we are today with that franchisee, it sounds like that's probably characterized how they've built their business. And so where are they at today?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, continuing to grow. She's a great mayor of the town, which is what we call the activity of just being out there, networking, building relationships. I think that's, you know, they, I think that's one of the powers of a network like Voda. We have about 108 franchise partners in 270 locations that are developing in 32 states.

Obviously our franchise owners generate a good amount of their business, but when you're part of a network, there's just relationships that come through it. So I think of another example in Wisconsin recently, uh, one of our marketing supplier partners had a small carpet cleaning job. [00:18:00] And our owner, Erica, and James in Madison actually where our, our headquarters is went to go do it.

So $500 cleaning job, nothing, nothing huge. And then a week later, turned out they owned all these properties, their building caught on fire. The company they were usually going to, wasn't available. They thought of us and all of a sudden she did a $75,000, you know, fire loss. And what's amazing, again, not that we're wanna prey on people that have these issues, but the cool thing is not that they're happy to have had a fire, but they're definitely thankful to us to have been there.

And so again, I think that's like the why now, looking back after three years in the space, why people are so passionate about it. Because it's not every business that you get to go do something that actually makes an impact. Uh, and it's funny, somebody recently asked me like, what about getting like 3:00 AM calls with people that need your service?

And I actually said to them, what a blessing like that sounds great. I don't know how many businesses where people call at 3:00 AM needing your service ready to give you money or insurance give you money. I think that's one of the best things about our, our business.

Leighton: [00:19:00] Well said. Walk me through, you know, if someone, was an existing property restoration firm and they were contemplating joining a network like Voda, what does that, what does that look like and how do you evaluate someone to be the right fit. And then what's on the other side of that decision? Like what's, what kind of armory is available to them when they join a network like yours?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: A couple things. So the first one I would say would be, you know, some of your listeners have been doing restoration longer than I've been alive or like, you know, a really long time. And if I was on their end, I'd say, who's this guy? Three years in the space?

I forgot more than, than maybe he knows, and it's probably true. But when you combined all of the network between our coaches, our operations team, our franchise owners, their teams, um, it's a giant mind share of best practices and lessons and mistakes that I think really helps a ton.

If I was someone thinking about, you know, leveraging a brand like Voda or another franchise, I think I would think about like, what am I really strong [00:20:00] at and what am I not strong at? And if, if I'm not strong at something, does the network, whether it's a Voda or a different franchise system or whatever system, do they fill that gap?

Right? So for us, we're really strong at branding, really strong at lead generation, really strong at, you know, the marketing component, the technology component. Maybe they're really fantastic at everything else. Well, now you can leverage the strength of two things. I would never go into another business alone again.

If I started another business tomorrow, I would do exactly what I did here with Voda, which is find people that are smarter and more experienced at said business. Not saying we're smarter at the business, but when you combined all the things that someone's already successful at doing with the things that we're strong at, I think it could be a great partnership.

Now again, if you're already really strong at branding and marketing and lead gen and technology, it may not make sense. Or, if maybe you're strong at all those things, but getting those five star reviews component is challenging. We're really strong at that too. So I think there's a great opportunity to partner and yeah, you're paying a, a royalty, which if someone converts it is [00:21:00] less than a first time owner that comes in the system.

But what is that investment in royalty worth in exchange for what, what you get out of it. It's something to definitely, definitely consider. When I think about a national brand, you know, we're now starting to bring in national accounts who just hired our, our head of national accounts, who's been in the national account space for a long time.

I'm excited to see where that plays out, and where people can leverage that as well. It should be icing on the cake. National account should ever be like your goal of like your whole business. You don't wanna depend on one lead source, but if you've already built a great, base, and then you can plug into what we bring to offer, you know, can it expedite your, your journey?

And I'll share a quick, quick story if you don't mind. I'm fortunate to have been successful at a young age and I remember someone in my past, uh, saying something like, you know. I was thinking about staying on with my previous company when I, when we sold. And no disrespect to them.

They a great person, but as an entrepreneur, the mistake they made was they said, if you go do this next thing, it's gonna be really [00:22:00] hard and you may not succeed. And what I realized is, if someone wanted to retain me or I wanna retain an entrepreneur that's within my company, I don't think that's ever the right answer because you don't know what someone's capable of. What I would say instead is, hey, you'll probably succeed. It's just gonna take you probably a lot longer and it's probably gonna be a lot harder. And if you're okay with that, then fine. Someone that's already succeeding and cleaning restoration.

It's not that if you joined our network that you wouldn't have continued to grow. It's, is it worth an investment in royalties for an elevated brand? Does that expedite the time? Does it, what is 3, 4, 5 years of time and ease worth? It doesn't mean you wouldn't succeed on your own or that you're not already succeeding on your own, but what if you add that kind of additional horsepower behind your business?

Leighton: You know, I think actually that's a great perspective, Dan. If I just like connect three dots and I'll put it back to you because I think that what you're saying is reflected in some of the things that we've seen. For example, a couple years ago [00:23:00] we did this study called Building Leaders. And one of the things that we looked at in that book was we kind of dug into what was a pain point that we had identified, which was for many service companies, oftentimes the work to get the business to a place where it's viable and it's growing and it's thriving. And let's say mom and dad who started it can kind of take their hands off the tools a little bit. It took them say 15, 20 years. And so in many way, the motivation behind some of the sacrifices was, know, we're doing it for our family and one day we might actually have this generational business. And one of the common things that we saw was, it wasn't uncommon that the kids would say, we saw the sacrifices that you made through our entire childhood. And I'll tell you no thanks. No thanks. and, um, and at the same time, you know, uh, we, we interface with a lot of the, you know, the capital groups in the industry that are trying to drive, you know, operational consistency across these networks that they're involved in. What [00:24:00] they'll often say is when they're sitting across the table at that individual say, so what was something that prompted this conversation, you know, this, this potential liquidity event. And, and common thing that they'll reference is, you know what? We're successful, but it just took me way too long. And there's been a cost to that. And I would've probably considered creating some liquidity earlier just to be able to take some of the pressure off. And then what you're saying is. Rather than saying, what do you give up with say, this royalty or whatnot?

And, and like you, I come from a background in franchising. The question is, in today's day and age especially, I would assume a lot of the profile of your franchisees are probably family age people. It's like, what is five or six years of family life worth to you? You know? And do you want to, in a sense, like a game of snakes and ladders?

Do you wanna like take a ladder three, four years up the board game, so to speak? Does that dance well with what [00:25:00] you're saying?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: A hundred percent. Usually it comes with age, but in your early twenties, you wanna dominate the world. Then you get in your thirties and you wanna dominate the world, but have some some level of life. And then your kids get, I don't have kids yet, but I, I imagine they get, you know, older, you wanna spend time with them.

And I mean, it's funny, I was just finished watching a landman if anyone's watching it, and I won't spoil it if you're on, not on season two, but the whole theme of the second season really centers around like building a business with your family and what's what's most important. What's the saying, if you wanna go fast go alone, if you wanna go far go together. Anytime you can pull in someone else's expertise, the better. We could have went out in between Zach, our COO, who's my business partner, and, and some of our team, we probably could have went out and started a restoration business from scratch, spent five, six years on it and then, and then franchised it.

But we were able to plug into someone that had been 15 years in the making, and he's a great partner. It's funny, I remember a franchise owner early in, and I'm from New Jersey, so I could pull off saying these types of things. Uh, and hopefully if he's listening, doesn't get mad at me, but he's like [00:26:00] six foot seven.

He's huge. He played for the NFL team for at one point, and deep down, he's a huge heart, but he's, he's an intimidating guy. And I think he knows that. And early in, he called me and he was like, I don't wanna pay the royalties. And maybe some high level CEO would say something different, but I, I just said, I wouldn't want to either.

And it was very awkwardly silent. And he said, what do you mean? I said, well, I don't wanna pay taxes. I don't wanna pay any bill. If you wanted to pay bills. Like, that's weird, you know, I get it, but what is it worth? What are we, what are we expediting? You know, I have partners, you know, I could say, well, we, I know everything that they taught me.

I don't wanna pay distribution. No, it doesn't work that way. You're leapfrogging years of time and also you're making your life easier and you can do more when you bring people in. We just brought in our CFO and, uh, to, to be able to bring someone of his caliber, we had to create some, you know, equity incentive.

And, in doing that, as we hit our goals, I'll dilute down a bit, but I realized that, what would you rather have a hundred percent of a grape or, you know, 80% of a watermelon?

Leighton: Hmm.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: I would argue I'd rather have 70% of 10 [00:27:00] watermelons or the watermelon factory and have 30% out there to people to help run the business and grow the business.

So it's like in the franchise scenario, you're not giving up equity, um, you're paying an investment in a royalty. Which is discount, someone converts. I'm not trying to persuade anyone to do that, but what do you get out of it? And like, what's the, what's the benefit? And it's not forever, some people, it's not worth doing.

But again, if you, whether it's Voda or a different network, um, it doesn't have to be a network either. It could be consulting companies, but, uh, if you're investing X but you're getting three times the return or whatever, uh, what is that worth and what is that worth for your lifestyle too?

Leighton: Yeah, I think that's the nut of the whole thing. There's a popular economist, Thomas Sowell, and he would say, life's about trade-offs, right? It's not about choosing like the best or the worst or avoiding, it's just understanding the tradeoffs in the situation. And a lot of that's about just, you know, putting on your big girl big boy pants and, and saying like, yeah, like there's, there will be tradeoffs and let's just go into it eyes wide open. Annie Duke writes a [00:28:00] about, you know, she was a very famous poker player, and then she writes around strategic decision making and she has these books around quitting and Kenny Rogers, no, no one to hold him. No one to fold him comes to mind. But, you know, it's really around how do you just essentially cycle on decisions faster? There's three things that I wanted to, to drill into because I think that you're just uniquely positioned to talk to about it.. One of the things that I think is, is unique over the last six years has been the rise of leveraging social media to be able to establish yourself as a thought leader and to be able to potentially even position key leaders in your organization as a face of the organization. And connect with the audience, connect with the market, you know, there's a whole bunch of elements to it, but you're someone who does it really well. And so I wonder if you would be comfortable just sharing a little bit about your playbook. Maybe I'm on the [00:29:00] marketing team at a company or I am a leader of a company and I see the conversation that happens online and I want to jump in and I want to actually start to, in a sense, build a bit of a profile around myself to, to support the company, you know, support other opportunities or whatnot.

What are some of your principles? What are some of the things that a person should not do? You know, do right away? Do later. Tell us about how you think about that. 'cause I think you do that really well.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Well, I guess I'll preface by saying, pre Voda, if you looked at my Instagram or I didn't even have a Facebook for, you know, for a long time. I had one as a kid or as a kid, but, you know, in my twenties. I think my last Instagram post had been in like 2017. And then when we started Voda, I realized that social media was gonna be a important component to growing our business.

And what was it worth? Was it worth my discomfort [00:30:00] to reach our ultimate goal? And so I started posting on social media and for a long time, I, you know, I, I you pretty much, I am kind of, you get what you get with me. This, this is me. At that same time, I think everyone should have different sides of them.

You have your business side, as a son, as a father, as a sibling, as a friend, you should have different kind of, somewhat different versions of you to a degree. And so I was only posting Dan Claps, CEO of Voda content. And over a period of time, I was told often that, you know, from people that, you know, advise me on social media, you know, is that the, is that how you are in real life?

Like if you have a relationship with someone, do you only have a business relationship or do you tell 'em about your personal life and your other things? And the advice was you gotta show that side on social media too. And so, I was on a ski trip in Europe, um, at one point. And i'll never forget, post skiing, everyone's having some beers or hanging out, and my fiance's [00:31:00] friend's son, so basically like a nephew to me, he's four and we're up on this like, uh, table and we're like, he's pretending to dj.

I'm pretending to dj. We're dancing. And someone records it, and I end up deciding maybe the beers, maybe do it, but I posted it on social media and remember like this is stepping outta the comfort zone of like showing like my personal side. And I remember thinking like, oh, like that could backfire.

And what I found was that potential franchise owners noticed it, teammates noticed that the amount of positive that I got from it was worth it. Now, when you do content, you get negative too. I'm a big fan of, I don't wanna be mediocre to all. I'd rather be loved by some and hated by some and versus mediocre to all.

And so I don't expect everyone to love me and that's okay. But with social media, I learned that showing all sides of you and just really being your authentic self on social media has played a role. At one point, I thought about stopping doing it. It seemed like a waste of time. I had plenty of other things to do, like everyone.

But we started to realize that a lot of our technicians and even [00:32:00] teammates had been following that content. And they may have applied on whatever job posting, then followed Voda, then followed me, got to know me, and then became a teammate. Not because of me, but as a component of all the ingredients of the recipe that made them wanna work at Voda.

I think it's one of the most powerful things you can do. Last thing I'll say on this. I looked at a recent post on LinkedIn. I had a million impressions over a period of time. I would probably have to spend, you know, tens of thousands of dollars on PR to get million impressions and I get it for free.

I think that content helps you kinda step outta your comfort zone. It's not comfortable for anyone. It's still not comfortable for me. Um, but it's, it's a great way to share your message. And, and remember, um, when you make content, you're gonna inspire some people. You're gonna irritate some people, but focus on the people that you're inspiring.

'cause you don't realize how many people that may actually be impacting. You may not hear it, but it may make a change. Just like I'm sure you've seen people online that have inspired you. You're not messaging them every time, or maybe they're famous, but the same way someone has spoken to you by watching [00:33:00] a digesting content, it's the same if you create something and, and you're a superhero at something, like you have a superpower at something, you have a story really unique.

And so, sharing that really does make a difference in growing an organization.

Leighton: And what does that look like, Dan? Like what does that look like tactically on like a weekly basis for you? So, you know, busy leader, full schedule, brimming to the top. Where do you fit in this I this time to reach out and push some of that content?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm a franchise guy, so it's all about systems. You know, somebody once said to me like, how do you have the time to make this content? I just have good systems. I spend about four hours a month on, on content, and it looks probably more like four hours a day, just with good systems.

We do half a day where, for four hours that my team, we film, we change the shirt, change the location, kind of batch out content, spend probably four hours on, on thinking about it and four hours on filming it. So eight hours a month on, on content. It's like if you play a sport and you wanna be good at a sport and you keep your [00:34:00] cleats and your soccer ball in the closet, you're gonna practice a lot less, right? But if it's right there outside, ready to go, you're gonna do it more. And so what I said to my team was like, I'll do as much content as necessary in four hours, but I don't wanna do anything after that.

I gotta go back to running Voda. And so we have a system, it's four hours of being in front of the camera and four hours of planning a month, eight hours, um, what is that? Two hours a week? If you think of it from that perspective. You know, you can find the time and the value prop of doing that has worked out to be worth that investment.

Leighton: Thanks for sharing some of that. I think it can be kind of a nebulous topic. Okay. Talking about topics. The next one is, is I'm wondering, what you could offer up, because right now, I think 2025 was a year where a lot of organizations that over relied on, say, one particular carrier relationship or one particular program, whatnot. And there's a lot of appetite right now for people to get back into just good old fashioned direct work, you know, organic sales, you know, building out kind of that [00:35:00] residential, commercial base in your business. Since the very first day, I've always been impressed by the, the way that you and your team think about marketing, you know, this language around becoming the mayor of your market. What could you share from like the Voda playbook around how you kinda really begin to, to think about dominating, uh, on that direct sales side?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Sure. Well, I think my first answer is it depends, you know, TPA work can, can definitely be, and program work can definitely be a, a necessary tool. It really depends on where you're at in your business, your market, and so many other factors. But I'm just a big believer in, I want to control as much of the customer acquisition as possible.

And when you do the grassroots marketing, the mayor of the market, networking, building real relationships, it's a lot harder in my opinion, to lose a trade referral partner that you have a real relationship with that you know, you've had dinner with their family on a weekend. Like it's a real relationship.

It's not just about referral dollars or anything like that, but it's a [00:36:00] real stable relationship. I think building that, um, the attrition rate on that is just so much lower. A TPA can change, requirements can change, the margins can change. And so again, I think having a good mix of all the different leads sources is great.

But, in some ways you're renting work from a TPA, you're even renting work from Google. 'cause Google could change their algorithm, right? If you've got a great Google presence or, or et cetera. I think there's no substitute for building as many referral relationships as you can. And my opinion is this is an, an art that's, that's dying.

Like it's an art that, you know, I was raised door knocking. My first jobs was door knocking. So if you could take that mindset and plug that in, plus have good brand and good technology, good systems, you know, everything else, um, it's just so much ease. It's hard at first, but it's so much easier to build a business once you get that that done.

And listen, who wants to do it? I, I know it's not easy. It's hard. It's just like making content. You know, I was with the franchise owner a couple months ago. We cold called on a property management. We walked in. It's awkward. We got rejected a few times. But [00:37:00] one of those led to, you know, uh, the gift that keeps giving and we keep working with them.

And so I think one of the best things you could do for your business in the long run, is just building true grassroots relationships.

Leighton: And on the direct work side and the marketing side, I think that a lot of, a lot of businesses right now in the market, they're also experiencing just. Just challenges. Like, just problems. And you're a systems guy. Do you, do you have a system, Dan, for how you think about, just solving problems like approaching complex issues that arise?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: For me not to get overly complicated on it, but I'm big on first principles thinking. So it's like looking at a problem at its core. My number one way of solving problems is, uh, I learned it when I was five and I just never forgot it, which is the five why's. Are you familiar with that?

Leighton: I'm familiar, but, but tell us like, uh, but, but, well, let me make sure that I am tracking with you. You unpack it, and we'll compare [00:38:00] notes.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: So, you know, a little kid when they're like, can we go to the toy store? And you're like, no. And they say, why? And then you give them an answer and they say, why? And, and, uh, you know, they just kinda keep asking why. I think this works really well in leadership. And I've never been one to think that I have the answers.

I think the answers are with your customers, in our case are franchise owners and my, my teams. And so when someone has an issue, uh, a challenge, I'll usually say, you know, why, why is that a challenge? And then they'll gimme an answer and I'll ask why. And then they'll give an answer, and then I'll ask why.

And for whatever reason, I don't know why, but by the fifth, why a lot of times the root of the problem comes out. And so I usually use that framework. And then, the 1 3 1, which is, you know, um, you know, Leighton, what's your biggest challenge? X, Y, Z? What are the three solu? Like, if you're, if you're working on the problem.

Or you're closer to the problem, you're gonna have better answers. So like, what's the biggest challenge? It's X don't gimme three challenges. What's your biggest problem right now? It's X. Okay. What are three potential solutions? [00:39:00] 1, 2, 3. And then what's the one you would go with if you were me? If you were in the CEO role, what would you do?

And I find over time, once people know your culture and kind of your way of thinking, um, the one they choose is, is ultimately, usually right. Maybe it needs a little course correction on like direction or some guardrails, but usually people come up with the better solutions. And so between asking those five why's and using that 1, 3, 1 framework, I would say that's like the core of what I do all day.

Leighton: Yeah. Yeah. Five Why's, 1, 3, 1. You know, and, and I would suspect that what's downstream of that is ultimately let's say pushing back symptoms. Getting down to roots, right. And, I can't think of anything faster than taking the time to say like, is this the root of the problem or is this something growing off this problem?

You know? And it sounds like you are a big, let's get like, let's take this elevator down to the basement and figure what is, what [00:40:00] is really driving, you know, this problem at a base level. And, so give me like, if you're open to it, give, give us an example. Like where, what is something in the last few months where you've applied that framework and how did it shake out?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: I have a perfect example. By the way, I did read your book, uh, and I actually looked at it on my bookshelf, thought about re rereading building leaders. I might, when I got home tonight. First of all, that's like, that's the other thing. I think reading, a lot, as much as you can, you can't just read, you gotta do, but reading helps you see patterns over time.

I think pattern recognition's a a learned skill, not a innate skill. I'll give you a great example with the network growing like ours. If we try to have all the answers instead of tapping into our 108 smart franchise owners, we'll never make the the right answers. And so we have a franchise advisory council and so we meet with them.

So in early summer we met with our FAC. We listened to like, what are your biggest challenges? There were seven. We listened again, came back again with some [00:41:00] ideas. It was a series of calls and then basically, oh, with the FAC together said, all right, well of these seven, what are the top three? When I say the top three, what's the, the three that are actually gonna really move the needle?

Not nice to haves. And then I think the hardest part is then picking what's the one that's actually gonna move. Like if we could put all of our energy, all the resources, all of our team for a quarter or a year, even toward one thing, what's the domino that if we fix, we'll probably fix all the other things?

And so give you an example. One of our taglines at the team now is, how do we help our owners get more leads without spending more money on marketing? Not, how do we get more leads for our owners? How do we help them get more leads without them spending more money on marketing? And so obviously they have to invest in marketing, but how do we, the answer can't just be, spend more on marketing.

You know, there's only so much money that could be spent there. So what can we do to enable them to get more customers, more leads or sell to the customers already sold to in the cleaning side especially. 'Cause there's four ways to grow [00:42:00] business, right? Um, there's. Cut costs, which is like the lowest, unless you have a a hundred million dollar company, like that's the, the, the, the lead.

You're not gonna save your way to building your business usually. Don't get me wrong, cut costs when you can, but there's only so much you can do there. You can either get more customers, convert more customers, is the number one, sell more services to your customers or increase your average ticket. And so working with the FAC, realizing that, you know, between national accounts, some of the programs they're doing on marketing, um, one of the biggest low hanging fruits for us was our estimates were a bit lower than they probably should have been.

And I synthesized everything I read in a Facebook group that we had underestimated substantially in a market. And so to us, like the low hanging fruit was like, how do we triple down on training, on estimating not to rip off insurance when it would be, you know, the right price. But there's nothing wrong with charging the actual price.

And if you do a job for a thousand dollars more, that's all margin. And so we worked through technology provider, we worked through training. You know, we say if we want five star review, you need a five star [00:43:00] tech. And so, it's working with the FAC, identifying the biggest challenges and then attacking that one thing.

And a lot of leaders, they don't want to do it because you could be wrong. But I'd rather my someone leading a department be wrong about their one thing 'cause they're gonna get better at over time than pick three things. 'cause that's a cop out. What's the one that's actually gonna move the needle?

Leighton: You know, Dan, I mean, even in this short conversation, you clearly have a lot of passion about this whole work of, flush out all of the options, and then, and then in a sense, take a very, uh, systematic approach to triaging down to what's gonna drive the most opportunity, value, whatever, and then qualified a bit, right? Because at the end of the day, you do have to put some reasonable guardrails around us. Like, yeah, of course if we have an unlimited budget, we can do anything. But you've gotta be able to guardrail that. All of what you're describing, it takes leadership, it takes influence, it takes getting people on board. You know, [00:44:00] being able to understand some of the nuance of of timing and understanding resistance. Right now, I really think that 2026 is a real like leader year. And not to say that, you know, we don't always need leaders to really kind of, you know, really show up and be their best. But, there's a lot of uncertainty. There's a lot that's changing. There's a lot that I think is rock solid and not going anywhere, and we just need to remind ourselves of it. And then there's some organizations that have to evolve. What, are strong leaders doing differently right now? Especially to kind of come through this season that we're in.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, well, I think. Everything I just said, and then I can, I'll just use the kind of this example, after getting all that information, picking our one thing, and now in our case, we're still a smaller business, so it's one major thing. And then there were two other like components we're gonna work on too. [00:45:00] We presented that to the FAC, we secured buy-in.

We did like 30 minutes of listening, and then we came to the whole system and did a recently a Friday call with our whole system, kind of showcasing that whole journey. And then spent about 40 minutes on what I called ask, ask me, and, uh, sent, you know, the leadership team anything. And we didn't want the questions pre-meeting, right? So ask them right here on the spot why we didn't decide to do something, why we're going a certain direction, why we can't do something with the total honesty of like, yeah, yeah. What you're suggesting is millions of dollars. And I, I love to think that our brand looks so strong that we have millions and millions of dollars.

We don't, we're still a growing company. And so here's why we're not doing that on the priority list, but just sharing the why behind what we're doing. And then letting people voice their opinions, and actually listening to them and, and then trying to, if it's possible we're wrong about something, maybe we can change course.

Or hey, give us the quarter, or let's go down this path. And then, I mean, the quarter's already a month over. So give us, give us, you know, two more months and then we can always, although I do [00:46:00] believe like in business, years are like dog years. And so a month in business is like a, you know, whatever it is, seven, seven months in, or whatever that math would be.

So we gotta move fast, but I'd rather move fast on one thing that we're all bought in on and bought in doesn't mean you and I agree, if we're in a boardroom and you don't agree with me and we're gonna have a healthy, respectful conflict. I love when leaders are fighting with each other respectfully, but then when the team makes the decision, that's it.

I don't agree with you, but we went your path. I'm going to agree with you. And if you're wrong and I was right, I'm not gonna say, yeah, I was right. It's like we made the decision as a company. And we had that recently. We made a decision on something that, uh, I was wrong about.

And the goal is to not be wrong often. I try not to be, but uh, when you are to own it and say, Hey, you know what, I, I was wrong about that and let's, let's pivot, you know, let's pivot quickly.

Leighton: Well said. Dan, you're a systems oriented guy. You made a comment earlier where you said someone would ask, like, how do you get this done? Or how do you tackle this? How do you make time for that? And, you know, your response was, it's a system. [00:47:00] And as you kinda build and expand Voda, some of that system I know that you're describing, you know, is leveraged through this AI, this I like to refer to this Voda AI app that's, you know, supported by KnowHow's AI. So tell us, from your perspective that that very principled approach to a systems first a way approach to business and leveraging, KnowHow's operational platform. How did those kind of, you know, in a sense meld together into something that adds value to you and your team?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: What we didn't want to happen with KnowHow was like, we have these chats with our franchise owners that are, uh, pretty, pretty, they're system wide. And what I never wanna see is someone ask a question and we write back, look at KnowHow.

What I'd rather see us say is, here's the answer to your question, by the way, here's more context in KnowHow. And hopefully people eventually start to say, let me go there first. It took me just as much time to respond, look a KnowHow than to give you the answer. So it's like, let's give the answer and then direct them to [00:48:00] the tool. I think that's been a big, big component of, of, 'cause we don't wanna lose the personal touch. At the end of the day, with AI, like anybody can go on AI and there's abundance of information. Now what's gonna win is, is the personal touch. And that's why I feel so strong about we're doing at home services.

'cause you know, at least right now, robots aren't coming and taking this away from us. I, I don't know in the future, you know, we, we said things about the internet in the nineties that we were wrong about, but, um, hopefully not. But for right now, um, and to your point, if it does, then we'll figure out how to adapt as entrepreneurs.

But you know, don't lose the personal touch. Don't lose that. But then leverage technology if you do both. If you do both. Like, here's a great example. I was just at our CRMs conference, um, speaking. And someone asked me, they, they, they work mostly with, you know, non-franchise businesses, not just restoration.

And I said, you know, what do you, what's your kind of response if someone's using pen and paper instead of a CRM? My answer was, imagine, you know, private equity is great with the technology and the sophistication, but they a lot of times lose the personal touch. You're [00:49:00] already succeeding. Something that's way harder to do, which is that personal touch and all those other things.

Imagine when you blend that with technology, you'll be unstoppable. I think it's better to have the personal touch versus tech, but if you could have both, then you're unstoppable. Like if I had to choose personal touch versus tech, I think I'd actually choose personal touch. But if you could put both together, you're, you know, you're unstoppable.

Leighton: I mean the language that that, uh, that I think about is, is, you know, how do you, how do you enhance, right? How do you, in a sense, supercharge what, what's, what's already there? In many ways, if you we enhance something that wasn't there, I mean it 10 times zero is still zero.

Right. Dan, um, just as we kind of land the plane here, I mean, right now, I think that anybody who is thinking about contemplating, making a change, introducing something that you have suggested, even just even let's, let's call it just, taking something from, uh, this discussion and even trying to field [00:50:00] it by their staff and their team to see if they would consider, bringing it into the organization. I mean, they're gonna hit resistance. And I'm just curious, just from your closing perspective, how do you introduce new things? How do you introduce change to your organization? What does that communication approach look like from you?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Well, I think again, a lot of it is, uh, I don't wanna give away my secrets that people will know, but, if you're listening on the team, I mean, at the end of the day, I, I think of the movie inception. You know, you need to help make it be someone else's idea, not your idea. And so in asking those questions, um, you try to set up a place where it's like, well, what if we could, you know, merge all these questions into one easy to, you know, find place, leveraging AI, leveraging our operations manuals.

You know, what, if you had a way that you could find that online, and it's like, well, I like that, but I don't wanna lose the personal touch. That's a great point. I agree. If we're gonna use technology like a KnowHow, for example, which, have you heard of it? It's, it's a great tool, actually does what we're talking about.

I wouldn't wanna lose the personal touch either. So if we use something like this, how [00:51:00] would you, again, how would you go and enact this, this tool and not lose the thing that you don't wanna lose? And so I think it really comes down to helping people come to their own conclusions. I also found like if you allow people to voice their opinion, at the end of the day, like a franchise are a little bit different.

But if you're an employee of a team, voice opinion all day long, but eventually, like there has to be decision makers. Like if, if you're gonna continue to voice your opinion and then not buy in, then another company's hiring. Like we do have to have someone make the decision. You know, it's not a complete democracy.

It is in the sense that we listen, but someone's gotta be in the position to make the decision. But more times than not, just like if you're angry at a restaurant and the server says what happened and they listen, you don't even always need like it solved. You just wanna be heard.

And so I think it's about listening, hearing perspective, not listening just to listen. You have to actually actively listen. 'Cause they could be right about things. But hopefully you can find a middle ground and, and then get to a point where people move forward with whatever change or technology, that your, [00:52:00] your, your goal.

And again, the why behind it, why you're doing it, why you're not doing something else. All plays into, into a component. And the last thing is you have to have build trust. If you build trust, then it's easier. If you don't have the other component of trust, then you're not gonna get any, anyone to change anything.

Leighton: What a great way to just bring the conversation to a close. You know, you're layering, you're building on top of layers of trust. And what, what I hear you saying is when a person says, you know, I have to get my team on board with this change, and I have to be able to think about how I'm gonna word this in a way that doesn't, you know, rub them the wrong way.

What I'm hearing you say is. You know, you should spend more time thinking about how you're gonna provide an airspace to listen, to hear from them. Because oftentimes more than they need, um, time to, let's call it, be convinced they need an opportunity for you to be able to receive from them, let's call it what's, [00:53:00] what's downstream this, of this decision or what's, what ultimately is going on for them.

And, and so that listening piece, no question, underrated. Dan, if we record a podcast again, and I dunno, say you, you guys been cranking away for three years. If we could record a podcast in three more years from now, just give us a glimmer of the future here.

What's Voda look like three years from now?

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Yeah, I mean, my job in the company is to help increase average unit volume of our owners, and operational standards. My opinion is when we help grow A UV, I actually call it A OV average owner volume, um, this versus, you know, units. But we grow that, and as long as we have good coaching on, like below, you know, we can't really control what happens below the line.

But if we can get that gross profit margin number right, everything else should work below the line for their profitability and then grow our, our footprint, right? So, I envision having, you know, we have about, you know, 108 owners now, I envision, uh, I can tell you too, science, I mean, probably, you [00:54:00] know, 200 something owners in the system. And I'm really excited to see some of our oldest franchise owners is two years in business, um, or now at this point, 2 and a half. So really excited to see where they go. The answer's gonna be, I hope is just we're doing the same thing over and over.

I think if you do the right thing, over a long enough period of time, with grit and urgency and everything else, that's how you win, right? It's the people that they work really hard for two years, three years, that that's not what matters. I tell my team all the time, we're three years in and imagine what we could do three more if we just stay consistent.

So I'm hoping, kind of repeating the same thing.

Leighton: I think that's great. great advice. And to me, timeless advice as well. Right. And I think that is, you know, I think sometimes vision and, and future talk gets very cloudy and muddled and uh, it gets filled with kind of like, you know, just all these kind of buzzwords to me. You know, I think that that is a great place to add to, to, to end it today is, you know, obviously what got us where we are now is working. So how do we [00:55:00] to lean in with urgency and with rigor to what's working? And, um, I think that, uh, I think that's sound advice, man.

Thanks for investing in this audience and this discussion. And, uh, I appreciate, just the unique way that, that you are building a brand that I think not just has amazing momentum, but I think is just a unique, fresh approach to a model that's been around for a long time. And I just wish you and your team at Voda nothing but success as you continue to lean in.

Dan Claps, CEO VODA: Appreciate that. I always enjoy speaking with you and, uh, thank you again.

Special thanks to Dan Claps for sharing how he thinks about building in the restoration industry. One thing he said that stuck out to me, what surprised him about the restoration industry was the people, the technicians, the project managers, the operators who get into this industry and stay for decades because they care about [00:56:00] the work.

And there's another mindset shift that he mentioned that's worth remembering. Restoration is one of those rare businesses where people call you at three in the morning because they genuinely need your help. If you do the job well, that's not a burden, but a blessing. Thanks for listening to Mission Critical.

See you in the next episode.