wikiHow wikiHow Staff: How do you measure soft-close door slides? Ryaan Tuttle: You would take the existing drawer out and measure the existing glide that's there and then order the same size. wikiHow Staff: How do you install laminate flooring? Ryaan Tuttle: First, you need to verify what type of floor it's going on, whether it's concrete, if it's going on wood or what room it's going in, if it's going in a basement versus like a bedroom somewhere. And then you need to measure the size of the room to make sure you have enough flooring. Find out what area you're going to start in. Make sure you have the right tools to cut the laminate flooring. And then most likely the laminate flooring is either a tongue and groove or it's a peel and stick laminate floor. And you would always install it per the manufacturer's directions. wikiHow Staff: What is a DIY fix to stop the door from slamming? Ryaan Tuttle: You can either install a door closer to it or … I’m trying to think about it because there's a couple of different types of doors. So, like an entry door, you could put a door closer on. Another one is you could install self-closing hinges on a door. Then you can adjust the speed of how you want it to close. wikiHow Staff: Will vinegar soften grout? Ryaan Tuttle: No. wikiHow Staff: Can you use a hairdryer as a heat gun? Ryaan Tuttle: Yes. wikiHow Staff: And how would you do that? Ryaan Tuttle: Well, it depends what you're doing but we use them a lot for drying … heating up an area to put labels on or taking them off. We'll also use it … if we've done a drywall patch on a wall, we'll use it to speed up the process of the joint compound so it'll dry quicker. wikiHow Staff: How do you remove epoxy from concrete? Ryaan Tuttle: You could try power washing the concrete, you could grind it off with a metal grinder or you could try and find a very abrasive concrete cleaner or epoxy residue remover and try using that. wikiHow Staff: What is the best type of carpenter's square? Ryaan Tuttle: A framing square. Framing square will allow you to do roof and rafter layouts. They have all the framing measurements on them. They have all the conversion charts right on them. It can be used for framing a house. It can be used to finish work. It can be used as a straight edge. It can be used as a 90-degree angle checker. wikiHow Staff: What are some basic business guidelines to know? Ryaan Tuttle: It’s kind of a broad question. I mean, having a CPA or an accountant, having a lawyer, having a tax ID number. I mean, those are pretty basic business guidelines for any business. wikiHow Staff: You should always start laying tile in the middle of the room? Ryaan Tuttle: No, not necessarily. As long as you do your tile layout correctly, you can start anywhere you want in the room. wikiHow Staff: Where do you usually start your tiling? Ryaan Tuttle: Where do I usually start? It depends where I want to get out of the room. Sometimes starting in the middle of the room isn't going to help me. Sometimes I'll start on the far end of the room and work my way out the door. wikiHow Staff: One way you can stop the door from slamming is to replace the hinges with an anti-slam or hydraulic hinge. Ryaan Tuttle: Yeah, that's similar to what I was saying earlier, self-closing hinge. It's called the self-closing hinge. wikiHow Staff: When using a heat gun, you should always maintain a distance of at least 0.4 inches from your work surface. Ryaan Tuttle: At least, yes. That's a good one. wikiHow Staff: So, when you say at least, are you laughing because it should be more than 0.4, or what's your experience with that? Ryaan Tuttle: No, it's just funny that they put some type of measurement like this exact same thing. You should always keep the hairdryer bath at least a half inch or an inch or so, so there's a little distance. It gets very hot real quick. And one of the tricks to using that like a heat gun is to move it back and forth. You don't want just to hold it in one spot trying to do something. You want to move it back and forth and let the air of the hairdryer do the drying and the heat, not like the hotness of it, if that makes any sense. wikiHow Staff: If epoxy is attached to a wooden surface, you should soak the area and acetone for an hour or more before using heat to soften and remove it. Ryaan Tuttle: No way, dude. There's no way that's going to work. You'd be lucky if you could get epoxy off of anything. There's no way acetone is going to work. Yeah, that's impossible. wikiHow Staff: So, you don't know any ways to remove epoxy from whatever. Ryaan Tuttle: You'd see if they were made like an epoxy cleaner. I mean, that's how nasty that stuff is. wikiHow Staff: Typically, you want to place a doorknob 41 inches from the floor. Ryaan Tuttle: Yes, that's correct. wikiHow Staff: One way you can block a doorway is to stack cinder blocks in the door’s opening and then cover it with plaster. Ryaan Tuttle: No, that's insane. Just put some wood framing in there and then drywall. Don't put cinder blocks in there. I mean if someone sounds like you're describing a cartoon like, like they're doing the Wily Coyote kind of thing. wikiHow Staff: A carpenter’s square can be used to measure and mark angles from zero to 90 degrees with accuracy up to about half a degree. Ryaan Tuttle: Correct. Yeah, it's really good. wikiHow Staff: Before starting your business, you should research within your industry and research to determine key trends for your product or service’s ability to compete. Ryaan Tuttle: Sure. Yeah, why not. wikiHow Staff: Podcasts are a great way for you to learn business basics without having to commit the time to sit down and read or study. Ryaan Tuttle: Yes, I agree. wikiHow Staff: And have you used podcasts to learn about business basics or business in general? Ryaan Tuttle: I have. Yeah, I do. I read a lot, but, yeah, I listen to podcasts about business. Absolutely. wikiHow Staff: Now we've got a few minutes where I would love to open up the conversation so that we can bring up any important topics or common questions and answers that you get in your line of work. Ryaan Tuttle: I would say, for business, I always give people the advice that I wish I had gotten a business coach or a mentor earlier on in my career when I first started my first couple businesses but, yeah, that would be my biggest tip, I think, for business or topic, getting a business coach or a mentor. It helps cut the learning curve with that. wikiHow Staff: And do you say that you wish you had gotten a business coach or a business mentor because you have experience using one now or they're really useful? How do you know about them? Ryaan Tuttle: I've hired business coaches over the years and there's been a tremendous ROI on working with them, whether it's male or female. I've worked with both males and female business coaches and there's just been a tremendous ROI on that money I've spent and able to speed up the learning process in a lot of areas, like I mentioned before, cutting the learning curve a bit, not spending as much time researching and reading and instead just working with a business coach in a particular area to really nail down certain aspects of business and really hone in on it and focus on just that area. wikiHow Staff: When you mentioned that you worked with business coaches in particular areas, what areas did you work with? Ryaan Tuttle: I would say marketing, sales, and financials. wikiHow Staff: How did they help you out in those areas? Ryaan Tuttle: Just working with them one on one and being able to sharpen up in certain areas and get that firsthand knowledge from somebody that has built and scaled multiple businesses past seven, eight figures. wikiHow Staff: Are there any other pieces of advice that you have for people who want to get into business? Ryaan Tuttle: For people that are looking to get in business, just make sure … this kind of has to do with the question you asked me earlier. It's just doing market research and maybe just making sure you have somewhat of a viable product before you go out and start an entire business centered around that and start a little bit smaller and scale up from there instead of trying to come in on a huge scale or go all in on a business that might not really work or you could just be following a trend and it's not really around the next couple of years after that. So, that will be one tip. Another tip would be implementing technology and automation in every part of your business you can. It’d be a huge one. wikiHow Staff: You mentioned that you have a few businesses now. What kind of business are you in? Ryaan Tuttle: I own and operate a parent company which oversees three different home service businesses along with a consulting business like (inaudible). wikiHow Staff: Definitely sounds like a lot on your plate. It's awesome that you're able to juggle all of that. Ryaan Tuttle: Well, we have a lot of people around the world working with us. We have a global team which is amazing. So, we have people working all around on software development and website websites and SEO and marketing and content creation and all these amazing things. And I'm able to help kind of get everybody working together and on the same page and we have a great office and a great team in the field as well as doing the actual work. So, we're really lucky. wikiHow Staff: It's great that you're able to find so many powerhouses to work with and that you're able to get everybody on the same page. And some of the hardest part is that even once you have the manpower, you have to make sure everyone's going in the same direction. Ryaan Tuttle: That's for sure. It's a moving target constantly. And my job is to keep all the different areas of the business running smoothly along and do the best I can. The only way I could do that is working with some really good people. So, I've been very fortunate in my career to have learned and to work with some just amazing people. wikiHow Staff: Now that you are overseeing so many businesses, are you still doing the actual home improvement stuff or do you have other people doing that? Ryaan Tuttle: No, we have other people doing it. Pretty much in the office most of the time. I do have client meetings and I do have to meet with some contractors once in a while if we have new people on board or there's a major question or something that's going on that I have to step in but generally just helping run day to day operations, overseeing things, not spending time on jobs anymore. And I also run a monthly business group with a bunch of guys and girls that meet once a month for a couple hours at the Zoom meeting and we talk business. And it's really exciting to get people from all over the country. It's really fun. So, we do that once a month as well. wikiHow Staff: It sounds like a lot of your job is operations. Would you be able to tell me more about what elements you find most essential to making your operations (inaudible) smoothly here? Any advice you have in that department? Ryaan Tuttle: Sure, I would have to say that having a company hierarchy laid out, an organizational chart put together for the business, even when you're first starting out, just filling in all their job titles and roles you see fit for the business and even the potential ones you might need to hire down the line and having that organizational chart and a business plan put together is key. I don't think you have to look out too far if you're starting a business. I’d say three years is pretty good with all the moving technologies and all the other stuff we got going on. Get the business plan put together and figure out what you're going to be doing, what roles you're going to play in the business, who you're going to have to hire and even if you're got every role in the beginning, who that next first hire is going to be to help get you on some of those roles. So, you can help sharpen the business and start to hone in on your business model. wikiHow Staff: It sounds like the important things are business hierarchy and organization and then having a solid business plan. Ryaan Tuttle: Yes, absolutely. wikiHow Staff: How did you craft your business plan? Ryaan Tuttle: I got a business plan template, believe it or not, and I filled that thing out and some of it I couldn't fill out right away. And so, as the business kind of progressed and moved along, I would fill out the rest of the business plan. It took a while, I'd say, almost like a couple of years to really nail down our business model and how we were operating. Once we did, we were able to expand them to another location and kind of just copy and paste those systems and processes that we built out. And once you do that, then you can kind of take that model anywhere you want if you're looking to scale up. wikiHow Staff: It's awesome how far you were able to take that business plan template and now it sounds like it's really off the ground and doing well. Ryaan Tuttle: Yeah, thank you. Appreciate that. wikiHow Staff: Those are all the questions for you today, thank you. Page