Where to find owners

Start with people who know you

Owners say yes to people they know. Start with your warmest contacts and work outward.

Your own network and past coworkers

Write down every owner you know before you look anywhere else. Most people know more owners than they think.

• Owners you have worked for, and owners whose crews worked next to yours.
• Crew leads and supervisors who left to start their own company.
• Owners from church, sports, your kids' school and your neighborhood.
• Family and friends who run a crew in any accepted industry.
• Customers and vendors of a business you run now.

Reach out one person at a time, by call or text, in your own words. No mass texts, autodialers or bought lists. Say you are an independent partner, what you're doing, and ask if they'd like Colby to call. Stop when someone says no. Add each name to your list as you go, even the ones you're unsure about.

Companies you subcontract with

If you run a company, the companies you hire and the companies that hire you are some of your best leads. You already know how they work and who decides.

• Subcontractors you hire. The company whose crew does the work is the one that signs up and records. Each one signs its own contract with Colby.
• Contractors who hire you. Ask about their own crews, or ask them to introduce you to their other subcontractors. Don't assume a contractor can give permission for its subcontractors' crews to record.
• Building permission. For a subcontractor, the OK to record often runs through the contractor that holds the building contract. Ask that contractor to help.

Supply houses and distributors

Owners go where their crews get supplies. For janitorial companies that is the janitorial supply house. For trades it is the parts counter, the equipment dealer, the rental yard or the uniform supplier.

1. Become a regular. Go at the times owners shop, often early in the morning.
2. Ask the counter staff which small companies come in often. They know who is growing and who just started.
3. Ask the manager before you leave anything on the counter or talk to customers in the store.
4. Talk to one owner at a time. Ask about their crew and their work before you bring up Colby.
5. Get a number and a good time to call, and add it to People before you leave the parking lot.

Trade associations and local business groups

Most industries on the list have a trade association with local chapters. Most towns also have business groups: chambers of commerce, Hispanic chambers and small referral clubs that meet once a week.

• Join as a member, not a vendor. Learn who does what before you bring up Colby.
• Read the group's rules on selling. Many ban pitching at meetings or using the member list.
• If an organizer asks for a short talk, explain how AI and robot teams learn from video of hands-on work. Egocentric data is good background.
• Follow up one to one. The meeting is where you meet. The call is where you talk.

Facebook and WhatsApp groups

There are many online groups for owners and crews: Facebook groups for janitorial owners and for each trade, and WhatsApp groups for cleaning crews and companies in many U.S. cities. Many of the cleaning WhatsApp groups are Portuguese-speaking communities.

Groups work only if you follow their rules. Break them once and you are out, and the owners in the group remember who spammed them.

1. Read the group's rules first. Some ban business posts, and some take only local phone numbers.
2. Ask the admin before you post an offer, even where posts are allowed.
3. Pick groups for owners and companies. Groups for job seekers and helpers have few owners in them.
4. Post once per group. Write each post for that group, in its language. Never paste the same post into many groups: Facebook pushes down copied posts and posts stuffed with hashtags.
5. Give each post one job: explain what Colby pays for, answer one question, or show how the phone is worn.
6. Answer questions in private, and move to a call.

Spanish-speaking business networks

If you speak Spanish, Spanish-speaking owner networks are a strong channel: church and community groups, hometown associations, Hispanic chambers and WhatsApp groups.

• Talk in the language the owner prefers. Trust comes faster.
• The crew sheet and the camera kit guide are in English and Spanish, so crews can read the rules in Spanish.
• The owner guides and Colby's partner pages are in English today. Spanish pages are coming.
• If an owner would like you there for the first contact, choose "I'll introduce us first" when you send them to Colby, and make the introduction yourself.

Other languages work the same way. Colby has no Portuguese materials yet, so if you work with Portuguese-speaking owners, plan to explain the rules yourself.

Your audience, if you have one

If you run a channel, page, podcast or newsletter that owners follow, your audience is a channel to owners. Point them to your link and let Colby take it from there.

• Say plainly, out loud and on screen, that Colby pays you when companies you bring in record.
• Don't show income totals, projections or earnings screenshots, and don't call it passive income.
• Don't promise hours. Only accepted hours count.
• Never name the AI and robot teams who use the video.
• Keep it calm. Owners who see hype think it's a scam, and the deal dies.
• Speak to U.S. companies only.

Good topics: what the phone sees, how a normal shift turns into video, what a building manager is asked, and what stays out of the picture. Link the owner guides, like where the video goes, for the details.

Events

Trade shows, supplier open houses, chamber mixers and local business expos put many owners in one room.

• Go to listen. Ask owners about their crews and their busy season.
• Have your link ready. Share in your portal has buttons to copy it or text it.
• Ask for a number and a good time to call, not a decision.
• Tell the assistant in People about each owner on the drive home, then follow up in a day or two.

Questions

Read next

• Building your listKeep every owner you are working on in People in your portal, each with a status, a next step, a follow-up date and notes. Start with about 25 names, sort them by fit and warmth, and never leave anyone without a next step.
• Which companies fitA company fits when its crews do hands-on work from the accepted tasks list, on steady shifts, at places that allow recording, and its owner can say yes. Check these before you spend time on a pitch.
• Your first conversationFive minutes is enough: who you are, what Colby pays for, what the crew does and whether the work fits. Then send your link. The owner leaves a number, Colby calls, and there is nothing to sign that day.
• Rules and conductThese rules protect your business, the companies you bring in and the people who record. Most come down to three things: tell the truth, keep money and signatures out of your hands, and protect people's privacy.