IAM399- CEO Helps Law Enforcement Agencies Administer Extra Duty Programs

Rich Milliman is the CEO of Extra Duty Solutions, a service that helps law enforcement agencies administer their extra duty programs. Rich’s professional background focuses on business services and operations. After serving as a management consultant for McKinsey and Company, Rich ran portfolio marketing and operations at Bank One’s credit card unit. He then ran several emerging and mid-sized business services firms for a European family office.

Prior to co-founding Extra Duty Solutions, Rich played an active role in operational risk, security, and back-office operations at the world’s largest hedge fund. Before Extra Duty Solutions, no service specifically helped law enforcement agencies with their extra duty programs. In 2015, Rich realized there was an inefficiency in the way extra duty was being administered and started Extra Duty Solutions with his colleague, Adam Bryan.

It has grown to the largest extra duty service company in the U.S. and is now active in over 60 departments across the country. These services include handling client interaction, scheduling, client invoicing and collections, officer payment, feedback — all aspects of the extra-duty program administration. Law enforcement agencies maintain control of all management decisions associated with their program – Extra Duty Solutions does the work and eliminates the financial risk.

• CEO Hack: Doing something you're passionate about
• CEO Nugget: Be honest about the level of responsibilities you want to take up
• CEO Defined: Working for other people

Website: https://extradutysolutions.com/

Twitter- @extradutysolved
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/ExtraDutySolutions
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDwZkwY_5k4Fh_oaW8ObxVA
Instagram- @extradutysolutions
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/extra-duty-solutions
LinkedIn (Rich)- https://www.linkedin.com/in/richmilliman/

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Transcription

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INTRO 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the IAMCEO yo podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Rich Milliman of Extra Duty Solutions, Rich, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Rich Milliman 0:39

Nice to be here. Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem super excited to have you on and what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Rich so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing enriches the CEO of Extra Duty Solutions, a service that helps law enforcement agencies administer their extra duty programs, which is professional background includes focuses on business services and operations.

After serving as a management consultant for McKinsey and Company. retrain portfolio marketing and operations at Bank One's credit card unit. He then ran several emerging and mid-sized business services firms for a European family office. Prior to co-founding extra duty solutions. Rich's rich played an active role in operational risk security and back office operations at the world's largest hedge fund.

Before extra duty solutions, no service specifically helped law enforcement agencies with their extra duty programs. In 2015, Rich realized that there was an inefficiency in the way extra duty was being administered and started extra duty solutions with his colleague, Adam Brian, It has grown to be the largest extra duty service company in the United States and is now active in over 60 departments across the country.

These services include handling client interaction, scheduling, client invoicing, and collections officer payment feedback, all aspects of the extra duty program administration, law enforcement agencies maintain control of all management decisions associated with their program, extra duty does the work and eliminates the financial risk? Are you ready to speak to the IAMCEO Community, Rich?

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Rich Milliman 2:07

I am.

Gresham Harkless 2:08

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I know I touched on it a little bit in your bio, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to get started?

Rich Milliman 2:15

Sure. So as you mentioned before, extra duty solutions, my partner Adam and I worked at a large financial services firm. He was in physical security, and I was head of parts of risk, operational risk, and physical security and operational risks tend to work together a lot. And so we used to utilize extra duty officers for various security needs that we had in different cities. And that was when I actually became acquainted with the concept of extra duty.

When we left the organization, but realized there was really, as you mentioned, an inefficiency in the market. If you're the head of Chief Security Officer at Walmart, and you want to hire officers in 300, Walmart's around the country on Saturday night, you have to call 300 different police departments. So we thought, well, we'll be the one-stop shop, you know, Walmart just calls us, and then we'll deal with it. And so that's how we started in 2015, we started on what we call the corporate side. And we had a lot of large corporate clients. And in the beginning, we didn't have a large staff yet.

So it was really me and a few other folks that were calling police departments. And it was there, that we realized that the police departments have a need, you know, they have large corporations, they can throw money at problems when you're a government agency, you really can't do that.

So they didn't they weren't kind of properly staffed to handle the administrative burden. Or think through the financial risks that come with these types of programs. So we shifted gears and started working more with the law enforcement agencies helping them and exiting the corporate market. So we only work with law enforcement agencies now. That's how that's how we got into this business.

Gresham Harkless 3:58

Nice. Well, I definitely appreciate that. And I definitely appreciate, you know, I think a lot of times when you know someone wants to start a business or start an organization always looking and looking and looking, you know, for a reason to start it. But a lot of times, I think and you can definitely correct me if you feel the same way, then a lot of the best businesses are solving some type of problem and they're usually sometimes right in front of our faces something that's sometimes frustrating us.

Rich Milliman 4:20

Usually, if you just open your eyes, you know what makes you kick your chair, what makes you frustrated, what annoys you? And if you really think through that, what year did you come back with one or two things, either a really good comedy sketch, or an idea for a business?

Gresham Harkless 4:34

Exactly. One or the other. So I know you touched on it a little bit. Can you tell us a little bit more about like exactly what extra duty solutions are and your service?

Rich Milliman 4:47

So let me tell you a little bit about what extra duty is because a lot of people aren't really familiar with it. So a lot of times you know if you're a law-abiding citizen, a lot of times when you see police they're working in what's called an extra duty capacity. This is also called an off-duty or secondary employment.

So if you go to a movie theater, and Saturday night, there's a uniformed officer there. Or if you're driving down the highway, there's a construction site. And you know, Verizon is ripping up the road and putting on pipes, and there's a cruiser there with an officer, those officers are working what is called extra duty.

So at that moment in time, they're being paid by the movie theater chain, or Verizon to be there to provide security or be there in case something goes wrong for public safety. Those programs called extra duty per programs that police departments and sheriff's organizations, can be very burdensome on the organization.

So you have vendors or customers, as are calling the organization and asking them what are the rates? And how do I hire somebody? And what do I need to do? Or it's raining this morning, I'm not going to do my job today, because it involves outdoor work, I'm going to do it tomorrow, I need to shift everything tomorrow. Or you know, it's Black Friday, I need four officers instead of two.

So there's a lot of interaction, then you have to schedule the officers, you know, who's not working active duty, who's able to work, who wants to work, you have to figure out the rates, there's a lot of times financial considerations, you know, you have to pay the officers now because they work. But the customer doesn't pay for three weeks or three months or whatever, you have to go chase down bad debts. I mean, you're doing a lot of work, basically running a security firm inside, you know, an agency.

So what we do is we eliminate that whole administrative burden for the agency, and take your overall financial risk, we eliminate that and we eliminate some of the legal risks to and we just make it a much smoother interaction between the corporations and the individuals trying to hire the officers and the department itself.

All the while leaving the decision making the management of the program you will, if you will, with a department, we're administering, right, we're doing all the work, we're taking all the risk. But the department is still managing your program, they decide the roles, and they decide how should the details be divvied up amongst the officers. What should the rates be? We're just doing all the work, we work for them?

Gresham Harkless 7:12

Right, I definitely appreciate that. And I know that there's kind of like this phrase, I think it's used more for individuals with a kind of like a zone of genius. And I think that a lot of times, it sounds like what you're doing is also helping organizations have been working their zones of genius is the things that they do best.

So they don't have to worry about all those different aspects. Because, as you said, sometimes when you're doing, you know, 70 different things, when you really know, you do one or two things, well, you're wanting to things aren't as well done, because you're stretched and doing so many thanks.

Rich Milliman 7:43

Yeah, that and the other issue too, you know, there's this notion of pushing tasks down to the lowest level that they can be done at in an organization. So you don't want the chairman of the board doing that type of thing, right? So you know, nobody goes into law enforcement. So they can answer the phone and answer questions from customers, how much is it to hire two officers, or change a road job from today to tomorrow? It's not why you go into that field. So you know, we sort of pitched it. It's like you guys do what you do. And we'll do what we do. And it works out well for everybody.

Gresham Harkless 8:15

Yeah, creates that win-win-win situation. Right? Right. Right. Nice. And, and you might have already kind of touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you personally, or it could be for your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Rich Milliman 8:29

Well, I think one thing, as you pointed out, we, we kind of started this industry. So we were first so that there's always a bit of a first mover advantage. And you know, our first department in law enforcement started with us in January of 2016. And now three and a half years later, we have almost 70 departments. And so we're, we're the biggest one in this in this field. And as a result of that word of mouth gets around and you get some wind behind the sails a little bit. So we have that advantage.

The other thing you know, you mentioned I was at McKinsey and Company and one of the things I learned earlier in my career is when you're serving a client, you serve them 110%. So if the client is expecting X, give x plus 10% more, right? We try to carry that through into what we do here. And we routinely get a lot of accolades from the departments that we serve, because we try to over-serve them. You know, we're asked for references.

We give all 70 departments when you call them all, we get two or three calls everybody calls into the department call the patrolman, you know, so we try to over serve. And so there's a huge benefit to over serving, there's a cost to it, too. But that cost plays out in the long run because you're keeping your customers happier, and that generates more customers, and so on. I think a third secret sauce is this is all we do. Right?

So we're not doing something else during the day and doing this at night. We're not serving both the corporate side as we used to serve and the law enforcement side we're not trying to play Besides a defense, all we do is work for law enforcement agencies and serve their best interests. So we're never kind of conflicted, right? And then finally, when we do, do try to expand or go into something new, it's highly related to what we're doing.

So we had a software company that built or scheduled software that we use, and we bought that company. And they also have what's called Active Duty scheduling software. So now we can offer that too. And if you need one, you need the other. So, you know, I see a lot of companies, I try to buy other companies and expand, and usually it doesn't work out that well, or as well as you thought. So we try to be very, very careful about that and stick to our knitting.

Gresham Harkless 10:43

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And it kind of goes to, I guess, I don't know if this is the correct financial term, but like kind of building a moat, where you have you know, different aspects of your comp, you have your core competency. And then you start to add on related things.

And as you start to add on more and more of those things your secret sauce, so to speak, gets even bigger and larger. And you can do even more, I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Rich Milliman 11:12

I try to do what I'm passionate about, right? And I've learned early on, right? I mean, in life, you compete against people, or you go to school, and only so many kids get A's only so many kids get into Harvard, only so many kids get jobs at Goldman Sachs, you know, you're competing, right? So if you're, if everybody's competing, you have certain grades, you have a certain educational background, you have a certain drive, you are who you are, you're competing against people who are equal to you, the one with who's more passionate will win at the end of the day, because they have a big leg up.

Gresham Harkless 11:43

Nice. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Rich Milliman 11:53

That's a good one. I you know, a lot of people you hear a lot of people say, I want to be an entrepreneur, or wanna be a CEO. And I've always when I've some guys come up to me and said that I've always said, you know, you should really be saying is I want to take on tremendous responsibility and work on a higher wire without a net. That's, that's what it means. It sounds seductive, right? It sounds cool. It sounds like hey, this is something where it can make a ton of money and not work for anybody else. Man between here and there.

There's a lot of walking on a high wire without taking tremendous responsibility. And you got nobody above you to reach up to and say help me out on this one. Right. So again, I come back to the steam it's within you that's not right for everybody. You know, that's, that's right for some people. And if it's right for you, and you can think of a good idea, and you can go for it. And God bless you. It's a great, it's a great thing.

But you have to be honest with yourself about do you really want to take on that level of responsibility without a net. Because you know, when you fall you just have one person that I spoke to one time with, he had a physical retail outlet, right? And he said, I don't take too big vacations, because if I did come back in the store be gone. Alright, so you want that level of responsibility? You know, if you work for him, as long as you take a two-week vacation, you come back to jobs there in Amazon scale too. Right?

Gresham Harkless 13:15

Absolutely and now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on the show, and I know you touched on this, but Rich, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Rich Milliman 13:27

CEO means that you're really working for a lot of other people, right? So people think of a CEO, you're the top and you don't have a boss and all that. But the reality is you're working for everybody who works for you. Right? So as a CEO, if you screw the whole thing up, other people are dependent upon you, right? For, you know, to pay their mortgages and to afford food and so on. Right? So if you make some really bad decisions and have to lay off 20 people, well, those people were dependent upon you. So in a sense, you're working for them, right?

Now, I realize that's, you know, cliche, a little bit. But it really is true, and I think you realize it, when you are a CEO, and you have a staff of people, you know, I come in every morning, and I see people were here before me and they're working. And that's when it really strikes me that they're gonna hear for their health. And if I do something really insane or careless, reckless risk-taking, you know, it can be bad for them. So in a sense, you know, they're relying upon the non-working for them. And, to me, that's really what it means.

There's all the good stuff, there's, you know nobody if I want to come in late, I don't have to report to anybody, right? If I want to make a business decision, I don't have to ask anybody else and there's all that the benefit, right? But at the end of the day, there's a tremendous responsibility and that responsibility outweighs a lot of the other things in terms of what I think about most you know, I don't think about posting all the fun and sexy and seductive stuff about being a CEO, I think about the responsibility of it.

Gresham Harkless 15:06

Yeah, absolutely. I think that makes perfect sense and understanding, you know, that clients and customers and some people have investors and all those people are all, you know, kind of entrenched in everything you do every decision that you make. So understanding that is an incredible responsibility. And you know, every decision that you make, you should just like bounce it off, is it in line with what and who you are? Also, is it in line with, you know, helping everybody else out? So I think that is an incredible, kind of holistic definition. So what being a CEO is, and I definitely appreciate that.

Rich Milliman 15:37

Yeah, no, I appreciate it, too. It's been fun talking about this.

Gresham Harkless 15:40

Yeah, absolutely. Well, Rich. I definitely appreciate you and appreciate your time. I wanted to pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional, you can let our readers and listeners know. And then, of course, our best they can get ahold of you.

Rich Milliman 15:51

Oh, yeah. Well, it's been great talking to you. And we're online at extradutysolutions.com, all one word.com. And if anybody wants to email and ask questions, the best way is info@extradutysolutions.com.

Gresham Harkless 16:09

Awesome. We'll make sure to have those links in that information in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you guys. See all the awesome things that you're doing. Again, I appreciate your time and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Rich Milliman 16:20

Thanks. It's been a pleasure being on.

OUTRO 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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