Contractor Evolution

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP39 A growing company needs people to step up and lead divisions, initiatives and small teams.   While this may be plainly obvious to you, what is less clear is how to assess whether or not someone has what it takes to step to the plate and be a driving force in your business. What traits do you interview for before making someone a General Manager, Site Supervisor, or Crew Leader.. or some other leader within? In this episode Igor and I tackle this question, having completed north of a thousand interviews for a multitude of leadership roles.  We talk about: The three critical traits every leader in your business needs to have The specific questions you need to ask during an interview to assess someone’s ability to lead How to ask questions the interviewee can’t BS their way through What’s at stake if you hire someone without the 3 characteristics Examples of people who lack of these traits and how they will show up on the jobsite The difference between which traits you can train vs which ones you can’t See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP38 To download Ryan Shantz' sample quote, click here: https://trybta.com/PCDLEP38 When you add up all the quotes, estimates, proposals (whatever you call them) that you do in a year and consider the sheer volume of sales opportunities your business has every season, you realize that even a slight boost in efficiency has a massive impact on how much revenue you sell.   If you could land one more deal out of every 10 quotes you give.  How many dollars would that add up to?  How much more profit would your business generate with no extra effort. Do the math… Seriously… the number might surprise you because it’s a lot. One of the easiest ways to maximize your closing ratio is by leaving your customer with a beautiful and informative proposal that does a bunch of the selling for you. Something that not only articulates the scope of work in precise detail, but also showcases your brand as the obvious solution to your customer’s problems.   It turns out there is actually a formula to building such a perfect proposal, and to walk us through it we have Ryan Shantz on the show today.  Ryan is the Founder of SumoQuote.   For years, Ryan has obsessed over how to craft the perfect proposal that will stand for itself and drive more sales.  Why is he qualified to be a subject matter expert on this topic?  Well, for years prior to SumoQuote, he has owned (and still owns) a massive 8 figure roofing company in Calgary, Alberta. When he implemented these high level proposals into the company their closing ratios shot up from 27 to 44 percent. On today’s show he breaks down the ingredients that go into a proposal that sells itself. In this week’s episode we discuss: The 5 core items that exist in proposals that sell themselves The simple key image that is most likely to impact the homeowners decision (that most quotes leave out) The psychology behind strategically placed visuals and graphic design Where to include social proof in your design to increase SR New ways to make it super easy for the customer to say yes How a better proposal allows you to scale your sales team while protecting you from liability So if you want to close more, charge more, and save time, this episode is a must listen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP37 Where your business ends up in 10 years depends on a few things.  Your effort.  The market.  Your people.  Some luck.  The list goes on.  The other predictor that may (or may not) be on your radar is the quality of advice you get. Having a true team of “Experts” in your corner can and will have a pronounced impact on where you end up as an entrepreneur.  Consulting with specialized advisors is one of the highest leverage activities available to you. It's like adding 50 yards to your drive without swinging any harder.   If you haven’t carefully curated the professional advisors that sit in your corner, I promise you, you're leaving dollars on the table.   Look, you’re more than likely gonna spend a decade plus at this … Don’t you want to maximize the return on your blood, sweat, and tears?    Good advice is worth A LOT. So in today’s episode we examine the 5 professional advisors that every contractor needs to turbocharge their business. We’ll be covering: The 5 advisors that will significantly impact where you end up  At what stages of your business growth do you look at bringing these advisors in? What to look for when you are selecting these advisors to ensure you don’t get screwed by the sea of imposters out there. Some of the specific frameworks these advisors will be helping you establish Where to find the best advisors in some of these areas What do you stand to lose by not engaging the services of these specific advisors? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP36 To learn more about Eric visit his website at https://www.erictermuende.com/ or purchase his book RETHINK WORK here https://www.erictermuende.com/rethink-work/ What’s up with the new generation? People have been complaining about “kids these days” since before the dawn of time.  This whole “young people are entitled and don’t know how good they have it” thing isn’t new, and it seems to be an especially well used trope in trades and construction.  When you have young 20-somethings demanding a higher hourly wage than you ever made and the quality of their work is suspect, it's tough NOT to be a little cynical.  This puts you in a tough spot because as infuriating as some of the Gen-Zers and Millennials are to you, the physically demanding nature of your business means you need to find a way to connect, attract and lead young people.  The other pitfall of cynical thinking is that you paint a huge population with too broad a brush.  Writing off 70 million people as “lazy” is, ironically, a form of laziness in and of itself.   For every blue-haired tick tocker that makes your eyes roll, there is a quiet mechanically minded kid who wants to work with their hands...  and it's your job to find these youngsters and showcase what an amazing lifestyle and career IS possible through trades and construction.  Our education system definitely ain’t doin it, so like it or not, this responsibility lies squarely with you… the evolving contractor.  To bridge this gap and debunk some myths, we’ve brought in Eric Termuende, a leadership author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Eric specializes in working with organizations to build incredible teams and attract the next generation. Eric delivers north of 75 keynote speeches a year to large organizations like John Deere, Zoom, Amazon, Toyota and various Trade Associations. He is the author of the book, RETHINK WORK and has been unpacking the generational challenge for the last 7 years. In this episode we cover: How the changing world ends up shaping each generation in a unique way Why approaching the conversation in terms of this generation vs that generation is ass backwards How to leverage the story you already have to catch the attention of ambitious, driven and loyal young people. How the physically demanding hands-on nature of your business may actually be its most attractive feature rather than a detractor. How you need to conduct yourself as the owner and leader of the company to bring in young talent The super simple method any leader can use to quickly build trust in their teams See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP35 To download the 3 stages coaching pdf click here: https://trybta.com/PCDLEP35 What are you working so hard for? Money for you and your family. And the time to enjoy it. Most evolving contractors want both.  The finer details of the picture may change from entrepreneur to entrepreneur, we are all unique.  But for a lot of us, our dream life and business is centered around more money and more time.  You can’t really savour one without the other. Now, as you’ve definitely realized already, this dream is impossible without competent staff who can independently solve problems, make decisions, and drive the business forward.   Developing leaders within is essential because if everyone and everything needs us, we’ll never feel the freedom that motivated us to start our company in the first place.  Do you want empowered teams and leaders that execute well without you?  Or a bunch of worker bees who need constant babysitting?  The choice is yours. This is why “coaching” will always be more effective than “bossing”. To help us move from boss and coach, we’re joined by James Dale, one of our favourite recurring guests.  As you’ve heard in other episodes James is Director of Training and Development for Breakthrough Academy.   Today’s conversation is about situational leadership and how to coach your employees as they go through the 3 developmental stages associated with taking on a new role or learning a new skill. If you can’t develop talent your business will always run you! To avoid this, here are a few key points we go over: How to tackle the very common scenario of moving a skilled employee into a management role What happens to contractors that don’t see themselves as a coach in their business How to work with someone when they have low skill but high commitment The coaching style most contractors skip when their employees are doing OK that holds back big opportunities for growth How NOT to lead employees that have high competency and high commitment What to do when you are too busy to properly coach each employee that reports to you See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP34 If you’ve been a contractor for even a short period of time you’ve no doubt noticed that technology is changing the game…..and fast. There are technologies and softwares purpose-built to help you with nearly every aspect of your business.  From lead gen to estimating, Bookkeeping to HR, inventory management to time tracking.  No matter what the task is, there is some platform out there to help you with it.   And if there isn’t yet there will be soon. Now, to be clear, I’m not saying randomly buying software subscriptions is going to fix everything. In fact, if you don't know how to navigate this world you can actually do more harm than good - and we’ll talk about how to avoid that mistake in the episode.  But for evolved contractors planning to play this game for a while yet, the slow and methodical implementation of your tech stack is no longer optional. This is why we brought Piers Dormeyer to the show today.  Piers is the president of Construction and Utilities at EagleView.  If you’ve not heard of EagleView yet, let me give a great example of how tech is changing the game.  They’re a geospatial software designed to help take estimating and project planning to another level.   Let me explain: Eagleview owns and operates a fleet of over 100 aircraft that are constantly flying over the towns and cities of North America, taking high-resolution aerial photos of buildings and properties.  These photos then get turned into hyper-precise diagrams accurate to a 10th of a foot.   Think about it… you could drive to the customer’s house with a tape measure and a ladder, to spend an hour painstakingly measuring and estimating.  Or you could order an EagleView Report and have all that data (images, 3d models, measurements) in seconds.  No human error, no drive time, and way better information to build your pricing and project plan around.   That’s probably why over 54,000 contractors ordered an  EV report last year. Anyway, Piers’ background, before joining EagleView, which we’ll let him explain in a second gives him a super unique perspective on technology's influence on the contracting industry. In this episode with Piers we unpack: How the contracting tech space has changed in the last 15 years The specific tech stack that Piers would recommend if he were starting a contracting company from scratch The difference in mindset between ‘early’ adopters and ‘late’ adopters and where each path leads The process you should be using to both select and integrate new software into your business How Covid has permanently altered the way contractors use technology Where Piers sees technology evolving in the contracting space in the next 10 years To watch the full episode and access free resources go to www.contractorevolution.com If you are growing, but working like a dog to make it all happen, take our 10 day, Evolved Contractor Challenge to free yourself - http://www.btacademy.com/evolvedcontractorchallengeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP33 To download our Annual Strategic Planning Quick Tool click here: https://trybta.com/PCDLEP33 You could say that there are two groups of businesses out there - ones that put actual thought into where they are headed, and ones that do not. It’s no secret that all high performing organizations in the world put some real brain space into mapping out the future, in order to be able to channel resources and human energy towards achieving intentional goals.  Our company, Breakthrough Academy - which brings you the Contractor Evolution show - has been ranked among the country’s fastest growing companies for years in a row, and one of our big keys to success has been our rhythmic Annual Strategic Planning process that happens every December.  One of my favorite quotes about entrepreneurship comes from Stephen Covey, and it goes something like this “all things are created twice - once in the mind, and then in real life”.  What that means is that everything you want to make a reality - the lifestyle you’re after, the income you want to make, the size of business, specific employes and leaders to have inside of your company, the dialled in CRM, or perfect, beautiful office - will first come to life in your mind, and then be created into reality.  A great mechanism to allow this creative process to unfold is the Annual Strategic Planning ritual. For years, it has been the arena to reflect, to dream, vision, and create a path for a brilliant future. In today’s episode, the three Directors at Breakthrough Academy come together to give you a peak behind the curtain and tell you about how they go about their Annual Strategic Planning process.  We have Igor Trninic, our Managing Director, James Dale, our Director of Training and Development, and Danny Kerr, BTA’s Director of Assessment, as we give you a play-by-play of how they plan the future and bring it to reality with extraordinary accuracy.  On today’s show, we dive into: What’s at stake for you personally if you don’t take the time for Strategic Planning? Why you SHOULDN’T be planning in a boardroom with whiteboards and laptops - and where to go instead How do you know when you’ve got a plan that will work vs a pipe dream on paper? The 3 things you should come away with once you’ve completed your Annual Strategic Plan The step-by-step process BTA uses when we plan they the next year The critical moves that happen immediately after your Annual Strategic Plan that ensure momentum So let’s dive into Strategic Planning, with Igor, Danny and James.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP32 To get the Strategic Planning Quick Tool click here: https://trybta.com/PCDLEP32 This episode is going to be a little different from our typical format. While a lot of our other Contractor Evolution episodes are more instructional, this one is more of an in depth observation of the contracting and trades industry on a personal level. Over the last few years, I’ve conducted well over 1000 business assessments, each lasting roughly 2 hours, where I dive deep into the biggest challenges each contractor is facing. What becomes blatantly obvious over time is that most of the issues I see come back to 3 core problems that are totally preventable. So in this episode I’m going to lay out (or maybe rant a little) on a few key points: General observations after conducting more than 1000 business assessments with contractors 3 easy to avoid mistakes that 9 out of 10 contractors are making in their everyday decisions The area where a company falls apart when there is no clear vision Why being the ‘nice guy’ sentences you the death of a thousand cuts The biggest opportunity for recruiting that is sitting right in front of contractors faces but few recognize it A rant that most contractors need to hear about where they focus their efforts General observations after conducting more than 1000 business assessments with contractors 3 easy to avoid mistakes that 9 out of 10 contractors are making in their everyday decisions Specifically where a company falls apart when there is no clear vision Why being the ‘nice guy’ becomes the death of a thousand cuts The biggest opportunity for recruiting that is sitting right in front of contractors faces but few recognize it A rant that most contractors need to hear about where they focus their efforts    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP31 You, more than likely, didn’t start your business to stare at quickbooks, reconcile receipts, or painstakingly track every expense down to the penny.   You started your business because you had a vision, you wanted to lead, and you wanted to create. Being an entrepreneur was the best vehicle for that.   And while your big picture thinking is critical to success, let’s not forget at the end of the day your business needs to make money.  This part of the equation can be extremely difficult without solid bookkeeping and accounting systems.  You can build teams and process all you want, but if your business doesn’t reliably generate profit, you won’t be playing this game very long. While this concept is simple enough to understand... it's a lot harder to implement.  Let’s not kid ourselves... tracking financial data really well and using it to make the right decisions requires great accounting infrastructure and the right person to do it diligently.   The good news is that person doesn’t need to be you. Your responsibility is to assemble the right people around you to get this done successfully.  The bad news is that a lot of bookkeepers can often be incompetent, unreliable, or straight up shady. And as a busy business owner it can be hard to find the true pros that ARE out there. To shed some light on this thorny issue we brought Morgan Ray onto the show. Morgan is Managing Partner at Bookkeeping for Trades - a professional bookkeeping firm built exclusively for entrepreneurs in the Trades and Construction space.   Morgan’s firm has managed the accounting cycle for over 200 trades businesses helping them gain true financial clarity and increased margins. When it comes to bookkeeping for trades, she understands the needs of the market. In this episode we unpack: Why bookkeeping is so frustrating for contractors and why you aren’t alone in thinking it is The 2 kinds of bookkeeping and why 1 sucks and the other is pretty fun, but few contractors use it What a good bookkeeper SHOULD be doing, and also what they SHOULDN’t be doing The crucial security pieces every contractor needs to have in place to avoid fraud, embezzlement, or a nasty call from the tax man What good bookkeeping FEELS like to you the business owner, and how to know when you’ve nailed it The 3 traits you should be looking for when you hire a bookkeeper If you are are growing, but working like a dog to make it all happen, take our 10 day, Evolved Contractor Challenge to free yourself - http://www.btacademy.com/evolvedcontractorchallengeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you'd like to apply for Breakthrough Academy click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP30 To download the Employer Brand Quick Action Guide click here: https://trybta.com/PCDLEP30 Last week was the first part of our Contractor Roundtable on the topic, “Where Did All The Good Talent Go?” In that first episode we reverse engineered the 7 patterns that top Employer Brands seemed to share. An Employer Brand, in case you are wondering, is a contracting business that attracts the best talent in the industry, regardless of what is going on economically.  If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, I suggest you add it to your playlist. This week we broke down 6 quick actions that any contractor could implement that makes them more attractive to potential applicants. In this episode we cover: The imagery and messaging to use on your job ads and landing page that attracts top talent How to leverage your Instagram account to peak the interest of potential applicants An easy way to add fun into your team culture so you can showcase it to the world The way to add style to your team that gets them and prospects excited An ‘outside the box’ referral program that you won’t find in most contracting businesses What’s at stake in the next decade if you don’t implement some of these things See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.