Contractor Evolution

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP149 For many contractors, financial clarity can be elusive.  None of us got into business for ourselves to stare at QuickBooks, spreadsheets, or P&Ls.  That said, the dangers of ignoring this indispensable side of our business are no laughing matter.  Does laying good people off because you can’t afford them anymore sound fun to you?  Or funneling personal dollars into a business account to run payroll?  Or filing for bankruptcy? Don’t be a financial freewheeler.  That’s one of our mantras here at Breakthrough Academy.  On that note, I am extremely excited to welcome Bob Gauvreau to the show today. Bob is the founder and CEO of Gauvreau Accounting Tax Law Advisory, a 100+ professional services firm that specializes in the contracting niche.  In a world of lame financial gurus and quasi-experts, it is actually very hard to find a master of the craft, and Bob is exactly that.  Today’s conversation is about how the 4 easiest ways to improve the financial health of your business headed what could be a rocky year. To know more about Bob and Gauvreau Accounting Tax Law Advisory visit: https://gauvreaucpa.ca/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP148 Do you thrive on chaos? Or does it thrive on you? Is there something about the entrepreneurial journey that attracts the tormented soul?  Or is it the journey of small business itself that causes the discord inside us? I’m not sure I know the answer, but one thing that seems abundantly clear to me is that if we don’t tame the chaos within, it amplifies itself on the outside.  Our frantic and reactive energy rubs off on the people we lead.   Our scarcity mindset causes us to push, drive, and sell at a rate that seemingly no one can keep up with.   Our incredibly high standards for ourselves and our team exhaust us, as nothing is ever good enough. My point is this: Chaotic leadership doesn’t scale.   If you’re in a chapter of your growth journey where you’re: tired (like… REALLY tired 😫) wondering why you started this thing in the first place 🤷‍♂️ dealing with ambient anxiety you can’t quite put your finger on 👀 or your personal relationships are suffering due to the demands of your business… … then this episode is for you Jon DeWaal is the founder of Liminal Space, an organization dedicated to helping leaders thrive as they navigate the intensity of organizational, professional, and personal change.   He’s also the personal coach to one of our co-founders, Danny Kerr, who insisted we have him on, and you’ll see why…  To find more about Jon and Liminal Space visit: https://www.inaliminalspace.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP147 One part of the wealth-building story for contractors that doesn’t get a whole lot of coverage in our modern thought-o-sphere is risk mitigation.  The affluent business person you want to become doesn’t get there SIMPLY by always making successful bets.  The part you don’t see is the huge losses they avoided.  S*** happens. So protecting the downside is actually more important than the pursuit of growth. We’re excited to have Danielle Slavin on the show today. She is a CFA and a Senior Portfolio Manager at RBC Dominion Securities. For the last 16 years, she and her team of 6 help have helped contractors just like you preserve and prudently grow the wealth they extract from their businesses.  Today we’re going to talk about the morbid but oh-so-important ways to protect your wealth from: Deaths Divorces Serious Illnesses  and a whole host of other threats  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP146 I’m a month late getting my predictions for the year together. But better late than never. Am I right? I’ve got 11 spicy takes on what’s going down in our North American blue-collar business universe this year, including: Private equity will _________. Early adopters of_____ will destroy ______ . The Canadian economy will _____ while the American will ____. Don't miss out on these valuable insights, and prepare for the future with us! Watch Mike Van Capelle's case study here: https://youtu.be/mShu3DXhTlU  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP145 Last time on the Wealth Builder series, Matt Wood talked about value investing in relatively low-cost stocks that pay dividends. Companies that cashflow, just like your own. The other approach, known as growth investing, while more alluring, is also way higher risk. Not better or worse. Just different. For every friend or acquaintance who struck it rich on Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, or even Bitcoin, there are 10 more quietly sulking and licking their wounds because they bought at the wrong time, didn’t understand the asset, or underestimated the downside. Value investing is buying for stability and cash flow. Growth investing is buying for the major upside. They both can work, but the approaches are very different. In this episode, we will show that when it comes to growth investing, there is a standard of excellence to analyzing companies and how well they’re run that real professionals hold to before taking any investment position.  It’s not roulette… it's a careful selection based on real data and rigorous research. To help demystify the world of growth investing, we’re joined by Anthony Scilipoti.  He is the President and CEO of Veritas Investment Research. A CPA in Canada and the US for the last 30 years, his team of 28 conducts and publishes rigorous research and analysis on publicly traded companies to help investors understand which ones accurately represent what's happening inside their companies and which ones are hiding behind smoke and mirrors. Highlights: Anthony’s methodology for analyzing companies from the inside out He illustrates that accounting is very subjective, and there is a lot more to understanding a company and its potential value than what you see on it’s stock ticker As a bonus, Anthony also gives us some perspective on growth stocks and why people invest in expensive companies that don’t push out cash dividends.   Your hard-earned money should be invested in great companies, not just the latest trends. To find more about Anthony and Veritas Investment Research go to: https://www.veritascorp.com/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dan Martell, an award-winning entrepreneur and author of 'Buy Back Your Time,' shares his journey from adversity to success, including how a troubled upbringing shaped his approach to business. He delves into the chaos addiction that often plagues entrepreneurs and emphasizes the need for self-awareness. Martell introduces the 'buyback principle,' a game-changer for time management, encouraging listeners to delegate low-value tasks. His insights aim to help entrepreneurs reclaim their time and enjoy the entrepreneurial journey.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP143 Welcome back to Contractor Evolution and episode 4 of our Wealth Builder series! So far in this series, we’ve talked about: The investor's mindset  Diversification Staying “lendable”  And real estate investment strategies It’s time now to turn our attention to the stock market investment and look specifically at a style generally called “Value Investing.” Owning shares in companies that methodically turn a profit for their shareholders is a fundamentally different approach than looking for the next Apple or Microsoft and betting big. The thrill of buying shares in a moonshot might be tantalizing, but owning shares of a workhorse enterprise that consistently makes money and distributes it ain’t a bad idea either. These companies often have their hand in your wallet already. Telecommunications. Banks. Utilities. Manufacturers. To explain the fundamentals of how this works, we’re excited to have Matt Wood on the show with us today. Matt’s been an investment fund manager for 30 years, including two decades owning an asset management company that managed over $2B in assets in its heyday.  Matt understands what makes a company, and sometimes an entire industry, an excellent investment, and today, he explains his core principles to us in simple, down-to-earth terms that any business owner can understand.  Our hope with today’s episode is NOT that you become a professional investor where you manage your portfolio yourself; rather that you know some baseline fundamentals about the concept of Value Investing so that you can have an intelligent conversation about it with a capable advisor by your side.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP141 It's funny we’ve done almost 150 episodes of contractor evolution, and this is the first conversation we’ve had about the CONTRACT part. Better late than never I guess. Today’s conversation is with Cian Brennan, Founder and CEO of Quantum Contract Solutions, and it’s all about how to DRAMATICALLY reduce your risk by learning the game of contracts.  We talk about: How to use the termination clause to set some boundaries with the GC and dictate the terms in which YOU can fire THEM! Why most contractors make the colossal mistake of believing that can’t negotiate their contracts (guess what, you can and SHOULD) Lastly, we talk about tweaking what's called the limit of liability to avoid those business-ending lawsuits This conversation was SUPER eye-opening and could save you some unimaginable headaches in the future.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP141 Welcome back to Contractor Evolution!  This is episode 3 of the Wealth Builder series.  Justin Bontkes is the founder and principal of Caliber Projects, a construction management and general contracting firm working on some of the most exciting real estate developments in BC.  In many ways, Justin is the perfect case study for how contractors can build wealth through real estate investment alongside their core operating business.  In 14 years, Justin has gone from a bags-on framer flipping houses on the side to leading Caliber’s team of 85 and building over $150 million in low-rise and high-rise projects.  Through a dedication to constant learning and an eye for undervalued real estate, Justin has grown an award-winning company and amassed personal wealth, security, and freedom for himself and his family.  In today’s conversation, Justin breaks down the following: Why, for contractors at least, the concept of  “diversification” might actually be a bit overrated  How to avoid “killing the golden goose” by taking your eye off the ball with your core business as you endeavor into real estate Lastly, he takes us through his personal investment strategy, how he analyzes land deals, and where he seeks to ADD value to properties and force their appreciation  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP140 Today's guest on the show is Pierre Cleroux, Chief Economist of the BDC, Canada’s bank for entrepreneurs. He’s been an economist for 30 years and has led the research team at the BDC for the last 12. On top of lending to entrepreneurs for their various business needs, the BDC also conducts and publishes a vast amount of research and literature on the ever-changing landscape of small to medium-sized businesses. Today’s conversation is hyper-focused on 3 macro trends that absolutely impact your business and where they’re headed. We talk about: Where inflation is at, where it is headed, and HOW you can thrive in spite of it We discuss how climbing interest rates are affecting the monthly cash flow of both homeowners and businesses and whether or not your contracting business is headed for a slowdown Lastly, he shares with us the research their team has done on the current labor shortage, how we ended up here, and whether or not it's going to get better (I’ll give you a hint: it’s not looking great ;) Pierre was a great guest and gave us a highly insightful economic overview of the year 2023 and what's in store for you in 2024.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.