07/03/2024

How To Buy Back Your Time & Make More Money

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of contractor prison and enter the bliss of contractor freedom so you can have the time, money, and freedom to live your life with purpose beyond your business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go! All right, welcome back, everybody. Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a special guest who is truly a beacon of innovation and leadership in the home service industry. Billy Kline, the owner of YourNewDoor. com is here with us. Billy runs a family business. Metro area and Billy and I have been online friends for quite a while now, but we recently got to spend some time talking in [00:01:00] person when he, uh, generally offered to take me to the airport in Austin, rather than me hailing an Uber. So I really appreciate that, Billy. And Billy made a choice to a few years ago to eject the status quo in his business and to, and to change the game. And since then, he's made some impress impressive strides in his business. And I'm sure that you are going to be inspired by his story. One of the things that I really. Appreciate about Billy is how humble and hungry he is. And plus he's got a heart to give back and to help others. So Billy, welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. It's fantastic to have you here with us today. Billy Cline: Hey Jason, I appreciate you having me on. It's an honor. There's one thing in this world I like to talk about is business, right? I'm very awkward a lot of times when we get into social events or settings, right? Like, I don't want to talk about much. I don't like talking about baseball or sports much, but I want to talk about business. So if I can corner someone at a party or something like that, it wants to talk business, you know, they can't shut me up. But otherwise, a lot of times I sit around and don't say much. So I enjoy these, We know Jason Phillips: if we revisit that. That little [00:02:00] talk we had on the way to the airport, you know, you told me where the way your business used to be. Can you just give me a, give us a, give the listeners a glimpse of, of how did things used to be with, with your company and you? Billy Cline: Well, you know, we spoke a little bit and I referenced that, you know, the path that you're on and what you do and what you speak about, contractor prison and breaking out of that. I was the epitome of that, right? Like my, my business owned me. I didn't have a, I didn't have a business. I had a job really. Right. And my number one goal every week was to sell enough jobs to make payroll. Right? And it was really one of those scenarios where I couldn't afford to take a day off. I couldn't miss a day. If something went wrong on a job where we didn't get paid for that job, we were going to miss payroll. And you know, it was always something, right? Like it was literally what you hear and what you think when someone talks about being a firefighter in their business. If, you know, you know, Honestly, it's probably was a good exercise for me to go through because now when something's on fire around here, I just sit around and, you know, it doesn't, I don't get excited about it because I've been through way worse. Right. [00:03:00] So, but it was literally, you know, five alarms every day, just trying to keep the wheels on the bus. Somebody doesn't show up, you know, somebody messed up a project, something was missold or whatever. Right. So it was always something and I just got tired of it one day. Honestly, almost quit. My wife and I went to church. And we stopped at, I'll never forget it, we stopped at Burger Street on the way back from church and had a conversation that we were going to quit offering a certain aspect of our business just because it was just so burdensome. And I was ready to quit. And I'm glad that I didn't because in three or four instances in my life, I've been right at that edge to where things were, you know, ready to quit. And it's like, it was literally like, just, that was the edge that we broke over and things started to break open for us and change. Mostly my mindset and my attitude. But it really, after we, after I, uh, got over not quitting and getting over that, it was like the skies opened up and, you know, God was ready for us to do, you know, what, uh, we were supposed to do. Jason Phillips: Billy, has there been a time [00:04:00] when, can you take us back to a time and maybe that was it, when you felt completely, you know, overwhelmed by your business and it was, it brought you to maybe even a breaking point? How long, uh, are we Billy Cline: recording today? Right? Yeah. It was, you know, the interesting thing for me is, I feel like, you know, not to pat myself on the back or anything, I feel like I have come out of that place relatively quickly, right? Like, it's one of those things, like a reform story, someone's in prison and they get out and totally change their life and become, you know, millionaires or whatever. I was literally felt like I was stuck in prison. You know, I was, a lot of times, I was wearing all the hats still. I was doing all the sales. I had people for things, but I was too dumb and too stubborn to turn loose and let them do their job, right, without micromanaging. It was just always. You know, buyers and always I had to felt like I needed to be in a part of everything. And then one day I, what really broke it open for me was I realized that I had a broken mind, right? Like I was raised by people who were raised by people who went through the great [00:05:00] depression, right? And generationally that carries over. And my parents, it wasn't something they did wrong or, you know, were necessarily trying to do to me, but. Growing up, I always heard that cost too much, that won't work, can't do that, right? There was never enough money for anything, but, but, you know, the thing, you know, cigarettes and things like that, right? Like they always had money for that. Gas is always too expensive. The rent was always too expensive. And what I realized was I had that in me and I went to buy a van, right? Like I had bought one at the beginning of COVID before things went crazy, just before COVID. It was like 35, 000 bucks, right? Very reasonable. You know, 18 months after that, during COVID, I went and bought two more and they were almost 60, 000. And I was like, there's no way they're worth that. But what I got to thinking about a couple days later was like, I'm an idiot. Because if I don't want to spend 60, 000 for the van, it's not that. It's a 1, 000 a month payment, right? So by not wanting to pay a 1, 000 a month payment, it's costing me 000 in revenue that I'm not going to be able to get. So right then I realized that I had a broken mindset and I was going to do [00:06:00] anything in my power to fix that. And it started by taking it, becoming curious, right? Reading books, going to events, seeking out mentors, listening to people smarter than me and podcasts. Really, podcasts really opened my whole mind to, you know, successful people. And it is as simple as that sound. It really does starts to, uh, grease the wheels in your mind and change your mindset. And all these gurus that are out here and all the things that will, number one thing that, that they may disguise or you may not realize they're selling you is a mindset. They can help you fix your minds that take credit for, they charge you for it, but you really don't need a guru to help you fix your mind. You just have to make your mind up and decide that day is the day that I am changing. I don't know the answers. I don't have the answers. I will seek the answers out and like in the Bible, ask and ye shall read. Receive, see, and we shall find. When you start looking for the answer, they mysteriously show up. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. And that's literally all about mindset. That's the problem, you Jason Phillips: know, Billy, with mindsets is they [00:07:00] cloak themselves in logic, broken mindsets. That's too expensive, but we're asking the wrong question. It's not how much does it cost? It's in that case, it's what am I missing out on by not spending this money with your van question, right? And switching to an investment. Absolutely. And some people will say it's an unlimited mindset. Surplus mindset or whatever it is, but man, that's a key. And what's crazy is we can see limited mindsets in others, but we can't see them in ourselves. You know, I literally, maybe you've been through the same thing. I've literally went through a time and I still pray this prayer from time to time, but I literally went through a time where I prayed every day, God, I want you to open up my thinking, help me think bigger, help me to see my own limitations. Man, that's a great, that's a great, that's a great story. So, you know, so before that, back in the day, I guess you were striving to meet payroll, right? And then you recognized you had a limited mindset, which kudos to you, man, for doing that. So along, along this change, what, what personal sacrifices have you, you know, had to make along the way? Billy Cline: All of them, right? You [00:08:00] know, it didn't. It really kind of got bad there for a while...

48 min

04/17/2024

This Is Why You're Not Closing Sales feat. Joe Covarrubias

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello Contractors, we've got a great episode for you today. I have with me today Mr. Joe Covarrubias. He is the, the shy, quiet type. No, for those of you that know Joe, no, he's not the shy, quiet type. Joe's our VP and he has been, training the salespeople at our home improvement company for, I [00:01:00] think, eight years now. Eight years. And so we're going to learn some insights from Joe so that you can take your sales organization to higher levels. Hey Joe, welcome to the show today. Joe Covarrubias: Thank you so much. I'm excited to be here. I always love Visiting with you on a different level other than a boss employee relationship. I love just sharing and chatting. So thank you for having me. Jason Phillips: I'm glad you were able to take some time out of VP prison. No. So you've, you know, you've trained quite a few salespeople. And the reason we're doing this episode today is because so many of our business owner friends. are at the place where they've hired their first salesperson and the new salesperson for whatever reason can't seem to close the deal like the business owner. And I thought we might diagnose for them some possible things of what could be going on. So, you know, what would be the first thing, you know, if a guy comes in, Hey Joe, my new salesperson, he's not closing deals like I was. Can you help me diagnose it? You know, what's the first thing you would look at? Joe Covarrubias: Well, the first thing I would look at [00:02:00] is, you know, I've been real fortunate to kind of go on this journey with you of the behavior profiles. And when I first started as a sales manager here at Phillips, I didn't have, I wasn't as educated as I was, and I was just hiring guys who had the gift of gap, you know, just sales guys, right? But as I've been along on this journey with you, With regard to behavior profile, that'd be the first question I ask. What is this guy's, is he in a seat that, is he in the right seat? I mean, be great guy. He may be a, his, it is this profile may be a sales profile, but it could be a long sales cycle. There's different sales. And here at Philips, you know, we work, we try to nurture a one call close environment. And there's a certain profile that. That does that. So if they're not closing OTS on the spot, that's probably the first place up. Jason Phillips: Is the personality profile. Interesting. Something near and dear to my heart. Yeah, exactly. You know, it makes me think about if we look at external things and we look at like sports. Right. You know, there's a typical physique of someone who's winning medals in swimming. Joe Covarrubias: Right. Jason Phillips: And [00:03:00] you know, from their height, their leg length versus their upper body length. And then their lungs. This is the same thing for like marathon runners. Sure. And let's say basketball players or sumo wrestlers or boxers. Right. Or it's like in any professional sport for, let's say individual sports for now, there are. Some typical physiques or body makeups that put you at an advantage automatically. The other guys can still outwork you and work harder than you, but there's things that give you the edge. And it's kind of like that, it's like personalities. And you know, I'll never forget when one of the times that this really hit me. Hit home to me was when we were initially teaching the team how to knock on the door and, you know, and our, one of the things we want to do is we show up with a clipboard with our paper, right? And it's got, you know, it's got both property owners on it, typically a husband and a wife, and we don't know who's answering the door. But in a scenario, you know, if the husband answers the door and our paperwork says that we're supposed to meet with [00:04:00] John and Jane, then we need to, you know, say, well, Hey, Mr. Krubitsch, I see I'm supposed to be meeting with a you and Jane, is Jane available? And that question, when I was working with people that had the wrong personality style, that question scared the crap out of them. Joe Covarrubias: It can, it, if you don't have the right profile, it can be uncomfortable. Jason Phillips: But it's such a simple. Joe Covarrubias: It's simple, you know, with a with ourselves, there's a series of what we call soft. And every, in our last, at our last boot camp that we had here, that you guys were at the boot camp, you remember us talking about trying to get three yards at a time, and, or three and a half yards at a time. And throughout the sales, at the end of each, let's just call it a step, there's a soft close, and that's your three yards. And your first soft close is getting both people at the table. That's their full focus of all owners. That's the first soft close and if you start your appointment or you start your set off or whatever you call it, without being able to get that first commitment, the other six commitments are gonna be really tough. Because at the end, you're [00:05:00] gonna ask them to get on your schedule. And if you can't ask for the for the second party, it's going to be real hard to ask for a 40, 000 interior, you know? Yeah, Jason Phillips: exactly. So, you know, you've hit on something else, is if we don't line up a great appointment, if we can't get there, if we can't get their focus, the kids are running around, or they're distracted by taking, you know, their animal, or a phone call. If we can't have their focus, it's going to be hard to get any commitments to get the project done, to trust us, to want it our way. You know, our value, all of that. Joe Covarrubias: It is, and you know, the beautiful thing about, you know, our workflow here at Phillips is, which you quoted it today to the leadership team, it's reinforcement. You know, we start that process of getting both parties there as soon as the customer calls in. And by the time we knock on the door, whether it's that day, many times it's the same day, which guys prefer because they're ready to buy if it's a same day appointment. We reinforce that importance. The importance of having all parties. Jason Phillips: So what, Joe, what are some, let's say you hire a sales guy and we're in this plays into the, why your new [00:06:00] guy isn't closing like he should. What are some telltale signs on day one or week one that this guy or gal really, we're not, we say salesmen, but saleswomen do really well in this industry as well. What are some early warning signs that you shouldn't ignore? Okay. Joe Covarrubias: I do things, I probably do things a little bit. It may be, and it may come across as harsh. What I do is when I feel like I have a strong candidate to join the superstars here at Philips, I invite them on Friday to come in. That's our, that's a sales meeting day right now. And to just join the sales meeting, help the guys. At that Friday meeting, I introduce them to their first script, that doorknock. And I go over the script with them. I actually let them video me. I have them record me, and basically what I tell them is to learn it on Friday, love it on Saturday, and be able to live it on Sunday. Because I'm not teaching them a task, I'm teaching them a way of life throughout their career here at Phillips. And I tell them they have until 9 o'clock Monday morning. They're welcome to call [00:07:00] me over the weekend. They're welcome to, and I remember they're walking away with a video recording in the actual script. There have been a number of times where I've let the candidate go at nine o'clock because he did not study the script. It may seem a little harsh, but you know, right, right now, I think the last Facebook live we did, we talked about the cost per lead in those assets. You know, before we start sinking 1, 000 1, 500 a day in these candidates, we have to know they're going to do the homework. First sign. If they don't get that first script over the weekend. Jason Phillips: Will they put in the work? Joe Covarrubias: Will they Jason Phillips: put in the work. So, Joe, are you giving them like a whole book? Tell everybody, I know what you're giving them but, I mean, are you giving them a whole script book? What, how big is this? I'm Joe Covarrubias: giving one, I should count the words, I don't know. It's like 10 sentences. Yeah, it's just 10 sentences. The purpose of that script is basically to get the prospect's time and attention. Yeah. That's all we're trying to do. Jason Phillips: So, so you're saying that if a guy shows up and he hasn't given it the effort over the weekend at 9 o'clock, you're cutting him loose. Because if he's I pay him

42 min

03/06/2024

Master the Art of Connection: Best Kept Secrets Reveal w/ Janell Roedl

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello, contractors. I ignored these resources. For so many years, and I kept hearing about all the amazing resources that the PCA had available for its members. And even though I've been a member for a long time, I had been a member for a long time, I never really took the time to check these things out because I was always busy running my [00:01:00] business. Well today, I've got great news. We're opening the closet turning on the light in today's episode We're diving in with the PCA's own Janelle Roedl the PCA member advocate I want you to stick around till the end because I guarantee you're gonna discover one or more multiple resources that you can use To solve your business challenges, stand on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before you, save you time, money, and headaches. Janelle, welcome to the show. Janell Roedl: Thank you, Jason. I am honored and it's a pleasure to be here. Jason Phillips: Well, I am so glad that we connected. Janelle, would you, would you take a moment to share with everybody, you know, what's your role? What, what is, what is the member coordinator at the PCA? Janell Roedl: Absolutely, I'd love to. So my title now is Member Advocate and I kind of gravitate more towards that title because it really shows that my role is on the side of the painting contractor. Not [00:02:00] PCA, but I'm here to create a premier experience for PCA members. , we do that in a variety of ways by providing resources and connecting our contractors with those resources. We have so many that it's often a challenge. One of the biggest challenges is, Finding those resources. So it's my role to help do that. , to answer questions, troubleshoot just problems, issues, connect with you. Take feedback. I would love any feedback on, the PCA, the resources we offer, the member experience, because I just want to make it better. My heart is service. I love people. I love connecting with Jason Phillips: Well, you know, I, I love, I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that. One of the things that's frustrating is when you're working within as a business owner, or let's just say as a consumer at all, you're working with an organization or you're working with, with a, with a company and. You're like, who do I call for this? Who do I call for that? I mean, just recently my company, we had been working with another company that was going to deliver some [00:03:00] stuff to us and, some digital goods to us. And they had so many departments and people, we didn't really have a single point of contact. And so hearing you just say, look, that's my job. So I think that is, Janell Roedl: Yeah. I'm your girl. Jason Phillips: so before the end of this episode, you guys are going to learn how to get in touch with Janelle so she can answer, any questions, that you have. So let's, you know, the, the, the PCA, the Painting Contractors Association, for those of you that aren't familiar, significant anniversary this year? Janell Roedl: There is, this year marks our 140th anniversary and that just blows my mind. We have a hard time thinking in generations like that. So, yeah, been around a long time, as you mentioned, standing on the shoulders of the giants that have come before us, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We just grow over 140 years and that's like one of, the big benefits of aligning with the PCA is aligning painting contractors with an organization that has 140 years of legacy behind Jason Phillips: that is, that Janell Roedl: we're excited. Jason Phillips: So, you know, let's, let's talk about the vision. Like, , if so [00:04:00] many contractors, I still meet contractors who don't even know, painting contractors who don't even know who the PCA is Janell Roedl: Right. We still say it's the best kept secret Jason Phillips: would, I would agree with that. Why does the PCA exist? Janell Roedl: great question. it exists very similar to what you told me your mission is, to elevate the painting industry, to bring professionalization to the painting industry. In the very early days, it was more designed to advocate for, painting contractors, as we have evolved and grown. And more recently, the PCA is here to discover the challenges and the pain points of our painting contractors. and meet those needs and we do that through educational resources painter training and i'm sure we're going to get into our resources today, but meeting the needs of our painting contractors in the world today Jason Phillips: you got me thinking, . you've been doing this for a while with the Janell Roedl: A little bit i'm still learning i'm eight Jason Phillips: that's, a significant amount of time. In your mind, [00:05:00] what do you think is the, I don't want to say best kept secret, but if there's one thing about the PCA and you're like, I run into so many contractors who don't know about X, Y, Z, and they need to know about X, Y, Z. What, is there something that sticks out in your mind? Janell Roedl: I have a handful of like my favorite resources or benefits with the PCA and the first one is one that I've just mentioned. It's aligning with that mission and that legacy. I think that's one of the best kept secrets. With your PCA membership, you gain access to the PCA logo and marketing materials. so Aligning in where you invest your money, your time, and using those resources like the logo package where people recognize you as a PCA member and, associate you with that legacy and that professionalization, craftsmanship and integrity. So that's one of the best. resources and reasons I think a painting contractor would want to align with the PCA. Some of my other top favorites are, [00:06:00] painter training. Painter training is Jason Phillips: Can we elaborate on that for a moment what what is entailed there Janell Roedl: So painter training, was designed to, for the painting contractor to be able to train their crew. It's seven courses. They complete the courses on their own time, video courses. They take a quiz and earn a certificate. it's standardized so that you as the painting contractor have confidence that your crew has been trained well. The painters have feel this endearment towards you as a painting contractor because you've invested in their professionalization. And that helps with employee retention, which everyone is concerned about in these times. And that all comes free with your membership, which is why it's at the top of my list because it's one of those things you get for free just by being Jason Phillips: So what if you know, what if what if the painters are spanish speakers? Janell Roedl: Great question. So, four, I believe four of those seven courses have been translated into Spanish because we do have, we want [00:07:00] to get into some of those realms like women and the Spanish speaking community. We have a Spanish initiative that we're launching in the next two years with PPG, to bring more Spanish resources. So, right now they haven't all been translated into Spanish, but they will be within the next two years, in order to meet that need, because it's definitely a Jason Phillips: So if i'm a business owner, i'm a member I can train all I can put all of my painters through this training for no additional charge. Janell Roedl: Right? I know. It's crazy. If you were a non member and purchasing those courses, they would be 99 per course per crew person. so right Jason Phillips: Yeah, it's just Janell Roedl: well Jason Phillips: for sure for sure okay, so I I know that you know, I i'm a fan of hiring for character and training for skill and hiring, let's just say hiring for fit. And, but you've got to have a training program. The reason that so many people, especially when they're newer in business, they're like, I need someone with experience. I need someone with experience. Well then you get someone with experience, might be bad experience, [00:08:00] but there's a pretty high likelihood they have bad habits or at least habits and ways of ingrained habits that don't, mesh with the way you need to run your business. And so, I love this that you, so now you can focus more on finding the right person, put them through a training program. How long does it take to go through that training program? Janell Roedl: that's a great question. It is like, go at your own pace. Seven courses, I don't know what the average, I need to look that up. What's the average time that it takes someone to complete a course? I'm thinking it's like an hour and a half to two

25 min

01/17/2024

The #1 Strategy for Selling More Painting Jobs w/ Tanner Mullen

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello Contractors! I'm excited to be here with you today. I've got a very special guest with you with us here who you can see on the screen and you're going to, you're going to want to tune in till the end because we've got some, we've got some awesome info that's, that, That impacts you guys, so many of you guys who are using a particular software for running your contracting business. I don't know if you [00:01:00] guys know who that is if, what it is, if not, yeah, you'll find out, but I've got a feeling most of you guys already know. I already know what I'm talking about here. We got the one and only, got Tanner Mullen with us here today. Tanner's not only, he's I don't know if I could call him a serial entrepreneur. But he's definitely a visionary. He obviously, you like that? Okay, yeah, he Not only is the owner of premium, painting, but also Dripjobs automation software for contractors. And not to mention, he's got the painting contractors group on Facebook, which has, more people in it than a population of China. Tanner, he's a giver and he's an all around great guy if you haven't interacted with him online And so Tanner, it's my pleasure to have you on today, man. Tanner Mullen: How are you doing? I was saying, I'm so glad he started a podcast, man. I think this was, long overdue. I respect you fully and, I'm just excited to see what you do with it. Contractor freedom, all the good stuff, man. I'm happy to be here. I really am an honor Jason Phillips: me as well. I feel the same way about you. I'm glad we got to connect. I think we've only met in person, maybe like one time in passing at a PCA event. And we we've been on a couple of podcasts together before. I think [00:02:00] on, I would like that. So I, one of the things, one of my goals, again, this isn't about me today, but. One of my goals is I just, I want to build bridges. I feel like our industry is too fragmented and that's adding to the contractors, feeling like they're on an island. And I believe that a forward thinking people need to unify, build bridges, work together, and we can make this whole community a better place. So that's one of the reasons I decided to have you on today. Hey Tanner, tell us, obviously you're the owner of Premium Painting. And am I, did I hear before that, that, you grew up in the paint business? Is that true? Tanner Mullen: Yeah, I did. Actually, my dad was a painter by trade and you know, just as a kid going on the job site with him. I remember in eighth grade, everyone else had summer where they'd hang out with their friends and I had get up at six o'clock and. Grab your white Dickies and your painter's shirt that had blue tape on it from the day before. But you know, it was, it was interesting. I didn't resent it, but I was like, I will never do this again. When I went off to college, got into the professional things like car sales, and I was really heavy into the restaurant industry. At [00:03:00] 19, I was a manager of a restaurant that I couldn't, I wasn't even old enough. To drink the alcohol that they were serving, you know, so that was interesting because people would look at me and be like, you're too young to be doing this. And I, I just always work seriously, Jason, you know, it was always something to me having a kind of like up upbringing. I just knew that that was my way out and it was something I could just. Put my attention in and focus on. And in retrospect, I look at it as a blessing, like everything to have hit so many different sectors. Many people know that, you know, I was in the restaurant industry. I got to a point where so many things I learned, ordering, learning how to deal with vendors, hiring, customer service, but what I think is so valuable, and we'll get into this later about software, Jason is, with the restaurant, having to manage the back of the house and the front of the house. How often in your business? Are you managing the back of the house and the front of the house? Having to relate to the cooks, the busboys, the dishwashers, but then having to be able to switch gears and be able to communicate effectively with the servers, the hostess, the customers. And that skill set alone has just always been so [00:04:00] instrumental in how I handle my. Developers with drip jobs and the customers, but also my front lines, right, salesperson, customers. It's just interesting just being able to kind of just relate to people. That's what I learned most. So went through the restaurant industry, got into sales. So I packaged so much. Customer service, you know, together with, with the restaurant. Then I got into sales and I learned the art of negotiation. I learned the art of following up with leads. I learned the art of waking up and having to hunt for your pay with nothing in the pipeline and you're not getting paid unless you sell. That was interesting. Look, there was no cushion to fall back on. If I don't sell, I don't eat, Jason. And then finally landing in life insurance, having to go knock doors. I learned the art of door knocking. I mean, all of these experiences, last but not least, I learned, you know, business and transactions and financing and all these things. And again, I can't attribute it to anything else, but God getting me ready for the painting business. I don't know how I, that's how, that's what I landed on. [00:05:00] Jason Phillips: You know, it, it, it doesn't sound glorious, right? I don't think any of us, unless maybe most people don't grow up thinking, Oh, I dream of owning a painting business or being a contractor. It's like a fireman, a doctor, a lawyer, an astronaut, and then a contractor. But it's amazing what you said. It's like, you look back and I'm like, dude, that's incredible. You've had all of these. different experiences that are just added to the opportunity you've got now and that you're making a difference in the industry. I love that. I didn't know a lot of that about you. I'm glad you shared that. So before you got into the software business, by the way, the whole analogy to me, it's an analogy for you. It's reality of the. Background in the restaurant business. Man, that analogy, I can just see that's on contractors. That's real. And that front of the house and back of the house, that sales and marketing and production, that's real, man. I love, Tanner Mullen: I love that. And this is to bring that even closer to home. I'm sitting in the line restaurant and I think, have you ever worked in a restaurant? No, no, never. Okay. So. [00:06:00] You know, the back Jason is these are the guys that bust their butts and the front of the house gets all the tips, right? You know, they get all the glory, but in some restaurants you have to earn the respect of the kitchen, right? Whether you're a server or whether you're a manager and my things is is like I wanted to earn that respect. I wanted to be considered a leader in the kitchen. Even though I didn't know how to cook, they saw me as someone that didn't overwhelm them with tickets because I needed things done. To be able to ask for things in a respective way and not be demanding. To manage their workload without them getting stressed out. To see an area that's weak, whether they needed to be prepped, something needed cleaned. For them to see that I'm willing to jump in with my team to get it done. And I do the same thing in my painting business. It's amazing. It's like, even though I own the business, I honestly try to earn the respect of my team. And I don't just try to do it once. It's important to me to make sure that they understand that my head hasn't gotten too big. I'm still there with [00:07:00] them. If I go to a job site, I'm looking for trash to pick up. I'm aiding them. What do you need? Do you need something? Good. I'm there. That's kind of how I've, I've transitioned from that. And I, and it's always served me well, just earning the respect of the teammates, trying to showcase to them that I'm no better than them in any regard. I just happened to have learned different things and took different risks and I need them in order to continue. Jason Phillips: Man, that is so inspiring. That is so inspiring. I look at it this way. I was never a craftsman. I was never a painter. I literally painted one house as my first week in training and I had this experience. I'm like, okay, wow, this is not my thing. I love sales and marketing at the time, but we need each other. We don't need a company full of Jasons. Everybody needs to play their part. If we're going to build a bigger future for us all, that's the way I look at it. But at the same time, Hey, I'm, we, we call it executive itis and we don't need any executive itis. I get out, I get out in the field occasionally, not as much as I really want to. And every time I do, it's like a reality check. I'm like, I remember what it was like trying to...

41 min

01/03/2024

From Soldier to 7-Figure CEO: How a Veteran Entrepreneur Built a Million-Dollar Painting Company

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello, Contractors! I'm excited. You are gonna want to stick around for the entire episode today. We've got a very special guest with us, Mr. Nick Slavik. He is the proprietor of Nick Slavik Painting and Restoration Company, and he's also the host of Ask a Painter Live. He has been a national and [00:01:00] international speaker. He is a U. S. Army veteran who volunteered for two tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. After he got out of service, he attended college. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management. And by the way, Nick is also a family man. He and his wife have four kids. And Nick has traveled the U. S. hosting masterclasses for business owners and craftspeople. As a matter of fact, Nick is a craftsman himself with more than 30 years of experience. His company has been awarded 15 national awards for craftsmanship. And he's currently the chairman of the board of directors of the PCA. That's the Painting Contractors Association. And Nick, I just want to thank you so much for joining us today and say welcome to the show!, Nick Slavick: You are making a Minnesotan blush. We are very self conscious about that sort of thing. And to list our own accomplishments in front of us, you're making me turn red, Jason Phillips: you've got quite a list. Just read, reading your site and your bio and all of this stuff. Man, you are, almost like, you're almost like a Renaissance man. I'm just, I'm not kidding. Nick Slavick: aNd so you have no idea how much I appreciate that because one of [00:02:00] my mentors outside of this industry is the prototypical renaissance man where his politics don't align with his hobbies. His hobbies aren't his politics. He's his own person. He builds stone huts. shoots things. He's he's an avid person in politics. He loves family. He does this. There's nothing in his life that fits any bucket. He's a fine artist. He makes things and it's just Great entrepreneur. And to me, people who don't fit the mold like that and are just they do what they like, they try to do the best and create good opportunities for others is inspiring to me. Jason Phillips: You are inspiring a lot of people around around the nation and I'm sure beyond, obviously you're an international speaker. I've seen you travel here and there and speak in different countries. You and I were talking before we hit record and about the difference We're both on the same journey and our listeners are on the same journey of entrepreneurship, owning small business. And, my listeners know that I came in completely broke with a sales and marketing mindset, but you came in a different door. But we all were, we both ended up at the same place. Could you tell us a little bit about your journey and how you got to where you're at today? Nick Slavick: Yeah. So this was there's [00:03:00] not many origin stories. One of them is I did it in college. One of them is my dad did it and made me do it. And I was, my dad was the, I did it in college. I was the, my dad did it in college and then made me do it. So we encompass a lot of the origin stories. There's very few people like Jason Phillips who come in here with a certain amount of knowledge and education and things like that, and and have an entrepreneurial mindset. Yeah, I was just forced to do it since I was 10 years old. By the time, by the time I had graduated high school, I was a really dang good painter. I was fast and good. There was nothing I couldn't do. There was nothing I didn't look forward to and I could train others and I could handle the clients and everything else. So I had a really, I had a, I had an eight or nine year a professional career by the time I was already out of high school. So it was that thing where dad started the business, made mom and brother and me work and we just gave a heck Jason Phillips: Wow. That is awesome. One of the things that I see so common, and I want to get your input on this. I see in so many of the contractors I meet, it's something I experienced. I came in with my own strengths, but I also, I quickly got to a spot where I was hitting these ceilings [00:04:00] because I didn't know what I didn't know. And some of the things that I didn't know were how to make scalable systems. I knew how to make systems that made me a personal powerhouse. But I couldn't I, other people couldn't take those and make something awesome with them and continue them. Another one was gosh, I was not a really good leader. aNd then the other one was just, higher level business skills. So I could sell, I could market, I could get the leads, but I quickly hit this critical critical velocity. I just couldn't go any faster, any higher without everything blowing up. And what has your experience been with that? Nick Slavick: Yeah. Same, except that I started out not possessing the knowledge of some obvious things that I feel like you did and some other people did. For the majority of our industry when you go by the stats, 99 percent of all big paint businesses in the United States are single owner operators. Historically, they start out by somebody being very good and fast at painting and not finding a professional company to work for. So they start their own business, which is an interesting thing because they don't come in. Believing some obvious things about business, which is a separate [00:05:00] checking account and job costing and a marketing thing and a hiring process and legal guide work, like an employee resource guide or a handbook. And there's things that are obvious to some people in the world that are not obvious to painters. None of those are there. So I've had that same track. The weird data point that I can offer this industry, and I think it's why a lot of the things I do and say are relatable is because I have literally done this the hardest possible way that you could do. And I, I've been using grit, brute strength, and hours to solve all these problems. Not dissimilar to making yourself a physical powerhouse, which is, I love this. My name's on the business and everything is going to go through me. And soon you realize. That doesn't go as far as Jason Phillips: like, oh crap, everything has to go through me. Nick Slavick: Yeah. And you're forced into an 82 hour week. You have created a business that demands 82 hours a week from you and not only 82 hours a week, but all the risk, all the payroll. It costs 55, 000 a week to run my business. And that is risk. No, whether we make that or not, I owe that. And so not only are you putting yourself [00:06:00] in for 82 hours, you're having all the risk and there needs to be a equivalent reward for Jason Phillips: Man, that is said so well. You know what, my family in my early years, I worked those type of hours. And my business was getting the best of me. And my family was getting my cold leftovers. And I just, I had this wake up call. And it was a very powerful moment in my life and I made a decision that I was going to do things differently and grow and build a team. Have you hit these spots where you've had this, even maybe this emotional, a moment even. Nick Slavick: Jason, you are describing my 2023. This literally what you just described, I have gone through the largest epiphany. lightning bolt, professional, personal revision I've ever done in my life, ever. And literally it's, I'm just coming out of the flux of that right now. And this year has been. Absolutely wild, personally and professionally. And like that, it comes to a breaking point where everything's fine until the proverbial straw that broke the [00:07:00] camel's back gets laid on top of you. And guys like you and me are super achievers. We have. A high pain tolerance. We're willing to do anything to get anything done to take care of those around us. The problem is, you and I do have a breaking point. I reached mine in a couple different ways in, in not like crazy dramatic ways, but getting wise enough to take in input from others to say, Nick, this is fine. You say you're fine now, but what happens next year or the year after? If you think you want to keep doing this and growing, I don't feel you can do this forever. So you need to start thinking about the future and. Last thing I'll say is, the thing you said right before I started talking has so much deep wisdom in it and people are all going to nod their heads and agree and fine. But if you haven't been there, you don't know how deep and impactful what you just said was. This gas tank, this proverbial gas tank. We have a gas tank and we'll empty it into our community and our friends and our business and our clients and everything else. And business owners have this horrible trait where they save no fuel for their family or their self. And they are the main sufferers. And we have amazingly resilient families that put up with a lot. They too have their...

47 min

12/20/2023

How This CEO's Software is Driving MASSIVE Profits for Contractors

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: I've got a special treat for you today. I've got with us, Tom Droste, CEO of Estimate Rocket. And Tom coaches company leaders in sales and profit planning. And guess what? Software implementation as well. In case you don't know Estimate Rocket, it's an all in one business management platform. Software for contractors that helps them run their entire business. They say [00:01:00] from lead to paid all on one platform. So let's jump right into it. Tom, welcome to the show today. How are you doing? Tom Droste: I'm doing great, Jason. Thanks for Jason Phillips: absolutely. Me as well. Quick question. How long has Estimate Rocket been a thing? Tom Droste: Sure. Estimate Rockets, been a thing for about, seven years. Jason Phillips: So what, you know, did you have a software background or a contracting background? What gave birth? Tom Droste: Yeah, so I started, in accounting. that was my, that's what I went to school for and did that for Two years and decided this isn't a lot of fun, but I started, , using computers in my accounting career and I said, this is fun and, got spreadsheets, which at the time were brand new phenomenon and, just really got hooked on it. I went and quit my, great. high paying full benefits job as an accountant and went to work at a computer store, at the time. So that was my, I turned, I found out recently that my father in law thought I was absolutely a lunatic for quitting this great job I had with benefits and everything[00:02:00] going to a computer store. I was at the computer store for about a year and then I started helping people, Do business things with their computers. And I just really got hooked on it. And then that kind of morphed into building applications. and, this is actually my second software company, the first one, did a whole different area of work, but I will say that one of the first things I ever wrote was actually an estimating program for a plumber. And this was back in the day when, data was stored on these little things called floppy disks. wE're going way, way back. And we complain about now, about how things are slow and, they're Things aren't, you can't, not enough capacity and we're talking days when, it wasn't a meg that you were sending for a photo. You were lucky if you could send 30k Jason Phillips: Yeah, you don't know what slow is until you had to deal with the old floppy disks. Tom Droste: Exactly. When I started, this company, the company is actually called Logical Engine and we were doing, projects basically for people who needed software. And, we got into doing an estimating application actually for, concrete lifting companies. And [00:03:00] that's how we got it. That was really the start of it. It was super simple, did very little. And as we grew it, we saw the need for a lot more than what we were doing with that application and expanded it to other trades and really just Jason Phillips: You've been, seven years, is quite a long time for software these days. And, what are just being associated the, the painting industry in particular, what are some positive trends you've seen over the last seven years? Tom Droste: Yeah. I think one of the biggest ones, There's been a real focus on people and on your team members and building, making the trades a place where you can actually have a real career and a lot of opportunities. And that has, and maybe part of that is, has been the need, because obviously, there's a need out there for contractors, but it's been a really positive trend because I see, companies. In the contracting area now, talking about things like culture, and I don't think they talked much about that ten years ago or five years ago, even. It [00:04:00] really is a new phenomenon. And, it's actually influenced my company too, because I came up old school and, hey, you go to work, you do your job. Okay, if you like it, that's a bonus, but that's how it is. And that's not how it is anymore. People really do want to have a sense of, belonging, and they want to have a sense of purpose of where they're going and what the possibilities are. And I see that as an absolutely great trend. I hope it's enough to keep, the trades growing the way Jason Phillips: I think that's a great insight. If you think about this, if you've got someone who loves the company they work for, and the people they work with, and they're using their skills, for something they feel is worthwhile, they're going to be way more productive. Paying attention to Tom Droste: Way more Jason Phillips: not just to have a, a, a soft, fun, hey, let's have some sleeping pods and, vending, free vending machines or whatever all around, but it's win for everybody. And I like to say, look, we're not really in the painting business or the contracting business. We're all in the people business. Tom, what, on the flip side of that coin. What are some, some negative trends that you've seen over the last seven [00:05:00] years? Tom Droste: I think things were really pretty positive, I'll say, until COVID hit and I think COVID, really took a lot of steam out of a lot of people in a lot of different areas. In a lot of respects, I think, contractors got to keep going a little more than other companies did. We were lucky because we were considered, Jason Phillips: Essential. Tom Droste: required people and could still do our work. Yeah, essential workers. and, the fact is that most of our company is remote. I have Florida, South Carolina, Utah, Arkansas, and St. Louis right now is our, area where our people are located. And we meet a lot just like we're meeting now, we're video pictures of Jason Phillips: that, gosh, that's, that's wonderful. So you don't need a big, huge, office building with, helps keep overhead low, right? Tom Droste: Yeah, Jason Phillips: we, Tom Droste: I probably have an office that's about four times bigger because when we started, the, Logical Engine actually started like 12 years ago, and then Estimate Rocket about seven years old, we thought, oh, we're gonna need a big office. We're gonna need all kinds of people and I still got the big office, but it's Jason Phillips: we were in a similar [00:06:00] position up until last year. Most of the contractors, contractor freedom is about elevating the lives of contractors. so they can live their life with greater freedom and purpose. And we talk about time, money, and freedom quite a bit. And one of the ways to freedom the money component. And just about, not everybody, but just about. All the contractors I speak with want to grow their business. And, there's this, there is this, there's these plateaus and there's this somewhat elusive, five million mark. And I know you like to talk about that as well. And so obviously, on, on the back end of things, you have access to all kinds of data. How many, how many. Contractors, do you think or what percentage actually hit that five million mark? Tom Droste: it's a pretty small percentage. If I looked at the, at our demographics, maybe 10 percent make that, that and above, and it seems like That is actually, that's one of the big magic numbers, I think, because over that, it seems to accelerate, and I think, there's a lot of things that happen at that size where [00:07:00] you have the revenues to have the amount of people that you need to staff properly, and you're not constantly struggling for, who's going to do what, because everybody's already full up with stuff to do. But between there, there's a whole bunch of hurdles. There's the 500, 000 hurdle, and there's the 1, 000, 000 hurdle. And then there's the 2, 000, 000 hurdle. And it is really fascinating how things happened in between those hurdles. It's you're. You're knocking yourself out, you hit the hurdle. Everything's cool for a while, but you're not going anywhere. Then all of a sudden you hustle and you get the next hurdle and it's it's quite a ride, which gets back to, you also have to try to keep, you have to love what you do. And I think you brought that up in terms of your own, even as the leader, you have to be enjoying something about what you're doing or you're not going to be productive. And I've gone through that, those phases where why am I not getting anything done right now? And it's usually because I'm just not having, and again, we all know fun when we say having fun. It doesn't mean that this is a party. It means that you're enjoying the people you're working with and the things that you're [00:08:00] doing and what you're creating. And yeah, there's hassles and headaches, but as long as there's enough of the good...

35 min

12/06/2023

How Ignoring Cash Flow Is Draining Profits

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello, Contractors! Welcome to the show today. We've got a very special show for you, and right here with me, we have Mr. Daniel Honan of Bookkeeping for Painters, and Daniel spoke at our Contractor Freedom Summit, and just delivered a, I'm just going to say, a pile of knowledge that I think was really eye [00:01:00] opening toward for so many of the contractors. Now, daniel, he's, he is, by the way, he is a former business owner and military intelligence officer. I don't know if we might have to get into that or not. He has an MBA, a degree in accounting and he used, he, he used to run, do cold calling. appointments, manage crews, run payroll, and with just all of that experience he's created this back end for painters to help save them time and money by just running an efficient business and allowing you to focus, on the on the sales and production side. Daniel, I just want to say thank you so much. Welcome to the show, man and I'm Glad you're glad you're here with us today. And so Let's get into it. But man, tell us a couple of things. Where are you right now? And what is, what is bookkeeping for painters and what made you start the company? Daniel Honan: Yeah thanks Jason. I'm really happy to be here excited to be here. And right now I'm in Nicaragua that's where I'm, I work out of doing some advanced tax strategies we can get into maybe. But no I'm really passionate about helping painting business owners and closely related trades know their numbers and what they mean. And I've been in [00:02:00] their shoes I've had to run a painting business and it, it was chaos, at least for me trying, that was my first business I ever ran and I did it in college and I definitely didn't have, a good grasp on my numbers and what they meant. So I definitely felt that pain of not knowing, how much money do I have? Can I afford things? What are my margins? Am I doing good or not? I try to help folks get clarity in their business so they can make decisions to get their business to the next level. And then we also along with that, once they get nice and profitable, We try to help them solve the issue of taxes, because if you hit any level of success in your business, your biggest expense is going to be taxes, so we try to help them protect their profits through proactive tax Jason Phillips: So when you say, Daniel, when you say, know your numbers, can we talk about what that means? Cause there's so many, different types of numbers. And, when you say know your numbers, what are you referring to? Daniel Honan: Yeah, it's a great question, and it's a big one. There are many you could go with. I like to start with gross profit. [00:03:00] That's an important number. Maybe the most important. Because if you don't have your gross profit down, and just to define what that is, gross profit is your revenue, what you've produced in revenue, minus any direct costs, so that would be gross I'm sorry, any direct costs, so that would be direct labor, so painters on the job site, minus any direct materials, like paint or sundries, subtract that out, and what's left over is gross profit. I also like to say, gross profit percentage, and that means gross profit divided by your revenue. That gives you a percentage. Typically what we see on average, the average painting business does 40 percent gross profit. Now, obviously, folks are probably not shooting to be average, and there's definitely folks that can do a lot better than that. I definitely recommend doing better than that. But it helps to know that number, out the gate, knowing that number where do you stand on your gross profit, because that's going to tell you, give me an indication of what your overall profitability [00:04:00] is, because if you're hitting 40 percent gross profit, your profitability is probably not doing that great. You're probably average profitability. And then that tells me about your pricing. Are you pricing? On target, tells me maybe a little bit about how efficient your crews are on the job. so It just gives a lot of indications of of how you're doing. And a lot of folks starting out the, probably the biggest problem I see is the pricing. And so gross profit gives me a good indicator of whether they have their Jason Phillips: Yeah, so when, when you become a, let's just say you grow in your sophistication or your business skills, Then you're going to start raising that pricing and you're going to, you're going to want, you're going to want to earn more ROI on that input, right? So you know, the and just for clarity, I know you and I know this, but for our listeners when you speak, when we speak revenue, we're talking. We're talking on finished product. We're not saying contracted sales or we got the deposit. It's, hey, we finished the job and we got paid on it. And that's revenue. Just for clarification, and on [00:05:00] our end, of course we track contracted sales. We've got all kinds of sales goals, but we call them confetti. Because it's not real until it's, until all promises, what we say is final. We say all promises have been delivered in both directions. And that means we have delivered the project, we've also delivered the touch up paint, or any other little loose ends, and then the customer has delivered their promise of final payment to us. So when we say final at our company, it means something Very specific. And that's what we track as as revenue. So we, we track, we actually have a dual entry system, our CRM and our and our QuickBooks, but it also provides some checks and balances for us as well. And we actually like it that way. So after gross profit, what would, obviously, hey, I know my, I know whether good or bad, I know my gross profit day in, day out, per job, per week, per month. What would you say is the next number that we should be aware of? Daniel Honan: That, that would, I would say your discretionary earnings, or another way to say it is cash flow to owner, [00:06:00] basically how much money are you taking home as the business owner. Now that's obviously important because your business, should be helping you, live a great life and provide for your family and the greater community. You need to be making money, not only for yourself, but also for the business so you can grow and hire new folks to help you out and all that good stuff. So discretionary earnings, cashflow to owner, basically whatever you're getting out of the business going to you the average penny business owner is making somewhere around 12 to 15%. Discretionary earnings or cash flow to owner. And a common question I get is how much should I be making? That's the average, but how much should I actually be making? And I usually, ask them back the question of, okay what are you doing in your business? What roles do you perform in your business? Because what roles you perform should, um, tell you, give me an idea of how much you should be making. tHe first one is you're probably the business owner, right? Right off the bat, you should be getting, you should aim to get 15 percent of revenue going to you as the business owner, um, assuming you're completely passive in the business. If you have the business running, you have a team [00:07:00] running it, you should be getting 15% passively. Net income, basically. After everything is paid, your team's paid, all overhead and supplies and everything. What's left over is Now, most of us are probably still working in our businesses a lot of folks are still doing sales. So if you're doing, if you're performing that sales role, you should be tacked on another, 8 to 10 percent going to you if you're selling everything. So that would, that 15 goes up to 25 percent discretionary earnings. And then, some folks might also be doing production management as well, maybe they're selling everything and they're also producing it. So if that's the case, you tag on another 5 to 7 percent, so that gets us to 30 percent or so. And you can keep doing that, but basically, so if you're, to answer the question of how much money should I be making my business is basically what rules you perform, add up the percentages of revenue to get what your target discretionary earnings. So that would be the next number that I would, would look at and flesh Jason Phillips: One of the things that guys could do, guys and gals could do is [00:08:00] just start by breaking up their paycheck according to payroll item. Hey I sold this many projects, so this is my, okay, so I've got my salary line, I've got my sales commission and my project. My project based commission production management commission or whatever pay and start breaking those out. That...

37 min

11/22/2023

Reducing setbacks and empowering collaboration in business with Brandon Lewis

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business. As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place. Let's go. Jason Phillips: Hello contractors, welcome to the show. Today I have another special treat for you. This guest is one of my favorite people in the business and I love his no nonsense approach. Brandon Lewis, founder and CEO of Painters Academy. Brandon grew his business [00:01:00] from flat broke, like a lot of us, to over 1 million in revenue repaint sales and 20 employees during like the worst recession since the Great Depression, as he likes to say. And in less than five years, he went on to sell his business for over 440, 000 when the economy was still struggling. Brandon's an author and speaker. His works appeared in American Painting Contractor Magazine, Paint Contractor Magazine, InPaint Magazine, Professional Painting Contractor Magazine, and PCA Educational Outlets, just to name a few. You probably already know this guy. But Brandon's worked with over 450 franchised and independent contractors in six different countries, ranging all the way from startups to 50 plus million dollar organizations. And he helps owners realize their dreams. Hey, welcome back to the show. Brandon Lewis: I am excited to be here. [00:02:00] Thank you for that introduction. It was worth the 20 mailed you. And I'm a big fan of Jason. Jason spoke at our Painting Profits Summit a couple, two or three years ago, I can't recall about the very hot topic and it's getting hotter. Right now if my, if the reports from our members and in general in the industry are to be believed the dual employment W2 slash 1099 conversation is getting hot and heavy with the new administration. And I believe that there's been a few of our members that got caught with their pants down to the tune of a quarter to half a million dollars, and we're going to see where it goes. Jason Phillips: That is real and I talk to guys regularly that. Do not have that set up and that, that might could be another episode all on its own. We could probably even get a, a labor law attorney in on it as well. Someone that could officially speak to it, you and I, we can speak our opinions and what we know, obviously we're not attorneys, but that is [00:03:00] definitely a risk and exposure that business owners have for sure. So Brandon, tell me, but by the way, before we get off this. I want to talk about your upcoming summit, but not yet. I've got some questions I want to ask you. You were originally a painting contractor, right? So what prompted you to cash out there and start doing what you're doing now with Painters Academy? Brandon Lewis: I've done a variety of things. Before I ran my painting business, I was in politics and non profits. And so I used to run U. S. Senate, U. S. House, state and local races. I wrote a book called How to Raise Money for Political Office. And ran political campaigns and really enjoyed it. I had great success at it. I ran I think 13 of them and never lost one, but it was just, it was a meat grinder, and so I started looking for franchising opportunities. Couldn't afford it at the time, and ended up starting my own painting business. And after five years of that, I was also simultaneously getting ready, as I sold my business, I was running [00:04:00] Congressman Desjardins re election campaign. I put his team together when he beat Lincoln Davis and flipped that seat. And I really am not the world's best manager. That is just the God's honest truth. Everybody will tell you they're great at everything. I'm not the world's best manager of people. But what I really was good at was sales, marketing, and putting operational systems in place. Meaning if there was a problem that existed in a painting business, I would come up with a solution in a way that was reproducible. And it got to where, because everybody else was struggling so much during their session, and we were doing so well, that a couple of times a month, and I know that you get this all the time, somebody calling and saying, I got trouble with my business. I got trouble with my business. I got trouble with my business. Can you help me? Can you help me? Can you help me? And after a while, I was like, maybe I'm better suited since there are a lot of contractors and not nearly as many people that really want to help folks, the business into the business. Maybe I help people do that instead. And so I started out with a mixed [00:05:00] breed approach. And then I quickly just niched down to. Painting contractors, not because I think a man in a van business is much different from one to the next. I don't think it is, fundamentally, but clients do. Clients do. And so rather than have a 20 or 30 minute conversation about how the plumber is different from the painter, from the roofer, from the gutter guy, I decided I just would not have that anymore. We would be the Academy for Professional Damn Painting Contractors, and I've never since had anybody asked me you would work for painting contractors? Yes, it's in the name. Jason Phillips: is awesome. Man, where were you when I started back in 1997? Brandon Lewis: Where was anybody Jason Phillips: had to learn everything the hard way. I had to, so to say step in the wet paint so many times and trip and fall and waste a lot of time and a lot of money until I finally figured it Brandon Lewis: lot of money. I wasted a lot of money too. Left a lot of money on the table when I sold my painting business. If I'd done it, if I'd done three or four different things from the beginning I could have sold that thing [00:06:00] for a million something instead of 440 in the same time elapsed, that's. Wisdom comes from age and experience in most cases, and so that's just life, baby. You don't get to go back in the Wayback Machine. That's for Bill and Ted's excellent adventure and Jason Phillips: So, you know, Your philosophy, I've been to your summit a number of times. Amazing event. Amazing event. Tremendous value. I hear you constantly talking about the importance of business systems over, making, the craft of painting. I like to call that just making your widget and how did you come to this realization or like you said earlier, maybe you're just a systems thinker. Brandon Lewis: I suppose so. I can't paint. I've never painted. Two times I think I was 16 Dr. Garrett, I worked for a veterinary and tried to get me to paint a rental house. And three days later, nothing had been done. And what had been done was poorly done. And then again my, I built a wheelchair ramp with, for my grandmother, when she had fallen, I took one of our painters to Alabama. We loaded up in the van and we built the ramp. I said we own a painting business. I guess we should paint the ramp. [00:07:00] It was terrible. My wife took the brush away from me. She said, you are never to do this again. And because I didn't have any painting responsibilities in running my company, I was like I've got to figure out production rates and job costing. And I've got to find out how to work these B2B relationships and need to go after commercial repaints. This sales process is not very persuasive. What can I learn about that? And so I really, at the beginning, I had a lot of time on my hands. And I had to spend all that time marketing because in 2008, everybody was holding onto their dollars and you had to put in twice as much marketing to get half as much in the way of leads and revenue. And so it was put up or shut up time. And I had too much pride to fail even though I probably made a bad decision at the time making my transition, but I wouldn't admit that to anybody then, I'd do it now. And so I was just forced to do it. Jason Phillips: Man, just talking to you is just making me think back to that time that in 2008, that was, for those that were [00:08:00] in business, that was an interesting time. A lot of contractors went bankrupt during that time. A lot. Brandon Lewis: Yes I'll tell you a quick story. I founded a thing called the Chattanooga Trades Association, and I'm a big, huge fan of B2B referral relationships. I don't know why people don't invest more time, energy, or effort in them. I think a lot of people just aren't relationship focused, but. I went around this, I've got this idea, we're going to survey our clients we're going to have a bi weekly meeting and we're going to exchange these surveys every time we do an estimate. It was remarkably successful because, we saw 20 estimates a week or so, they saw, 14, 27, however many they saw. They checked 70 percent of customers would fill it out, they'd check 2. 1 boxes, we got together and swapped these things around. And it amazes me how remarkably receptive in 2008 people were to Anything. Anything that would make the phone ring. If I went to present that idea, maybe today they'd be a bit similarly interested. But if I had gone to present that idea, two [00:09:00] years ago, everybody turned their nose up at it. But in 2008, everybody's I'll,...

48 min

Contractor Freedom Podcast

How To Buy Back Your Time & Make More Money

This Is Why You're Not Closing Sales feat. Joe Covarrubias

Master the Art of Connection: Best Kept Secrets Reveal w/ Janell Roedl

The #1 Strategy for Selling More Painting Jobs w/ Tanner Mullen

From Soldier to 7-Figure CEO: How a Veteran Entrepreneur Built a Million-Dollar Painting Company

How This CEO's Software is Driving MASSIVE Profits for Contractors

How Ignoring Cash Flow Is Draining Profits

Reducing setbacks and empowering collaboration in business with Brandon Lewis

MBA CLASS

Awesome Podcast!

Wisdom Wisdom Wisdom!

Great discovery, very inspirational!

About

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Contractor Freedom Podcast

Episodes

How To Buy Back Your Time & Make More Money

This Is Why You're Not Closing Sales feat. Joe Covarrubias

Master the Art of Connection: Best Kept Secrets Reveal w/ Janell Roedl

The #1 Strategy for Selling More Painting Jobs w/ Tanner Mullen

From Soldier to 7-Figure CEO: How a Veteran Entrepreneur Built a Million-Dollar Painting Company

How This CEO's Software is Driving MASSIVE Profits for Contractors

How Ignoring Cash Flow Is Draining Profits

Reducing setbacks and empowering collaboration in business with Brandon Lewis

Ratings & Reviews

About

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