The Cashflow Contractor: Recent Episodes
Khalil Benalioulhaj & Martin Holland
If you’re like most contractors we know, then you started your business because you’re passionate about and great at your craft. You also wanted to be your own boss. Owning a business has a lot of advantages, but also a lot of challenges.
We started this podcast to talk about things that matter to you as an owner, like business fundamentals, sales processes, marketing, leadership, and much more. Armed with knowledge, you’ll be able to reach your goals, whether that’s growth, getting your shop to run without you, or anything in between.
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
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Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Communication and setting clear expectations with clients are essential aspects of being a successful contractor. You can avoid misunderstandings, and disappointments, and ultimately produce better results by ensuring that both parties have an upfront understanding of what is expected. The same holds true for staff onboarding and management.
Join Martin and Khalil as they discuss the significance of a positioning document and some best practices to setting clear expectations as a business owner.
Time Stamps
- 00:50 - Things Come Up!
- 04:05 - The Importance of a Positioning Document
- 13:41 - A Guide to Working With Me
- 18:44 - Taking a Different Approach
- 24:54 - Improving Your Employee Onboarding Process
- 28:43 - Creating a Positioning Document
- 30:38 - Business Acquisitions
- 39:06 - Automations & Their Purpose
- 43:04 - Pay Attention to Your Contracts
- 46:51 - Why You Need an HR Manual for Your Business
- 48:54 - Think Like a Farmer!
Resources
- Onboarding a New Hire by Alex Lieberman
- "How to Work with Michael Girdley"
- Daffern Law Firm
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Time Stamps
- 00:18 - Khalil's Recent House Insulation Problem
- 04:07 - Women's World Cup
- 06:06 - New Microphones and Better Camera Angles
- 07:06 - BrandScript & Job Ads
- 10:13- Episode Intro
- 10:54 - The Objective Purpose of Business
- 17:23 - Mindset & Limiting Beliefs Toward Profit
- 27:07 - Greed & Self-Interest
- 32:28 - Why Some People Holdback on Profit
- 36:25 - Fixed Pie Thinking
- 38:48 - Profit is an Incentive
- 40:58 - Taxes, Government & Profit
- 43:52 - Profit and Philanthropy
- 44:52 - Profit as Your True Validation
- 46:33 - Why Staying in Business is a High Calling
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Hiring the right people is more than just filling roles; it is a strategic investment that can significantly impact the value and success of a business. Companies that prioritize hiring the right people guarantee that their teams are made up of people who have the essential skills, experience, and personality to thrive in their roles. Unfortunately for many, hiring top talent is harder than it seems. But what if AI technology could help with that?
Listen in as Jonathan Whistman, Author of The Sales Boss and CEO of PerceptionPredict, joins Martin and Khalil to discuss this topic!
Time Stamps
- 00:46 - Episode Intro
- 05:24 - Jonathan's Camino de Santiago Experience
- 13:09 - Get to Know Jonathan Whistman
- 14:39 - Utilizing AI in Your Hiring Process
- 20:03 - Screening Applicants Beyond Traditional Approach
- 26:21 - Finding the Right Sales People
- 36:45 - How to Write Attractive Job Ads
- 41:37 - Getting Started with WhoHire
- 46:10 - PerceptionPredict
- 52:35 - 5 Truths About Humans That Unlock a Job Performance
- 01:16:04 - Services Offered by WhoHire
- 01:20:03 - Episode Takeaways
Quotable Moments from Jonathan Whistman
- "With AI, most business people don't realize how fast it's coming and how fast it's changing."
- "When we talk about AI. People have all sorts of thoughts about what it is and really it's a new label for something that has existed for a very long time. It's just advanced mathematics. It's advanced pattern recognition. The only difference is our computing power has finally caught up that we're really able to do some crazy things that seem like magic."
- "The more sincere a house cleaner is, the less time they spend in the role. They churn out quickly and the quality of their work is less."
- "A great salesperson knows their value, and you should be willing to go in equal risk with them."
- "If they don't see you, your company, mirroring who they want to be, then they're going to have a problem with that."
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Jonathan Whistman
- Email Jonathan
- WhoHire Website
- Jonathan on LinkedIn
- The Sales Boss: The Real Secret to Hiring, Training and Managing a Sales Team
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
As a business owner, you may come across possibilities to expand your company but lack the funds necessary to see them through. Securing an SBA loan might prove beneficial.
BOK Financial's Gonzo Garzon and Cashin White join Martin and Khalil to discuss what business owners need to know about SBA loans in 2023.
Time Stamps
- 00:47 - Intro to Gonzo Garzon
- 02:47 - Gonzo Garzon's Professional Background
- 04:45 - Intro to Cashin White
- 05:41 - Cashin White's Professional Background
- 07:03 - Understanding SBA Loan
- 10:45 - Advantages of Getting an SBA Loan
- 13:05 - Owner-Occupied Real Estate Loan
- 20:40 - Qualifying for a Real Estate Loan
- 31:43 - Getting a Loan for Acquisitions
- 50:32 - Personal Guarantees
- 52:41 - Getting a Loan for Working Capital
- 57:56 - Episode Takeaways
- 01:01:15 - Get in Touch with Gonzo & Cashin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Gonzo Garzon & Cashin White
- Email Gonzo
- Gonzo Garzon on LinkedIn
- Cashin White on LinkedIn
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Time Stamps
- 00:27 - Intro to Greg Sizemore
- 02:35 - How Greg Got Into Construction
- 07:09 - Greg's Positive Mindset Toward Construction
- 09:49 - The Great Potential in Construction
- 12:38 - Workforce Deficit in the Construction Industry
- 16:33 - Mental Health Crisis in the Construction Trades
- 23:42 - Socio-Demographic Risk Factors for Suicide
- 28:45 - Suicide Awareness & Prevention
- 34:38 - The Importance of Total Human Health
- 39:39 - Investing in a Solid Company Culture & Support
- 47:34 - The Cost of Ignoring Employee Mental Health
- 51:36 - The First Step Toward Better Workplace Mental Health
- 54:35 - Episode Outro
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Greg Sizemore
- Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention (CIASP)
- CIASP on LinkedIn
- CIASP on Facebook
- Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Fraud is a serious threat that can have devastating consequences for businesses of all sizes. If you think your business is safe from fraud, think again!
Leah Wietholter, a Certified Fraud Examiner and private investigator, joins Martin & Khalil to talk about forensic and investigative accounting and why it's critical to recognize the warning signs of fraud in your company.
Time Stamps
- 00:49 - Episode Intro
- 02:07 - How Leah Got Into Forensic Accounting
- 06:09 - What's Forensic Accounting?
- 07:01 - Investigative Accounting
- 10:01 - Partnership Disputes
- 12:29 - Why the Name 'Workman Forensics'
- 12:58 - Common Signs of Fraud in Business
- 18:51 - Tips to Detect Fraud
- 24:39 - Fraud Can Happen to Anyone
- 27:01 - Reconciling Your Books
- 35:15 - What to Do If You Suspect Fraud in Your Business
- 45:06 - Standard Practices to Protect Your Business from Fraud
- 49:35 - Hiring An Outsourced Accountant & Bookkeeper
- 54:46 - The Impact of Fraud to Your Business
- 57:19 - Equipment & Inventory Fraud
- 01:00:23 - Divorce Cases & Family Businesses
- 01:05:02 - Why Hire a Forensic Accountant
- 01:06:22 - Episode Takeaways
Quotable Moments from Leah Wietholter
- "If the financial person will not provide consistent or just regular routine reports, this is one of the biggest red flags to me."
- "There is no legitimate reason to not provide the owner of the company with financial statements, bank statements, credit card statements, and payroll reports. There's no reason."
- "There are only 2 big areas that someone can steal money from you, and it's as it comes into your business as revenue, or it's as an expenditure as it leaves your business."
- "If your bookkeeper can't explain where did the money come from and where did it go, keep asking questions."
- "The sooner you get a forensic accounting accountant involved, the better."
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Leah Wietholter
- Workman Forensics Website
- The Data Sleuth Podcast
- Data Sleuth Book
- Leah on LinkedIn
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Timestamps
- 00:19 - Episode Intro
- 02:29 - Taking Capacity into Consideration
- 09:07 - Episode Takeaways
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
It’s Martin’s first time recording a solo podcast episode! His topic of choice - Mindset. Listen in as he shares a real-life incident wherein mindset affected a person’s work performance, as well as some ideas on how to change our negative subconscious beliefs to more optimistic ones.
Time Stamps
- 00:19 - Episode Intro
- 00:54 - Let's Talk About Mindset!
- 04:62 - A Story on the Effect of Mindset
- 11:21 - Our Subconscious Beliefs
Quotable Moments from Martin
- “There's a certain comfort in numbers. It's objective. You can get an answer, you can add two numbers up, and get a correct answer and an incorrect answer.”
- “Mindset is a very very powerful factor in success, and the problem with it is we're not aware of the mindset that we have.”
- “If your subconscious brain were a lake that you can't see through, but every now and then a fish jumps up above and you get a glimpse of it, you need to pay attention and say, is that true?”
- “We have to take that courage, go contrary to our instincts, act as if, and begin to change the subconscious beliefs that are damaging us and holding us back.”
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
In this rapid-fire episode, Martin gets Khalil's expert advice on tech stacks and why contractors should utilize them for their business!
Time Stamps
- 00:19 - Episode Intro
- 02:17 - What is a Tech Stack?
- 02:57 - What Are Your Thoughts on ERP?
- 04:57 - What Technologies Should Contractors Have?
- 06:24 - What Technology is a Must-Have if You Are Starting a Business?
- 08:09 - What's a Reasonable Amount to Spend on Technology?
- 09:38 - Who Should Be Involved in Choosing the Technologies for Your Business?
- 11:06 - Should Your Systems & Processes Dictate the Software or the Other Way Around?
- 13:25 - Less is More!
Quotable Moments from Khalil
- “A tech stack is a portfolio of technologies, software, that you use inside of your company.”
- “The mindset of saying that I need to have something for free is really a limiting mindset.”
- “Be prepared to spend at least a hundred dollars a month per software.”
- “Rather than looking for the cheapest offer, you're looking for the one that actually fits.”
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Your voice matters! Help us improve The Cashflow Contractor Podcast.
Take our quick survey to shape the future of the show. Share your feedback and ideas in just a few minutes. Click the link below. :arrow_down:
https://forms.gle/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127
Thank you for being part of our community!
Khalil and Martin
The Cashflow Contractor Podcast
It’s Martin’s turn on the hot seat as Khalil fires off questions about business, coaching, team building, decision-making, and risk management. Everything a successful business owner should know in ten questions!
Time Stamps
- 00:19 - Martin's on the Hot Seat!
- 00:52 - The Story Behind the Name Anneal Business Consulting
- 01:39 - What Sets Martin Apart From Other Business Coaches
- 02:34 - Martin’s Favorite Clients
- 03:24 - Martin’s Least Favorite Clients
- 04:31 - Indicators of a Successful Business Owner
- 06:26 - A Breakthrough Moment for One of Martin’s Clients
- 07:26 - Balancing Risks & Stability in Business
- 09:34 - Biggest Challenge in Building a Reliable Team for Contractors
- 10:27 - How to Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning & Development in a Company
- 11:14 - How to Make Sure Your Team is Communicating Effectively
Quotable Moments from Martin
- “Good, effective business coaching is very personal.”
- “Coaching oftentimes is like joining a gym. People join in January. Go down and sign up because they feel as if they've done something and then they never go back.”
- “A successful business owner views business as an adventure.”
- “You spend the rest of your life learning how to build and organize and lead a team, but it starts with who's on the team."
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
What is influencer marketing? Will Ai eventually replace SEO? What exactly does "good marketing" mean? Listen in as Martin tests Khalil on 8 quick marketing questions!
Time Stamps
- 00:19 - Khalil is off to Morocco!
- 01:22 - Rapid Fire Questions
- 04:15 - What is Good Marketing?
- 04:57 - What is a Brand?
- 06:00 - How has Marketing Changed in the Last 3 Years?
- 07:14 - What Are the Principles of Marketing?
- 08:29 - Will Ai replace SEO?
- 12:34 - What's the Difference Between Public Relations & Marketing?
- 14:19 - Marketing Metrics for SMBs
- 16:32 - What is Influencer Marketing?
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
There's another pandemic financial incentive that you probably haven't claimed yet. Not PPP. Not EIDL. The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). A lot of businesses didn't qualify when the program first launched. But the government updated the qualifications this summer and the chances are that you now most likely qualify.
Join Martin, Khalil, and Daniel from Tax Credit Authority as they go over the ERTC qualification process, how much a company can claim, and why you should not miss out on this benefit for your business.
Time Stamps
- 00:16 - Martin's Recent Trips
- 01:33 - Episode and Guest Intro
- 02:21 - How Martin Got Connected with TCA
- 03:59 - What is ERTC?
- 05:12 - Introduction to Tax Credit Authority
- 06:04 - Which Companies Qualify for ERTC?
- 07:14 - Other Factors to Consider When Filing for an ERTC
- 10:31 - How to Demonstrate Business Impact for ERTC Filing
- 12:06 - Additional Ways to Be Eligible for an ERTC
- 15:22 - Determining the Size or Eligibility of the Credit
- 17:06 - The Value of Having Proper Documentation
- 18:44 - Is Childcare-Related Workforce Reduction Considered a Business Impact?
- 20:08 - How Much ERTC Can You Claim Per Employee?
- 22:15 - Can a PPP Loan Affect Your ERTC Claim?
- 25:09 - Is ERTC Taxed?
- 27:54 - How TCA Processes Your ERTC Application
- 32:03 - Examples of Companies that have claimed their ERTC
- 36:38 - Timeframe From ERTC Application to Receipt of Refund
- 38:14 - Is there a Deadline for Claiming the ERTC?
- 38:51 - What if There's No Income Drop in Your Business?
- 40:16 - Factoring in the Shutdown Period
- 42:02 - Is an ERTC Claim Subject to Audit?
- 43:19 - How To Reach Tax Credit Authority
Quotable Moments
- “Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) is part of the Cares Act. The purpose behind it is to provide economic stimulus to the economy, and the vehicle for doing that is providing a tax refund to employers.” - Daniel Oestrich
- “Very common businesses have multiple different impacts that face the business during the timeframe of the pandemic. And that particular aspect is a very strong case to be made for business impact.” - Daniel Oestrich
- I think the message here is it's definitely worth it. Have somebody go get some real numbers. The effort involved is pretty minimal, especially if you have an accountant.” - Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Tax Credit Authority
- www.taxcreditauthority.com
- info@taxcreditauthority.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Do you want to double your business? The best place to start is with your working capital. Even if everything seems great and running smoothly, failing to account for working capital is a recipe for disaster! Join Martin and Khalil as they discuss various business scenarios to learn more about the nuts and bolts of the working capital game.
Show Notes
- 04:47 - What Does Working Capital Involve?
- 08:57 - Why it’s Vital to Understand Your Working Capital
- 14:12 - What to Consider Before Increasing Your Sales Target
- 16:20 - How to Calculate Your Working Capital - Let’s Do the Math!
- 18:03 - Day Sale Outstanding
- 15:28 - The Miracle of Having Good Books
- 20:15 - Financing Your Business Through Your Suppliers
Quotable Moments
- “Working capital is the ebb and flow of money in and out of your business, principally through operations.” - Martin
- “I think it's important to understand that growth is a big component of failing with working capital; where you are doing fine because you're operating at a certain clip, but then you decide you want to double the sales in your business. Well, that's when you can run into trouble if you don't have the working capital.” - Khalil
- “Simple way to do it, add your receivables, add your inventory, subtract your payables. That's how much you need.” - Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 02:54 - Inflation Rates In The Eighties
- 07:50 - The Way Of Inflation
- 13:19 - Cash Is King?
- 17:37 - Cash Reserves And Letting People Go
- 21:11 - Applicable Slow Down Strategy
- 28:50 - Maintaining Your Relationships
- 33:00 - Do You Know Where You Stand In Your Market?
Quotable Moments
- “By letting this person or that person go you might be in fact saving five other people's positions.” - Martin
- “The question isn't how can I do this better the first question is should I be doing this at all.” - Martin
- “When you're talking about preparing for a slowdown, if you distill it to its simplest form you're talking about having sufficient cash to meet your obligations in the future with reduced business activity.” - Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 04:51 - Who Is Amy Brooks
- 07:06 - The History Of City Carbonic
- 10:19 - What Was It Like For Amy To Grow Up In City Carbonic?
- 11:53 - Having Perspective In A Family Owned Business
- 15:01 - The Business 25 Years Ago
- 19:53 - City Carbonic And Soda Pop
- 24:57 - The Transfering Of Ownership In Amy’s Family Business
- 33:15 - Running The Business As A Highschooler
- 37:39 - How Long Did Revisions Take
- 40:37 - Growth In Newly Created Markets
- 47:17 - Amy’s Strategy Within New Legislation
- 52:32 - Taking Calculated Risks
- 58:16 - Bookkeeping In City Carbonics
- 01:3:19 - The Timing Has To Be Right For Advancements
- 01:10:28 - Pandemic Impacts And Legislation Changes
Quotable Moments
- “You have to be completely engaged to be a really successful business owner.” - Martin
- “I never felt pressured to be the next generation. It just happened very naturally in my memory. There's definitely challenges with it and I would not say it's been easy. It has been an honor to To continue the legacy.” - Amy
- “It's so interesting because I think the legislation can impact contractors, but you don't see very big examples like this.” - Khalil
Resources
- City Carbonic
- amy@citycarbonic.com
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 02:47 - The First Step Is Hiring Well
- 04:12 - Current Issues
- 06:21 - Hiring Isn’t Always The Best Solution
- 08:33 - Prioritizing Your Culture
- 11:19 - Love Languages In Your Business
- 12:17 - Strive To Understand What Your Employees Care About
- 14:07 - How Do You Have Purposeful Conversation?
- 15:53 - The Boss Who Truly Knew His People
- 17:55 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “People put up with all kinds of under performance, no performance and disruption of their culture cause they're reluctant to let people go.” - Martin
- “Nothing will ruin a good employee as quickly as watching you tolerate a bad one.” - Unknown
Resources
- CFC 134 - Helping Your Employees Succeed With James Freeman
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 02:33 - What’s The Point Of Deploying Capital?
- 04:49 - Making Sure It's Capital
- 07:51 - You Have The Capital, But What Now?
- 09:12 - Avoiding Snap Decisions
- 10:52 - What Is Working Capital?
- 12:23 - Determining Your Capital
- 15:44 - Borrowing Hesitations
- 17:59 - Prioritize The Plan Not Your Feelings
- 20:26 - The Value Of Cash Reserves
Quotable Moments
- “Having an unexpected big cash balance can be a really dangerous thing.” - Martin
- “Just because you have a big receivable, doesn’t mean it’s capital.” - Khalil
- “Working capital is a difference between your current assets and your current liabilities.” - Martin
- “Plans are worthless. Planning Is Everything.” - Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
- 02:44 - What Are Roller Coaster Profits
- 06:16 - The One Objective Of Business
- 12:15 - What Are Margins?
- 15:47 - What Impacts Margins The Most?
- 22:39 - Do You Know Where You Break Even?
- 24:50 - The Difference Between Target Profit And Target Sales
- 28:50 - You Make Money, But You Don’t Have Any . . .
- 35:39 - Inventory Terms And Supply Chain Issues
- 39:10 - Delayed Gratification
- 42:45 - What’re The Signs Of Bad Books?
- 48:32 - Integration Into Your Techstack
Quotable Moments
- “It's so important for people to realize that it's a target profit and not target sales. When you have a target sales, that's what leads you to do things like discount.” - Khalil
- “The smarter bidders out there are including some of these things like there might be weather delays. There might be issues with material orders where I still have to pay my guys, but I don't have the materials to do the job. You've gotta keep in mind when you're bidding.” - Khalil
- “The number one thing to follow is your margins because it tells you what your break even is.” - Martin
- “It's sales that bring margins and the margins have to be sufficient to pay your overhead expenses.
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 00:05:02 - Chris’s History In Finance, Entrepreneurship,
- 00:12:02 - How Chris’s Experience In Finance Translated To Running A Business
- 00:14:24 - The Personal Transformation From Corporate to Entrepreneur
- 00:16:37 - What Is Valuable In Contracting?
- 00:20:56 - Chris’s Tech Stack And How He Decided On It
- 00:25:49 - The Influence Of Twitter
- 00:29:38 - Why More Isn’t Always A Good Thing
- 00:33:33 - Growth Within A Rural Area
- 00:37:09 - Chris’s Strategy For Acquiring New Business
- 00:41:12 - Respect Going Beyond The Surface
- 00:44:43 - Chris’s Story with SBA
- 00:48:40 - An Asset Sale Or A Stock Sale
- 00:52:04 - Chris’s Day-To-Day Operations And Changing Cultures
- 01:02:25 - What’s Coming Up For Chris
Quotable Moments
- “It's a steep learning curve to go from some something where you have a lot of security, a lot of people supporting you, to jumping into this entrepreneurial world where like it's sink or swim.” - Chris
- “When you buy a company you’re not just buying the cash flow or a forklift, you’re buying the culture.” - Chris
- “Change management requires a lot of empathy.” - Chris
Resources
- Two Second Lean by Paul Akers
- Notion
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Christ
- chris@sanitasequity.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 00:03:04 - Ali’s History
- 00:07:18 - Scaling A Business As A College Dropout
- 00:11:04 - From An Internet Company To A Gutter Cleaning Company
- 00:15:28 - A Business Run By Ego Instead Of Intellect
- 00:23:44 - Growth Comes From Accepting Failure
- 00:34:36 - Ali’s Beginning Experience With HOVER
- 00:39:03 - What Makes HOVER Compelling?
- 00:42:27 - What’s The Culture Like At HOVER?
- 00:48:23 - HOVER Invests In Its People
- 00:51:16 - What Ali Does To Help Contractors
- 00:57:20 - How Does Technology Influence Your Systems?
- 01:09:03 - Is Your Company Utilizing Modern Technology?
- 01:14:18 - Are Your Customers Experiencing Friction When They Work With You?
Quotable Moments
- “When you have high social engagement you're comfortable to take risks.” — Ali
- “The really good contractors are driven by a strict process.” — Ali
- “We quite often hear, ‘Hey, we no longer have a war between sales and production.’ HOVER is our standard of truth and our gold standard in the business.’” — Ali
- “I realized that a lot of the decisions that I was making were driven more by ego than it was by intellect. You don't ever want to be an empire builder.” — Ali
- “I'll never work at a place where I'm not happy with where I work or don't feel proud and passionate about what I'm doing because you never get the time back.” — Ali
More from Ali
- ali@hover.to
- Learn More About HOVER
Resources
- Learn More About HOVER
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 05:43 - Sean’s Business Background
- 10:21 - Sean’s Process Of Getting A Second Job
- 13:31 - How Sean Set A Price For His Work
- 17:16 - Making A Decision About Attending College As A Contractor
- 24:26 - Keep Your Priorities In Mind When You Make Decisions
- 26:40 - The Big Next Step In Your Business: Hiring
- 31:08 - The Value Of Learning In The Field
- 33:04 - Moving Past The Million Dollar Point
- 38:46 - What’s The Focus Of Sean’s Team?
- 40:21 - The Systems In Place In Sean’s Business
- 45:01 - Expansion Aspirations
- 49:36 - A Team Building Mindset
- 51:08 - A Peek Into The Administrative Side Of Sean’s Cabinetry
- 59:52 - A Great Team Truly Makes A Difference
- 1:07:28 - It all Starts With You
- 1:11:46 - A Story About Challenge
Quotable Moments
- “When we have kids, I'm gonna say the only reason we're sending you to college is to make connections” - Sean
- “The problem with networking at that age is you don't know what you're networking for. When you're in business you have a purpose. You have an intention and a reason to foster that relationship.” - Sean
- “My regret at 25 was not knowing or realizing there's great books out there that can help you get where you want to go.” - Sean
- “There are serious consequences to saying yes to some things in your life because it makes you say no to others.” - Khalil
- “Time is so precious. Those years you spend in school are years you're not learning in the field.” - Sean
Resources
- Sean’s Cabinetry
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 05:31 - What It’s Like Stepping Into A Business As CEO
- 06:30 - Background of PJ Fitzpatrick
- 12:52 - The Value Of Listening To Your Employees
- 15:00 - What’s The Two Weeker Rockefeller?
- 19:19 - Technology Within PJ Fitzpatrick
- 21:40 - James’s Approach To Strategy
- 25:22 - How Does Technology Influence Your Systems?
- 27:42 - How To Discern Long-term and Short-term Technology Assets
- 34:51 - Embracing The Team As A Whole
- 37:40 - What Is HOVER?
- 40:03 - How Does HOVER Work And What Can It Do For A Business?
- 44:59 - HOVER Gives You Credibility
- 47:31 - More Focus Time Is Need In Your Business
- 52:26 - Integration Within PJ Fitzpatrick
- 57:06 - How To Deal With Software Hesitancies
- 1:00:47 - The Value Of Software
- 1:02:44 - How PJ Fitzpatrick Values Growth In Their Employees
- 1:04:37 - How To Connect With James Freeman and PJ Fitzpatrick
Quotable Moments
- “He set a mindset that we were gonna take care of our people and ultimately then we would take care of our customers. So that mindset is what I use as the base of how I approach the experience day to day with our employees and with our customers.” — James
- “If you have a better understanding of what motivates people, what their desires and wishes are for success, for themselves, and their family, you have a better understanding of how you can help them be better professionally.” — James
- “As a leader, you have to accept that your job is about helping people elevate themselves.” — James
- “When you're spending some of your time on tasks that a software might be able to do even better than you can, that gives you more focus time back.” — Khalil
More from James Freeman
- trustpj.com
- Youtube
- PJFTIZ BATH Tiktok
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 01:42 - Who Is Sean Glessing?
- 03:55 - Why Sean’s Cabinetry Needed A Growth Foundation
- 04:48 - Why Buying Into A System Is Key
- 06:02 - The Changes Thanks To Hubspot
- 07:39 - Why Sean Chose Benali
- 09:17 - Narrowing Down Your Market
- 11:08 - Hesitant About A Growth Foundation?
Quotable Moments
- “Sean, you've also been a great business owner and have always been looking to increase efficiency, run things more smoothly and grow your business in a strategic manner.” — Khalil
- “Our content is speaking to our homeowners that are coming on the site and have genuine questions and concerns on how the process works. So your guys' content creation on that has been a huge, huge game changer.” — Sean
- “As homeowners get more advanced, they're going to be reaching out to people like you to do their kitchens directly. That's an opportunity for you to have more margin on your jobs.” — Khalil
- “If you're not modeling it and you're asking your team to do it, then they're not gonna buy in. But because you've bought in as the owner and the leader of your company, it's easier for them to buy in because they are able to model your behavior.” — Khalil
Resources
- Learn more about Sean’s Cabinetry and see their growth foundation in action!
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 01:17 - Capturing Demand
- 03:42 - How To Capture Customers That Aren’t Aware Of Their Need
- 05:33 - Where Can You Start Capturing Demand?
- 07:11 - What Are Your Efforts In Capturing Demand?
Quotable Moments
- “Right now, in your market, in your industry as a contractor, there are people out there that are in demand for your services that are actively looking for those services” - Khalil
- “So what are the techniques and the tactics that you're doing in your business to generate demand for that next group of customers, that isn't your word of mouth referrals, that isn't the people that have already realized they want your service as a contractor. What are you doing for them?” - Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 01:00 - Intro
- 01:45 - Measuring Based On Head Count
- 03:06 - Measuring Based On Sales
- 04:14 - Measuring Based On Service Area Or Locations
- 05:51 - Measuring Based On Profit Margin
Quotable Moments
- “When you ask a business owner, ‘How big is your business?’ the measurement that they use to determine how big their business is says a lot about the problems they might be having.” — Khalil
- “A good lesson for a lot of people is to hire when it's time to hire, not just because you want to be more successful and this is what you’re measuring success off of.”— Khalil
- “Sometimes what you see is that one location is actually funding all of the other locations and they would be much more profitable if they just focused on the one location rather than going into multiple locations.” — Khalil
- “What you're probably going to find in a growing business is that they may not have diversified well enough and they have one or two really big clients that are funding much of their success.” — Khalil
- “When you ask yourself, “How big is your company?” how do you answer? How do you measure success?” — Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 04:13 - Definition Of The Obstacle Is The Way
- 06:33 - What Is The Change Formula
- 08:45 - Why Thinking About It Is The Worst Part
- 11:40 - How Do Obstacles Start
- 14:00 - Customer Concessions
- 16:00 - Charging An Upfront Cost
- 18:30 - Martin’s Canada Client
- 20:00 - Have Really Clear Expectations
- 23:25 - Why Delegations Is An Obstacles
- 27:00 - Delegation Is A Must
- 27:50 - Gut Feel Decisions
- 32:59 - What Is The Difference Between Hesitating And Waiting
- 34:00 - Common Hesitations
- 39:30 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “Some of the most powerful vision statements come from a very clearly defined obstacle that you're gonna go and attack” - Khalil
- “They can all be obstacles but when you confront them and overcome them it's just like you said about ice It's not as bad as you thought it was gonna be and you're on the other side” - Martin
- “Overcoming your obstacles, It's what gives you that confidence to keep going, It's what gives the momentum” - Khalil
- “Delegation is a capital investment for your future” - Martin
- “In many ways you can't separate the two, your personal and your business life, but as far as decisions go you do need to separate the personal from from the professional” - Khalil
- “The proper statement of a problem is a statement of the solution” - Martin
Resources
- How to Manage Client Expectations Article Link
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- Theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:50 - What Is The Credit App
- 04:50 - Doug’s Background
- 08:50 - What’s The Impact On Your Credit Score?
- 16:20 - Protect Yourself With A Contract
- 18:00 - Big Projects Doug Has Worked On
- 19:30 - Disclaimer For The Credit App
- 21:40 - What Does The Process Look Like?
- 24:00 - Making Sure To Keep The Credit App Informed
- 25:16 - Why are Contractors Reluctant To Participate?
- 33:15 - How Can People Find Doug?
- 37:37 - Credit App Helps You Have Less Stress, More Time, And More Money
- 41:00 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “It's just information. People can base decisions on that information. I think the more accurate information we have about people, the smoother business is going to be done.” — Doug
- “There are so many different things that can cause you to lose your mind and have no time and no money. But the Credit App does give you another tool in your arsenal to be able to approach the problem differently.” — Khalil
- “Maybe they're not dealing with that type of clientele that often, but it's good to have the tool in their back pocket whenever it does happen.” — Khalil
Resources
- The Credit App
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- Email Martin
- Meet With Martin
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- Email Khalil
- Meet With Khalil
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Email The Cashflow Contractor
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 03:22 - Time Management Is Making Decisions
- 05:40 - Managing Your Time As About Focus
- 08:55 - What Do You Want?
- 10:44 - Why Are People Planning To Fail?
- 17:50 - Learning To Say No
- 23:40 - People Want Their Time To Matter
- 27:00 - Look At Your Environment
- 32:25 - Appreciate The Effort Behind The Ask
- 33:32 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “Time management at its core is making decisions about what I'm going to do now, what I'm going to do later, and what I'm not going to do at all.” — Martin
- “You'll probably have to get uncomfortable and say no to things that you actually really enjoy and really want to do in order to create a life where you can say yes to those things.” — Khalil
- “The thing about time management is that it's a lot of work until it becomes a habit.” — Martin
- “Whenever you delegate something to somebody, before you delegate it, appreciate the effort behind that ask that you give to the employee. And the same thing for yourself, appreciate the effort beyond the ask.” — Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 03:45 - Definition Of The Contractor Death Spiral
- 08:25 - Where Does It Start?
- 11:23 - What Causes All Of These Mistakes?
- 14:42 - Concessions Pull You Back
- 18:24 - You Have To Be Uncomfortable To Get Out
- 21:25 - The Death Spiral Can Start With Good Intentions
- 24:11 - Understanding A Business Owner With One Question
- 25:16 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “If you’re in the spiral it means that you have been losing money.” — Martin
- “All of these identities that you're trying to maintain cause you stress because you're having to live a lie and that's where the spiral I think really picks up speed is the lies.” — Khalil
- “With the death spiral, If you want to get out of it, you're going to be uncomfortable. You're going to have to go through pain and discomfort and extra hours and courage.” — Khalil
Resources
- The Contractor Death Spiral By Martin Holland
- Intentional Bidding - Part 1 of 4 By Martin Holland
- Intentional Bidding - Part 2 of 4 By Martin Holland
- Intentional Bidding - Part 3 of 4 By Martin Holland
- Intentional Bidding - Part 4 of 4 By Martin Holland
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 05:11 - Getting Distracted Is Easy
- 06:55 - Internal Focus As Business Owners
- 09:33 - A Good Salesman Sells One Thing
- 10:35 - Complexity Is Wiping You Out
- 14:15 - What Does Focus Look Like In Marketing?
- 17:00 - Learn To Love The Process
- 20:00 - Focus Compounds
- 25:00 - Company Examples
- 28:20 - Delayed Gratification
- 33:20 - Comparison Robs The Joy From Life
- 37:50 - Conclusion
Quotable Moments
- “You're effectively reaching nobody by targeting everybody.” - Khalil
- “When you know what you're selling very well, you can build systems and processes around it.” - Khalil
- “Whatever goals you set as soon, as you get there you set another one.” - Martin
- “If you're willing to delay the gratification of getting the next sale or finishing the next job or whatever it is you will have so much more success.” - Khalil
- “That's kind of what we were saying at the beginning, it isn't a destination, it's the journey. You're always on the journey. You're never at the destination because if you reach what you thought was the destination before, you find out that's not it.” - Martin
- “In order to have that focus there has to be a little bit of contentment with where you are and who you are.” - Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:30 - Inflation Is Everywhere
- 02:30 - Is This Worth It?
- 03:30 - Why You Need To Track Your Data
- 07:03 - Understanding ROI &Margins
- 07:20 - Total Marketing Spend/Ad ROI spend
- 08:30 - Why Does It Matter?
- 09:23 - Marketing Is An Investment, Not An Expense
- 09:37 - Tracking, Systems & Habits
- 12:30 - Knowing Your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- 14:06 - Calculating The Lifetime Value
- 16:12 - ROI In Your Company
- 17:50 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “You’re seeing it across the board – the cost of business is just getting way more expensive and everything is going up.” – Martin
- “If you want to calculate your ROI, it’s pretty easy to calculate numbers. However, if you really want to find attribution, you need to have good data.” – Khalil
- “If you don’t measure, then you can’t manage it.” – Martin
- “Do you want to track exactly where a lead came from? You can with good data and good attribution.” – Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:51 - Here’s An Example For You
- 04:05 - Why Relationships Matter
- 05:30 - There’s More To It Than Pricing
- 06:07 - Why You Need To Build Relationships
- 06:50 - The most important thing about vendors
- 08:50 - How To Ask Your Vendors About Other Vendors
- 09:25 - So, What Makes A Good Vendor?
- 11:26 - You Need To Consider Availability
- 12:19 - Having An Ally
- 13:00 - Why You Should Have MANY Vendors
- 16:35 - In Summary
- 18:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “A lot of people just worry about price but there’s so much more to it especially with the supply chain issues that are happening right now.” – Martin
- “Building relationships with your supplier is essential and you need to have them on your team.” – Martin
- “You need to be sure that your ideal vendor is educated in your industry, they understand the new materials and technology, and that they understand what’s happening in the marketplace because they’re working with so many competitors of yours.” – Khalil
- “You need to consider the availability of the product but also the availability of delivery too.” – Khalil
- “You should expect to pay more. If you’re receiving better service, better availability, being more of a priority… that comes with a cost.” – Khalil
- “Take care of your vendors and they’ll make sure to take care of you.” – Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:15 - The Accounts You Need
- 01:50 - Social Media Accounts
- 02:33 - Meta Business Suite Essentials & Benefits
- 04:23 - Using A LinkedIn Company Page
- 05:35 - Why You Need To Be On Twitter & Tiktok
- 06:23 - Golden Username
- 06:50 - Choose One That You’re Good At
- 08:35 - Google Workspace vs. Microsoft
- 09:54 - Using Your Google Workspace
- 12:36 - DirectoriesFor Businesses
- 14:04 - General Must-Have Accounts
- 15:43 - Why Tracking Is Essential
- 17:36 - Keep Your Logins Organized
- 18:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Social media accounts are almost always messed up by small business owners, especially by contractors.” – Khalil
- “It’s important that you separate your personal from all of the accounts you have for your business.” – Khalil
- “If you do not have a LinkedIn, go and make a company page immediately.” – Khalil
- “You may not use Twitter or are big on Twitter but you need to go and claim the username just so you have it.” – Khalil
- “You need to consider where your primary audience is at and what platform your skills best lend itself to.” – Khalil
- “A business account is a lot more difficult to hack than a personal account.” – Khalil
- “For all of your directories, such as Yelp, Angie’s List, or Home Advisor, you need to make sure that your account is accurate and updated.” – Khalil
- “An extremely valuable software that you can integrate in your business is CallRail. This allows you to play back any conversation you’ve had with clients and helps you keep track of contacts.” – Khalil
- “As much as possible, don’t share passwords to these accounts. You don’t want to share your passwords, you just want to add users.” – Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 - What Is A Site Map?
- 02:00 - Where Do I Start?
- 03:00 - Step #1: Understand Your Business Objectives
- 03:45 - Step #2: List Out Visitor Objectives
- 06:00 - Step #3: Work On Your CTAs
- 08:00 - Step #4: List Out All Potential Pages
- 14:00 - Step #5: Creating The Perfect Navigation
- 15:00 - Step #6: Writing Out Each Page’s Purpose
- 16:00 - Step #7: Brainstorm Every Section
- 17:45 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “A site map allows you to plan out your website and all of the pages and their purposes.” – Khalil
- “A good website always starts with a site map.” – Khalil
- “Start with your objectives and give examples - especially for your visitor objectives.” – Khalil
- “Once you know your objectives, you know what your website needs to have.” – Khalil
- “A Call To Action (CTA) is an action button on a website that makes me want to click. It’s a decision-level button that helps your visitors get started.” – Khalil
- “Not everyone is ready to get started and that’s why you need to have transitional calls to action.” – Khalil
- “You need to list out your foundation, action, ad, and education pages for your website that you can build on and update as you go.” – Khalil
- “What’s nice is that a lot of your sections are repeatable throughout your website.” – Khalil
- “Your sitemap is your north star for your website creation.” – Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:37 - How To Bring Lean Into Your Life
- 02:41 - “This Is Lean” Book
- 03:20 - Here’s What Lean Is
- 05:00 - Resource Efficiency
- 05:45 - Flow Efficiency
- 06:33 - The Difference Between Resource & Flow
- 10:20 - Why Flow Efficiency
- 12:05 - How To Apply Flow Efficiency Everywhere
- 13:20 - Reducing Build Time & Getting Lean
- 15:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Getting lean isn’t just for manufacturers, it’s for everyone and can even be used in your personal life.” – Khalil
- “Lean is a philosophy is constantly improving by eliminating waste.” – Martin
- “Resource efficiency is when you take expensive resources and you keep them running 90% of the time.” – Martin
- “Flow efficiency is when you focus on moving the unit of whatever you’re producing at the time.” – Martin
- “As you begin, focus on flow efficiency and the in-between.” – Martin
Resources
- Read “This Is Lean” Book
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:30 - A Story On Why You Need Them
- 02:30 - The Purpose Your Checklist Actually Serves
- 03:15 - What Your Checklist Needs
- 03:45 - How You Use Checklists
- 05:00 - Why Checklists Are Essential
- 08:00 - The Obstacles You Could Run Into
- 10:00 - The Simple Truths Of Checklists
- 12:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “A checklist is not a how-to, it’s a reminder of things that people already know.” – Martin
- “Your checklist should have a max of 10 items. Do you have the address and contact information of where you’re going, do you have materials, tools, fuel? Maybe throw in safety equipment in there.” – Martin
- “A checklist gives you an opportunity to remember if you have all the tools, resources, and equipment to do work.” – Martin
- “The obstacle that people can run into with checklists is getting too detailed. You only need to focus on what the most critical things are.” – Khalil
- “Checklists cost you virtually nothing but could save you tens of thousands of dollars.” – Martin
- “The best lesson of checklists is to forget one thing and then use that as an example to your team as to why they are so important to be doing.” – Khalil
- “Checklists are not exhaustive but they are critical.” – Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 - Contractor’s Time-Related Marketing Objections
- 01:30 - 1st Reason: It’ll Save You Time
- 03:00 - 2nd Reason: Get Qualified Leads
- 03:30 - 3rd Reason: Gain Ideal Jobs
- 04:30 - Contractor’s Budget-Related Marketing Objections
- 04:45 - 4th Reason: Increase Your Budget + Your Prices
- 05:30 - 5th Reason: You’ll See An ROI
- 06:30 - 6th Reason: You’re Not Selling Enough
- 07:00 - Contractor’s Expertise-Related Marketing Objections
- 07:16 - 7th Reason: You Can Fire Yourself
- 08:00 - 8th Reason: Work On Your Business, Not In It
- 08:30 - 9th Reason: It’ll Free You Up
- 09:40 - Don’t Know How To Get Started Or Grow With Marketing? Check Out Benali
- 10:30 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Your business needs to be playing offense instead of just playing defense or coasting.” – Khalil
- “If you’re always playing offense, you’re keeping your pipeline full and you’re avoiding the vicious sales cycle..” – Khalil
- “Good marketing allows people to qualify themselves and answer those questions on their own.” – Khalil
- “You’re getting busy because you’re saying “yes” to any job that comes your way.” – Khalil
- “If you have no budget, you need to be increasing your prices because you’re not charging enough.” – Khalil
- “You need to fire yourself so you can work on your business instead of in your business.” – Khalil
- “By working on marketing and your business, it will free up more time in your business because things will be more streamlined.” – Khalil
- “Whenever you’re able to sell easier and faster you’re going to be able to have more money and less stress.” – Khalil
- “If you’re a contractor needing marketing help with what we talked about in today’s episode, check us out at benali.com.” – Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:20 - The Conveniences For Both
- 02:00 - So, Which One Is Right?
- 02:40 - The Penalties On W2s
- 03:35 - What The IRS Says
- 04:20 - The Hidden Things You Need To Be Aware Of
- 06:30 - Miscategorized 1099s
- 07:15 - It’s Your Choice, But It Could Be Very Costly
- 08:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “1099 contractors only require one check, there’s no tax deposits, and there’s no payroll tax.” – Martin
- “Go look at what the IRS says about that. Read the IRS procedures form called an SS-8. It’s the determination of worker status for purposes of federal employment taxes and income tax withholding.” – Martin
- “What is the likelihood you can lose money? Are you at financial risk? A contractor is. They give you a bid and can lose money if they blow it. A 1099 isn’t.” – Martin
- “This is a really important topic and it can be fatal to your business if you get it wrong.” – Martin
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Read Martin’s Article, “Surprise!”
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 - Software Won’t Solve All Your Problems
- 01:45 - It’s About Behavior Change
- 02:50 - First, Create A Process TImeline
- 05:20 - The Core Areas Of Business
- 07:00 - The Steps To Be More Efficient
- 08:00 - Why You Should Beware Of One Size Fits All Software
- 09:00 - The Cons Of Using The Wrong Software
- 10:10 - You Need To Make Sure Your Softwares Integrate
- 11:00 - Knowing Where Integration Is Necessary
- 12:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Software is NOT a silver bullet. It’s not going to solve all of your problems.” – Khalil
- “Using software is more about behavior changes instead of features or integrations, if you don’t use it right, or regularly , it won’t solve your problems.” – Khalil
- “You want to map out what that timeline looks like. It will be really clear to you where you need to develop systems in your business.” – Khalil
- “Beware of the silver bullet and one size fits all software. You may have a software that does it all but then you realize it’s not even set up for your industry.” – Khalil
- “Having integration matters but there are some integrations that are more valuable than others. Look inside your business and see where there is overlap or collaboration and integration might be necessary.” – Khalil
Resources
- Need Marketing Help? We Recommend Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:00 - What P4P Is
- 03:10 - Why P4P Is In Your Best Interest As A Business
- 04:05 - Labor Is The Biggest Variable
- 05:00 - Do Your People Know?
- 06:00 - Why You Should Incentivize Employees
- 07:00 - The Breakdown Of How P4P Works
- 08:15 - How P4P Attracts Better Employees
- 09:20 - Easy Software You Can Use For P4P
- 10:10 - How It Makes Profit Measurable
- 11:30 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Paying by the hour and paying for seniority are antiquated concepts that are still around.” – Marting
- “Paying by the hour does not align with what you want as a business owner.” – Martin
- “Paying hourly is giving your employee the ability to drag a job out.” – Martin
- “As a business owner, labor is the biggest variable. It’s a huge expense and out of your control.” – Martin
- “The bad thing about an hourly job is that the only way to increase is to pester you all the time for a raise or to drag out a project.” – Martin
- “Let people make more because they’re doing better.” – Martin
- “If you pay people, and they work efficiently, you will get more jobs done.” – Martin
- “You will attract better employees because they can make more and they are treated as valued.” – Martin
Resources
- Listen to CFC Ep 112 With Mike Andes
- Read P4P By Mike Andes
- P4P Software Website
- Learn About Our Marketing Partner, Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 - Who Was Your 1st Hire?
- 02:30 - The Signs You Should Hire
- 04:30 - The 1st Thing You Have To Do When Hiring
- 05:45 - Why You Have To Plan Training
- 06:45 - How Hiring Can Positively Impact You + Your Business
- 08:00 - Knowing Who You Can Afford To Hire
- 09:30 - How It’s More Affordable Than You Think
- 10:10 - Less-Obvious Hiring Impacts + Responsibilities
- 10:50 - Deciding To Hire Is A Milestone
- 11:30 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “You’ve got to be willing to delegate and you need to have trust.” – Martin
- “The 1st thing you need to do when you decide to make the decision to hire, is write out a list or a log of everything that you do.” – Martin
- “Writing out the exact job responsibilities you have will allow you to write a thorough job description and help you train new employees.” – Martin
- “On the job training is NOT training. It's an abdication of training.” – Martin
- “Is the business out there for you to get, [as an owner or salesperson], if you had the time?” – Martin
- “Don’t limit yourself by saying “nobody can ever do what I do.” – Martin
- “When it comes to the expense of hiring, yes it will cost you on the front end, but think of the return after they’re trained.” – Martin
- “If you’re going to hire someone for $60,000, that’s not a $60k expense, that’s a $5,000 expense.” – Martin
- “If it’s not a fit, you can always reverse your decision.” – Martin
- “You also need to consider the other things that come with hiring - managing, ensuring they’re doing their job, training them, and making sure they’re a cultural fit.” – Khalil
Resources
- Learn About Our Marketing Partner, Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 3:20 - Hear Martin’s Example
- 5:40 - What’s ERP Software?
- 8:00 - Why Integration Matters
- 10:00 - What Software Should I Use?
- 13:45 - Is Niche Software Good or Bad?
- 15:00 - Is Salesforce Good or Bad?
- 16:50 - The Contractor Set-Up Essentials
- 18:35- From Legal Pads to ERPs
- 20:00 - Our Software Stack Recommendation
- 22:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Just because you’re using a software does not mean that you’re going to be using it correctly.” – Khalil
- “You have to model the behavior inside of your systems for your team to do it correctly.” – Khalil
- “Once you understand your need, you can start to find your solution.” – Khalil
- “You don’t want to buy this big box solution, like Salesforce, because it’s so large and takes so much time to learn.” – Khalil
- “For a lot of contractors, they’re not doing 100 projects a year, it’s not hard to copy over the required fields into a new system.” – Khalil
- “A lot of ERPs are just business owners running off other business’s systems.” – Khalil
- “If you have all of this together, you can manage all of your billing, communications, bookkeeping, and projects in one place.” – Khalil
Resources
- Learn About Our Marketing Partner, Benali
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:10 - Plenty Of Work, Shortage Of The Right Kind
- 02:30 - So, What’s A Growth Foundation + Its Benefit?
- 04:00 - A Website That Converts
- 08:50 - A Customized CRM Tool
- 10:05 - Set-Up Streamlined & Integrated Accounts
- 12:30 - Meaningful & Measurable Messaging
- 14:00 - Uniform Design & Templates
- 14:30 - Immediate Results From The Growth Foundation
- 15:00 - Good Content & Building Upon Your Growth Foundation
- 17:00 - Promoting Your Good Content
- 19:30 - Want What We’ve Discussed? Benali Can Help
- 20:24 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “There’s demand in the marketing right now for real estate, remodeling, and new construction, but they don’t necessarily have the right kind of work.” – Khalil
- “Contractors might just be saying “yes” to whatever job comes their way, which can cause frustration and inefficiencies in your processes.” – Khalil
- “A growth foundation is something that allows you to do good sales, good marketing, and actually allows you to grow your business at scale.” – Khalil
- “It’s a persistent, constant marketing that is there all the time.” – Martin
- “A website is more than just a digital business card, it will market for you and will operate 24/7 a lot more smoothly than if you were picking up the phone.” – Khalil
- “CRM is a customer relationship management tool that allows you to track deals you’re working on, what jobs you need to bud on, what jobs you’ve closed, and lost.” – Khalil
- “You want to make sure that your messaging speaks to your client’s emotions and is solving their pain points.” – Khalil
- “Strong messaging and language on every single channel you have where you use words canl help your marketing.” – Khalil
- “You’re going to get more results because your conversion rate is going to go up, but you do need to build on that foundation through content.” – Khalil
- “That foundation for growth is going to make you so much more efficient and keep you at a good foundation and the content and strategy is the “turn-up” or “turn-down” piece to amplify and share your efforts.” – Khalil
Resources
- Want A Growth Foundation? Book A Strategy Call
- Learn About Our Marketing Partner, Benali
- Use BrandScripts
- Watch On Youtube
- Follow On Social: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe To Our Newsletter, The Countdown
- Have Questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:10 - How Mike Got Started
- 05:14 - Mike’s First Employee
- 08:16 - The Growth of Augusta Lawn Care
- 10:40 - How Mike Handles The Seasonality of Landscaping
- 13:00 - Mike’s Approach To Marketing
- 20:00 - How To Raise Prices
- 23:00 - How Mike Knew He Wanted To Franchise
- 26:00 - The Value Metric Used To Raise Prices
- 30:00 - The Software Mike Recommends & Uses
- 34:00 - So What’s Pay For Performance?
- 39:50 - How You Calculate Pay For Performance
- 44:00 - Efficiency With Pay For Performance
- 53:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Two and a half years ago we started franchising Augusta Lawn Care and now we have 87 locations around North America.” – Mike
- “If you have under 100 customers, focus on localized ways [of marketing]; direct mail, Nextdoor, door hangers, and going to very specific neighborhoods.” – Mike
- “The best form of investing is taking a small business, getting customer acquisition costs that you can nail down, and then investing into marketing. If you’re trying to grow your business, you need to invest into marketing.” – Mike
- “When we raise prices 25%, we usually have about a 97-98% retention rate. A good rule of thumb to remember is to raise your prices by 10%, until you lose 20% of customers.” – Mike
- “Everything in pricing is tied to budget hours because that’s really the building block to P to P. If they’re not hitting budget hours, pricing isn’t high enough and the rate is too low.” – Mike
- “If I was just getting started, I would recommend and use Jobber. If you want something more complicated, I would be going with a larger, publicly traded company like Service Titan.” – Mike
- “Pay for performance in one sentence is - you give a percentage of the labor revenue the employee earns every single day for the business - that’s what their wages are.” – Mike
- “At the end of the day, if you’re not accurate on budget hours, it’s going to be a big problem. You’re going to make errors sometimes but our goal is to make 4 out of 5 estimates beat budget hours.” – Mike
- “On average, with P4P, we will see at least a 20-30% efficiency increase and as high as a 45% increase.” – Mike
- “The worst thing in the world for an A-grade employee is to work with unmotivated, C-grade, employees.” – Mike
Resources
- Become an Augusta Lawn Care Franchisee
- Check out the P4P Software
- Watch Mike Andes on YouTube
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:30 - Mark Twain Analogy
- 04:30 - Why You Need Courage
- 05:40 - The 3 Attributes of a Successful Business Owner
- 07:45 - The Difficulties Of Replacing Yourself
- 08:15 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “You could find a replacement to do all the same job functions and do everything you do but they have to have courage - it’s not only about skills but judgment.” – Martin
- “The three attributes of a highly successful business owner is that they are engaged, decisive, and focused.” – Martin
- “Being an engaged business owner means that they see their business as an adventure, they don’t give up when it’s tough and they make decisions and moves like its an adventure.” – Martin
- “Being a decisive business owner doesn’t mean just making snap decisions but it means that you make tough decisions when the time has come or at the right time.” – Martin
- “Being a focused business owner means that you need to be honed in on being able to make the decisions that work.” – Martin
- “Good things come to those who wait but not to those who hesitate.” – Martin
Resources
- Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 05:30 - The Differences Between Homeowners & Builders
- 08:27 - Their Unique Sales Processes
- 15:45 - The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide
- 22:00 - Increasing Your Margins
- 26:00 - The Differences When It Comes To Marketing
- 30:30 - The Value Of Case Studies
- 35:00 - Traps You Fall Into With Homeowners
- 39:00 - Referral Program Strategies
- 46:15 - Summarized Pros and Cons
- 48:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “When you work with homeowners, you can have higher margins.” – Martin
- “An Ultimate Buyer’s Guide outlines the entire process of working with the client and answers all customer questions that may come up.” – Khalil
- “What you want to do is under promise and over deliver.” – Martin
- “Your bid is your marketing when your’e working with a builder.” – Khalil
- “If you’re planning on working with homeowners, you need to have case studies, with photography, that you can use on social media and your website.” – Khalil
- “You need to start where you’re winning when it comes to marketing and sales.” – Khalil
- “Take a second look, and make sure that you’re prepared and optimized to work directly with homeowners.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:45 - Meet Our Guest, Colin Reed
- 05:00 - Colin’s Start With Lean Thinking & Consulting
- 08:00 - How To Be Lean In A Grocery Store
- 12:00 - The Deadly Wastes That Can Kill Your Business
- 13:15 - The 1st Deadly Waste - Overproduction
- 17:00 - The 2nd Deadly Waste - Inventory
- 21:20 - The 3rd Deadly Waste - Transportation
- 22:15 - The 4th Deadly Waste - Defects
- 29:00 - The 5th Deadly Waste - Processing
- 34:00 - The 6th Deadly Waste - Motion
- 42:00 - The 7th Deadly Waste - Waiting
- 48:00 - How We Help Companies Eliminate Waste
- 52:00 - How To Get Started
Quotable Moments
- “Great benefits come from really small changes – if you increase your gross profit margin by 1%, the avg company in the U.S. will increase its net profit by 14.5%.” – Martin
- “If you increase your sales by 17% without increasing overhead, the avg company in the U.S. will double its net profit.” – Martin
- “Everything is a process - you can either spend more time and more money or you can spend less time and have higher quality.” – Colin
- “The first deadly waste that threaten your business is overproduction. You can only actually work on one thing at a time - in order to prevent work from piling up and idling, you have to have a process and steps.” – Colin
- “The second deadly waste is inventory. There’s inventory that functionally needs to be there and then there’s inventory to work on to stay busy.” – Colin
- “The fourth deadly waste of defects is brutal because when there is a defect, it’ll cost you 30-100% more to get that product out correctly and done.” – Colin
- “With small businesses, accuracy is extremely important.” – Colin
- “If you were to watch a pit crew, everyone has their job. They are doing things in the right order and they’re synchronized.” – Colin
- “I had my client walk down the aisle in his shop 100 paces while I timed him and found it took him 3.4 cents a step for him to walk around and chase things down That’s motion waste.” – Colin
- “The 7th deadly waste of waiting is exemplified when someone who is ready, willing, and able to work but can’t. This person is waiting for approval to go ahead or the right information.” – Colin
- “We help the management develop the plan but we also train the operators and anyone who touches the process.” - Colin
- “It frees up management and ownership to focus on things instead of micromanaging processes because these processes will start to run on their own.” – Colin
Resources
- Connect with Colin on LinkedIn
- Visit ISI’s Company Website
- Call Colin at 918.906.5226
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:30 - Jeff Finney’s “In-Theory vs. In-Practice”
- 02:30 - What’s Inflation?
- 05:55 - The Rule of 72
- 07:30 - Inflation in the 70’s vs. 2022
- 10:30 - Inflation in Real Estate
- 13:40 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Crypto
- 17:20 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Real Estate
- 19:40 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Loans
- 21:11 - Bad Inflation Stategies For Contractors
- 26:00 - Good Inflation Strategies For Contractors
- 30:00 - Efficiency Is The Best Defense Against Inflation
- 42:00 - Moving To Higher Margin Work
- 46:00 - Why You Can’t Afford To Not Be Confident
- 48:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Inflation is a general price increase on labor, goods, and materials in response to increase of the money supply.” – Martin
- “There’s 37% more money in the United States today than there was 1 year ago. Meanwhile, the gross domestic product only went up 5%.” – Martin
- “Chasing more sales as a hedge against inflation is just compounding the problem and digging yourself into a hole.” – Khalil
- “Even though the number in your bank account is going up, you can’t buy anything because the money is worth less.” – Martin
- “If you’re not paying employees more because of inflation, then you’re going to lose those employees.” – Khalil
- “Personal savings for individuals have increased $380 billion since before the pandemic.” – Martin
- “There’s no better time to raise prices because your customers are most likely expecting it – they’ve heard of inflation.” – Khalil
- “Don’t wait – if you’re the last contractor to increase prices then people are probably going to push back on it because you waited too long to do it.” – Khalil
- “If you start tracking things, then you can start fixing things. You have to be more efficient with time, money you have, and costs that you’re incurring.” – Khalil
- “Do it, or perrish.” – Martin
- “You need to consider which work has higher margins and you need to pivot to that.” – Khalil
Resources
- Read Jeff Finney’s Book, “That’s It, I’m Fired”
- Read Paul Akers’ Book, “2 Second Lean”
- Listen to our Episode, “Self-Confidence Is Key”
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:37 - What Tech Stack Is
- 02:00 - I Hate Monthly Fees. What Do I Do?
- 02:40 - How Do I Know What’s Essential?
- 03:49 - How To Know If A Costly Software Is Worth It
- 06:05 - How To Build A Marketing Framework, On Budget
- 07:04 - Non-Basic Benefits Software Can Provide
Quotable Moments
- “A tech stack is the concoction of key softwares that you use to run your business efficiently. These could be softwares for project management, sales, or CRM – whatever functions support your business.” – Khalil
- “As software goes, nothing’s essential, if you’re just a one-man shop, or even if you have lots of employees and you’re in a paper system, you don’t really need software.” – Khalil
- “In my opinion, an essential software would be something to help you manage projects and bill customers, like QuickBooks. Another essential would be something to help you stay organized, like Google workspace.” – Khalil
- “Oftentimes, depending on your specific need, you can find plenty of cheaper softwares to do the job you need. You just need to do the research to find the best fit.” – Khalil
- “If you’re looking for a good software, go out and look at what other people are using in the industry.” – Khalil
- “Good marketing costs.” – Khalil
- “Incorporate your software sooner rather than later. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get into the habits of adopting using these tools efficiently.” – Khalil
Resources
- Listen to our last Software Episode!
- This marketing agency can help you.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:30 - Vitamins v Medicine
- 02:15 - Applied To Construction Industry
- 03:30 - Why You Need To Understand Vitamins + Medicine
- 04:30 - Let’s Recap
- 05:30 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “A Vitamin is something a customer might take proactively that’s not really solving a current problem vs medicine that’s solving a current problem that’s urgent.” – Khalil
- “In construction, a vitamin might be a remodel and medicine might be a plumber that comes out and fixes a leak same day.” – Khalil
- “If you’re a vitamin business, you might need to shift to have more medicine services and if you’re a medicine type business with a ton of business but loose organization, you might shift to more vitamin services to stay organized.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:00 - Let’s Define A Channel
- 02:42 - How To Pick Your Channel
- 03:50 - What To Do Once You Pick A Channel
- 05:10 - Applying The Approach Every Time
- 05:35 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “A channel is somewhere you start to receive new leads, opportunities, and business. It can be word of mouth, social media, website, paid ads, or even your salespeople.” – Khalil
- “Your channel is really just your source of leads and where you’re able to close new business.” – Khalil
- “When it comes to picking your channel, start with where you feel most comfortable, where your customers spend the most time, and where your strengths are.” – Khalil
- “You can have multiple channels as long as you have someone on your team dedicated to each channel.” – Khalil
- “A lot of times you can grow faster by focusing on doing one channel well over trying to focus on five channels and doing them poorly.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:45 - New Year Motivation
- 04:40 - Work Rhythms
- 12:00 - Rhythm vs Process
- 17:50 - Being Specific (Khalil)
- 18:45 - Martin Client Story
- 20:20 - 3 Questions to Ask Your Employees
- 24:20 - Being Firm
- 29:19 - Being Specific in Your Ads + Marketing
- 30:00 - Features vs Benefits
- 33:00 - Key Partnerships + Referrals
- 37:00 - Other kinds of strategic partnerships
- 38:00 - Partner Agreement Doc
- 44:00 - Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Question your rhythms. Ask yourself if it’s valuable and if there alternatives. If you don’t question them, then you’ll end up just doing them without purpose.” – Khalil
- “A process is something that’s written out and it’s how you do something with step-by-step instructions of how it is done. A rhythm is establishing a time that’s occurring so you can do the process.” – Khalil
- “The 3 questions all supervisors need to ask their employees: 1. Do you understand clearly what is expected of you today? 2. Do you understand how you’re being measured? 3. Do you have everything you need to accomplish your work - in tools and training?” – Martin
- “You need to start with benefits, then the features of those benefits, and then think of how your service influences those. It makes you put your customers first instead of your product or service.” – Khalil
- “It has to come down to something that has clarity and is something that you can actually do. They have to be actionable items and that’s the benefit of being specific.” – Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:55 - Highlights of the Year
- 06:05 - Marketing for Contractors
- 11:20 - Pricing Conundrums
- 20:50 - Martin’s Wordkeeper Story
- 22:30 - Under Promise, Over Deliver
- 23:50 - The Issue of Surcharges
- 30:00 - Consumer Price Index
- 31:00 - Inflation in the 70’s
- 35:20 - Martin’s Article - What is Money?
- 39:30 - Why You Need To Be Reasonable With Prices
- 43:29 - How Measuring Brings Clarity
- 44:50 - Scheduling Issues Arise
- 51:50 - Outro & Recap
Quotable Moments
- “When you're really focused on branding, focused on the long term. You can start to make some of those plays and get better word of mouth referrals, the right word of mouth referrals, and really amplify that.” – K
- “Marketing doesn’t need to be some massive effort.” – K
- “When it comes to pricing, expectation is everything.” – K
- “You need to include design in your pricing. Charge for your design. They can pay for it and take it to any other contractor or they can stay and work with you and that fee can apply to your work.” – K
- “For most contractors, if you’re in a place where you’re saying “yes” more than you’re saying “no,” you’re probably not in a good place. You should be turning away some work.” – K
- “A surcharge is an extra line on your quote and its intent is to recover some temporary charges.” – M
- “I’m telling every client I have that they need to raise their prices while inflation is up right now. Consumers will try and push back but everyone knows prices are going up.” – M
- “Get the software. I know it might be a little more but it can work for you rather than you having to work for it.” – K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:45 - The Two Types of Stress
- 02:00 - The Causes of Bad Stress
- 04:30 - The Causes of Good Stress
- 10:00 - Why Small Failures Are Good
- 11:00 - What Bad Stress Boils Down To
- 12:20 - Why Processes Are Crucial
- 15:51 - Good Books Mitigate Bad Stress
Quotable Moments
- “There are two types of stress – there’s a blister which is a negative stress or you can have a callus which helps you develop the ability to handle future stress.” – Martin
- “The bad stress can come from uncertainty, indecision, doubt, fear, what-ifs, second guessing decisions, regret, holding grudges, poor communication, or partner issues” – Martin
- “The good stress can come from experience, decisiveness, being busy in your work, learning, bringing an employee on, trusting people, building and fostering culture, above-and-beyond communication, and having small failures.” – Martin
- “Oftentimes, 50 years of experience is just 1 year of experience 50 times.” – Martin
- “If you’re going to start addressing the bad stress, first you need to make a decision, second is to make a plan, third is to create systems and fourth is to have information.” – Martin
- “Good bookkeeping information can tell you whether or not you can buy that truck which will help your indecision.” – Martin
- “To reduce your stress, focus on systems and information.”– Martin
- “You will never eliminate your stress because we don’t want to. There is good stress that encourages us to learn new things.” – Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:15 - Adios to Lincoln Riley
- 03:00 - Is Your Business Holding You Hostage?
- 13:00 - Don’t Let Software Be Your Bottleneck
- 23:00 - Know What You Want & Stick To It
- 34:00 - Let’s Talk About Sustainable Growth
- 42:20 - Rollercoaster Profits
- 47:00- Outro
Quotable Moments
- “Hostage is when your company is dependent on a person instead of a system or a process.” – M
- “Create something that you’ll be able to replicate and not have to rely on the top talent to do, but that you’ll be able to train to learn.” – K
- “While they could stick with the same software, it’s just not a fit anymore and it doesn’t make them more efficient.” – K
- “Have an idea of what you want rather than just deciding based on the pitch.” – M
- “Your vision is just what you want.” – M
- “Sometimes, when you don’t stick to your price and you lower it, what ends up happening is that you create more chaos for yourself.” – K
- “These challenges that you think are overwhelming and unique to you… they’re not. I’ll find you 5 people with the exact same issue.” – M
- “You can’t listen to this and try and do all these things at once. There’s something that’s more important than anything else and you need to work on that thing until it’s no longer the short stave in the barrel.” – M
Resources
- “Choosing The Right Software For Your Company” Episode
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 01:15 - Intro, Coffee Convo
- 02:00 - Challenges that MH has had this week
- 05:00 - Tracking KPI’s
- 14:00 - Tom Brady and Bill Belichick
- 18:00 - The Great Resignation & the Future of Hiring
- 21:10 - What a Bonus Program Looks Like
- 33:40 - Employee Development & Incentives
- 48:15 - Passing on Costs & Wage Increases
- 51:00 - Get in Touch
Quotable Moments
- “There’s not a lack of work in construction. The demand is there. But you’re fighting hiring efforts because of the remote jobs being offered.” – K
- “There’s only 3 ways to get experience – pay someone for their experience, go and get the experience, or someone pays you through a training program to get the experience.” – K
- “For smaller companies, it can be a challenge to know all those numbers to be able to pay 30% above break even to the employees as a bonus.” – K
- “The number one reason for leaving is unclear expectations… which stems from having an idiot boss.” – M
Resources
- Hiring Post COVID Episode
- Building an Org Chart
- Employee Onboarding Episode
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 03:15 - Partnerships
- 10:00 - Resentment in Partnerships
- 18:50 - Hiring + Retaining Your Team
- 29:00 - Cultural Fits
- 32:15 - Investing in Your Team
- 36:00 - “You Can’t Eat It All”
- 40:00 - Reactive vs Proactive Price Increases
- 41:40 - Just Do It
- 43:00 - Why Branding Is So Important
- 45:00 - Examples of Branding
- 50:00 - You’re Not Alone/Recap
Quotable Moments
- “Partnership isn’t always the literal definition – think of it as any way that you get into business with somebody where you offer them rights or grants or ownership that you can’t get out of.” – M
- “If you’re not having uncomfortable conversations then you’re not having the right conversations.” – M
- “Your company will benefit more from you focusing on your strengths and focusing on a different role than your partner.” – K
- “We spend the majority of our time working. If you don’t feel a connection and purpose during the best hours of your day, then people are going to leave if they don’t feel that.” – K
- “You can’t eat it all – you have to have the buffer for the world and you have to have the courage to raise your prices.” – M
- “Your brand has a lot more to do with who you are and has more to do with what your unique value proposition is.” – K
- “On partnerships, be intentional about it and make sure you have a really good operating agreement.” – K
- “On hiring, the market has changed. You may have to change your ads, change your culture, and change the time you give to your employees.” – K
- “With your brand, it’s what’s going to increase your prices, hire better employees, and contributes to everything.” – K
Resources
- Read Martin’s Article “Partner or Not to Partner”
- Read the book “Rocket Fuel”
- Read “First, Break All of the Rules
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:00 - Meet Gary Messec
- 09:30 - Procedures & Systems
- 12:00 - OSHA & MSA (Mine Safety)
- 18:20 - Who Is Responsible for Safety?
- 24:45 - Types of Hazards
- 29:00 - Safety Procedures
- 35:30 - OSHA 300 Forms & Resources
- 41:15 - Martin’s Stories/Cost of Training
- 43:20 - Your Employee’s Buy-In
- 48:20 - Don’t Cut Corners
- 48:05 - OSHA Audits
- 52:20 - Benefits of a Safe Workforce
- 54:50 - Get In Touch With Gary
Quotable Moments
- “If they’re proceduralized, you can follow them step by step and eliminate the hazards.” – G
- “Any time you get ready to do a job, a JSA (job safety analysis) should be completed before you start your job. It has 3 items you need to know: what the job is and the tools it requires, what the hazards are involved with using the tools, and then how do we mitigate those hazards.” – G
- “If you’re going to put someone in a hazardous job, whether it’s 2 people or 2,000, they need to be trained and understand what those hazards are and how to mitigate them.” – G
- “Complacency causes the most accidents – you have to be disciplined not to skip over something when it’s something you do every day.” – G
- “A lot of people think OSHA is out to get us, but they’re not. They’re there to protect the workers.” – G
- “Your employees can only work safely if you train them on how to work safely.” – G
- “One way OSHA audits happen is by an employee complaint. They’ll come in and ask for your procedures, information, and OSHA 300. They may not fine you initially, but they’ll find something.” – G
- “OSHA is not your enemy. In the end, they’re going to make you a better company.” – G
Resources
- OSHA Website
- Call Gary: (405) 207-7334
- Email Gary
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 04:00 - Evolution of a Coffee Drinker
- 07:15 - We Hope You’re Hungry
- 09:40 - Jeff's Background
- 11:50 - How Jeff Started Woodworking
- 22:50 - College? Y or N
- 26:25 - The Value of Finance
- 28:50 - Full-time Business Owner
- 31:05 - Partner Conflicts + Dynamics
- 37:50 - Going Solo
- 40:00 - Making a Profit
- 42:30 - Not Being a “Yes Man”
- 55:00 - Build A Business To Sell
- 1:02:00 - Getting Out Sales
- 1:11:00 - Don't Focus On Sales Only
- 1:22:00 - How to Scale
Quotable Moments
- “For our young listeners out there, take the opportunity and look for the experience you can get. If you’re more focused on getting paid now, you’re not going to get as good of pay later.” – K
- “I tell people all the time that you don’t need an MBA to succeed in business. I also say, an MBA will not in any way remotely assure that you will succeed in business.” – M
- “There’s 2 ways to be educated and they both happen through experience. You can either get the experience yourself or you can pay for someone else’s experience to be passed down to you.” – K
- “Profit is not new cars – profit is inventory, new machines, and innovating.” – M
- “Your suppliers have no reluctance to tell you it just went up 15% and yet we, as the middleman between suppliers and their ultimate consumer, why are we reluctant?” – M
- “I’m building my company to sell it – I’m not sure whether I ever do it or not, but I want to get it to that position where it could be sold.” – J
- “Just because there’s a language and a culture barrier there, it doesn’t mean that there’s a talent barrier.” – K
Resources
- Martin’s Forbes Article
- Jeff’s Website
- Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn
- Email Jeff
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 - Martin is Grumpy
- 04:30 - KB Stroy about Client & Outsourcing
- 05:30 - 2 Types of Outsourcing
- 06:50 - When to use subs - Examples and Reasons
- 09:45 - What happens if you don't outsource?
- 10:30 - Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing
- 13:00 - Advantages and Disadvantages of In-House
- 14:30 - Inside Outsourcing
- 17:00 - Starting a Business - Stay in Your Lane
- 22:00 - What to consider when choosing who to outsource
- 24:30 - OSSHA 300 Form (Where is your audience?)
- 31:00 - Contracting is tough
- 31:15 - Look at your org chart - What do you need?
- 36:00 - Outsourcing gives you an outside perspective
- 37:00 - Getting started → Advisors and Mentors Checklist
- 39:30 - Strength Finders
- 44:00 - Specialize at What You Are Best at
- 46:30 - Closing Remarks
Quotable Moments
- “Get your capacity and your sales up with outsourcing.” – K
- “One of the main advantages of outsourcing is that you don’t have to hire people. A disadvantage is that you won’t have control like you would with an in-house employee.” – M
- “You’re better served to focus on what you’re good at and to stay in your lane.” – K
- “When you’re deciding to choose an outsourced partner, you still need to keep in mind how they will fit in with your company and team.” – K
- “Look at your org chart and start to think about your role and the hats you’re wearing - take a step back and think about if someone else on your team should be doing these tasks.” – K
- “List of potential roles and responsibilities that can be outsourced: bookkeeping, taxes, banking, attorney, HR, marketing, safety, training, and systems.” – K
- “When outsourcing, you’re getting an outside perspective that will notice things you won’t.” – K
Resources
- Advisor & Mentor Checklist
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 02:30 - Liens Don't Have to be One-Sided
- 04:00 - If You Aren't Careful, You'll Fail
- 05:30 - Different Clauses in Liens
- 11:20 - Your Bid is Your ___
- 13:00 - People That Don't Use Contracts
- 15:00 - Expectations Document
- 17:30 - Counselor, Not Lawyer
- 21:30 - Realistic Litigation Fees
- 24:30 - It's Worth the Investment
- 25:50 - The Stigma of Lawyers
- 26:30 - 'Reasonably Insured' - What it means
- 33:00 - Cloud v. Paper
- 36:00 - The Rules of Having a Partner
- 40:00 - Being Employees vs Partners
- 45:00 - Karalynn’s Advice on Liens
- 47:00 - What Happens When A Lien is Filed Incorrectly
- 51:00 - How Karalynn Got Started
Quotable Moments
- “If you don’t know and you’re going in blind then you’re going to fail.” – Karalynn
- “There’s a big misconception that if you’re terminated all you’re going to lose is the money that they owe you – if you walk away from a job and it costs them more to replace your scope than what you agreed to do, you’re on the hook for that difference because you promise to do this work for X amount of dollars and you didn’t.” – Karalynn
- “The general contractor has the right to terminate you for no reason or any reason at all. It’s called a termination for convenience clause.” – Karalynn
- “Know how to CYA – cover your ass as a general business practice. If something does happen, keep records or have systems so if you need something, it’s there.” – Karalynn
- “If you don’t have certain agreements in your business, the underlying reason is you don’t really value your business.” – Martin
- “Stay in your lane. You can grow your way out of it, but stay in your lane. And when you’re going to grow, let’s be intentional about it.” – Martin
- “Even if you have a lien and it’s been a while, you have way more leverage than somebody who doesn’t.” – Karalynn
- “Generally speaking, a voluntary lien is a security interest in a piece of property. You go to the bank and get a mortgage and take back a lien on your house – you’ll pay them back and you sign off on that.” – Karalynn
- “To know about the industry, you really need to have spent some time in it right before you can really understand what to do.” – Karalynn
- “I stay in my lane. I don’t do divorces. I don’t do wills. I stay here with what I’m good at.” – Karalynn
Resources
- Subcontractor Institute
- Advisor & Mentor Checklist
- Karalynn’s Website
- Email Karalynn
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 – Intro
- 4:50 – Managing Customer Expectations
- 9:00 – Getting Started with a customer or client
- 13:30 – Starts with Sales
- 14:30 – Marcus Sheridan
- 18:20 – When does onboarding end?
- 22:00 – Contract vs. Expectations Doc.
- 26:00 – How to set expectations
- 31:00 – Areas to set expectations
- 38:00 – Outro
Quotable Moments
- “90% of the problems in business are communications.” – M
- “Words are one thing but actions are a whole other deal. People need to see where you’re living it out.” – K
- “They’ll [customers] get mad at you anyways so
- “The handshake kind of deal works with the right people and the right project, but you shouldn’t rely on it.” – M
- “Your contract and your expectations document are different – your contract is there to protect you and the expectations document is to make things clear.” – K
- “Your values as a company, your culture as a company will help dictate those expectations for and by those employees.” – K
- “It’s not all about what you expect from a customer but what the customer expects from you too.” – M
Resources
- Read Martin’s Article
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 01:00 – How the Software Starts
- 04:00 – The Benefits of Software
- 07:00 – The Reality of Software
- 09:30 – Building Your Tech Stack
- 13:00 – Managing Multiple Softwares
- 16:00 – Will it Make Me Money?
- 18:00 – Does it Scale Well?
- 19:50 – Is This Software Actively Updated?
- 21:10 – Does it Integrate?
Quotable Moments
- “Things get busy once you buy and install that software. You get a lot of work and you don’t have the time to train your team and you just put it back on the shelf” – Khalil
- “You get fed up so you go back to the basics of pen and paper and you don’t really solve any of your problems.” – Khalil
- “Software adds value to your business – it adds efficiency, organization, delegation, and systemization.” – Khalil
- “The most software you’re going to purchase as a company is going to be for administering the business.” – Khalil
- “You want to make sure your software integrates with several other tools and uses native integration.” – Khalil
- “You want software to work for you. You want it to add value to your business. You want it to create organization inside of your company. You want it to ultimately allow you to become a more efficient company.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 1:00 - Who is Chris Zervas?
- 6:15 - Communication in the Workplace (3-Legged Stool)
- 13:50 - Contractors and Communication
- 15:30 - The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cobane
- 23:45 - Nonverbal Communication
- 29:00 - How Communication has Changed (Martin’s Story)
- 31:00 - Learning Leadership Communication Skills
- 34:00 - Communication between Generations
- 40:30 - Retaining Employees
- 43:50 - The Importance of Culture
- 48:40 - Appropriate Relationships with Employees
- 53:30 - Vulnerability as a Leader
- 55:40 - Providing Feedback
- 1:00:00 - Power & Leadership vs. Authority & Leadership
- 1:01:30 - What Actions to Take
- 1:06:30 - Contact Chris
Quotable Moments
- “Whatever you’re doing, be all there.” – Chris
- “We have a tendency to destroy our relationships with important clients by our distractibility.” – Chris
- “60% of employees are actively or passively disengaged in their company.” – Chris
- “What you don’t do and what you allow has a greater impact on your culture than what you’re actually intentional about.” – Khalil
- “When you build relationships, you build trust. When you have trust… you’re ultimately increasing productivity.” – Chris
- “All good communication starts with a question internally – ‘who’s my audience?’” – Chris
- “Authority is given and it’s a title that you assume. Leadership is earned.” – Chris
- “We’re wired to be in community with people that interact with us with grace and truth.” – Chris
Resources
- Visit Chris Zervas’s Website
- Read Chris Zervas’s Book
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Eric Daffern? Why did he go into law? (1:50)
- There are two main risks in real estate and contracting: the risk of getting sued, and the risk of not getting paid. (5:30)
- Story of the Show — The perfect construction contract and project suddenly went wrong because of the pandemic. (12:20)
- Why are systems so essential for contractors? (14:15)
- Why don’t more contractors have relationships with an attorney? (17:20)
- 99% of the time, everything’s gonna work out. How do you protect against that 1% where the bottom falls out? (20:27)
- What’s the most important tool you can use to make sure you get paid and stay out of court? (22:00)
- What’s a contract system? (22:40)
- What’s a contract addendum, and how does it give subcontractors power in a negotiation? (24:40)
- How do large GCs react to subs trying to negotiate? Do subcontractors even stand a chance against them? (27:30)
- Do you need to pay an attorney to review every contract? (30:20)
- What are some other systems contractors need? (33:15)
- Can you still do work on a handshake? (35:50)
- Systems add value ($$$) to your business. (40:00)
- Mechanic lien systems — Don’t ignore your superpower! (40:45)
- Why do you need HR systems? (46:30)
- Your team can work closely together to make sure that your business is protected. (48:10)
- How can early incident management systems protect you and your employees? (49:10)
- How can you be a good consumer and choose the right attorney? (55:00)
- Mount Rushmore — Lawyer Jokes edition (59:40) Listen to see which joke was Eric’s favorite!
- Quote of the day — “Knowledge is power.” (1:02:40)
- Something you can actually go do (1:06:10)
- Closing the story — Remember that this was the PERFECT job. Everything went right, until the last payment. Luckily, we had already worked with the client to create a mechanic lien system. Unfortunately, we had to file a mechanic lien, but my client was able to get paid and still maintain a good relationship with his client. (1:09:50)
- Intern Insights with Ethan — Can Ethan sum up in 60 seconds or less what it took the other guys over an hour to explain? (1:13:14)
Quotable Moments
- “The earlier you find a problem, the cheaper the resolution is.” — M
- “If you will focus on a team around you and invest in your team, then you can have that team help you make money as well. There’s no difference between having a screwdriver, a hammer, or whatever in your craft, and having a lawyer, an accountant, and a banker on the business side of it.” — Eric
- “The number one reason people leave an employment position is unclear expectations ... Systems define the expectations against which people are measured so you can go and do those things.” — M
- “You’re not going to be the expert in everything. You have to hire and trust other people. It’s going to make you better.” — K
- “You have the choice of doing nothing or the choice of doing something.” — Eric
Mount Rushmore
- Listen to our best lawyer jokes at 59:40!
Resources
- Contract Addendum Checklist
- Mechanic Lien System Survey
- Early Incident Management Checklist
- Questions to Ask an Attorney
- Daffern Law Firm newsletter sign-up
- Visit daffernlawfirm.com for more from Eric Daffern
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Michael Barnett, and what was his path to being a business owner? (1:24)
- When should you get lawyers involved in a family business? (3:26)
What was life like when he took over the company?
- 2012 - 2016: Growing the company, focused on sales, no idea how much money was in the bank. (6:12)
- What caused his vision of the company to change? What were the biggest issues he faced as a new business owner who was trying to build and grow a legacy? (7:18)
- How was he prospecting for new customers? (9:14)
- 2017: Focused his sights on commercial work because there was more money in it. (11:22)
- They hit a million in sales, but started to feel some cashflow problems. (12:46)
- Even though they grew in 2017, they lost money. So, Michael started talking to other business owners and took a mastermind class with Martin (14:41)
- Bookkeeping 101: How to use good books to make decisions. (17:16)
Becoming a business owner, not just an electrician
- Being a business owner is fun. (18:43)
- They started focusing on service work because it had 40% margins without putting in any work to improve processes. (24:06)
- BUT, Michael DID improve the service processes. Here’s how. (25:30)
- Michael’s mentality through the changes? “Jump. We’ll build the wings on the way down.” (30:18)
- The power of getting rid of the hourly rate and charging a service fee. (34:48)
- How Michael sets his costs AND protects his customers. (36:30)
- How technology supports his business. (38:30)
- What was the key to turning around his business? (42:58)
- The evolution of his vision. (45:28)
- What’s Michael’s advice for others who want success? (47:35)
- Ethan’s Insights — Ethan’s favorite moments from the interview. (49:25)
Quotable Moments
- “If you’re cheap enough, you can get as much work as you want, but you won’t be around.” — Michael
- “We broke a million, so where’s the money?” — Michael
- “If you have 35 margins and you raise your prices 10, you can lose 22 of your business before you lose 1 penny of profit.” — M
- “Jump. We’ll build the wings on the way down.” — Michael
- “As a business owner, you have to make those leaps of faith all the time. Otherwise, you just stay stagnant, get in a rut, and you don’t improve. You miss out on opportunities and you don’t grow.” — K
Resources
- The Discount Calculator
More from Michael
- Barnettelectrical.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Intro (0:00)
- Who is Sergio Garcia? (0:55)
- Then something really crazy happened. (9:10)
- What’s his business? (13:20)
- Why your business name matters. (15:50)
- What’s a typical day at Alpha Surfaces? (16:40)
- That’s when things started going bad... (19:20)
- “We started getting behind on a lot of payments.” (22:30)
- “That’s when I got that gut check.” (22:50)
- “I was bleeding cash everywhere.” (25:00)
- Even people with no business sense can tell that this isn’t right... (27:10)
- Margins? Bidding? How did they determine pricing? (28:70)
- “That $5,000 is not all for you.” (29:50)
- You’re busy, but you’re on credit lock — it’s like quicksand. (31:10)
- They decided that we needed help. It was divine intervention. That’s when everything changed. (34:20)
- “We think we’re saving money by doing it ourselves, but it costs us opportunities.” (43:00)
- How Sergio reacted to competitors then and now. (49:00)
- What was the most impactful change that he made in his business? (54:00)
- One danger of increasing your capacity before you’re ready. (1:00:30)
- What’s the hardest part of getting your pricing right? (1:06:20)
- How did he tell his customers that he was going to have to start charging more? (1:09:45)
- A common marketing mistake that contractors make. (1:18:00)
- How a CRM transformed Alpha’s business. (1:22:20)
- Mount Rushmore — Sergio’s biggest improvements (1:27:17)
- Quote of the day — “Sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn.” — Sergio’s daughter (1:35:10)
- Intern Insights with Ethan — There’s a ton to cover, so let’s see if Ethan can get it all in! (1:36:30)
Quotable Moments
- “When it comes to the numbers and the business side, it’s a whole different story.” — Sergio
- “If you don’t know what you’re doing and don’t have something that you want, it’s pretty hard to do it.” — M
- “It’s not just about working harder, it’s about working smarter.” — K
- “Keeping track of your business is just as hard as doing it.” — M
- “When you do a good job, customers are happy to pay you.” — Sergio
- “When you’re small, you don’t see the big issue with not having the margins or the systems... As you get bigger, it becomes a magnifying glass on all of the problems you have.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- Courage
- Getting the books right
- Creating a vision for the company — Sergio’s George Washington
- Improving operational efficiency
- Delegation
- Price increase
- Getting the books right (so important, we had to mention it twice!)
- Grit
Resources
- Lory Yearwood at Zeal Accounting Solutions
- HubSpot CRM
- alphaokc.com
- sergio@alphaokc.com
- Alpha Surfaces Facebook
- Alpha Surfaces Instagram
- Alpha Surfaces LinkedIn
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cash Flow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 00:00 - Intro
- 10:20 - What is Etiquette?
- 16:20 - Zoom Etiquette
- 26:35 - First Impressions
- 43:00 - Table Manners
- 53:00 - Unspoken Etiquette
Quotable Moments
- “You play golf? Would you really want to go out and play a round with someone who doesn’t play golf?” – H
- “People don’t pay attention to their background and the lighting [of their Zoom background] and I’ll be watching the news and staring at the plates and dishes behind them.” – H
- “A first impression usually lasts 7 seconds.” – H
- “First line of communication is good posture.” – H
- “The knife blade is the business side of your knife. Even when you’re sitting down, the knife blade needs to be pointing in. In medieval times, if your knifeblade was pointing out, it conveyed that you were dishonorable.” – H
- “The main thing contractors can take away from this is that they need to be intentional and self-aware with how they act around employees, around clients, and other subs.” – K
Resources
- Visit Hilarie’s Website
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How onboarding starts (10:00)
- Why onboarding needs to be dimensional (20:00)
- Onboarding culture (28:00)
- Why legal and HR needs to come first (35:00)
- Necessary onboarding processes (44:00)
- Small steps at a time. (50:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Onboarding starts during the hiring process.” – Khalil
- “The number one reason for people leaving a company is unclear expectations. It’s not money, it’s not hours, it’s not safety, and it’s not coworkers.” – Martin
- “Doing training on the first day is fine but you need to talk about values, give examples of the values, and bring in other employees to talk about them.” – Khalil
- “Nowadays, people can find work anywhere. You need to give them a reason, besides money, to come work for you.” – Martin
- “You hire for skill and you fire for attitude.” – Martin
- “Ignorance is not an excuse to not have the professionals that you need in your business.” – Martin
- “The biggest takeaway is to make a checklist of all the things you need to go over in onboarding in the future.” – Khalil
- “Know that you were able to make huge leaps and progress over the last 5 years so know that you’ll be able to do it in the next five years as well.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Hank’s family business history. (7:41)
- Graduating college and starting in the work field. (11:00)
- Working in and selling his family's business of 92 years. (13:58)
- Burnout with your work. (19:28)
- Becoming a business broker. (39:36)
- How to find out the value of a business. (43:13)
- Asset sale vs. stock sale. (51:46)
- The most common delay when selling your business. (57:36)
- Reasons why people sell their business. (59:34)
- Who are these business buyers? (1:03:30)
- How long is the selling process? (1:12:27)
Quotable Moments
- “I quickly learned that cash lived in the bank and profit was completely on paper.” - Hank
- “Profit is on paper, but it's not nearly as meaningful as if at least part of it's in the bank.” - Martin
- “Sales were tremendous, transactions were tremendous, things were going fantastic, and I was just utterly depressed.” - Hank
- “This is more than just a thing I do, or a place I go, or even a game, it's just more than that. I'm creating, I'm helping the world, I'm feeding people, I'm accomplishing things, and I love that.” - Martin
- “When businesses are acquired, they want the employees, those employees are one of the biggest assets they can have.” - Hank
- “Too often I see owners pay themselves too little cause they say, oh, you know I want the business to do well, but that hurts them.” - Hank
- “The worst thing that a builder can do is not know the market.” - Hank
- “If your books are a mess... so is everything else.” - Martin
- “As a business owner, the reason why you want to sell is more important than the price and the terms of selling your business.” - Hank
- “If you're a business owner right now, and you're looking to grow, you can grow through that acquisition as well.” - Khalil
Resources
- Check out Hank’s website
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How the biggest companies in the world make things easier. (0:47)
- How to use software to your advantage. (3:07)
- Some questions to ask yourself about your business practices. (3:42)
- Common misconceptions when customers pay invoices. (4:20)
- Positioning document. (4:59)
Quotable Moments
- “Do you confuse your prospects with the 30 or 40 options that you could provide or do you present them with your three recommended bestsellers?”
- “The law of least effort tells us that people when they're deciding between similar options are hard-wired to gravitate toward the option requiring the least effort.”
- “You are losing sales and referrals with every step you impose on prospects and customers.”
- “When dealing with competition and customers, the easy option needs to be you.”
Resources
- Read more about managing customer expectations on my website.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What is a registered apprentice? (9:38)
- National apprentice act of 2021. (17:24)
- How to set up an apprenticeship program for your company. (22:15)
- What makes someone an ideal employee? (27:25)
- Common misconceptions of apprenticeships. (33:53)
- Working with the youth. (35:32)
- The importance of having a mentor. (39:40)
- The time frame of getting started on your apprenticeship program. (44:23)
Quotable Moments
- “When we hear the word apprenticeship, typically that's been tied to blue-collar professions or trades, but it goes much beyond that.” - Jennifer
- “In the United States, the average age for an apprentice is 29, globally it's 17.” - Jennifer
- “How important it is to get a variety of experiences in your life and how much more valuable it is to people to have that.” - Khalil
- “It shows the apprentice that you are invested in their learning, but it also provides the mentor with that, hey, you trust me enough to train this individual.” - Jennifer
- “Another benefit of working with that particular person group is that you have the ability to mold that individual specific to your company, allowing for you to prevent the creation of bad habits.” - Jennifer
Resources
- Jennifer’s Email.
- Apprenticeships in Oklahoma.
- Apprenticeships nationwide.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Impostor Syndrome. (8:28)
- Building self-confidence on your team as a boss. (14:19)
- Knowing your worth. (21:47)
- The importance of changing your mindset. (25:27)
- Getting over your self-imposed fear. (35:56)
Quotable Moments
- “As business owners, we play a role in our employees' evidence that they gather that leads to their own self-confidence.” - Khalil
- “No one has it figured out, everyone's a quote-unquote impostor, and that they're just doing the best they can. There's no reason why you can't be confident like that.” - Khalil
- “If you don’t have anybody to encourage you, you gotta do it yourself.” - Martin
- “If you begin to act as if this is who I am, this is what I want to accomplish, you will begin to believe it.” - Martin
- “We’re fearful that we’re going to fail, but the reality is if we don't try, we fail.” - Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Definition of delegation. (5:10)
- Why delegating is so important. (9:33)
- Abdication vs. Delegating. (15:02)
- Why do people avoid delegation? (21:14)
- “Radical Delegation”, a delegation framework. (28:38)
- Risks of not delegating. (35:23)
- What’s a good place to start delegating? (40:11)
Quotable Moments
- “If somebody can do your duties 70% as well, you are better off to delegate that role to them and concentrate on what you do best.” - Martin
- “If you can't free up and delegate worthwhile projects, you're not going to have time to do the things that you need to advance yourself and your business.” - Martin
- “Delegation is the key to growth and survival but you've got to make sure it's delegation and not abdication.” - Martin
- “A really simple definition of abdication and delegation is you're either invested in it or you're not as the owner.” - Khalil
- “It is not a benefit to the owner at the expense of employees. “ - Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- Radical Delegation Framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1401598910792011776/photo/1
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What are marketing metrics? (4:50)
- Which marketing metrics matter? (6:24)
- Measuring marketing production team metrics. (21:23)
- What marketing metrics do not matter? (32:10)
Quotable Moments
- “Did I make more money from my marketing than I spent on it, in other words, revenue income.” - Martin
- “It is also your responsibility to understand what's working or not. You can't just throw money out there and then wait five months and say, I didn't get any more. Maybe you did and you just don't know it.” - Martin
- “Just because something's working right now and it matters today and you feel like is the bread and butter of your business, if you're really wanting to grow, it doesn't mean that it's the same thing that's going to take you like it did from zero to one million to five to ten million.” - Khalil
- “Follow the metrics that lead to revenue and focus on those.” - Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Different marketing channels. (19:35)
- Determining your company's purpose. (22:45)
- What is a marketing plan? (24:02)
- The first step, developing a strategy. (38:38)
- How marketing and sales work together. (44:25)
- In-house marketing vs. a marketing agency. (1:01:40)
Quotable Moments
- “Doing something is better than nothing, but doing something specific is better than just doing something.” - Khalil
- “If you don't see a very good strategy that's based on who you are and who your customers are as a part of the process of doing the marketing, it's a red flag.” - Khalil
- “Your marketing has to fit your process, so that it's a continuum.” - Martin
- “You can do lots of different things by breaking up that long form content into more bite size, digestible pieces that people can see, but don't have to read a full article to get that information.” - Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- ICP Episode: https://www.thecashflowcontractor.com/episodes/057-customer-profiles?rq=ideal%20customer%20profile
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Tom Robertson? (3:00)
- 1099 contractors vs W2. (18:00)
- Common employment predicaments. (29:00)
- Exempt vs non-exempt individuals. (34:00)
- Furlough vs reduction in force. (42:00)
- FIghting an unemployment case – y or n. (47:00)
- How to implement these changes. (52:00)
Quotable Moments
- “1099 is miscellaneous non-wage income. A W2 is someone performing work for us and that is an employee.” – Tom
- “When you get into things with the US department of labor – you don’t have to settle with them, but if you don’t, you run the possibility of litigation.” – Tom
- “If you don’t know something, go find someone that can help you like an attorney, like Tom Robertson.” – Khalil
- “For a salary non-exempt, you’ll still pay overtime. With the salary exempt, we pay them a fixed amount every week.” – Tom
- “An administrative person is an office or non-manual person who does the general business of the employer, or even the employers. They have discretion and independent judgment in what they do.” – Tom
- “You can’t just say “I’m going to pay you a salary.” There are some tests that are met with a dangerous third-party labor commission that can come in and determine who should have been paid overtime.” – Martin
- “Oklahoma is an at-will state. You can fire for any reason or no reason at all, as long as it’s not illegal/discriminatory.” – Tom
- “This is a process. Employment law is complex and has a lot of details. There are a lot of things that you cover, but the complexity doesn’t mean you don’t address it, but you can do it one at a time.” – Tom
Resources
- Contact Tom Robertson
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The dilemma. (1:30)
- How to get around it. (2:55)
- Is your job ad compelling? (4:30)
Quotable Moments
- “If employers were buyers and employees were sellers, it’s a sellers market.” – Martin
- “A little over 90% reported that the lack of workers is the number one factor in scarcity of products and scarcity of services, which in turn is the number one factor in the price increases we’re all seeing.” – Martin
- “There are two things you can do – offer the going rate for labor and emphasize the benefits of working for you.” – Martin
- “Are you offering a competitive salary and does your job as entice them or does it put them to sleep?” – Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What is content? (3:20)
- What’s the purpose? (10:39)
- I’m afraid I won’t be good at it. (23:00)
- Agency or in-house. (30:00)
- The benefits of content. (46:00)
- B2C marketing. (56:00)
- Frameworks. (59:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Content is all of the knowledge that these business owners have in their own head. It’s the stuff you share out in videos, phone calls, podcasts, emails, and websites.” – Khalil
- “Good content is engaging, entertaining, and will call people to action.” – Khalil
- “You want to think – how can I approach this channel, target my audience, but also to be unique and to be myself?” – Khalil
- “You have to be ready to experiment because nobody knows what’s going to work and what’s not.” – Khalil
- “If you’re invested in the long-term, content is super powerful.” – Khalil
- “Your SEO is very important and content helps with that tremendously. Your SEO content is always king.” – Khalil
- “When you show up to a job site in a clean truck, with a hardhat, and you're well dressed… it’s the same as having a clear website, social media, and content. It’s nice and polished, it’s going to play a role in their decision as to what bid they go with.” – Khalil
- “3 frameworks on creating content: long-form content model [this episode], which can be clipped down into short-form content model, and then a pillar model [evergreen content based on what you talk about during a sales process].” – Khalil
Resources
- Visit Benali’s website.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The dangers of overpromising. (2:51)
- What is an expectation document? (4:12)
- The importance of communication. (7:30)
- How to brainstorm and draft your first expectation document. (8:02)
- How to present the expectation document to your customer. (8:32)
Quotable Moments
- “It seems like customers always want things beyond the original scope of work. If I keep on giving in, we'll work the rest of our lives for free. If I refuse, they'll just trash our reputation, which they’ll probably do anyway.” (1:34)
- “So it's fair to say that you have a good idea of what to expect in these projects and your clients don't have a clue.” (2:41)
- “90% of the problems with customer relationships are due to poor communication and the other 10% include communication as a factor.” (7:32)
- “The quality of your communications is the result you get.” (11:04)
Resources
- Read more about managing customer expectations on my website.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How Rob got his start. (2:15)
- What is “profit first”? (15:49)
- Finding a distribution rhythm. (26:00)
- Money management with small plate practice. (38:00)
- How to get started with profit first. (46:00)
- Analyzing your sales. (55:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Profit first is an envelope system using your bank account for your business.” - Rob
- “Think of it as a dashboard for your business. It is not an accounting system. Do not drop your accounting system!” – Rob
- “The majority of the businesses I’ve worked with now, more than 400, don’t know if they made money last month or last quarter or last year.” – Rob
- “For years, I was overthinking and overcomplicating profit first. It’s a simple system. Don’t turn it into your accounting system.” – Rob
- “Small plate is that whatever is there, you’re going to use it. If you have three months to do a job, you’ll take three months. If you have $5,000 to complete a job, you’ll use that $5,000.” – Rob
- “You must find a way to not take money out of your accounts. Sometimes that way is to call somebody up and say, “I can’t pay you until after the first.” – Martin
- “The first step of getting started is to open a bank account and start putting in that 1%. The second step is to get an asset allocation assessment. The third is to
- “A lot of times the activity that generates the most sales, generates the least margins.” – Martin
- “Analyzing your sales – If you have segments of your business and analyzing your different offerings and they’re not close to the benchmarks... then maybe you need to gradually make a transition to something else.” – Rob
- “Diversify what your options are. Don’t just be stuck.” – Rob
- “My program starts making profits once we get the accounts in there and then we help them to actually change those numbers.” – Rob
- “I had a client who had been growing for years but wasn’t making any money. We analyzed his behavior and there was one activity that was using up a lot of his resources and wasn’t making him much money. We convinced him to drop that service. This reduced his sales by 34% and made his net profit go up 808%.” – Martin
Resources
- Iron Gate ESS website
- Rob’s podcast website
- Email Rob
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Introduction of the author, Paul Akers. (1:40)
- What is a lean? (4:03)
- 8 main areas of lean. (5:55)
- The Lean bonus area. (10:11)
- Overall book review and rating. (12:19)
Quotable Moments
- “90% of what we do is waste.” – Martin
- “If your whole team every day is making small improvements, at the end of the year you’re going to be a more efficient company than you were at the start.” - Martin
- “Whatever it is that bugs you, you find a way to improve it. It might take you 10 minutes. It might take you an hour to achieve the two-second lean, but you've saved two seconds every day for the rest of the time you're in business.” - Martin
- “Waste is like gravity… it pulls at you 24/7. If you don’t have a system to overcome it, you’re going to lose and it’s going to win.” – Martin
- “Waste is everywhere once you learn to spot it.” - Martin
- “Small gains result in massive improvements.” - Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- A short example. (2:00)
- How hobbies help us professionally. (6:00)
- Applying previously learned skills to help you now. (10:30)
- How to establish an advantage. (12:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Our learning by doing is going to happen outside of our business. It will happen in our hobbies.” – Khalil
- “There are so many things that I learn in that domain of coaching that I can bring across into my domain of business.” – Khalil
- “Businesses are ever-evolving and always changing. And you have to understand the broad picture, not just the specialized one.” – Khalil
- “Learning is going to happen by the experiences that we have and the hobbies we take interest in. Where we spend our time to actually get our hands dirty and try something we’ve never done before.” – Khalil
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The three steps to success. (4:24)
- The challenge: Tie what you're doing day to day into your ultimate goal. (9:19)
- The 80/20 Rule. (13:49)
- How do you really take action? (21:33)
- How to make chunks of time to focus on your one thing. (24:51)
- The power of reading. (32:15)
- Focus on one thing for a quarter. (41:17)
- How to defeat Imposter Syndrome. (45:10)
Quotable Moments
- "You have to actually do something. You can't just sit around and think about it." — M
- "I think multitasking is probably the biggest threat to focus in your life." — K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The history of the word. (0:30)
- Real examples from my experience. (1:20)
- 1099 contractors vs W2 employees. (3:30)
- How to avoid this. (6:30)
Quotable Moments
- “The penalty for [my client] filing his employees as 1099 instead of full-time [W2] could easily exceed $100,000 in the state of Texas.” – M
- “An acquaintance of mine took the advice of a website and is currently in a legal dispute with a previous partner. The total cost is $15,000 for legal fees.” – M
- “You’re very likely really good at what you do but you’re just as likely to not be an expert in other critical areas of business…. these areas can be landmines that can blow up your business.” – M
- “Some misjudgements can just be painful, some can be annoying, and some can be catastrophic.” – M
- “At minimum, to avoid this, you need a CPA, an insurance agent, a banker, an attorney, an IT professional. Spend the money.” – M
- “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.” – M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why people hate to fire employees. (6:14)
- How do you keep track of employee performance? (9:03)
- Delegation vs. Abdication. (10:46)
- Change your business with a scrum. (10:23)
- How can I help you vs. I need this from you. (12:43)
- Checklist of signs that they need to go. (18:11)
- Fire fast. Don't prolong your agony. (29:12)
Quotable Moments
- "It's oftentimes not the employees that you fire that cause chaos and headache for you, but it's the ones that you don't fire." — K
- "The true gratification in life comes from accomplishing something. If you're given everything, then you're denied that." — M
- "You don't have to settle for mediocrity." — M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- E061 — The Sword of Damocles
- When You Know They Need To Go article
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Puzzle experiment. (0:50)
- The 3 hiring models (4:00)
- Why it matters. (6:00)
- What you can do. (8:00)
Quotable Moments
- “When you have a coach or mentor that is motivating you, they’re trying to guide you to success. It will make you work harder.” – K
- “There are 3 hiring models. There’s the star model, the professional model, and the commitment model.” – K
- “Most companies that succeed are going on that commitment model.” – K
- “When you go on the star model, you hire the brightest and the smartest, you expect them to achieve things that no other team can achieve.” – K
- “When you go on the professional model, you expect your team to know how to do things and to be able to deliver consistent results.” – K
- “When you go on the commitment model, you’re going in with the perspective that you want to create a culture of belonging, connectedness, safety, and you do things to create that atmosphere.” – K
- “Go send that text, go call that person, go tell them that they’re doing a good job, go tell them that you’re proud of them. Do whatever it is to make them feel like they belong and create a culture of belonging and strong emotional bonds inside of your business.” – K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- He’s not a CPA. Who is he? (5:40)
- Know your skillset. (12:00)
- Tax code and planning. (19:00)
- LLC. Yes or No? (32:00)
- Why you need someone. (41:00)
- Setting up the family. (51:00)
- Tax myths. (1:02:00)
- Your options. (1:12:00)
Quotable Moments
- “The real deadline isn’t April 15th. That’s the filing deadline. You could file an extension or file your return. The real date for a business owner is October 15th.” – John
- “The accounting industry wants 1 of 2 things. 1 – they want to help their clients. 2 – they want lower personal income taxes and numbers that help them run their business better. Yet accountants are providing either of those services, they’re number historians.” – John
- “CPAs don’t have exclusive rights to the internal revenue code. Do you know where you find the 401k and internal revenue code? In section 401, subsection k.” – John
- “IRA stands for individual retirement arrangement (laws).” – John
- “Amazon is nothing unique. They’ve just executed on it.” – John
- “If you’re the business… then you’re NOT a business.” – John
- “Accountants have been regularly saying that a home business is a red flag. If there’s 4 ways of doing something, is how could it be a red flag?” – John
- “Think of a chasm where the only way to cross is to pay the toll bridge. And that chasm has a bunch of toll bridges. One of them is capital gains… it’s 15%. Every time you want money from the left side and move it to the right of the chasm, I have to pay a toll.” – John
- “The entrepreneur is the economic engine of the country. The US is the biggest economic power because we attracted the original entrepreneur – the pilgrim.” – John
- “If you’re making over 100,000 a year year, your likelihood of being audited as a sole proprietor is 5x higher than if you were to be an escort.” – John
- “LLC is legal structure and the way you file. The default is the highest cost, which is a sole proprietor. You can change is to an S-corp with one simple form.” – John
- “You need to learn things that are outside of your core competency.” – John
- “As a business owner, you make money twice. You make money as an employee of the business, and you make money as an owner of the business where you earn dividends.” – John
- “If you stop working, would you have to hire someone to do what you were doing? If the answer is yes, then you’re an employee.” – John
- “Good tax planning should never violate good financial planning.” – John
- “There’s 4 ways to never pay taxes: make no money, don’t pay them, lose money every year, and give it all away.” – John
- “The likelihood of being audited is half of 1%.” – John
Resources
- Tax Myths free book.
- Financial Gravity website.
- Buy our stock – FGCO.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The small things paradox. (1:00)
- The 1% rule. (1:50)
- An intricate example. (3:50)
Quotable Moments
- “Failure is a few small errors in judgement repeated every day. Success is a few small disciplines practiced every day.” – Jim Rohn
- “Small disciplines are generally easy to do but they’re also generally easy to not do.” – Martin
- “The 1% Rule: for the average company in the US, if you can increase your gross profit margins by 1%, you will increase your net profit by 14.5%.” – Martin
- “You can’t buy things cheaper, you can’t buy good labor cheaper… but you can get one more job per week.” – Martin
- “Know where the little leaks are in your business and fix them. It’s the little things that will make you prosper. It’s not chasing the big score.” – Martin
- “You may have paid all your expenses… but that’s not why you’re in business.” – Martin
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How Mike got here. (1:30)
- What is profit first? (3:30)
- The 4 elements to remember. (6:35)
- Managing retainers. (10:22)
- The foundational five. (13:00)
- Parkinson’s Law (17:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Out of the 200 million small businesses in the U.S., (companies that do $25 million in annual revenue or less), 85% of them are in check-to-check survival.” – Mike
- “The first element is human nature. When things are pre-allocated to its intended use, we work within the confines.” – Mike
- “Step 2 is the sequence of how we do things is very important.” – Mike
- “Most business owners go right for the meat, which is paying the bills, and they forget about themselves, which is the health of the business.” - Mike
- “You have to pay [yourself, the business owner] the owner's salary, which is different from profit.” – Mike
- “The third step is to get into a rhythm. Most businesses are very reactive. You have to have control and be able to throttle it.” – Mike
- “Parkinson’s Law – when a resource expands its availability, the more money I have, the more we spend.” – Mike
- “The most effective marketing is noticeable marketing.” – Mike
- “Good books can be used to make decisions.” – Martin
- “Profit first is sometimes confused with an accounting system. It’s not, it’s a cash management tool to ensure positive cashflow. Your accounting system – that’s the tea leaves and it can be the best asset you have.” – Martin
Resources
- Profit First professional accountant.
- Profit First.
- Fix This Next.
- Get Different.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why bring a partner on? (1:45)
- Why to not bring a partner on. (3:20)
- The necessity of an attorney. (5:30)
- What you should be asking yourself. (7:50)
Quotable Moments
- “The only ship that won’t sail is a partnership.” – Dave Ramsey
- “Partnership conflict is the second leading cause of stress for small business owners.” – M
- “Everybody has ups and downs and if you bring a partner on who’s opposite on that curve they can help stabilize things.” – M
- “Partners are expensive.” – M
- “The partner we bring on today might not be the partner we have in the future.” – M
- “Partnerships are really easy to get into and even if they’re just handshake partnerships, they’re also hard to get out of.” – M
- “If you do bring on a partner, do not formalize any arrangements until you’ve had the tough discussions and only then if you’re having them in front of a qualified business attorney.” – M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Foster Wilcox? (2:00)
- How to start retirement planning. (10:45)
- No experience? No problem. (14:00)
- Deductions! (15:00)
- 401Ks & Roth IRA’s (18:00)
- The Stock Market. (26:00)
- The changes in your company. (30:00)
- Why Life Insurance. (41:06)
- Disability insurance. (57:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Two things in life are certain – that’s death and taxes and we help with both of those.” – Foster
- “There’s a notion out there that retirement planning starts with a million dollars. It doesn’t. It starts with a conversation.” – Foster
- “The financial world has made it so difficult just to get an understanding of the language.” – K
- “The traditional IRA is the personal version of a 401k.” – Foster
- “Knowing your employee’s goals and recognizing that they have goals and financial goals, just like you do, and helping them get closer to them is in your best interest.” – K
- “Life insurance – it’s a great tool that can be used in a lot of different ways, we can get tax-free access to money before 59 and a half
- “A golden handcuff – set up a personally owned life insurance policy for him and let the company bonus him compensation to pay the premiums on that.” – Foster
- “Over 90% of disability insurance policies that pay out are due to illness.” – Foster
- “If you’re going up to the 100th floor of a tall building and there’s an elevator with one steel cable and there’s another one with two steel cables, which one are you going to pick? The one with the two steel cables – your disability policy is that second steel cable on your income.” – Foster
Resources
- Connect with Foster Wilcox on LinkedIn.
- Connect with Eagle Strategies on Facebook.
- Call Foster Wilcox at (405) 943-0300.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why the word “strategy” freaks people out. (0:45)
- Define the problem. (2:25)
- Ask “what” & “why.” (3:30)
- Why qualifying matters. (4:30)
- Don’t overcomplicate it. (9:00)
Quotable Moments
- “People don’t think they have time to strategize because they make it too complicated.” – K
- “The things that are difficult in our lives, we put on the back burner because we just want to have comfort.” – K
- “Set of tactics or tasks that address a clearly defined problem.” – K
- “Strategies are complicated and elaborate because the problem is not clearly defined. When you clearly define your problem, your strategy will be clear and develop itself.” – K
- “If you can clearly define your problems, strategy will get so much easier for you. You’re not going to approach problems on a whim, but you’re actually going to have a science to what you’re doing.” – K
- “You don’t have to reinvent the wheel just to have a successful strategy.” – K
Resources
- Still need help? Reach out to us at Benali.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Kris Petigrew. Who is he? (3:00)
- What mentorship can do. (9:30)
- Parting ways. (16:00)
- Step 1 of FPS (23:00)
- What FPS offers. (27:00)
- The focus when starting FPS. (40:00)
- The vision for FPS. (52:00)
- FPS culture. (1:00:00)
- Tulsa acquisition (1:06:00)
- The opportunity of the cannabis industry. (1:18:00)
Quotable Moments
- “John and I are polar opposites but we are yin and yang. We work well together and thrive together.” – Kris
- “I left [my job] and then three days later I started FPS.” – Kris
- “There’s dry sprinkler systems and there're wet sprinkler systems. Wet is a system filled with water that’s ready to discharge at any given moment once the bulb is broken. The dry is filled with air or nitrogen.” – Kris
- “Some water heads can flow 50-60 gallons per minute.” – Kris
- “If people aren’t going to communicate with us. Then I’m going to my lawyer.” – Kris
- “If you’ll have me, I’ll always be friends with my competitor. I don’t have time to worry about my competitors. I’d rather be allies.” – Kris
- “We raised our prices and we’re still winning work.” – Kris
- “It’s always those little things that you do that get you one more truck per day.” – M
- “Our culture right now is one of our strongest assets.” – Kris
- “So many people that are coming into the industry right now don’t understand how to bid jobs and are under bidding and they’re destroying the market.” – Kris
- “Ignorant is not an insult. It just means that you don’t know what you don’t know.” – M
- “The cannabis industry is the closest thing I’ve had to a money machine that I’ve ever seen.” – Kris
- “The last time we had a prohibition, Budweiser came out of it.” – Kris
- “Opportunity is everywhere. You have to recognize it and then take action on it.” – M
- “Good things come to those who wait but not to those who hesitate.” – Kris
- “Someday is not a day of the week. You’ve got to take action.” – Khalil
Resources
- FPS Website.
- FPS LinkedIn.
- Contact FPS by phone (405) 294-1981.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What is the Sword of Damocles? (2:00)
- Why does it matter? (4:10)
- Why you should have pride in being a business owner. (6:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Wherever you see a successful business, someone has made a bunch of courageous decisions.” – M
- “Small business owners bear a constant burden of responsibility. They’re seldom appreciated. They’re often alone.” – M
- “The difference between a business owner and the Sword of Damocles is that the business owner seldom has options to bail.” – M
- “If you are now or have ever been seated beneath the sword, give yourself credit for your courage.” – M
- “Going forward, there’s little to do about the sword itself, but you can certainly improve your situation by transforming that thread into a chain or maybe even a cable through better management decisions.” – M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why would someone want to change their reality? (4:40)
- What’s the first step to changing your reality? (8:07)
- Reasons people resist change. (9:37)
- The Change Formula: Pain x Pleasure must be > Resistance to Change (13:56)
- Who is responsible for your reality? (15:05)
- 3 steps for changing your reality. (18:16)
- What makes up your reality? (23:04)
- Skills and beliefs are easy to change, but can you change your values? (39:44)
- Identity: The hardest thing to change. (47:07)
- Act as if... (51:26)
- The power of your environment. (55:01)
- 10 lies that people believe about changing their reality. (1:03:04)
Quotable Moments
- “A lot of people are unhappy and it never really occurs to them to change their reality.” — M
- “Happiness is fleeting... Joy is a deeper state... For a lot of people, if they will accept responsibility, decide what they want, and act on it, even if they don’t reach their vision or ultimate goal, they’ll find joy.” — K
- “There’s no greater crime to yourself than to be just as ignorant a year from now as you are today on important topics.” — M
- “It’s our brains that hold us back. It’s our belief. We don’t believe we can really do that.” — M
- “If you want positive thoughts, you’ve got to work on it every single day and it’ll really define who you are.” — K
- “Take action. That’s the best source of learning.” — K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel
- Range by David Epstein
- E012 Company Culture and Why It Matters
- E008 Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems with Sergio Garcia
- E055 Tyranny of the Urgent
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why is it so difficult? (2:30)
- Subjective reasons to fire. (3:50)
- What can you do? (5:20)
- The benefit of a solid team. (6:30)
- What’s at stake. (9:00)
Quotable Moments
- “It’s pure agony. I suck my thumb. I do all other things before I finally carry it out.” – Warren Buffet
- “Hire for skill and fire for attitude.” – M
- “We may never eliminate all the feelings of empathy, doubt, and fairness, but we cannot let them keep us from terminating an employee once we know they have to go.” – M
- “Building the right team is arguably the most important duty for our businesses. It transforms your job into a business. They provide leverage to do more and learn more.” – M
- “Don’t waffle.” – M
- “There’s no faster way to ruin a good employee than to have them watch you tolerate a bad employee.” – M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Reid’s start. (5:00)
- How to manage customer expectations. (21:00)
- The entrepreneurial epiphany. (32:00)
- Getting the first job. (42:00)
- How added expenses are worth it. (52:00)
- Why we only have 2 employees. (57:00)
- How to keep good subcontractors. (59:00)
- How to winterize your pool. (1:05:00)
- The margins you bid for. (1.15:00)
- Mentorship. (1:24:00)
Quotable Moments
- “My last interview was for an internship when I was 16 years old.” – R
- “No matter how good of a designer you are, in my opinion, you also have to be a salesman. If you’re not, your designs will just sit there.” – R
- “You have no idea how many calls I get from customers I submitted bids to who called me 6 months later and said “we actually should have gone with you because we ended up over what you actually bid us.” – R
- “The key to getting referrals is managing customer expectations of budget and time.” – R
- “In this field, you’re married to your customer.” – R
- “When they step on my job site, I don’t care what subcontractors do on other job sites but this is how we do it and I’ll only work with guys that can handle doing it my way.” – R
- “When covid truly hit, it was the same week oil and gas went negative. We went two weeks without a single phone call and the weirdest thing happened… we got at least 15 phone calls that third week.” – R
- “4% of all the companies in the world ever make it to $1 million.” – M
- “The single biggest issue that I see with contractors today is that they’re paying for the current project with the next project.” – R
- “We had the snowiest and coldest winter on record and we still had to get one job done so we actually rented a tent and tented the whole job and put gas heaters in it. We built the whole project under a tent.” – R
Resources
- Schindler Design Co website
- Reid’s email.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What are Customer Profiles? (3:00)
- Start with defining your niche. (6:30)
- Determine the segments. (10:00)
- Your anti-persona. (11:45)
- Filling out your ICP. (14:19)
- Why do Customer Profiles matter? (21:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Think of it as a Facebook profile for your ideal customer. It will cover their demographics, their needs, their goals, their income revenue and sometimes their location.” – K
- “You may determine your niche by location. It may be that you only want to work in the state, if you’re a small state. If you’re in Texas, you might want to choose a Metro area like DFW or even just Dallas, Fort Worth, or Houston.” – K
- “Once you have your niche, you want to create 3 different segments within that type of target. If you’re working with homeowners, maybe it’s by location or maybe it’s by the square footage. Once you’ve chosen your segments, then you want to choose that main differentiator.” – K
- “As you’re working, it’s extremely important that you’re aware you’re going to have to say no to things and projects.” – K
- “When you narrow it down into segments, you’re going to be able to plan better and to attack marketing and sales better.” – K
Resources
- ICP Template
- Fake Construction Company ICP
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- 3 reasons you could have a profit but no cash. (6:19)
- What if you DO have cash, but you’re NOT profitable? (8:11)
- How does collecting old receivables affect your view of how profitable you are? (11:35)
- Why cash is king. (13:13)
- What is the statement of cash flows? (15:34)
- What does your statement of cash flows look like? (20:13)
- How do you use your statement of cash flows? (26:12)
- Story Time: A real client who used the statement of cash flows to figure out where her money was going. (27:34)
- Take action! Go print out your statement of cash flows and try it out! (29:55)
Quotable Moments
- “Cashflow just means the money that’s coming in and going out of your business.” — M
- “Cashflow and profit are equally important, but they’re not the same thing. They affect each other, but it’s possible to make a profit and not have any money.” — M
- “If you don’t have cash, if you don’t have liquidity in some respect, you can’t do business.” — K
- “Before you even think about going and looking at the statement of cash flows, make sure that you have good books.” — K
- “The reason to understand in sufficient detail where your cash went and where it comes from is that if you know that, you can do something about it.” — M
- “Just look for the big numbers and if they’re negative, go fix them.” — M
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- E008: Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems with Sergio Garcia
- Sample Statement of Cash Flows
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- The main loss. (1:30)
- Being too busy to do something about it. (2:30)
- What can you do with all that cash? (3:40)
- Leads, leads, leads. (4:50)
- Internal vs External organization. (5:30)
- Is it an expense or an investment? (8:20)
Quotable Moments
- “The worst part about having urgent crises isn’t the sleep you lose. It’s the opportunities you lose.” – M
- “The 3 main differences between people who are always under stress in business and those who aren't: cash, leads, & organization.” – M
- “Cash converts the plausible to the possible.” – M
- “Improved processes don’t happen on their own. You have to make them. They only happen when somebody takes deliberate action to improve your cash, your leads, and your organization.” – M
- “If you’re short of cash, you’re short of leads, and you’re not well-organized, there’s no greater sin than to be just as short of cash, just as short of leads, and just as poorly organized this time next year. You have to do something about it.” – M
Resources
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- StoryBrand & Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller
- Advisor & Mentor Checklist
- Do You Own a Job or a Business?
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What is a balance sheet? What questions does it answer for you? (HINT: What you own, what you owe, and what’s leftover for me.) (6:27)
- What accounts are on your balance sheet? (10:50)
- Let’s take a look at the balance sheet at work. (14:24)
- Balance sheet ratios: What are they, and how can you use them? (21:18)
- Your balance sheet shows how quickly you turn over your accounts receivable, and knowing that can help free up a LOT of cash. (31:30)
- Next up: Statement of Cash Flows. BUT you can’t effectively use the Statement of Cash Flows if you aren’t doing accrual-based accounting. (41:18)
- Numbers you need to pay attention to in the equity section of your balance sheet. (47:12)
Quotable Moments
- “Contrast makes life rich. You’ve got to have a bad balance sheet in order to appreciate a good balance sheet later on.” — M
- “The balance sheet is a snapshot statement. It tells you how you stand at the moment that you produce that balance sheet.” — M
- “If you think about these Wall Street guys, they all have finance degrees. This is all they focus on, it’s a full-time job. And so you’ve got to find somebody in your corner that can really help you think about these ratios, the health of your balance sheet, and the health of all of your financial statements. It’s where you’re going to become a better manager, owner, and operator.” — K
- “The whole point of financial statements is they tell you what the score is. They pinpoint where the problems are and give you ideas of what to do to change it. And then, they show you how your changes are working.” — M
- “You shouldn’t have to do the ratios. Tell your accountant that you want the ratio every Monday morning.” — M
- “Start building a relationship with a banker if you don’t have one. Ask them these questions: What are my ratios? Why am I not a healthy business, in your eyes?” — K
- “If you’re smaller and you’re like, “Man, we’re just not big enough to where this stuff even matters,” that’s NOT true... The smaller you are, the smaller these problems are to fix.” — K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- Building a Family Legacy with Michael Barnett
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What are Core Values? (1:19)
- The Benefit of Core Values. (4:20)
- How to establish Core Values. (8:27)
- Refining your research. (14:17)
- When you should use Core Values. (19:38)
- How Core Values can influence decision making. (22:10)
Quotable Moments
- “If you think of your company, your company has a brand. And your brand is really the personality of your company. Your core values are going to be the traits, the behaviors, and the characteristics of your company’s brand.” – K
- “Your core values should consist of qualities, but also principles. The qualities are going to be more so characteristics, but then the principles are more so beliefs, or rules that you’re trying to follow.” –K
- “If you don’t have a vision for your company, you’re not going to know where to go. You’re going to wind up somewhere that you don’t want to be and you’ll become a company that you don’t want to become.” – K
- “When you hire, you should do so for values instead of skills. Values are a lot harder to teach, and I don’t recommend you trying to teach values. But skills, those you can teach people.” – K
- “Core Values acts as a roadmap. It keeps you consistent and gives you some standards and behaviors to practice and live by as a company. It helps you as a manager, as an owner, and helps your team.” – K
Resources
- Benali’s Core Values.
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown.
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Overview: What is a P&L? (4:20)
- 5 questions your financial statements answer that you NEED to know. (7:04)
- Where did the P&L start? (8:39)
- Common problems people are experiencing if they have to ask, “Am I making money?” (10:34)
- If you know you have BAD books, what can you do about it? (13:22)
- Why you need the right kind of accountant. (PRO TIP: A tax accountant is NOT the one you want keeping your books.) (16:28)
- What’s the difference between a “cost” and an “expense?” (19:53)
- How should you arrange your P&L to get the most benefit from it? (25:10)
- What’s your breakeven — You’ve GOTTA know this! (And we have a handy calculator in the show notes to help you figure it out.) (29:15)
- How categorizing your INCOME can make your business better. (32:51)
- When you have a GOOD P&L, what can you do with it? (38:40)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Use our Breakeven Calculator (50:20)
Quotable Moments
- “Most of the businesses I work with don’t know if they made money last month.” — M
- “You need to know what the score is, and if you don’t like it, you need to know what to do about it.” — M
- “Business owners who want to take their businesses seriously have to have good books.” — M
- “[P&Ls] allow you to go into the month or year knowing what you need to accomplish. It gives you a target.” — K
- “Better than looking just month to month is looking quarter to quarter, but also understanding the seasonality of your business... Compare quarter to quarter of the previous year. That’ll help you make better decisions.” — K
Resources
- Check us out on Youtube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers
- Profit First by Mike Michaelowicz
- Sample P&L Statement (Correct Format)
- Sample P&L Statement (Incorrect Format)
- Breakeven Calculator
- Price Increase Calculator
- Discount Calculator
- Zeal Accounting with Lori Yearwood
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Applying this to contractors. 2:00)
- Calling people back. (3:00)
- How to not waste all your hard work in 5 minutes. (5:45)
Quotable Moments
- “He worked for us for 4 months. Did good work, but missed a couple of punch list items. Didn’t call us back. [For those reasons], he lost a referral source in us.” –M
- “He paid for advertising, he got a lead, he scheduled an appointment, he went out and he took measurements. He then designed the project and put together a bid and sent it but he made a critical error– he didn’t call to follow-up.” –M
- “There are infinite ways that we’re out there doing the 23 hours and 55 minutes worth of work and then we blow it on the last 5 minutes by not following through.” –M
- “Success is a few small disciplines practiced every day and they’re always small things, like calling people back.” –Jim Rowan –M
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What are financial statements? (2:22)
- Why do they matter, and what do I need to do with them? (4:40)
- Financial statements let you know the score, but they also help you with the future. (8:00)
- Story Time: What can happen if you don’t use financial statements to plan for the future. (11:27)
- When do most business owners start trying to understand their financials? “When they’re about to die.” — M (13:08)
- How do I actually get accurate financial statements? (16:22)
- Cash vs. accrual accounting (18:39)
- Why does it matter to have things categorized in your books? (22:40)
- What accounts are in your books (assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses), and what info is in each? (27:16)
- They say I make money, so why don’t I have any?? (36:36)
Quotable Moments
- “You didn’t get into your business to do numbers and math... You did it because you’re great at building pools or because you loved remodeling houses. Now, overnight, you have to become a business person who has to know the score, who has to look at numbers.” — K
- “Financial statements keep the score... They’re showing you how you did. Am I succeeding, or am I failing?” — M
- “As a business owner or manager, you want to know about the future. What should I do? And you can use information that’s in your financial statements to make better decisions about the future.” — M
- “Cash basis is just a picture of today. Accrual basis is going to give you the full picture.” — K
- “Your most important role as a business owner is to recognize good books. You don’t have to keep them, but you have to recognize them and then be able to use the information.” — M
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- E025 - Cash vs. Accrual Accounting (Short)
- E036 - How to Work with a CPA with Lori Yearwood
- Check us out on YouTube
- Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram
- Subscribe to our newsletter, The Countdown
- Have questions? Email us!
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Sourcing (1:00)
- Networking. How to do it frequently AND effectively. (3:00)
- Cold outreach. (5:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Sourcing is all about building that relationship through reaching out to them before you submit your estimate.” –K
- “If you do these steps over time, it’s going to get to the point where you don’t need to prospect as much, because you’ve built a book of GCs that you’ll get work from consistently.” –K
- “Networking is the tactic that is done the most frequently but not the most effectively.” –K
- “Find the tactics that fit your strengths and your personality. If it’s a weakness for you, try to improve but build on your strengths. When you hire someone, look for people that don’t have your strengths.” –K
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Employee-driven market. (7:00)
- How Millennials killed the Military model market. (16:00)
- Just hiring a “heartbeat.” (29:00)
- Having the “stay” interview. (40:00)
- Don’t trust your gut. (45:00)
- Having an epic fail (54:00)
- Hard yet necessary conversations (58:00)
- The toxic employee (1:05:00)
- Khalil’s employee review process (1:13:19)
- Culture killers. (1:28:00)
- Pay the market demand in your city. (1:36:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Our purpose as an organization is to help organizations create award-winning culture, where employees line up outside the door to apply and that they’re able to pick the best of the best. Profit is a direct vertical ascent when you do this.” –K
- “When you measure trust, the higher those numbers are, there’s a correlation that the higher those numbers are, there’s going to be a high-performing, profit driven culture.” –K
- “Your employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” –Richard Branson
- “If you wouldn’t say it to a customer or coworker then don’t say it to your spouse or kid.” –K
- “Don’t trust your gut. The closer you get to a scientific approach to hiring, the more successful in hiring that match will go up.” –K
- “If a person can drive results, have the same core values, and the relationship works, not having a college degree shouldn’t matter.” –K
- “Be proactive and do your due diligence, you’ll reduce the number of terminations that you’ll have.” –K
- “Your employee is your number one customer. You need to create an environment where you give me your best every day.” –K
- “[As a boss] if I do something that pisses you off or impedes your peak performance, you have to tell me, because my job is to remove barriers, not be the source of them.” –K
- “If you don’t believe you can adjust your communication style and you’re not willing to adapt, then my recommendation is to retire because you’re affecting the bottom line.” –K
- “You can’t just slap lipstick on a pig. You have to have an absence of the negative things in order for the positive things to really work.” –K
- “Pay is a lot like body hygiene. It really isn’t an issue until it stinks. And if your pay stinks, then yes, the number one reason people will quit their jobs is to go looking for fair pay.” –K
Resources
- Khalil’s Employee Review: Google Form
- Kristine’s Checklist of Motivators & Demotivators
- Kristine Sexter’s Books & Website.
- Kristine’s Twitter & LinkedIn: @kristinesexter
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Questioning your pricing. (1:00)
- Stick with your guns. (1:45)
- Don’t ruin what you’ve worked hard for. (2:45)
- Stay the course. (4:40)
Quotable Moments
- “He wanted to change his pricing to be the same as his competitors but he didn’t have any solid evidence that he was losing bids because of the prices.” –M
- “Turns out, he got 4 jobs in a 3-hour stretch without lowering his prices. He maintained his prices and he got his full margins.” –M
- “Had he called those people back and reduced the prices, and subsequently gotten the bids he was going to get anyways, he would have it in his head that price was the controlling factor on winning those bids… and that wasn’t the case.” –M
- “Pricing is the most common a salesman will give you for losing a bid.” –M
- “If you have a spur of the moment pricing decision and you want to double the price. I’m all for it. Spur of the moment pricing decisions, where you reduce price because of perceived competition or price problems, do not do it. Stay the course.” –M
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What IS an org chart? (1:23)
- A Tale of Two Tired Partners: How an org chart identified ways to free up their time. (4:18)
- How do you build an org chart? (11:41)
- Don’t build your org chart for what your company looks like today. Build it for what your company will look like when it’s “finished.” (18:02)
- How to get the most out of your org chart. (19:15)
- Pro Tip: Put your employee’s names in the boxes to see how much work everyone is taking on. (25:26)
- You don’t have to (and probably shouldn’t) build your org chart alone! (27:08)
- There ARE levels in an org chart. Here’s what they mean. (31:00)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do: Make an org chart! (35:59)
Quotable Moments
- “[An org chart] helps you make planning decisions, hiring decisions, firing decisions, identify growth opportunities, figure out systems for your company, and so much more... It really shouldn’t just sit on a shelf. It should be a living, breathing thing.” — K
- “You can use [an org chart] to find your time and make your next best hire.” — M
- “Your org chart has to have all four of these areas: guiding the business, getting the business, doing the business, and administering the business. That’s where you start.” — M
Resources
- The Four Areas of Business
- Sample Org Chart
- Catch this episode on YouTube
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Prospecting depending on your business model. (1:45)
- The 5 main prospecting principles. (2:50)
- The prospecting pyramid. (3:30)
- Always be helpful. (10:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Set SMART goals. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, & Time Specific.” – K
- “The 5 main prospecting principles are 1) Set Goals, 2) Stay Consistent, 3) Know Your Ask, 4) Celebrate “NO.” 5) Always Be Helpful.” – K
- “Have a prospecting pyramid to set goals for the week. The top of your pyramid is your first step, where you set however many meeting you want to have that week. The middle is the amount of calls you want to make. The last and bottom step is the amount of emails you’re going to send.” – K
Resources
- Building a Sales Pipeline Webinar Sign-Up
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What’s a leader? (6:00)
- Why there aren’t any leaders in the world. (15:00)
- Leadership essentials. (21:00)
- Your mindset and your limits (32:00)
- Discover your “Why.” (39:00)
- Becoming a FlowPreneur™. (52:00)
- Bruce’s “Why.” (1:09:00)
Quotable Moments
- “There’s a mandated effort – you’re paid to be here. But discretionary effort is above and beyond effort.” – B
- “There are no leaders in the world. We are all followers. What you have as a leader is a more dedicated follower of a purpose.” – B
- “Self leadership is saying ‘I don’t actually know what I want, but I know what I don’t want.” So I’m going to head or look over here.” – B
- “When you’re doing and thinking of what you mean to be doing and thinking, you’re energized. When you’re not, you’re exhausted.” – B
- “We have 50,000 thoughts per day. Every one of them is a conversation with yourself. My addendum to that is – what’re you saying?” – Gary John Bishop – M
- “When you’re blue, find something to do for someone who’s bluer than you.” – M
Resources
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Leaders Eat Last Simon Sinek
- Unfu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop
- Bruce Ross’ Email
- Bruce Ross’ LinkedIn
- Bruce Ross’ Website
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Learning to say “No.” (1:34)
- The 80/20 Rule. (3:00)
- The risks of not saying “No.” (4:40)
- Why you need to try it. NOW. (6:00)
Quotable Moments
- “He was determined to replace the slow-paying, time-wasting, complaining-making, call-you-at-home-on-the-weekend clients with clients who would be loyal and that he enjoyed working with.” –M
- “My client increased his margins by saying no from 25 to nearly 50%.” –M
- “80% of our problems come from 20% of our clients. Have you ever considered at least saying no to that 20%?” –M
- “Customers of the wrong kind consume our time, they tie up our limited resources, & they tie up the capacity of our facilities.” –M
Resources
- “Grow With No” free resource
- Future-Proofing Your Business by Troy Hazard
- They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Maintaining a full-time job and being an entrepreneur. (2:00)
- Learning Spanish and becoming a bilingual contractor. (9:00)
- How OKC Pools started & their original pricing structure. (15:00)
- Encountering money issues. What am I doing wrong? (25:00)
- How to know your worth. (39:00)
- Variable Costs, margins and markups. (56:00)
- In hindsight– from a successful entrepreneur. (1:17:00)
Quotable Moments
- “My hesitancy to raise prices was because I didn't want to lose customers. I thought, “they’re all gonna drop me.” But then I raised prices and none of them dropped.” –C
- “I was making all this money but it wasn’t showing up in my bank account.” –C
- “I was smart enough to know that I didn’t know what I was doing.” –C
- “If you don’t hire great people, it’s not an asset, it’s a liability.” –C
- “It’s not that you want to be more valuable. It’s that you don’t know how valuable you are.” –K
- “There’s a certain amount you need to do to stay in business. Then you must do more than that to pay debt. Then you must do more than that to justify being in business and making a profit.” –M
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
- OKC Pools website
- OKC Pools Facebook
- Cary Daniel’s phone # 405-886-7180
- Cary Daniel’s email
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What’s a sales pipeline & what’s a GOOD sales pipeline? (1:00)
- Every stage and micro-stage of the sales pipeline. (3:45)
- Narrow down deal stages/deal triggers and examples. (5:57)
- Sales Pipeline Webinar (10:00)
- Deal Info: What’s necessary for every job? (11:30)
Quotable Moments
- “A trigger is something that requires an action.” – K
- “Your first step is discovery. That is where this all starts.” –K
- “If you have a business that does multiple things, you should have a service pipeline and an install pipeline because those are two different processes from start to finish.” – K
- “A sales pipeline is the sales process that a job will go through from beginning to end. A good sales process will consider where the job originates all the way to receiving a testimonial and sending a thank you card.” – K
Resources
- Episode 8: “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems with Sergio Garcia”
- Sales Pipeline Webinar Sign-Up (February 5th, 2021)
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Young Monty Marcum. (7:00)
- Getting Capitalized & What That Means. (22:00)
- Marcum’s Nursery– Ownership Change. (32:00)
- Accurate Bids & Landing Jobs you’ll Deliver on. (47:00)
- Relationships, Reputations, & Residential Side of Things. (57:00)
- Keeping Books (1:05:00)
Quotable Moments
- “There’s a difference between an Entrepreneur and a Businessman.” – Monty
- “To entrepreneurs – you’ve got to make sure you’re capitalized. If you ever get under-capitalized, no matter how good of a market you think you may have, you won’t be able to weather the downturns.” – Monty
- “I knew whenever I was 5 years old. I knew I was going to be a farm guy.” – Monty
- “You really need to stop and think about what it costs to have that company truck. Do you have contingencies in there for the time you get a flat tire on the way to a job?” – Monty
- “If you think being a businessman is about taking then you need to go do something different.. quickly.“ – Monty
- “You better have a plan in place to meet your obligations. Otherwise, someone will have something on you.” – Monty
- “You got to take care of your talent because if you don’t then they’re going to be your competitor.” – Monty
- “80% of businesses failed in the first 5 years and 80% of the survivors failed in the next five years.” – Martin
Resources
- Marcum’s Nursery Website
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Where “How Do You Know?” started for Martin Holland. (0:40)
- How to alleviate problems by keeping records. (2:15)
Quotable Moments
- “I failed to bill a customer for a $23,000 part. How did I know? Because the customer told me.” –M (1:53)
- “Both catching mistakes and resolving them both require good records and good processes.” –M (3:15)
- “Bookkeeping receiving processes, inventory management controls, reconciling with banks, and credit cards. All those things are a royal pain, but they are not optional. So let me ask you– do you keep good records and how do you know?” –M (3:48)
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Things that are superficial and don’t actually create a great workplace. (3:39)
- Three things you should provide your employees: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. (6:04)
- How do you provide autonomy, and what is the Giraffe of the Month? (10:11)
- One aspect of mastery is letting your employees help train someone new. (14:37)
- You can give your employees purpose by helping them align their personal growth goals with the business goals. (18:17)
- What makes a great coworker (and employee)? What makes an awful coworker (and employee)? (23:42)
- What does it mean to be a best place to work? (29:09)
- Motivators and demotivators. (30:51)
- Why is it worth it to build a best place to work? (37:16)
- How do you build that best place to work? (41:19)
- Mount Rushmore — Company Cultures at Best Places to Work (52:20)
- Quote of the Day — “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” - Richard Branson (59:29)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Have your employees take our Workplace Survey linked below. (1:01:40)
Quotable Moments
- “If an employer can find autonomy, mastery, and purpose and provide that for people, you’re well down the road to building a great workplace.” — M
- “No one wants to be micromanaged.” — K
- “As an owner, you’re really in a unique position. It matters to build a best workplace because your employees are literally spending a majority of some of the best years of their life with you. You have the opportunity to invest in them, not only as a professional but also as a person.” — K
- “If you can have really good employees that are happy, you’re going to be able to build a better business.” — K
- “Whenever two or more people get together, there is a culture... The question is, did it happen to you, or did you create it?” — M
- “It’s not just a matter of hiring for values, but managing for values.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- Chick-fil-A
- US Bank
- T-Mobile
- Holland Pediatrics
Resources
- Drive by Daniel Pink
- 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers
- Start With Why by Simon Sinek
- E012 — Company Culture & Why It Matters
- Team Alignment Survey
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Gangster Loans — What are they? (0:40)
- The difference between a % of Fee and an Interest Rate. (3:50)
- Gangster Loans are fundamentally deceptive! (4:03)
Quotable Moments
- “Gangster loans are those loans you can get from companies online, maybe even from your credit card company, where they’re not really interested in your credit score.” — M (1:00)
- “Gangster Loans are outrageously expensive. What my client thought was a 9% interest rate was actually a 36% interest rate.” — M (4:00)
- “If you need money, find some other way. Stay away from gangster loans.” — M (4:30)
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Lori Yearwood? (01:20)
- Auditing (05:20)
- Accrual Accounting (13:00)
- Reconciling Cash (26:00)
- Hire a Managerial Accountant, not a Tax Accountant (30:00)
- Embezzlement (44:00)
- The Envelope System (1:05:00)
- How to understand my Financial Statements (1:14:40)
Quotable Moments
- “Let’s be honest, when you work part-time in your own business it never actually works out– especially if you want your business to grow.” –L (02:38)
- “Audit is a Latin word and it means to hear or to listen. We use the word ‘audit’ because Royals in the 12th century were illiterate and had courtiers come in and read everything aloud.” –M (08:29)
- “Accrual-basis accounting records transactions when they happen whether or not you were paid. Cash-basis accounting ignores everything until you pay somebody or somebody pays you.” –M (14:49)
- “If your balance statement is not right then your income statement is inevitably incorrect.” –L (22:00)
- “If I go into a company and their cash is reconciled then we are leaps and bounds ahead of other companies.” –L (26:00)
- “Contractors should not be doing their own books. They need to hire someone.” –K (29:00)
- “The whole purpose of accounting is to have detail and to have completeness; it’s not guess work.” –L (50:21)
Resources
- Martin’s Embezzlement Article
- Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
- Profit First Analysis Resource
- Zeal Accounting Solutions Website
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
What pages are a must for a contractor website?
- Home Page (1:20)
- About Page (1:18)
- Our Work Page (2:43)
- Product/Service Page (5:33)
- Info Pages (8:23)
- Landing Pages (8:51)
- Extras (9:55)
What features are a must for a contractor website?
- Must have website features (12:40)
- Extra website features (16:37
Resources
- Website Audit from Benali
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Story of the Show — The “Do Everything” pool business owner. (2:10)
- The Change Formula — Dissatisfaction x Vision must be > Resistance or you won’t change. (7:18)
- What is the evolution of a business owner, and why is it important? (8:00)
- How long does the evolution take? (12:55)
- How do you move from one stage to the next? (16:02)
- Employee Stage (16:41)
- Self-Employed Stage (27:02)
- Manager Stage (35:24)
- Owner Stage (44:49)
- Investor Stage (49:53)
- Entrepreneur Stage (54:18)
- Mount Rushmore — Best Business Owner Evolution (56:00)
- Quote of the Day — “Because what you give your attention to is the person you become.” - John Mark Comer (1:04:16)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Write out your evolution as a business owner. Where are you now, and where have you been? What barriers did you break down? What milestones have you achieved? What one thing could you do right now to free up your time so you can evolve to the next stage? (1:04:38)
- Closing the story — Where did the pool business end up? (1:06:52)
Quotable Moments
- “If you’re living Groundhog Day every day, and you’re just handling problems, you get desperate. There has to be a reason, a purpose, and a vision.” — M
- “We go through this ambition to do bigger and better. If you can just take a step back and reflect on where you’ve been as a business owner, as a contractor, you’ll be surprised at everything you’ve gone through.” — K
- “If you’re trying to speed this up too fast, you’re going to make mistakes that will make it crumble.” — K
- “Leverage means you accomplish more and more with less and less of your work effort.” — M
- “It’s so important to pay attention to the evolution of a business owner so that you will become who you want to become.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- Andrew Wilkinson
- Jack Stack
- Jeff Finney
- Jeff Novak
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- Do You Own a Business or a Job?
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Most companies have debt- it’s healthy (1:30)
- How to calculate the debt coverage ratio (3:26)
- How to calculate your current ratio (5:28)
- Lending is just as important as borrowing (7:41)
Quotable Moments
- “Debt creates enough risk to offset any possible advantage” -Dave Ramsey -M (1:15)
- “The thing about debt is that you have to pay it back. When we borrow money, we have to pay it back out of future profits” (2:20)
- “Although debt might work to smooth cashflow or speed growth, it is always a risk” (2:50)
- “Current assets are things like cash, accounts receivable, & inventory that are likely to be converted into cash over the next 30-90 days” (5:39)
- “Don’t be a borrower nor a lender be”-Shakespeare -M (8:20)
Resources
- Dave Ramsey
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- Tami’s evolution from secretary to entrepreneur? (1:10)
- Getting offered ownership of a roofing company. (10:00)
- Metal Roofing Company- how it started (13:13)
- Terminating people and employee expectations on a job site (20:20)
- Keeping up with your inventory, the retail side, & bookkeeping (32:20)
- The growth stage and adapting to grow (40:00)
- What is ASA OK? (54:00)
- Common mistakes made by GCs and Subs (1:03:00)
- How competitors are good (1:19:00)
Quotable Moments
- “I started as a secretary and then realized I was good at a lot of different things. That’s when I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur” -T (2:12)
- “Have you always been someone who approaches something that they have no experience & no knowledge of and believe that you could do it?”-K “Yes” -T (9:45)
- “We struggled to find guys. I would tell our employee to go to the unemployment office and hire the first 10 guys that show up” -T (16:00)
- “Articulating the things that matter to you and then communicating them to your crew is the most important” -M (25:40)
- “Branding is whatever your customer sees your company as, not just a logo. They see your logo but they see your salesperson & your drive. Your employees are the brand and that’s the image of your company. ” -K (26:00)
- “The harder you work, the luckier you get” -M (49:00)
- ““We are the American Subcontractors Association of Oklahoma. We’re a three-legged stool- we have education, networking, & advocacy” -T (54:47)
- “EMR: experience modification rating. This will lower your bong if you have a good EMR, which is based on your safety and how many accidents you’ve had (57:14)
- “What are the most common mistakes you see subcontractors make?” -K “They play defense instead of offense. They need to be on their game. Don’t just react. If you’re just reacting to problems, then you’re not making good decisions. Stay on offense” (1:05:00)
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- Building an “Exit Strategy”: Larry Hughes’ episode
- Oklahoma ASA website: asaok.org
- National ASA website: asaonline.com
- The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack
- Tami’s Email: tami@asaok.org
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime — There’s a hell of a lot of things that they didn’t tell ya. (0:17)
- What are All The Things they didn’t tell you? Bookkeeping, taxes, insurance, HR, IT, marketing, legal... (1:05)
- What choices do you have when you look at the list of All The Things? (4:23)
- Build a team. (5:55)
Resources
- Advisor & Mentor Checklist
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Jan? (1:32)
- Shocking statistics and common invoice errors (2:27)
- Myths around accounts receivable and payments (5:15)
- How Jan ensures and monitors outstanding invoices (13:20)
- Why we need to celebrate invoices and not just sales (18:20)
- What actually happens if an invoice doesn’t get paid (23:00)
- Step #1: Creating a Perfect, error-free, invoice (28:41)
- Step #2: Keeping in touch with the customer and building relationships (31:31)
- Step #3: Feeling Confident About Asking for Payment (38:14)
- Step #4: Knowing exactly what to say and being clear (42:38)
- Step #5: Red Flags (46:35)
- Controlling and managing extenuating circumstances or agreements, not just expecting them to work out (53:00)
- What happens if you don’t have time to look at accounts receivable every day (54:00)
- How to date and give deadlines on your invoices (1:05:00)
Quotable Moments
- “40% of all assets owned by businesses in the U.S are accounts receivable, that’s real estate equipment inventory, 40%” (2:27)
- “Companies will typically have 2-3x last year’s annual earnings loaned out at any point in time to customers” (3:05)
- “Almost 50% of invoices are sent out from a business with an error (3:54)
- “People buy from people that they like, people like to pay people that they like” (17:00)
- “If you want to recover the $4,500 invoice that you won’t be paid, you’ve got to sell $45,000 to get the $,500 back” (25:11)
- “When talking about profit margins- 10% seemed to be excellent. Most hobble along at 3-4% and then mine was 24% (34:37)
- “If I had a customer that suddenly didn’t want to pay those terms, then that was a red flag for me. Because again, they weren’t valuing what we did as a business” (51:40)
- “You have to have confidence. You are not the servant of your customer. You’re a partner, you’re a partner with your customer” (53:10)
- “Sometimes suppliers send out invoices and think they’re absolved from responsibility and suddenly believe it is their customers' issue. This is our problem- these are our invoices and this is our money that we’ve sort of lent in good faith” (58:30)
- “A lot of my clients have more than double their last year’s profit loaned out at any time” (1:07:46)
Resources
- “Get Paid!” by Jane Reeves
- For more invoicing and professional development advice from Jan, head here: https://janreeves.com/
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- There are many subjective reasons to go into business. (0:47)
- There’s only one objective reason to go into business (1:15)
- We all think that the cycle of business makes sense, so why don’t we act like it? (2:45)
- Profit isn’t enough. (3:20)
- The purpose of business is not sales, not profit, but to turn cash into more cash. (6:11)
Resources
- The Cycle of Business
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Background: Who is Chad, what’s his company, and what is he struggling with? (0:57)
- What has Chad tried in his business? (2:59)
- Does this sound familiar to you: “Too much of what I do is a one-time sale.” — Chad. (5:04)
- What was Chad’s “why” for starting the business? (6:46)
- The Ups and Downs of Rugged Roofing: An Owner’s Tale (9:01)
- Can you separate your personal and professional lives? (26:15)
- What things are causing the “spinning top” for Chad right now? (28:20)
- Who is the RIGHT target audience and why should they work with you? (35:37)
- Why you need to speak about what matters to your CUSTOMER. (41:56)
- How does Chad use the books in his business? (48:04)
- When being too nice is a problem. (51:42)
- If we had to address the one thing that’s holding Chad back the most, what would we tackle first? (55:11)
- Chad’s key takeaways from the day. (1:04:40)
- First steps: Our recommendations for Chad. (1:08:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Every company owner needs to take a salary.” — M
- “Getting an outside perspective is going to make me better. It’s going to make me a better manager.” — Chad
- “Leaders are readers.” — M
- “Perfection is your enemy. The faster you can fail at things, the better off you are. The faster you can learn from the failures, the better off you are.” — K
- “Whatever you pay attention to gets better, simply by paying attention to it.” — M
- “I’m an independent guy who has not liked working for other people, so I started my own business, but that doesn’t mean that I want to be alone while I do it.” — Chad
Resources
- Rugged Roofing website
- Where to Start with Your Marketing
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Know Your Numbers (0:26)
- Scratching Your Own Itch (0:59)
- Why You Stop Knowing Your Customers (1:43)
- Keeping A Pulse on Your Customers (2:42)
- Go to the Next Meeting (3:14)
- Listen to Customer Calls (4:05)
- Gather Qualitative Data (4:53)
- Monitor Social Media (6:07)
- Look Out For Trends (6:45)
Resources
- CallRail for listening to recorded inbound customer calls
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Larry Hughes, and how does he help business owners? (1:40)
- Why you need to do a valuation of your business before you sell. (8:56)
- Common reasons business owners sell their business. (13:36)
- Does your business have value? (19:49)
5 things you have to do to create a highly valuable business that someone will want to buy:
- 1. Operating margins above industry standards. (22:00)
- Strategies for improving your margins. (29:22)
- 2. Have a stable, motivated management team. (33:55)
- If you already have a great manager on your team, how do you keep them? (39:00)
- How do systems help make your business “buyable?” (41:31)
- 3. Systems that support sustainable cashflow. (45:59)
- 4. Realistic growth strategy. (48:20)
- 5. Diversified customer base. (51:15)
- How to protect yourself from Godzilla. (52:28)
- Who buys businesses, and why do they buy them? (57:48)
- Scenario: You’re a business owner and you’re looking to grow by buying another business. What should you be looking for, and what are red flags that should cause you to steer clear? (1:07:29)
- What are you actually buying when you buy a business? (1:10:53)
- How is business valued? (1:12:08)
- Where do you find buyers? (1:20:15)
- If you want to sell your business, good books are SO important! Here’s why. (1:24:10)
- We’ve been hearing about Cliff the whole episode... What ended up happening with his business? (Spoiler alert: it’s good!) (1:29:07)
- When should you start planning for selling your business? (1:36:18)
- Ethan’s Insights — What are the most important things from this info-packed interview with Larry Hughes? (1:37:06)
Quotable Moments
- “We all know that there are two things that are definite in this world. One is taxes, and one is death. But for business owners, there’s a third, and that is that one day, they’re going to leave their business.” — Larry
- “When you build a business to sell, you’re also building a business that you might choose to keep because it’s making extraordinary income and it runs relatively hands-off... which is what makes it attractive to buyers.” — M
- “Value is all wrapped up in one key item, and that’s cash flow.” — Larry
- “Cut costs, not corners.” — Larry
- “It’s so important that you are NOT the key guy in every aspect of your business.” — Larry
- “Sometimes a little too much money is not good for a business owner because he makes a decision without planning.” — Larry
Resources
- 5 Things to Do to Create a Highly Valuable Business infographic
- IBIS — Look up your industry standards, from gross margins to employee costs
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- More from Larry at thehughes-group.com
- Call Larry directly at (405) 478 - 3800
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Cash books do NOT refer to jobs you do for cash on the side and never record. (0:36)
- What are cash basis books? (0:52)
- What are accrual basis books? (1:09)
- Why you MUST keep accrual basis books. (1:18)
- What if your accountant says you’re “on the cash basis” for taxes? (2:55)
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How John got into sales at Green Okie. (1:28)
- He’s been doing sales for about 5 years, but John doesn’t actually LIKE sales. What?? (8:28)
- What does it really mean to listen to your customer? (12:22)
- How do you find your ideal customer for your product or service? (26:04)
- What does John’s sales process look like? How does he keep it efficient? How has it changed because of Covid-19? (30:19)
- Is there an efficient way to qualify leads AND improve the customer connecting process? (44:50)
- What are the essential steps in John’s sales process? (49:26)
- John’s secret for spending no more than 15 minutes (usually only 5!) preparing a proposal. (57:02)
- Pro Tip: Get your customer’s to put some skin in the game before you get too far down the road. (1:05:39)
- What does Green Okie customer service look like? (1:19:17)
- Why do owners need to hire a salesperson rather than try to do it all themselves? (1:22:54)
- The power of timing jobs so you can offer customers a slight discount AND see a benefit to your cash flow. (1:38:04)
- What should contractors be looking for in a salesperson? And what do contractors need to provide so their sales team is successful? (1:42:09)
- Quote of the Day: “I’ll match their price when they match my service and quality,” and “I don’t sell on price because I don’t buy on price.” — John Hill (1:48:54)
Quotable Moments
- “If you’re in business, you always want feedback because you’re always learning.” — John
- “Nobody wants to be sold to, and they can absolutely tell when they’re being sold to.” — K
- “I’m not here to sell you something. I’m here to meet your needs and to solve a problem.” — John
- “People are buying from you because you’re listening to their emotions and you’re helping them achieve that emotional vision they have for their backyard.” — K
- “You shine as a company when you do something unexpected.” — John
- “If you don’t feel confident in asking for a deposit and bidding for what you know you have to have, raise your chin up and bid it properly. Don’t discount! If you do that enough, that becomes who you are.” — M
Resources
- Brisket, Carpet, and Maybe Some Sales with John Hill
- Buildertrend
- Argot
More from John Hill
Green Okie — Outdoor Living Experts
Green Okie on Facebook
Green Okie on Instagram
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What is a CRM, and why do I need one? (0:47)
- Does a CRM really matter? (1:18)
So, how do you get started with a CRM?
- Step 1: Start with a spreadsheet. (2:21)
- Step 2: Take it a step further and find a CRM software. (3:25)
- Which CRM do we use? (4:51)
- Step 3: Create habits to use your CRM regularly. (5:11)
- Step 4: Build systems. (6:06)
- Bonus: Know the information that you actually need to use (6:42)
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- HubSpot (free version)
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Story of the Show — Martin has a client who does exceptional work and provides outstanding customer service, but lowballers moved into his market. He was concerned about how he was supposed to compete with them. Martin’s answer? You don’t. (4:20)
- What are the three ways to compete? (6:29)
- When does operational excellence work best? (9:33)
- When does being a low cost leader hurt? (11:48)
- If you don’t know your worth, it’s really hard to get your pricing right. (16:03)
- When should you compete on product leadership? (21:25)
- How do you compete on customer intimacy? (27:36)
- Competing in customer intimacy while being good at both operational excellence and product leadership is the sweet spot for most small businesses. (31:24)
- The true value of communication, and why you really should prioritize it. (34:14)
- The easiest way to prioritize communication with your customers. (35:25)
- So, how do you choose which of the three areas to concentrate on? (37:57)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Download and use the USP Workbook from the resources section and work through it. (41:50)
- Mount Rushmore — Best USPs (43:10)
- Quote of the Day — “You can’t be all things to all people. Do what you were made to do.” - Robert Kiyosaki (55:02)
- Closing the story — Remember Martin’s client who was worried about low ballers coming into his market? It was like a lightbulb went off and he stopped trying to compete on price. Instead of stressing over how he can do his top quality work and customer service for a low price, he’s charging what he’s worth and his business is thriving. (55:06)
- Ethan’s Insights — Listen to Ethan recap the three areas to compete. (58:17)
Quotable Moments
- “At the end of the day, you’ve got to be yourself and you’ve got to compete with your strengths, not with your weaknesses.” — K
- “What I see with contractors is that it’s usually the guys that are just starting that are doing the low cost method, but they don’t have operational excellence and they’re usually the ones that have problems that they’re not even aware of.” — K
- “Pricing issues are typically our own head trash.” — M
- “If you become known as the communication guy, it keeps your customers in the loop and they always know what’s going on. Your business will grow just from that.”” — M
Mount Rushmore
- Best looking cashiers!
- $6 burger at Carl’s Jr.
- FedEx - “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”
- 3 Day Kitchen and Bath - if they don’t finish the remodel in 3 days or less, you get it for free.
- Southwest Airlines
- Starbucks - “We’re the third place you hangout.”
- Enterprise Rental Cars - “We will pick you up”
- National Car Rental - “Car rental at the speed of business”
Resources
- USP Workbook
- The E-myth Contractor by Michael Gerber
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation to talk about your USPs
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime - You just can’t hire good people anymore. (0:17)
- Why is it that we struggle to find good employees? (0:55)
- The value of team alignment. (1:38)
- Best coworker traits. (3:00)
- Worst coworker traits. (3:27)
- Questions you can use in an interview to uncover the attitude of the person you’re interviewing. (4:40)
- High in skills but low in attitude VS. high in attitude but low in skills: who do you hire? (8:10)
Resources
- Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy
- Interview Question
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Will Blake and how did Vesta Foundation Solutions begin? (1:00)
- What’s the difference between a million company and a 70 million dollar company? (6:30)
- It was a good experience, but stallions just need a bigger field to run in. (9:47)
- How did he choose Oklahoma as the “right” place to start his business (hint: market research!) (13:17)
- Don’t run away from a competitive market! (17:11)
- Was it difficult to replicate what he’d done on the east coast when he got to Oklahoma? (20:02)
- Umm, what in the world is a KPI? (22:19)
- How did COVID affect their business? (30:04)
- How much is a lead worth, and where do Will’s leads come from? (32:21)
- The magic of the marketing machine! (38:15)
- Where to start finding data when you’re just starting out. (45:17)
- How do you develop your vision for your business? (51:08)
- Marketing as a portfolio. (1:01:19)
- What’s the difference between a customer who buys and one who doesn’t? (1:11:30)
- How do you get your own call center? (1:16:18)
- Taking a page out of Netflix’s books. (1:26:27)
- Cutting costs and improving efficiency with superhero organization (1:32:18)
- How often is too often to review your books? (1:43:03)
- How much time does Will spend on each of the four areas of business? (1:50:30)
- Mount Rushmore — Yogi Berra Quotes (1:56:34)
- Something you can actually go do — Where can you start your foundation? (2:01:30)
- Ethan’s Insights — Listen to Ethan try to summarize this epic conversation. (2:03:20)
Quotable Moments
- “Don’t run away from a competitive market. Cause if there’s competitors, that means there’s a need.” — Will
- “It’s a system and a process. It’s just the same thing repetitively done and continuing to dial it in and dial it in.” — Will
- “When you know that phone ringing is $2,200, you’re gonna answer it!” — Will
- “You have to be in different channels because if you’re just saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to do marketing in only Home Advisor or only Porch,’ you will get disappointed.” — K
- “The purpose of business is NOT to make sales.” — M
- “You don’t need to sit here and deliberate for weeks about what to do. Just try something. And if you’re going to fail, fail fast.” — K
Resources
- E001 The Four Fundamentals of Business
- Fix This Next by Mike Michaelowicz
- Profit First by Mike Michaelowicz
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- The Highest Calling by Lawrence Janesky
- Vestafoundationsolutions.com
- Vesta Foundation Solutions on Facebook
- Email Will directly at will@vestafs.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime: We had a client close two jobs from a single photo we posted on social media. (0:30)
- Case studies and results are what matters most to customers in the decision-making process. (1:45)
- So, how do you do it? (2:10)
-
- Know where your jobs are coming from. (2:25)
-
- Invest more in the places where your customers are finding you. (3:00)
-
- Ask for reviews - on every. single. job. (3:30)
-
- Create a survey that you can send to every single customer. (4:10)
-
- Photograph every single job — professionally! (4:55)
-
- Ask if they’re willing to sit for a testimonial interview that you can turn into a case study. (6:30)
Resources
- E008 - Understanding Your Customer’s Buyer’s Journey
- E010 - 5 Quick Marketing Wins You Can Do Right Now
- Project Follow-Up Blueprint
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- How to make a delicious Alabama brisket, with John Hill (3:16)
- A lesson on how to sell anything, even a brisket. (11:45)
- Who is John Hill anyway, other than a great brisket-maker? (15:39)
- The first 2 things you need to do if you’re starting a business. (20:36)
- A life lesson on what to do when you hate what you’re doing. (24:03)
- Transitioning out of storm windows into the axle industry. (5:18)
- Expanding to Nashville and taking on a new business opportunity. (32:13)
- Business is fun, but it’s time to be a dad. (45:17)
- A hard lesson about families and priorities. (48:16)
- You’ve got to have your eyes open to opportunities. (54:32)
- John gets a call that his building is on fire and gets a big lesson in the value of values. (1:08:54)
- How John ended up at Green Okie. (1:30:16)
- “I’m not a salesman.” (1:35:38)
- How many bids and sales is he doing each week? (1:40:11)
- Ethan’s Insights — Can Ethan round up this packed conversation? (1:47:01)
Quotable Moments
- “We wanted to do something, and that was our entry and we knew that wasn’t the end game, but that was a start.” — John
- “You manage to train somebody and delegate and build at least a branch of your business that could run without you being there.” — M
- “Mindset is truly the controlling factor in everything.” — M
- “If you’re measuring it in money, then you’re never going to be satisfied.” — John
- “When you have the right values and you behave consistently with your values, it pays off in the long run.” — M
- “It’s not about just going to hire bodies or buying a new truck or buying another set of tools. You’ve got to keep your standards high.” — John
Resources
- The Profit Problem by Martin Holland
- Protecting What You Build with Eric Daffern
More from John Hill
- Green Okie — Outdoor Living Experts
- Green Okie on Facebook
- Green Okie on Instagram
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime — Contractor friend looking for the “big score.”(0:24)
- The danger of a job that’s too big. (1:10)
- There’s a better (and more predictable) way to make more money. (1:40)
- Why does the 1% rule work? (3:00)
- How can you get your labor costs down by 1%? (4:00)
Resources
- Price Increase Calculator
- The 1% Calculator
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
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- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Michael Barnett, and what was his path to being a business owner? (1:24)
- When should you get lawyers involved in a family business? (3:26)
What was life like when he took over the company?
- 2012 - 2016: Growing the company, focused on sales, no idea how much money was in the bank. (6:12)
- What caused his vision of the company to change? What were the biggest issues he faced as a new business owner who was trying to build and grow a legacy? (7:18)
- How was he prospecting for new customers? (9:14)
- 2017: Focused his sights on commercial work because there was more money in it. (11:22)
- They hit a million in sales, but started to feel some cashflow problems. (12:46)
- Even though they grew in 2017, they lost money. So, Michael started talking to other business owners and took a mastermind class with Martin (14:41)
- Bookkeeping 101: How to use good books to make decisions. (17:16)
Becoming a business owner, not just an electrician
- Being a business owner is fun. (18:43)
- They started focusing on service work because it had 40% margins without putting in any work to improve processes. (24:06)
- BUT, Michael DID improve the service processes. Here’s how. (25:30)
- Michael’s mentality through the changes? “Jump. We’ll build the wings on the way down.” (30:18)
- The power of getting rid of the hourly rate and charging a service fee. (34:48)
- How Michael sets his costs AND protects his customers. (36:30)
- How technology supports his business. (38:30)
- What was the key to turning around his business? (42:58)
- The evolution of his vision. (45:28)
- What’s Michael’s advice for others who want success? (47:35)
- Ethan’s Insights — Ethan’s favorite moments from the interview. (49:25)
Quotable Moments
- “If you’re cheap enough, you can get as much work as you want, but you won’t be around.” — Michael
- “We broke a million, so where’s the money?” — Michael
- “If you have 35 margins and you raise your prices 10, you can lose 22 of your business before you lose 1 penny of profit.” — M
- “Jump. We’ll build the wings on the way down.” — Michael
- “As a business owner, you have to make those leaps of faith all the time. Otherwise, you just stay stagnant, get in a rut, and you don’t improve. You miss out on opportunities and you don’t grow.” — K
Resources
- The Discount Calculator
More from Michael
- Barnettelectrical.com
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Things you need to get started. (1:15)
-
- Update your Google My Business account (2:20)
-
- Get at least 50 reviews on your GMB page (3:38)
-
- Set up a CTA on your website (5:04)
-
- Add your CTA to all of your social accounts and your GMB (6:35)
-
- Get traffic to your social media and website (7:13)
- If you don’t have a website, set up a referral program (9:25)
- Pay-per-lead services (10:45)
Things you need to get started:
- A website
- Social media accounts (start with Facebook and Instagram)
- An email address
- A telephone where you or someone from your team can be reached easily
- How to claim your business on Google My Business
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Story of the Show — Benali started working with a new client who had some issues with their digital presence, so we came in to help them with that. They had two salespeople and they were frustrated with their lack of performance. They wanted to go directly to the consumer. (4:41)
- What is a “good” salesman? (6:56)
- What are the downsides of the old way of doing sales where the customer had a relationship with the salesman, but not the company? (8:59)
- Sell to the right product or service to the right person at the right price. (9:34)
- The jobs don’t always go to the lowest bidder! (10:23)
- Why is it so important for your marketing and sales to be aligned? (11:35)
- Want to quit cold calling? Here’s how. (14:52)
- Benefits of a website vs. a salesman. (15:45)
- Outbound marketing vs. inbound marketing. (16:47)
- Your website can become an archive of all of the things your customers want to know. Then you can build on it and improve it over time. (20:18)
- Do you really need a website? Yes! Because people DO judge a book by its cover. (22:52)
- What does it take to make a website successful? (24:15)
- The power of a CTA. (24:52)
- Your website should have clear answers to your customer’s most frequently asked questions. (28:42)
- Provide proof that working with you is the right decision. (32:24)
- The dreaded Gap of Disappointment. (35:46)
- What problems have we seen websites solve? (38:18)
- It’s time to get rid of your 90s website! (39:43)
- Can a website replace a salesperson? (43:16)
- Mount Rushmore — Biggest mistakes we see on a website (45:24)
- Quotes of the Day — “People love to buy, but they hate to be sold.” — Jeffrey Gitomer; “When you have a brand, people can actually get to know you first and then they feel better about pulling out the credit card. A brand is not your website or logo. A brand equals your reputation.” — Dave Gearhardt (53:36)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Open up your website and look for a CTA. Add one if you don’t have it. If your banner is just your company name in huge letters, make it smaller and add 3 things your customer cares about instead. Get help from an expert if you need it. (55:50)
- Closing the story — Remember the client from the beginning of the episode? We worked on their branding, website, online content, and social media. The result? They won some six-figure jobs right out of the gate. In 18 months, we’ve raised their sale 50% through marketing alone, even after letting go of their salespeople. It’s allowed them to acquire a second branch of the company in a different city, and that branch does have two salespeople. The new sales team is now using all of the work that we’ve done on their website over the last 18 months and referencing it on sales calls. (56:49)
- Ethan’s Insights — What does he think is more important, salespeople, or a website? (59:00)
Quotable Moments
- “Good salesman can sell without disrupting everything, but more than that, they cultivate relationships with customers on behalf of the company, not on behalf of him or herself.” — M
- “They know their audience, they know their needs, and then they sell the right products and services at the right price.” — K
- “That’s the power of inbound. Your customers, your clients can go and do all the research they want without even talking to you. So are you going to be there for them to do research with you? Is your website going to pull up to give them the answers they need?” — K
- “You go be a contractor and get one more job and you’ll pay for all of [your marketing].” — M
Mount Rushmore
- See the name of the company in big letters above the fold
- No CTAs
- Too much text that tries to be clever rather than clear
- All about the company and not about the customer — Martin’s GW
- Knowledge curse (too much text that doesn’t speak at the customer’s level) — Khaili’s GW
- Not using a CRM (we use HubSpot)
- No transitional calls to action
- No gallery of work
Resources
- Company Culture podcast
- StoryBrand by Donald Miller
- They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
- Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime — I had a client who was making over $100,000 in sales each month. The problem? He had no cash.(0:20)
-
- You haven’t been paid yet. (0:55)
-
- You already spent the money. (2:00)
-
- You, the owner, took it. (2:44)
Resources
- 3 Reasons You Don’t Have Cash
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Story of the Show — There’s an extremely well-known company that started in 1985. Their company values were integrity, commitment, respect, and excellence. They were a smashing success. (3:18)
- How do we define company culture? (4:48)
- How are values and company culture intertwined? (9:53)
- What does the Benali culture look like? (14:24)
- Where is the right place to start with company culture? (18:13)
- How do you discover and identify your values? (23:53)
- After you write out your values, here’s the next step. (26:58)
- When you discover someone who fundamentally disagrees with your values and it’s disruptive to your team, there’s only one thing you can do. (33:48)
- What if you’re creating your culture statement and you think, “this is NOT how our culture is now.” How do you reverse course and get in line with your culture statement? (38:02)
- Is there actually value in defining your company culture? If so, what’s the value? (42:08)
- Culture can be a competitive advantage (44:14)
- Mount Rushmore — Culture Musts (47:40)
- Quote of the Day — “I came to see that culture is not just an aspect of the game. It IS the game.” - Lewis Gerstner (53:18)
- One Thing You Can Actually Go Do — Make an effort to write out the things that are most important to you. Then, if you have employees who really do embody your culture, review what you’ve written out and see what their thoughts are. (55:13)
- Closing the story — The $100 billion company, well, it was Enron. Integrity, commitment, respect, and excellence were their written values, but clearly they didn’t live those values. (56:51)
- Ethan’s Insights — Intern Insights is no more! Welcome to the team, Ethan! (58:06)
Quotable Moments
- “You want the culture in your company to reflect your values and the things that are important to you.” — M
- “To me, culture is about belonging.” — K
- “Start by identifying what’s important to you and writing them down.” — M
- “If you’re going to have a company culture that really sticks, you’ve got to go do it yourself. You have to be the role model, the example.” — K
- “When you have a culture statement and your values written out, you now have something more or less objective to point to and say, this is the issue.” — M
Mount Rushmore
- Focal Point by Brian Tracy
- Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy
- Sample Company Culture Statement (see resource list below) — Martin’s GW
- Alignment process - present your culture statement to your team
- Start with yourself - know how you are and who you want to become — Khalil’s GW
- Find companies that fit your values - use them as a role model and blueprint for your company
- Employee reviews
- Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Resources
- Brian Tracy resources about values
- Benali values (Together is better; Always be inspired; Just be real; Make it work; Change is certain; Celebrate good times)
- Company Culture Statement
- Interview Questions You Need to Ask
- 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman
More from Martin
- theprofitproblem.com
- annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Storytime: My recent buyer’s journey (00:25)
- What are the 3 stages of the buyer’s journey? (2:02)
- Why does the buyer’s journey even matter to your business? (4:03)
- How do you join your customer’s journey? (4:55)
- Resources that will help you along the way (7:55)
Resources
- Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller
- Homeowner Heather StoryBrand BrandScript
- Buyer’s Journey infographic
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Antonio? (0:58)
- How Antonio ended up at Kentucky Fried Chicken. (5:00)
- Lessons he learned at KFC that helped him be a better business owner. (08:18)
- How a hobby turned into a passion, which turned into an opportunity. (12:45)
- The door opens to leave KFC. (17:19)
- How the koi pond business began. (20:00)
- What’s the hardest thing about sales? (27:00)
- Plot twist: Seasonal work is hard. Antonio had to go back to KFC. (32:00)
- How did he keep track of customer info, materials, figure out pricing, etc. in the early days? (34:20)
- Who was his first hire? (41:00)
- 1996 — His daughter was born and his wife wanted to stay home with her. His income became the only thing they have to live on. (46:10)
- 1999 — A bombshell hits. (49:50)
- How creating a great team got him through trying times. (56:40)
- How did pools enter the business? (59:10)
Things are different now...
- Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is always a good thing. (1:04:21)
- How brand evangelists can transform your business. (1:05:56)
- How did he figure out how to price a much larger product? (1:10:35)
- Key business questions — company vision, target market. (1:16:46)
- What’s the key to continuously improving and being more efficient? (1:24:36)
- Mount Rushmore — Top takeaways about success from this conversation. (1:28:14)
- Quote of the day — “Surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is always a good thing,” and “learn from your mistakes, because a mistake is an opportunity to get better.” (1:32:29)
- Something you can actually go do to understand your customers (1:33:35)
- Intern Insights with Ethan — Listen to Ethan distill a 90-minute conversation down to 60 seconds. (1:36:11)
Quotable Moments
- “I still don’t think of myself as a great salesman. I’m just going to help people get where they want.” — Antonio
- “Give people a reason other than price to buy from you.” — M
- “Every journey is going to have bumps... You have to expect those tough times and have the resolve to get through them.” — Antonio
- “Discomfort can breed growth.” — K
- “They chose your character and your passion, and they knew even before you that that would translate into a magnificent pool.” — M
- “You can’t have every day be profitable. Our goal is to be profitable at the end of the year.” — Antonio
- “It’s not sales for the sake of sales. It’s sales that bring you margins and then, ultimately, at the end of the year bring you a profit.” — M
Mount Rushmore
- Bookkeeping
- Courage
- Focus on others (Martin’s George Washington)
- Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you
- Faith and connection to church (Khalil’s George Washington)
- Constantly strive to learn more
- Know your customers
- Grit
Resources — Places to connect with Antonio and Aquascape
- Aquascapeokc.com
- Houzz
- YouTube
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Bidding with intent. (0:10)
- Why you can be making good sales, but not a lot of money. (1:05)
- Bidding without a target. (1:55)
- Markup vs. margin strategies. (3:00)
- Confusion between cost and price. (4:28)
- Lack of confidence. (6:35)
Resources
- Breakeven Calculator
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Sergio Garcia? (0:55)
- Then something really crazy happened. (9:10)
- What’s his business? (13:20)
- Why your business name matters. (15:50)
- What’s a typical day at Alpha Surfaces? (16:40)
- That’s when things started going bad... (19:20)
- “We started getting behind on a lot of payments.” (22:30)
- “That’s when I got that gut check.” (22:50)
- “I was bleeding cash everywhere.” (25:00)
- Even people with no business sense can tell that this isn’t right... (27:10)
- Margins? Bidding? How did they determine pricing? (28:70)
- “That $5,000 is not all for you.” (29:50)
- You’re busy, but you’re on credit lock — it’s like quicksand. (31:10)
- They decided that we needed help. It was divine intervention. That’s when everything changed. (34:20)
- “We think we’re saving money by doing it ourselves, but it costs us opportunities.” (43:00)
- How Sergio reacted to competitors then and now. (49:00)
- What was the most impactful change that he made in his business? (54:00)
- One danger of increasing your capacity before you’re ready. (1:00:30)
- What’s the hardest part of getting your pricing right? (1:06:20)
- How did he tell his customers that he was going to have to start charging more? (1:09:45)
- A common marketing mistake that contractors make. (1:18:00)
- How a CRM transformed Alpha’s business. (1:22:20)
- Mount Rushmore — Sergio’s biggest improvements (1:27:17)
- Quote of the day — “Sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn.” — Sergio’s daughter (1:35:10)
- Intern Insights with Ethan — There’s a ton to cover, so let’s see if Ethan can get it all in! (1:36:30)
Quotable Moments
- “When it comes to the numbers and the business side, it’s a whole different story.” — Sergio
- “If you don’t know what you’re doing and don’t have something that you want, it’s pretty hard to do it.” — M
- “It’s not just about working harder, it’s about working smarter.” — K
- “Keeping track of your business is just as hard as doing it.” — M
- “When you do a good job, customers are happy to pay you.” — Sergio
- “When you’re small, you don’t see the big issue with not having the margins or the systems... As you get bigger, it becomes a magnifying glass on all of the problems you have.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- Courage
- Getting the books right
- Creating a vision for the company — Sergio’s George Washington
- Improving operational efficiency
- Delegation
- Price increase
- Getting the books right (so important, we had to mention it twice!)
- Grit
Resources
- Lori at Zeal Accounting
- HubSpot CRM
- alphaokc.com
- sergio@alphaokc.com
- Alpha Surfaces Facebook
- Alpha Surfaces Instagram
- Alpha Surfaces LinkedIn
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Always start with a vision (00:27)
- Boat and fish analogy: are you a “boat first” company, or a “fish first” company? (00:54)
- Are you a “boat first” company, or a “fish first” company?
- You have to start with your customers if you want reliable, predictable results. (2:05)
- What is a buyer persona and how do you create one? (3:06)
- Use your buyer persona to create a marketing plan. (5:18)
- Step 1: Get a list of past customers (6:20)
- Step 2: Research existing customers (6:55)
- Step 3: Answer questions to understand your buyer persona (9:10)
- Step 4: Summarize your buyer persona (9:45)
- Step 5: Think like your buyer persona (10:30)
Resources
- Boat and fish analogy LinkedIn post
- Buyer Persona Questionnaire
- Buyer Profile — for B2B companies to create an ideal company rather than an ideal customer.
- Churn Persona — the customer you don’t enjoy working with or the lead that reliably falls out of your funnel. Helps you define this persona so you recognize them sooner.
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Who is Eric Daffern? Why did he go into law? (1:50)
- There are two main risks in real estate and contracting: the risk of getting sued, and the risk of not getting paid. (5:30)
- Story of the Show — The perfect construction contract and project suddenly went wrong because of the pandemic. (12:20)
- Why are systems so essential for contractors? (14:15)
- Why don’t more contractors have relationships with an attorney? (17:20)
- 99% of the time, everything’s gonna work out. How do you protect against that 1% where the bottom falls out? (20:27)
- What’s the most important tool you can use to make sure you get paid and stay out of court? (22:00)
- What’s a contract system? (22:40)
- What’s a contract addendum, and how does it give subcontractors power in a negotiation? (24:40)
- How do large GCs react to subs trying to negotiate? Do subcontractors even stand a chance against them? (27:30)
- Do you need to pay an attorney to review every contract? (30:20)
- What are some other systems contractors need? (33:15)
- Can you still do work on a handshake? (35:50)
- Systems add value ($$$) to your business. (40:00)
- Mechanic lien systems — Don’t ignore your superpower! (40:45)
- Why do you need HR systems? (46:30)
- Your team can work closely together to make sure that your business is protected. (48:10)
- How can early incident management systems protect you and your employees? (49:10)
- How can you be a good consumer and choose the right attorney? (55:00)
- Mount Rushmore — Lawyer Jokes edition (59:40) Listen to see which joke was Eric’s favorite!
- Quote of the day — “Knowledge is power.” (1:02:40)
- Something you can actually go do (1:06:10)
- Closing the story — Remember that this was the PERFECT job. Everything went right, until the last payment. Luckily, we had already worked with the client to create a mechanic lien system. Unfortunately, we had to file a mechanic lien, but my client was able to get paid and still maintain a good relationship with his client. (1:09:50)
- Intern Insights with Ethan — Can Ethan sum up in 60 seconds or less what it took the other guys over an hour to explain? (1:13:14)
Quotable Moments
- “The earlier you find a problem, the cheaper the resolution is.” — M
- “If you will focus on a team around you and invest in your team, then you can have that team help you make money as well. There’s no difference between having a screwdriver, a hammer, or whatever in your craft, and having a lawyer, an accountant, and a banker on the business side of it.” — Eric
- “The number one reason people leave an employment position is unclear expectations ... Systems define the expectations against which people are measured so you can go and do those things.” — M
- “You’re not going to be the expert in everything. You have to hire and trust other people. It’s going to make you better.” — K
- “You have the choice of doing nothing or the choice of doing something.” — Eric
Mount Rushmore
- Listen to our best lawyer jokes at 59:40!
Resources
- Contract Addendum Checklist
- Mechanic Lien System Survey
- Early Incident Management Checklist
- Questions to Ask an Attorney
- Daffern Law Firm newsletter sign-up
- Visit daffernlawfirm.com for more from Eric Daffern
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Why you shouldn’t try to do all of the administering yourself. (4:28)
- Three reasons why people don’t reach out to experts to help them. (6:52)
- Story of the Show — Martin’s client didn’t know his costs, margins, or whether the business was even making money. (9:33)
- Before you start a business, consider this... (12:19)
- What is administration? (15:35)
- Where do you start when you want to improve your administration? (16:46)
- How the administrative part of bookkeeping informs all of the other three areas of business. (19:31)
- What’s the ultimate vision? What things do contractors need to know? (21:11)
- What is a profit and loss statement? (23:16)
- The 5 fundamental questions your 3 financial statements will answer. (25:03)
- Why your bank statement does not work as a profit and loss statement. (26:27)
- What is a balance sheet? (29:50)
- What is a cash flow statement? (35:50)
- How you can “rent” advisors. (40:08)
- What information do you get from good books once you have someone put them in order? (41:27)
- Mount Rushmore — Admin tools (43:34)
- Quote of the Day — “If there is not a good bookkeeper in your business, you will go on groping like a blind man.” - Luca Pacioli (inventor of double-entry bookkeeping) AND “If the books are a mess, so is everything else.” - Anonymous (51:02)
- Closing the story — Martin’s client got his books in order and made more in Q1 of 2020 than the entire two years prior. (54:55)
- Ethan’s Minute — What parts of administering the business stuck out to Ethan? Listen to find out! (57:45)
Quotable Moments
- “Administration will consume more of your time and effort than doing whatever it is that you actually do.” — M
- “You don’t need to become an expert at administration. You just need to understand how it works and then find people you trust to really help you in those areas.” — K
- “The subjective of how you feel at any given time isn’t good enough. We need information as objective as it can possibly be to tell how we did, how we’re doing, and what we need to do in the future.” — M
- “If you’re trying to grow a business on a gut feeling, you’re setting yourself up for disaster and for stress and for headache and heartache.”— K
Mount Rushmore
- QuickBooks — Khalil’s George Washington
- Target margins for your bids
- A good CPA who can help with managerial accounting
- The Profit Problem: They Say I Make Money, So Why Don’t I Have Any? by Martin Holland — Martin’s George Washington
- Stripe
- G Suite
- Find a bookkeeper
Resources
- Strengths Finder by Tom Rath
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
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- Story of the Show — Derek Sivers, author of Anything You Want (2:32)
- What do contractors struggle with the most, across the board? (7:12)
- What is performance? It’s delivering what you sold on time and on budget. (9:47)
- Why is it so much more difficult to deliver on your promises when you have employees? (14:02)
- How do you manage expectations about “on-time” delivery? (17:47)
- Our bests tips for staying on budget (24:12)
- What’s the 1% rule, and how can it affect your net profit? (27:37)
- How do you manage your limited capacity (bottlenecks)? (29:25)
- Use workflows to increase your efficiency. (34:20)
- What is hub and spoke management, and when will it work or not work for you? (39:00)
- What is circular management, and how can it help you grow? (42:00)
- Less than 5% of businesses we know of use this incredible management tool. (45:00)
- Systems are the way you get consistent results. (48:26)
- How do org charts and systems work together? (54:37)
- Mount Rushmore — Tools to Help with Processes (1:06:12)
- Quote of the day — “You cannot manage what you do not measure.” - Edward Deming (1:12:49)
- Something you can actually go do (1:13:40)
- Story Loop Closure — Delegating is creating systems and processes, but what Derek did was abdicate. The problem? He gave away his duties, and his employees took control of the company. He had to go to court to get it back. (1:15:41)
- Ethan’s Minute (1:17:32) — We generously gave Ethan 90 seconds today since we covered so much. So, what stuck out to him today?
Quotable Moments
- “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who are just so stressed out about by their business. It affects every area of their life.” — K
- “It’ll never be a profitable business that can work without you if you’re doing all the work.” — M
- “Sales is not the reason to be in business. Profit and cash are the reasons to be in business.” — M
Mount Rushmore
- Touchstone Business Processes — Martin’s George Washington
- Project Managers
- Default Calendar
- Trello
- Loom or voice memo
- Google Drive — Khalil’s George Washington
- Right-hand man
- Trello, Asana, or any other project management software
Resources
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- The Push Thru Podcast with Jeff Finney
- Donald Millers Knowledge Curse, found in Building a StoryBrand
- Sample Org Chart
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
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- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
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- Story of The Show — A contractor client of ours was trying to find a salesperson to grow his business, but never found the right fit. His business has grown anyway. How did he do that? (2:44)
- What is “Getting the Business?” (3:47)
- Why is marketing the business important? (4:57)
- Can marketing do more than generate leads? (6:00)
- Is marketing an expense or an investment? (7:27)
- There are three elements of marketing. (9:47)
- Why you need to understand your marketing strategy, even if you’re not the one executing it. (13:17)
- How do you know if your marketing is GOOD? (16:17)
- Why you have to know your market (apples vs. oranges). (18:35)
- People buy for only two reasons: pain or pleasure. (24:59)
- Do you have a sales process yet? You need one! (29:45)
- How can reducing friction improve your sales process? (32:00)
- Mount Rushmore — Marketing & Sales Resources (34:05)
- Quote of the episode — "I worship at the altar of intention and obstacle. Somebody wants something, and something is standing in their way of getting it.” - Andy Sorskin (43:05)
- Something you can actually go do (44:15)
- Story Loop Closure — How inbound marketing took our client from $25,000 in online sales to $250,000 without a salesperson. (46:05)
- Ethan’s Minute — Can Ethan overcome his awful internet issues to give a 60-second rundown of the episode? (48:50)
Quotable Moments
- “It’s not just as simple as hiring a salesman. If it were only that simple, a lot of people wouldn’t be having the problems they have.” — K
- “If you don’t have a plan to generate referrals, what you’re really doing is leaving the future of your company to chance.” — M
- “The “who” is so much more important than the “what” in your message.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- Marketing Made Simple & StoryBrand by Donald Miller (Martin’s George Washington)
- Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount
- Marketing Company (Benali)
- USPs
- HubSpot Academy
- LinkedIn (Chris Walker, Dave Gerhardt, Aaron Witt) - Khalil’s George Washington
- Badass B2B Growth Guide by Josh Braun
- MarketingExamples.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- Story of the show — NYC contractor whose business was struggling with the pandemic shutdown (2:00)
- What does it mean to guide your business? What’s your North Star? (5:45)
- Leadership means being selfless. (7:07)
- What do your employees really need? Autonomy, mastery, and purpose. (8:05)
- Why is guiding the business so hard for contractors? (10:00)
- You’ve gotta look at your business from 30,000 feet up, but how do you do that? (13:05)
- When I ask a new client, “What do you want?” they nearly always answer, “What do you mean?” How can you expect to get what you want if you don’t even know what it is? (14:05)
- Why are contractors often reluctant to lean on mentors or peers? (16:55)
- The first step to solving a problem in your business is admitting that you have one. (18:55)
- What is vision? (19:33)
- How does a vision help you make good business decisions? (26:15)
- Your vision can’t just be about you! (29:35)
- Quote of the episode — “A pessimist sees the problem in every opportunity, and an optimist sees the opportunity in every problem.” — Winston Churchill
- Mount Rushmore — Essential tech edition (30:52)
- One thing to take away — Write down the things you want, or they won’t happen. (38:43)
- So, how do you begin writing what you want and creating a vision for your company? (42:15)
- Story Loop Closure — How has the NYC business owner transformed his company to not only survive the pandemic, but thrive? (44:45)
- Ethan’s Minute — Our intern Ethan tries to nail down the key takeaways from the episode. See if he knocked it out of the park or if he struck out. (47:29)
Quotable Moments
- “There has to be a reason why you’re doing what you’re doing, or you won’t like doing it and you’ll rob yourself of a sense of accomplishment and purpose.” — M
- “When you start working on guiding your business, that’s when you start leaving your job and start becoming an owner of a business.” — K
- “You are who you surround yourself with.” — K
- “There is a lot of suffering in business, but it does not have to be that way.” — M
Mount Rushmore
- HubSpot (Khalil’s “George Washington”)
- Google Drive
- Stripe
- Asana
- Quickbooks (Martin’s “George Washington”)
- Google Calendar
- Jobber
Resources
- Drive by Daniel Pink
- 360 Leader by John C. Maxwell
- They Say I Make Money, So Why Don’t I Have Any? by Martin Holland
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
- What’s the hardest part of owning a contracting business? (2:38)
- Why you should start with your vision. (3:12)
- So, what are the four fundamentals and why should you focus on them? (6:40)
- #1: Guiding the business — The power of a clear vision when guiding a business. (8:58)
- “Wouldn’t it be really cool if...” as an exercise — But without self-limiting beliefs. (14:20)
- There’s so much more to leadership than vision. Leadership means defining your culture. (15:20)
- It’s great when the leader can guide the business, but even better when others on your team have enough buy-in to help with the guiding. THAT is culture! (22:45)
- Delegation vs. Abdication — You need to delegate to grow, but if you abdicate instead, then it can push away great employees (24:30)
- #2: Getting the business — Do you see marketing as an expense or an investment? (25:05)
- You don’t need to be an expert in all 4 areas, but here’s why you need to understand them all. (28:30)
- You have a brand, whether you want it or not... (29:50)
- Why did you choose that contractor? “He’s the only one that called me back.” (35:50)
- Mount Rushmore — Books edition (39: 40)
- #3 Doing the business — Making good on your promise. This is the area that contractors are almost universally best at. (48:40)
- Do I have a process for that? Are you a process-dependent business, or a people-dependent business? (50:00)
- Quote of the episode — “As you become successful in your own field, your responsibilities may begin to change. Days become less and less about doing, and more and more about making decisions. Such is the nature of leadership. This transition requires re-evaluating and updating your identity. It requires a certain humility to put aside some of the more enjoyable or satisfying parts of your previous job. It also means accepting that others might be more qualified or specialized in areas in which you considered yourself competent, or at least their time is better spent on them than yours.” — Ryan Holiday (54:16)
- #4 Administering the business — This is the area that most people hate. It’s all of the things you had never heard of when you started your business. (57:17)
- The #1 failing of contracting businesses, according to Martin. (1:01:30)
- The #1 failure of contracting businesses, according to Khalil. (1:06:00)
- Ethan’s Minute — Our intern Ethan tries to nail down the key takeaways from the episode. See if he knocked it out of the park or if he struck out. (1:06:50)
Quotable Moments
- “People follow people who have a vision and who are decisive.” — M
- “You have a brand, whether you want it or not. If you’re not out there marketing, then you’re not dictating the narrative of your brand.” — K
- “If everything runs through you, you are perpetually limited by your personal capacity to get things done.” — M
- “Until we develop systems in our business, we’re usually lagging in those areas.” — K
Mount Rushmore
- The E Myth Contractor by Michael Gerber (Martin’s “George Washington”)
- The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
- The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
- Building a StoryBrand - Donald Miller
- Start with Why - Simon Sinek (Khalil’s “George Washington”)
- They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan
- Range by David Epstein
Resources
- Start with Why TED Talk - Simon Sinek
- Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Subscribe to Our Newsletter
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com
What is The Cashflow Contractor Podcast?
If you own a contracting business, then you know that most of what you do isn’t related to the product or service that your business actually provides. A “Cashflow Contractor” is someone who’s figured it all out and has a positive cashflow because they’re doing a lot of those non-service things right.
If you aren’t cashflowing yet, it means that you don’t have enough cash on hand to meet all of your obligations. You are exactly who this podcast is for! In each episode, we’ll talk about all kinds of things that will help you become cashflow positive, from financials to marketing and so much more.
You can expect four different types of episodes from us:
-
Shorts - we give an overview of a topic
-
Deep Dives - we really dig into a topic to explore it
-
Interviews - we talk with contractors or someone in the industry to share their insights
-
Consults - we’ll let YOU come on our podcast to ask questions about your business or talk about an issue you’re facing, and we’ll offer our advice
We’re so happy you’re here, and we’re honored to be part of your journey to become a Cashflow Contractor.
More from Khalil
- www.benali.com
- khalil@benali.com
More from Martin
- www.annealbc.com
- martin@anealbc.com
More from The Cashflow Contractor
- Ask Us A Question
- Sign Up For A Free Consultation
- We'd Love Your Feedback
- www.thecashflowcontractor.com
- info@thecashflowcontractor.com