The Cash Flow Contractor

Benali

Boost

Boost

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.

249 - The $600,000 Accounting Error That Almost Destroyed My Business with Cory Parks

Imagine finding a $600K error in your books! Cory Parks shares his journey from near disaster to business revival. You don’t want to miss this!Time Stamps00:45 - Episode & Guest Intro03:25 - Cory's Business Journey07:28 - Financial Struggles and Solutions11:41 - Management Team and Roles16:44 - Cory's Profit Problem22:14 - Cory's Financial Literacy Journey30:31 - CRM and Bookkeeping Challenges31:56 - Automating QuickBooks Integration32:22 - Identifying and Solving Duplicate Entry Issues33:31 -

Apr 1, • 59:31

248 - The Power of Reflection

What's the goal behind your goals? Discover how asking the right questions can guide your business toward success. Tune in as we dive deep into why tracking accomplishments can transform your mindset and business!Time Stamps01:15 - Episode Intro 03:32 - The Importance of Tracking Accomplishments07:46 - Journaling and Tracking Progress11:44 - Utilizing Voice Memos12:49 - Tracking Accomplishments18:31 - Setting and Achieving Goals26:02 - Understanding the Pomodoro Method28:26 - Delegating Respo

Mar 25, • 47:55

247 - Access to Cash: What Are Your Options? with Luke Boyenger

Luke Boyenger, Expert Fractional CFO, joins Martin & Khalil to discuss cash efficiency, the smart use of lines of credit, SBA loans, building strong banking relationships, and more! Time Stamps01:54 - Episode & Guest Intro02:08 - Exploring AI in Financial Analysis05:53 - Cash Series Recap07:11 - Building and Managing Bank Relationships14:33 - Understanding Line of Credit20:29 - Navigating SBA Loans25:18 - Treasury Management28:30 - HELOC Loan31:25 - Identifying Red Flags in Your Business Model32

Mar 13, • 55:38

246 - 6 Straightforward Strategies to Retain Construction Employees with Carrie Gardenhire

Struggling with employee turnover? Discover 6 practical strategies to keep your construction workforce satisfied and loyal. Join Carrie Gardenhire and Khalil Benalioulhaj for a deep dive into this critical topic!Time Stamps02:08 - Episode & Guest Intro03:04 - The Importance of Employee Retention09:05 - Morning Huddles: Starting the Day Right15:06 - One-on-One Meetings: Building Personal Connections22:22 - Employee Gatherings: Fostering a Strong Culture29:37 - Implementing Workplace Communication

Mar 6, • 49:47

245 - Build Your Cash Flow Forecast with Jakob Kirschner (Live Tutorial + Template)

Unlock the secrets to mastering cash flow! Learn from expert Jakob Kirschner and transform your business with a step-by-step tutorial and a free template.Time Stamps 02:52 - Episode & Guest Intro 03:35 - Importance of Cash Flow Forecasting 05:25 - Setting Up Your Cash Flow Forecast 08:17 - Detailed Walkthrough of Cash Flow Forecast 23:41 - Starting with Income Projections 26:03 - Adjusting Cash Flow and Payment Terms 30:43 - Impact of Marketing and Materials Orders 37:14 - Wo

Feb 27, • 48:23

244 - What is Your Cash Strategy? with Lisa Dionisio

Dive into cash flow strategies with financial expert Lisa Dionisio. Discover how to build a cash cushion, the importance of knowing your numbers, and strategies to prevent cash crises. Listen now!Time Stamps02:49 - Episode Intro03:11 - Meet Lisa: CPA and Financial Expert05:16 - Lisa's Take on the Profit First08:49 - Understanding Business Strategy and Cash Flow17:51 - Accounts Receivables23:23 - Getting a Line of Credit25:41 - Maintaining Good Cash Flow30:46 - Knowing Your Numbers33:16 - Managin

Feb 21, • 1:07:57

243 - Easy Cash Management with Profit First (Live Tutorial + Template)

Struggling with cash management? Learn how the Profit First system can revolutionize the way you handle your business finances. Tune in for a live tutorial & exclusive template!Time Stamps01:21 - Episode Intro03:27 - Setting Up Profit First Accounts05:26 - Target Allocation Percentages (TAPS)07:25 - Profit First Analysis Spreadsheet19:24 - Implementing the System26:44 - Final Tips and WarningsSnippets from the Episode" You're going to be tempted to dip into your profit and your owner's pay and t

Feb 13, • 31:54

242 - Understanding Construction Lead Generation with Alex Weeks

How do you qualify leads and create effective marketing channels for your construction business? We dive deep into lead generation tactics with Alex Weeks of Northbuilt Construction, offering tips on identifying ideal clients and maximizing conversions.Time Stamps02:14 - Episode Intro03:12 - Alex Week's Background03:51 - Revenue Goals and Growth Strategies05:21 - Lead Generation and Qualification10:09 - Marketing Channels and Referral Programs26:11 - New Marketing Partnership28:09 - Website Stra

Feb 6, • 56:24

241 - Get Your Passion Back: How An Assistant Can Change Your Mindset As An Owner with Sergio Garcia

Has running your business started to feel more like a chore than a passion? Discover how hiring an assistant reignited Sergio Garcia’s motivation, transformed his mindset, and took his business to the next level. Tune in for an inspiring episode you won’t want to miss!Time Stamps02:39 Episode & Guest Intro03:45 Team Structure and Roles05:01 Challenges and Initial Solutions12:30 Implementing New Systems31:21 Managing Calls and Messages Efficiently33:30 Establishing Daily Rhythms with Your Assista

Jan 30, • 56:35

240 - 5 Elements of the Perfect Job (On Time & On Budget)

Why do we get distracted on projects, and how can we stay laser-focused? In this episode, we break down essential strategies for maintaining focus and hitting your numbers on your next job. Listen in!Time Stamps02:07 - New Year's Resolutions and Goals03:03 - The Importance of Focus in Projects06:41 - Understanding Project Scope10:29 - Effective Project Bidding12:31 - Tracking Project Expenses19:10 - Project Communication and Debriefing22:36 - Project DebriefingSnippets from the Episode"It takes

Jan 23, • 27:37

239 - How to Become a Market Leader in Construction with Chad Prinkey

Discover the habits and strategies that top contractors follow! Tune into our conversation with Chad Prinkey, CEO & Founder at Well Built Construction Consulting, and transform your business into a market leader.Time Stamps02:06 - Episode & Guest Intro04:46 - Habits of Market Leaders06:12 - Financial Management for Success11:09 - People-First Culture14:42 - Handling Cultural Misfits18:21 - Elevating Your Team Practically22:45 - Strategic Growth and Specialization27:13 - The Importance of Special

Jan 16, • 1:00:45

238 - 7 Ways to Simplify How You Serve Customers with James Hatfield

Join us for an inspiring conversation with serial entrepreneur James Hatfield, as he shares his journey from power washing & painting companies to billion-dollar tech ventures. Learn how his latest project can transform your business operations effortlessly.Time Stamps02:07 - Introduction and Guest Introduction03:08 - James Hatfield's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey05:07 - Journey into Technology and Business Success06:57 - Inmates to Entrepreneurs15:13 - Journey to Developing LiveSwitch2

Jan 9, • 54:09

237 - Why Contractors Lose Sales with Joe Crisara

Curious why your sales might be slipping away? Join Martin & Khalil, with America’s service sales coach, Joe Crisara, as they delve into common sales pitfalls and practical tips to boost your game.Time Stamps02:04 - Episode Intro02:57 - Joe's Iconic Sales Failure Story13:58 - Lessons Learned from Sales Failures19:20 - Creating Value and Personalizing Service30:06 - Sales Rhythm and Company Culture33:46 - Importance of Certifications and Safety38:52 - Communicating Value and Differentiation in Sa

Jan 2, • 53:48

236 - Reluctant Firing: Why You Won't Let Them Go

Struggling with whether to keep or release an employee? In this episode, we tackle the hard truths about terminations, cultural impact, and why the right move might be the hardest one.Time Stamps01:44 - Introduction and Initial Dilemma02:08  - Immediate Action vs. Strategic Replacement04:02  - Consequences of Delaying Termination05:56  - Cultural Impact and Employee Morale09:58  - Challenges & Considerations When Firing An Employee13:51  - Performance Plans and Coaching17:35  - Reasons to Consid

Dec 26, 2024 • 35:47

235 - Real Planning for Growth: What It Actually Takes to Grow Your Construction Business with Mike Andes

Here’s a powerful episode on how to drive real growth in your construction business! Returning guest, Mike Andes, shares key insights on profitability, scaling, systematizing and more. A must-listen for business owners!Time Stamps01:59 - Welcome Back, Mike!02:17 - August Lawn Care Growth and Expansion 03:52 - Introducing Copilot CRM09:44 - Understanding the P4P Software (Pay-4-Performance)12:59 - More on the Copilot CRM13:50 - Challenges of Running a Software Company17:02 - Scaling and Systemati

Dec 19, 2024 • 1:08:16

234 - Implementing Ai & Creating a Function Chart

Is your construction business running like a well-oiled machine? Learn about business function charts and how to streamline operations and maximize efficiency with the use of Ai!Time Stamps01:54 - Martin's 50th Reunion Story06:32 - Experimenting with AI Tools18:43 - AI's Impact on Jobs25:15 - Getting Started with AI25:59 - Automating Business Processes with AI31:18 - Creating Knowledge Bases with ChatGPT31:41 - Automating Email Responses35:53 - Leveraging AI for Task Delegation37:54 - Hiring & S

Dec 13, 2024 • 1:04:13

233 - Reclaim Your Time: Why You Need an Owner’s Assistant in Construction

Are you a construction business owner juggling countless tasks and feeling stretched thin? Do you wish you had more time to focus on growth? Find out how a versatile Owner's Assistant can lighten your load, optimize your workflow, and take your business to the next level!Time Stamps02:42 - Episode Intro03:49  - The Importance of Delegation06:09  - What is an Owner's Assistant?18:12  - Challenges and Solutions in Hiring Assistants21:55  - Real-Life Examples of Owner's Assistants26:38  - How to Fi

Dec 6, 2024 • 48:55

232 - HR in a Box: Tools to Make HR Simple & Compliant with Carrie Gardenhire

How can technology reshape HR in the construction industry? Join us as we dive into this and more with Carrie Gardenhire, who’s sharing proven strategies to elevate compliance and streamline operations. Listen in for fresh insights!Time Stamps01:06 - Episode Intro03:18 - Guest Introduction04:04 - Carrie Gardenhire's Professional Background06:36 - The Importance of Associations in Construction15:10 - HR Challenges and Solutions for Small Contractors18:14 - Leveraging Software for HR Efficiency30:

Nov 21, 2024 • 1:05:21

231 - Organize Your Construction Tech Stack

Ever felt lost in the tech maze as a contractor? Unlock the secrets to optimizing your construction business with the right tech stack. Find out how you can streamline operations, boost efficiency, and let your digital toolbox work for you. Tune in!Time Stamps00:59 - Episode Intro04:03 - Understanding Tech Stack09:17 - Components of a Tech Stack11:27 - Software for Different Areas of a Business 13:54 - Tech Stack Audit17:42 - Vertical SaaS (Software as a Service)22:13 - Building Your Tech Stack:

Nov 14, 2024 • 1:06:32

230 - Mindset, Priorities, & Taking Action: Growing Northbuilt Construction from Scratch with Alex Weeks

Uncover the secrets behind Alex Weeks' success with Northbuilt Construction! Learn about building confidence, creating processes, and redefining the contractor narrative. Don’t miss this insightful conversation. Time Stamps00:51 - Elon Musk's SpaceX Rocket Catch03:23 - Guest Introduction: Alex from Montana06:04 - Alex's Upbringing and Family Background12:22 - Journey into Construction18:09 - How  Northbuilt Construction26:44 - The Partnership Experience: Lessons Learned30:58 - Going Solo: Buildi

Nov 7, 2024 • 58:32

229 - Build A Winning Culture: Change Your Mindset, Challenge Your Employees, & Align Incentives with Ken Rusk

Is it possible to engineer your life? Discover how Ken Rusk turned labor into legacy by shifting his mindset, empowering his team and building a winning culture. Learn incredible strategies for fostering independent thinkers and aligning team goals for personal and professional growth. Don't miss this episode! Time Stamps01:08 - Episode Intro02:25  - Guest Introduction02:46  - Ken's Early Life and Career Beginnings08:01  - The Importance of Vision and Goals12:45  - Empowering Employees for Succe

Oct 31, 2024 • 56:01

228 - A Better System for Hiring: Build Your Hiring Map

Tired of hiring misses? Discover the secrets to creating a hiring system that attracts top talent and transforms your team into all-stars. Listen now!Time Stamps00:49 - Episode Intro03:51 - Craigslist and the Evolution of Job Boards05:23 - The Importance of a Hiring Map10:26 - Creating a Company Vision and Values14:39 - Why Work For Your Company?18:06 - Defining the Ideal Candidate21:41 - Crafting Job Descriptions and Postings23:50 - Crafting an Effective Job Posting24:54 - Creating Engaging Job

Oct 24, 2024 • 46:05

227 - Building & Scaling Through Tech & Tough Decisions with Victor Lebegue

Discover how Victor Lebegue, CEO of VL Builders, navigated the twists and turns of business growth and tech integration in the construction industry. Don't miss out on his inspiring journey!Time Stamps01:14 - Episode Intro02:01  - Meet Victor Lebegue02:35  - Victor's Journey into Construction04:33  - Building a Business: Challenges and Growth06:18  - Expanding to Colorado: Opportunities and Obstacles10:04  - Multilocation Challenges14:15  - Shutting Down Minnesota Operations16:28  - Emotional Im

Oct 17, 2024 • 1:13:36

226 - A New Way to Measure & Incentivize Employees

Discover a unique employee assessment method that highlights self-reliance and learn how to cultivate a workforce that thrives with minimal supervision. This can potentially be a game-changer for your construction business!Time Stamps00:41 - Introduction to a Unique Episode01:08  - Employee Ranking System03:03  - Supervision Levels06:28  - Implementing the Ranking System08:41  - Defining Supervision17:25  - Episode TakeawaysLearn how you can improve your customer and project workflows! BOOK YOUR

Oct 10, 2024 • 20:02

225 - 10 Ways to Boost Profit with Small Changes

Discover how minimal yet strategic adjustments in your operations can dramatically enhance your profit margins. Implement change today, reap rewards tomorrow! Don't miss out!Time Stamps01:07 - A Boost of Caffeine02:17 - Boosting Profits with Small Changes02:43 - The 1% Rule Explained05:01 - Cutting Costs Before They Start07:35 - Raising Your Price10:25 - Rethinking Your Payment Strategies13:46 - Cutting Out Wasted Time17:16 - Buyback Inventory19:10 - Setting Clear Labor Hours in Bids21:10 - Cont

Oct 3, 2024 • 41:43

224 - Start Managing Your Inventory with Andrew Bartholomew

Why is inventory challenging for contractors? Dive into our conversation with Andrew Bartholomew from Fleetio and learn practical tips to track, analyze, and optimize your inventory! Time Stamps00:59 - Episode & Guest Introduction 02:25 - Fleetio: A Maintenance Management Platform03:29 - Challenges in Inventory Management07:29 - Strategies for Effective Inventory Tracking12:05 - Implementing Inventory Management Systems18:42 - How Fleetio Works for Inventory Management23:44 - Benefits of Invento

Sep 26, 2024 • 31:53

223 - Fleet Management in Construction with Erin Gilchrist Rugg

What exactly is fleet management and why should it matter to your business? Tune in and learn how to optimize your fleet's efficiency, safety, and profitability with expert insights from Erin Gilchrist Rugg. Time Stamps01:11 - Martin's First Truck Story02:50 - Episode & Guest Intro03:28 - Understanding Fleet Management06:28 - Fleet Management Practices11:56 - Fleet Management Resources 15:57 - Safety in Fleet Management24:56 - Fleet Routing28:48 - Combining Inventory with Fleet Management31:06 -

Sep 20, 2024 • 55:37

222 - The Change Formula

Feeling stuck as a business owner? Our latest episode explores the powerful Change Formula! Learn how dissatisfaction and vision can be your keys to overcoming resistance to change.Time Stamps00:51 - Episode Intro01:42 - Introducing the Change Formula04:44 - Understanding Resistance to Change08:58 - Overcoming Fear and Inertia13:09 - Applying the Change Formula in Business14:24 - Real-Life Example: Flooring Contractor21:35 - The Role of Environment in Change23:40 - Final Thoughts on the Change F

Sep 12, 2024 • 30:58

221 - $0 to $10 Million in 8 years with HVAC with Mike Kelley

From $0 to $10M in 8 years! Learn about leadership, growth, and resilience as Mike Kelley shares his incredible journey from the army to building a thriving HVAC business. Time Stamps01:09 - Episode Intro03:17 - Get to Know Mike Kelly04:31 - From Military Service to Air Conditioning08:12 - Starting and Growing Troops HVAC10:11 - Challenges and Successes in Business12:16 - Customer Service and Company Culture17:49 - Financial Hurdles and Growth Strategies19:44 - Scaling Up: From Zero to Millions2

Sep 6, 2024 • 56:44

220 - Attracting & Retaining Employees

Discover how the job market is shifting and what you can do to stay ahead. Our newest episode dives deep into attracting and retaining the best employees for your business. Don't miss it!Time Stamps00:51 - The Changing Job Market Landscape04:07 - Crafting Attractive Job Ads08:02 - Finding the Right Talent16:00 - Effective Use of Job Ads18:04 - The Importance of Clear Expectations22:19 - Creating Meaningful Work31:10 - Handling Toxic EmployeesLearn how you can improve your customer and project wo

Aug 29, 2024 • 34:37

219 - Account Problems From the Wild

Are account issues driving you wild? This episode is packed with actionable tips to take control of your business accounts. Khalil and Martin also discuss common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Tune in!Time Stamps00:36 - Episode Intro01:05  - Understanding Account Ownership01:37  - Google My Business Setup02:43  - Managing Multiple Directories08:33  - Facebook and Instagram Management13:29  - Google Drive and Shared Drives19:28  - Email Delegation and Management22:26  - Website and Domain Manage

Aug 22, 2024 • 35:30

218 - Build Your SOP Library

Ever lost track of an important SOP? Learn how AI and project management tools can help organize and manage your SOPs. Tune in and discover some game-changing techniques in this episode!Time Stamps00:51 - Episode Intro02:34 - Challenges in Managing SOPs11:17 - Integrating AI and Project Management Tools25:13 - Evaluating the Need for SOPs26:39 - When and How to Implement SOPs29:00 - Tools and Techniques for Effective SOP Management36:59 - Practical Tips and Real-World ExamplesLearn how you can i

Aug 19, 2024 • 44:44

217 - Managing Overhead in Your Business

Want to keep your business lean and mean? It's time you manage your overhead better! Listen in to learn practical ways to reduce your overhead and maximize profitability.Time Stamps00:47 - Episode Introduction01:06 - Defining Overhead Costs02:18 - Fixed vs Variable Costs04:36 - Impact of Overhead on Business Financials06:55 - Strategies to Reduce Overhead07:11 - Real-Life Examples and Client Stories23:50 - Managing Subscriptions and Expenses28:22 - Episode Takeaways30:45 - Episode OutroLearn how

Aug 8, 2024 • 31:49

216 - Responsibility-Based Delegation

Tired of constantly micromanaging your team? Want to be a better business owner and leader? It's time to switch from task-based to responsibility-based delegation. Tune in to find out how it can change your management game!Time Stamps00:15 - Episode Intro04:31 - Task-Based vs. Responsibility-Based Delegation07:23 - Effective Delegation Practices11:49 - Identifying Areas For Delegation19:57 - Selecting the Right Person20:58 - The Importance of Attitude Over Skills29:57 - Challenges in Responsibil

Aug 2, 2024 • 38:02

215 - Finding Your One Thing

Are you overwhelmed by day-to-day tasks and countless "priorities"? Do you know that vision is crucial in achieving focus? Tune in and learn how prioritizing your 'One Thing' can transform your workflow and how you do your business. Don't miss it! Time Stamps00:20 - Episode Intro01:51 - The 'One Thing' Concept05:54 - The Importance of Narrow Focus07:22 - Overcoming Obstacles to Focus12:03 - The Role of Vision in Your 'One Thing'17:02 - Setting SMART and FAST Goals18:38 - Accountability and Avoid

Jul 25, 2024 • 24:43

214 - Becoming a 40,000 Foot Operator

Ready to operate at a 40,000-foot level? Join us as we break down each stage of business evolution & uncover the traits of a top-tier contractor! Time Stamps00:36 - Episode Intro01:42  - Defining the 40,000 Foot Operator05:50  - Ground Level Operator: The Starting Point09:07  - Challenges and Strategies at 10,000 Feet15:37  - Reaching the 20,000 Foot Level22:49  - Delegating Responsibilities Effectively24:12  - Elevating to 30,000 Foot Level25:18  - The Importance of Data and Forecasting29:07  -

Jul 11, 2024 • 42:12

213 - 11 Signs of a Bad Customer: When to Say Goodbye

Have you ever had a customer you just knew was trouble? Knowing when to part ways with a bad customer could save your business and sanity! Join us as we break down common red flag signs, plus real-life examples you might relate to. Tune in!Time Stamps00:34 - Episode Intro01:32 - Identifying Red Flags in Potential Customers02:48 - Indecisiveness03:58 - Unrealistic Timeline & Budget Expectations05:35 - The Self-Sourcing Customer08:02 - Excessive Haggling09:23 - No Boundaries10:57 - Customer Suprem

Jun 27, 2024 • 39:54

212 - Elements of CRM: Why You Need One and What to Look For in Software

Organize, strategize, and grow your business with the right CRM tools! We discuss why every business needs a CRM and the essential features to look for. Listen in!Time Stamps00:30 - Introduction to CRMs02:14  - The Importance of Bookkeeping04:10  - Understanding CRM Features09:11  - Choosing the Right CRM for Your Business20:20  - Essential Features for CRM Beginners26:05  - Implementing and Pricing Your CRM38:20 - Episode OutroLearn how you can improve your customer and project workflows! BOOK

Jun 20, 2024 • 39:05

211 - Breaking Down Silos in Your Business

Are inefficiencies and miscommunication prevalent in your company? Silos could be the root cause! Join us as we explore strategies to identify and break down these barriers, fostering better teamwork and streamlining operations.Time Stamps00:36 - Episode Intro01:16 - Tales from the Grain04:15 - Defining Business Silos05:54 - Examples of Silos in Business07:48 - Causes and Formation of Silos13:51 - Breaking Down Silos23:44 - The Dangers of Silos27:03 - Conclusion & Takeaways28:54 - Episode OutroQ

Jun 13, 2024 • 29:49

210 - Markup vs. Margin: How Should You Be Pricing Your Jobs?

Struggling with job pricing? Find out why understanding the difference between markup and margin is crucial for your profitability. Tune in!Time Stamps00:16 - Storm Season in Oklahoma03:19 - Understanding Markup: Strategies and Common Pitfalls06:38 - The Importance of Accurate Job Costing20:10 - Understanding Markup vs. Margin22:32 - Intentional Bidding and Overhead Management28:32 - Practical Tips for ContractorsLearn how you can improve your customer and project workflows! BOOK YOUR FREE 30-MI

Jun 6, 2024 • 40:14

209 - Process Mapping: The Secret to Less Stress & More Time

Ever wonder why your business processes lead to stress and bottlenecks? We break down how process mapping can streamline operations and free up more time for you. Tune in!Time Stamps00:33 - Understanding Process Mapping09:07 - Utilizing Software to Streamline Processes10:59 - Dos & Don'ts When Creating Process Maps13:48 - The Importance of Clear Responsibilities24:17 - Benefits of Process Mapping27:39 - Episode OutroQuotable Moments from the Episode"Most companies have processes, but are not wri

May 30, 2024 • 28:40

208 - What is EBITDA?

Did you know that improving your company’s EBITDA can significantly boost your business’s value? Join us as we dive deep into why EBITDA is the magic number in business valuation and profitability analysis. Tune in!Time Stamps00:15 - Episode Intro01:43 - The Evolution of a Business Owner's Mindset03:19 - Understanding the Value of EBITDA04:05 - The Impact of Market Trends on Business Valuation09:06 - Diving Deeper into EBITDA Calculation14:54 - The Role of EBITDA in Business Sales and Valuation2

May 23, 2024 • 32:05

207 - $500 Per Day Penalties if You Don't Do This! with Mark Robertson

Could you be facing $500 daily penalties and not even know it? Find out how you can safeguard your business against these potential fines in this episode with Mark Robertson. You don’t want to miss this!Time Stamps00:35 - Episode & Guest Intro01:44 - Understanding Beneficial Ownership Information Report08:02 - Understanding Exemptions and Requirements11:41 - Penalties for Non-Compliance14:25 - Navigating the Filing Process25:59 - Practical Advice and Closing Thoughts27:52 - More About Mark Rober

May 9, 2024 • 31:30

206 - What is Your Cash Rhythm?: Why You Need a Weekly Cash Flow Report

Struggling with cash management? Ever feel like you're guessing your way through your business finances? This episode might just be the lifeline your business needs! Learn why a weekly cash flow report isn't just good practice — it's essential. Time Stamps00:36 - Episode Intro03:06 - Understanding the Cash Flow Report10:42 - Profitability vs. Cash Flow13:27 - Avoiding the Pitfalls of Poor Cash Management18:26 - Strategies for Improving Cash Position20:57 - Maximizing Returns on Inventory Managem

May 2, 2024 • 38:26

205 - Why You Need An Operating Agreement Yesterday with Patrick Lane

Considering bringing on a partner in your business? Find out why having a solid operating agreement is crucial for a successful partnership. Patrick Lane shares key insights you can't afford to overlook!Time Stamps00:05 - Episode & Guest Intro02:57 - The Importance of Operating Agreements05:13 - When Do You Need an Operating Agreement?08:33 - Key Provisions in Operating Agreements11:05 - Navigating Partnership Dynamics and Legal Advice13:02 - The Real Costs of Legal Disputes in Partnerships14:38

Apr 25, 2024 • 57:33

204 - When You Know They Need to Go: Firing Employees The Right Way

Struggling with letting go of underperforming employees? Dive into the emotional and financial complexities of letting go and learn about the importance of hiring slowly and firing quickly. Tune in!Time Stamps00:23 - Episode Intro01:21 - The Human Side of Firing04:01 - The Impact of Personal Relationships on Decision-Making06:02 - Objective Metrics vs. Subjective Feelings in Firing Decisions08:23 - The Importance of Core Behaviors and Objective Evaluation15:33 - The Business Impact of Removing U

Apr 18, 2024 • 26:20

203 - Why You Can't Overlook HR as a Growing Contractor with Sara Anwar

Thinking HR is only for the 'big players'? Think again! This episode with HR expert Sara Anwar breaks down why HR is crucial for small businesses and growing contractors. Tune in!Time Stamps01:41 - Intro to Sara Anwar03:19 - Sarah's Journey into HR06:31 - HR Essentials for Small Businesses10:54 - Understanding Handbooks and Job Descriptions13:53 - The Importance of Onboarding and Training16:2 - Adjusting Job Descriptions20:19 - Handling HR for Growing Businesses26:09 - Navigating HR for Subcontr

Apr 11, 2024 • 50:48

202 - Should You Get a Business Partner?

Partner up or go solo? Discover the key factors to consider when deciding if a business partnership is right for you. Hit play!Time Stamps00:52 - The Essence of Partnership in Business01:47 - Why People Choose to Partner Up04:16 - The Complexities and Risks of Business Partnerships12:35 - Evaluating Potential Partnerships16:01 - Navigating the Challenges of Partnerships24:47 - Final Thoughts on PartnershipsQuotable Moments from the Episode"Partnerships carry a great deal of risk. They can be ben

Apr 4, 2024 • 26:49

201 - Drilling Down on Acquisitions: From Contractor to State Senator with Robert Keyes

From drilling holes in the ground to drilling down on business success, Robert Keyes shares his incredible journey on our latest episode! Discover how resilience, continuous learning, and integrity have powered his ventures from the ground up. Tune in!Time Stamps03:54 - Robert Keye's Professional Background05:43 - The Art of Acquisition: Learning from Success and Failure20:31 - Implementing Change and Cultivating a Positive Culture27:20 - Mastering Acquisitions and Culture31:12 - Strategic Acqui

Mar 28, 2024 • 1:07:43

200 - Mastering Entrepreneurship & Building Your Business Empire with Michael Girdley

What's up Cashflow Contractors! Celebrate our 200th episode with us as we dive into the brilliant mind of Michael Girdley. From growing and leading his own company to building a business empire, Michael shares gems of wisdom that every entrepreneur needs to hear. Trust us, you don't want to miss this one!Time Stamps01:36 - Intro to Michael Girdley04:51 - Building a Construction Empire05:25 - Core Behaviors vs. Core Values08:29 - Defining & Hiring A-Players15:08 - The Challenges of Hiring Friends

Mar 21, 2024 • 1:12:36

199 - The Power of a Strong Company Story

Are you struggling to define your company's vision and story? Join us in exploring the "7 Critical Questions for Your Business", and uncover the key elements that can make your company investment grade. Time Stamps00:18 Episode Intro01:22 The Importance of a Compelling Company Story04:37 The 7 Critical Questions for Your Business18:41 Episode ConclusionQuotable Moments from the Show"Why do you win? I think it's understanding that you have a way that you can win that's unique and different than e

Mar 14, 2024 • 19:48

198 - How to Use a Salary Cap to Control Your Labor Costs

Want to optimize your labor costs effectively? Check out this episode where Khalil & Martin discuss the benefits of using a salary cap to drive profitability and sustainable growth. Don't miss out!Time Stamps00:18 - Episode Intro02:36 - Understanding the Salary Cap Concept04:01 - Implementing the Salary Cap in Business Planning06:05 - Strategies for Efficient Hiring and Growth10:24 - Exploring Pay for Performance and Other Models11:36 - Episode OutroQuotable Moments from the Show"Employees are y

Mar 7, 2024 • 12:36

197 - Construction Hiring 101: The Keys to Finding & Keeping Local Talent with Matt DiBara

Crack hiring and you've got a huge advantage over your competitors! Learn how to get your construction business ahead of the game as Martin, Khalil & guest expert, Matt DiBara, uncover the secrets to finding & keeping local talent. Hit play! Time Stamps00:36 - Episode Intro01:46 - Introduction to Matt Dibara02:26 - Matt's Journey in the Construction Industry03:35 - Challenges of Moving the Company04:17 - Transition to Modern Business Practices07:01 - The Birth of The Contractor Consultants09:52

Feb 29, 2024 • 1:00:29

196 - Closing Loops: The Simplest Way to Reduce Stress

We’re constantly opening loops in our business and our lives. But how effective are you at closing them? Learn about the concept of closing loops and how it can help reduce stress and increase productivity.Time Stamps00:18 - Episode Introduction 00:53 - The Concept of Loops03:56 - The Stress of Open Loops and the Need for Closure05:10 - The Three Ds07:32 - How to Close Loops09:17 - Using Software to Manage Loops14:31 - Conclusion and Call to ActionQuotable Moments from the Show"Open loops are th

Feb 22, 2024 • 15:08

195 - Buy Back Your Time!

Want to boost your productivity and take control of your time? Learn the value of delegation, maximize efficiency, and accelerate your business growth in this short episode with Khalil and Martin. Tune in!Time Stamps00:37 - Episode Introduction00:53 - The Buyback Principle and Hiring Decisions02:38 - The Value of Delegation05:10 - The Challenges of Delegation and Hiring09:01 - The Importance of Documentation and Software in Delegation09:48 - Infinite Tasks and Parallel Tasks12:55 - The Benefits

Feb 15, 2024 • 14:54

194 - Why Your Financials Aren't Accurate (And Why It's Setting Your Business Back) with Jason Kruger

As a business owner, do you often ask - 'Where is all my cash?' Our guest Jason Kruger,  President & Founder at Signature Analytics, addresses common issues in financial management for construction companies in our latest podcast. Don't miss his valuable insights!Time Stamps00:41 - Episode & Guest Introduction01:46 - Understanding Financials in Construction03:25 - Importance of Accurate Financials05:53 - Common Pitfalls in Financial Tracking10:11 - The Role of WIP Reports in Construction Account

Feb 8, 2024 • 55:56

193 - Managing Project Workflow: Keys to Keeping Jobs on Time

It's time to stop managing work in your head and create a clear workflow. Khalil & Martin discuss the best tips to stop stress and start efficiency in your business. Time to streamline work like never before. Tune in!Time Stamps00:41 - Super Bowl Predictions03:23 - Episode Intro04:37 - The Importance of a Structured Workflow07:24 - Challenges of Not Having a Workflow10:13 - How to Assess Your Workflow16:08 - How to Start Implementing a Workflow19:04 - Exploring Different Project Management Softw

Feb 1, 2024 • 44:51

192 - AI for Contractors: How Can You Actually Use AI in Your Business?

Curious about what AI can do for your contracting business? Tune into our latest podcast episode to discover surprising ways you can utilize AI. From drafting emails, and managing projects, to writing SOPs, discover how it can improve your business operations. Don't miss out!Time Stamps00:18 - Episode Intro02:59 - Nonexpert Perspective on AI & Chat GPT06:06 - AI Integration in Business Tools13:11 - Practical Ways to Use AI for Contractors17:46 - Automating Tasks with AI18:52 - AI in Everyday Wor

Jan 25, 2024 • 38:57

191 - Getting Results with Your Website as a Contractor with Monica Pitts

Are you differentiating your construction business online or just blending with the crowd? Web expert Monica Pitts talks about how to make your construction website uniquely yours. Don't just be a number online, be memorable!Time Stamps02:13 - Intro to Monica Pitts 03:52 - Measuring Productivity06:15 - What Makes a Good Construction Website08:19 - The Role of the Client in Website Development09:15 - Technical Aspects of a Website 15:01 - The Importance of Owning Your Website & Domain19:12 - Help

Jan 18, 2024 • 1:02:26

190 - 2024 Marketing Strategies for Contractors

Want to ace your marketing game this 2024? Khalil & Martin explore different scenarios within the construction industry, offering a deep dive into transforming connections into customers. Don't miss out!Time Stamps00:34 - Post-holiday Business Challenges01:51 - The Challenges of Business Ownership04:47 - Exploring Different Marketing Strategies for Contractors05:48 - Case Study 1: Subcontractor Looking to Pivot to General Contractor11:12 - Understanding the Buyer's Journey17:37 - Building Your C

Jan 11, 2024 • 55:49

189 - Margin Mindset: Are You Charging Enough as a Contractor?

Are you under constant stress to make ends meet in your business? Caught up in desperation bidding? Time to ask: 'Am I charging enough?' Martin and Khalil break down the margin mindset, highlighting signs of undercharging and its impact on your business. Get insights on nailing pricing, standing out from the competition, and balancing quality service with financial health. Hit play!Time Stamps00:42 - Exploring Closers.io03:45 - Topic Introduction04:18 - A Margin Mindset08:37 - Understanding Your

Jan 5, 2024 • 46:27

188 - How To Start Your Construction Business In 2024

Ready to kick off your construction biz in 2024? Join Martin & Khalil in this episode for some practical tips on starting your own construction business. They spill the beans on what works, what doesn't, and how to dodge the common pitfalls. Whether you're a construction pro or just dipping your toes, this episode’s got the lowdown to get your construction venture off the ground. Don't miss out – hit play!Time Stamps00:47 - Martin's Holiday Party02:29 - Starting a New Construction Business in 20

Dec 28, 2023 • 18:36

187 - Mastering Profitability in Business with Ruth King

In the heat of day-to-day operations, it's common for contractors to put financial management on the back burner. However, neglecting the books can have far-reaching consequences beyond dollars and cents. In this episode, Ruth King, well known as the “Profit and Wealth Guru”, joins Khalil and Martin to discuss profitability and the role of accurate and timely bookkeeping in making informed business decisions.Time Stamps01:38 - Luca Pacioli & Bookkeeping04:26 - The Role of Bookkeeping to Contract

Dec 22, 2023 • 53:38

186 - How to Handle Disappointed Customers

A single disappointed customer can create a big impact on your business's reputation. Learn how to handle negative reviews, harness the power of negotiation strategies, and showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction.Time Stamps00:45 - Episode Intro04:24 - Importance of Reputation and Referrals06:27 - Impact of Reviews and Personal Experiences09:01 - Handling Disappointed Customers and Negative Reviews09:49 - Identifying Ideal and Anti-Customer Profiles18:03 - Addressing Negative Reviews25

Dec 14, 2023 • 52:27

185 - Unlocking Sales Success: Iceberg Selling and Building Lasting Relationships with Karl Becker

Have you ever wondered what makes the best salespeople successful? Why some people can get deals done and create opportunities over and over again? Karl Becker joins us to share his sales strategies and principles from his book 'Iceberg Selling’. It’s a refreshing conversation that will make you rethink your sales approach and your approach to business and life.Time Stamps01:34 - The Impact of Holidays on Business03:37 - Introducing Sales Expert Carl03:43 - Karl's Approach to Sales05:26 - Karl's

Dec 7, 2023 • 1:10:14

184 - Mind Mastery: Changing Your Internal Narrative

Do you know how powerful your thoughts can be? Martin and Khalil address the five Cs of negative thinking, getting rid of these negative habits, and switching your internal narrative to one that shapes success. Stay tuned!Time Stamps00:37 - Setting Yourself for Success01:48 - Delegation and Task Management05:59 - Open-ended Tasks09:03 - The Impact of Our Thoughts13:39 - The Five Cs of Negative Thinking15:09 - Stop Complaining17:22 - Stop Criticizing20:33 - Reduce Your Concern21:20 - Stop Commise

Nov 30, 2023 • 45:53

183 - The Thankful Contractor

In this Thanksgiving special, Martin and Khalil share their thoughts on gratitude, the importance of personal touch, and how a business owner can show appreciation to employees and clients.  Listen in and celebrate thankfulness and the art of fostering genuine connections in both personal and professional spheres!Time Stamps00:19 - The Great Thing About Thanksgiving02:06 - Sharing Personal Gratitude02:25 - Appreciation for Work and Career03:32 - Gratitude for Community and Family04:43 - A Thanks

Nov 23, 2023 • 8:58

182 - The Fight For Profit with Tom Reber

Are you ready to get rid of your head trash and win the contractor fight? Tom Reber, performance coach, author, and speaker, throws actionable strategies to enhance your business and amplify contractor profitability. He also shares his insight on the importance of mindset, authenticity, nurturing existing customer relationships, and the benefit of putting oneself first to attain success. It's an episode packed with practical advice, sprinkled with Tom's noteworthy quips and analogies. Don't miss

Nov 16, 2023 • 1:18:05

181 - Unmasking SEO: The Importance of Engaging and Relevant Content

Unmask the SEO strategies that will elevate your digital presence to new heights! In this insightful discussion, Rich Harshaw, CEO of Level 10 Contractor, and a seasoned expert in the field, unveils the secrets behind effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and why engaging, relevant content is the key to success in the contracting world.Time Stamps00:15 - Episode Intro04:25 - Discussing Google My Business and SEO04:56 - The Role of Google My Business in SEO05:55 - The Journey of Level 10 Con

Nov 9, 2023 • 1:24:54

180 - Mindset Matters: Tips for Contractors to Crush Head Trash

Your mindset can be your greatest asset or your biggest roadblock. It's time to stop letting self-doubt and fear hold you back from the projects you dream of. Join Martin & Khalil as they uncover the secrets to crushing head trash and unlocking your true potential as a contractor. Whether you want to increase your profitability, expand your business, or build more confidence in your work, this episode is for you.Time Stamps00:32 - Episode Introduction02:05 - Workout Routines and Gym Experiences0

Nov 2, 2023 • 54:58

179 - The Importance of Quality Control in Manufacturing and Construction

Whether you're involved in construction & trades or in manufacturing, ensuring top-notch quality is paramount. One bad job can possibly break years of good and hard work! In this episode, Jacob Edmond, CEO of Duckworks Millwork Solutions, joins Khalil & Martin to discuss quality control, making checklists, and why it is critical to apply these things in your business today. Time Stamps00:32 - Episode Intro02:53 - Intro to Jacob Edmond04:02 - What is Quality Control?04:47 - When Do You Need a Ded

Oct 19, 2023 • 59:38

178 - Family Office: Why You Should Set Up One with Nolan Bradbury

Are you looking to safeguard and grow your wealth while maintaining a legacy for generations to come? Join Martin & Khalil, with special guest Nolan Bradbury of Bradfield Accounting, as they unpack the world of Family Offices and discuss why setting up one might be one of the best financial decisions you can make.Time Stamps00:39 - Intro to Nolan Bradbury03:47 - Episode Intro05:21 - Why Have a Family Office?08:20 - What You Need in a Family Office14:13 - When is the Right Time to Start a Family

Oct 12, 2023 • 1:00:14

177 - Close More Deals in Construction With This Guide!

Close more deals in construction with this guide! Discover the essential steps to craft the ultimate buyer's guide for contractors, helping you win more contracts and grow your construction business.Time Stamps01:30 - Episode Intro04:58 - What is an Ultimate Buyer's Guide?08:18 - Framing the Ultimate Buyer's Guide13:59 - Setting Your Customer's Expectations18:02 - Addressing Your Customer's Pressing Questions25:31 - Other Ideas for Your Ultimate Buyer's Guide28:32 - The Value of an Ultimate Buye

Oct 5, 2023 • 34:08

176 - Taking Millwork into the Future with Jacob Edmond

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast------------------------------------------Despite the huge potential in the millwork sector, very few people outside of those who work there are aware of it. That's what our gues

Sep 21, 2023 • 1:06:37

175 - Should Contractors Write Blogs?

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast------------------------------------------Have you ever wondered, "Should I be creating content for my business?" Should I be blogging or making videos? In today's episode, Marti

Sep 14, 2023 • 46:51

174 - Clear Up Your Expectations

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast--------------------------------Communication and setting clear expectations with clients are essential aspects of being a successful contractor. You can avoid misunderstandings,

Sep 7, 2023 • 58:19

173 - Foreman to Software Developer with Ron Nussbaum

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast--------------------------------Investing in yourself and being open to lifelong learning offer advantages in the competitive world of construction. Self-improvement and self-dev

Aug 31, 2023 • 58:10

172 - Profit

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast------------------------When it comes to profit, having the right mindset is crucial for success. Many people view profit as a negative concept, associating it with greed or expl

Aug 24, 2023 • 51:20

171 - Changing the Way Contractors Hire with Jonathan Whistman

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe 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. C

Aug 17, 2023 • 1:22:51

170 - What You Need to Know About SBA Loans in 2023 with Gonzo Garzon & Cashin White

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast------------------------An opportunity to grow your company may present itself to you, as a business owner, but what if you lack the necessary funding to pursue it?  Securing an

Aug 5, 2023 • 1:04:12

169 - The Surprising Reality of Mental Health in Construction with Greg Sizemore

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast------------------------Mental health is a pressing issue that affects individuals from all walks of life, and the construction industry is no exception. Despite its tough exteri

Jul 28, 2023 • 56:30

168 - Protecting Your Business From Fraud with Leah Wietholter

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe 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

Jul 20, 2023 • 1:08:00

167 - Take Capacity Into Consideration

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast--------------------------We’ve all been there! Tempted to take that big job offer, thinking that it will definitely bring in more profit, only to realize it will cost more than

Jul 13, 2023 • 10:56

166 - 4 Reasons You Make Money But Don't Have Cash

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/NDVDbYzDj6uKiQ127Thank you for being part of our community!Khalil and MartinThe Cashflow Contractor Podcast--------------------------"How come I can make a profit but don't have any cash?" It's a frequent dilemma for many business owners.  It’s a common dilemma for a lot of business o

Jul 6, 2023 • 12:42

165 - Mindset

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 Stamps00:19 -  Episode Intro00:54 - Let's Talk About Mindset!04:62 - A Story on the Effect of Mindset11:21 - Our Subconscious BeliefsQuotable Moments from Martin“There's a certain comfort in numbers. It's objec

Jun 29, 2023 • 14:32

164 - Tech Stack Basics for Contractors

In this rapid-fire episode, Martin gets Khalil's expert advice on tech stacks and why contractors should utilize them for their business!Time Stamps00:19 - Episode Intro02:17 - 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 -

Jun 22, 2023 • 16:32

163 - Rapid Fire: What Makes A Business Owner Successful?

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 Stamps00:19 - Martin's on the Hot Seat!00:52 - The Story Behind the Name Anneal Business Consulting01:39 - What Sets Martin Apart From Other Business Coaches02:34 - Martin’s Favorite Clients03:24 - Martin’s Least Favorite Clients04:31 - Indicators of a Successful Business Owner06:2

Jun 15, 2023 • 12:58

162 - 8 Quick Questions on Marketing

What is influencer marketing? Will Ai eventually replace SEO? What exactly does "good marketing" mean? Listen in as Martin tests Khalil's marketing expertise!Time Stamps00:19 - Khalil is off to Morocco!01:22 - Rapid Fire Questions04:15 - 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 Met

Jun 8, 2023 • 18:08

161 - Scaling Your Mindset with Tim Burke

Every business owner wants to see their company grow, but it requires more than just hard work. You must have the right mindset if you want to take your business to the next level. Tim Burke, Founder, President, and CEO of Quest Technology Management, shares how he built his global business from the ground up, as well as his fascinating "Thesis" and Blue Ocean Philosophy in Business. Time Stamps00:37 - Episode Intro01:29 - Intro to Tim Burke1:57 - How Tim Got Into Entrepreneurship06:21 - How Mar

Jun 2, 2023 • 1:07:46

160 - Building a Profitable Business the Hard Way with Chris Griffin

Mistakes are inevitable when it comes to building a business. But how you handle them can make all the difference! Chris Griffin, Business Leader, Experiential Marketing Executive, and Host of the Experience Builders Podcast, joins Martin and Khalil to discuss lessons learned from managing a business before and after the pandemic. Time Stamps00:44 - Episode Intro03:41 - CFC Welcomes Chris Griffin!07:28 - More About Chris Griffin and His Company13:24 - Business Challenges in the Tradeshow Industr

May 25, 2023 • 54:58

159 - Imposter Syndrome with Carolyn Herfurth

Have you ever felt that you're not doing a good enough job and your clients will, one day, see that? Do you have constant self-doubt despite clear achievements and successes? You’re not alone!Imposter Syndrome is common among businessmen and contractors. Listen in as Carolyn Herfurth joins Martin & Khalil in uncovering this phenomenon. Time Stamps00:47 - Episode Intro01:30 - What is Imposter Syndrome?05:18 - How Carolyn Got Into the Impostor Syndrome Institute10:08 - Khalil's Experience with Imp

May 18, 2023 • 58:15

158 - The Power of Financial Systems for Contractors with Timothy Wingate, Jr.

Is it a constant struggle to keep your business afloat? One of the most common business killers in the construction industry is the lack of a good financial system. Listen in as Martin and Khalil welcome Timothy Wingate, Jr., founder, and president of G+F Business & Financial Consulting, to share his expertise in Construction Financial Management. Time Stamps00:47 - Episode Intro02:42 - How Tim Got Into Construction Accounting05:43 - Things to Consider in Your Business Finances11:49 - Utilizing

May 4, 2023 • 1:10:05

157 - 9 Essentials to an Organized Business (Part 3)

The business world is full of unexpected storms. But with enough preparation, you can be ready to deal with any type of weather that threatens your business. Getting organized is key! In Part 3 of the "9 Essentials to an Organized Business" series, Martin and Khalil discuss job descriptions, how-tos, and KPIs! Time Stamps00:37 - Tornadoes & Hail Storms in OKC06:42 - Episode Intro08:11 - The Meat of Job Descriptions16:45 - Effectively Communicate Job Expectations22:51 - Autonomy, Mastery & Purpos

Apr 27, 2023 • 1:00:08

156 - 9 Essentials to an Organized Business (Part 2)

Productivity is a must for businesses at all levels. It is easier to achieve success and growth when your company is well-organized. In Part 2 of the "9 Essentials to an Organized Business" series, Martin and Khalil discuss goal setting, organizational charts, and the importance of systems!Time Stamps00:33 - Liquid Death02:56 - Can Texas Be Its Own Country?05:52 - Episode Intro 06:42 - Why Vision Comes Before Goals13:18 - What Are Goals?24:36 - Goal Writing Process25:23 - Org Chart - Why Does It

Mar 30, 2023 • 49:08

155 - 9 Essentials to an Organized Business (Part 1)

What does it take to build a successful company that people will rave about? Join Martin and Khalil as they discuss the 9 essentials to an organized business that will make all the difference in terms of increasing efficiency, improving communication, and streamlining operations.Time Stamps00:36 - Diane's New Speech Language Pathology Clinic08:16 - Episode Intro09:00 - What is Your Vision?16:36 - What Makes a Good Vision?25:52 - The Difference Between Your Vision & Mission29:25 - Defining & Refi

Mar 23, 2023 • 50:24

154 - Growth by Acquisition

Starting your own business is exciting, but you'll soon learn how critical it is to grow. Most business owners look to advertising and promotion to achieve this. But what if there's another way? What if your business could instead grow through acquisition? Tune in to find out if this is a viable option for you!Time Stamps00:37 - A Pig in a Poke02:06 - Episode Intro02:57 - The Value of a Business09:10 - Why Consider Growth by Acquisition13:01 - How to Approach Growth by Acquisition17:59 - Financi

Mar 16, 2023 • 39:15

153 - Stay One Step Ahead with Jon Matzner

Businesses are constantly playing catch-up, but there is one that is always, inevitably, out in front: the business of being different. Listen in as Khalil talks with Jon Matzner about utilizing new tools and technology, capitalizing on specific niches, leveraging overseas talent, and staying one step ahead of the game.Time Stamps00:43 - ChatGPT as Magnifier of Human Output03:52 - Jon Matzner's Entrepreneurship Journey05:21 - Dubai's Business Culture11:01 - From Foreign Service to Home Improveme

Mar 3, 2023 • 1:09:36

152 - Receivables Insurance with Scott Stone

Are receivables risks preventing your company's growth? You should probably get accounts receivable insurance. Listen in as Martin and Khalil welcome Risk Management consultant Scott Stone to discuss the process and benefits of obtaining Accounts Receivable Insurance.Time Stamps00:37 - Episode Intro02:46 - How Scott Stone Got Into the Insurance Business05:09 - Insuring Your Accounts Receivables06:32 - Extending Credit From B2B Transactions08:16 - How Much Does Receivables Insurance Cost10:34 - R

Mar 1, 2023 • 1:09:09

151 - Pools, Partnerships, and Processes with Scott Bakkala

Running your own business is not easy. And it gets even more complicated when you throw in partnership issues and unprecedented pandemic challenges! Martin and Khalil invite Scott Bakkala of Vista Pools to discuss the lessons he learned about business partnerships, dealing with a sudden increase in competition, and developing sound processes along the way.Time Stamps00:40 - Oklahoma's Erratic Weather01:14 - Intro to Scott Bakkala02:22 - Pool Business & Lessons in Partnership09:37 - Why It's Impo

Feb 16, 2023 • 45:20

150 - Getting Started with Bonding with Stephen Brown

Construction is a tough industry with many risks and uncertainties. But there’s a way to mitigate these risks: bonding. Martin and Khalil invite Stephen Brown, an expert in Creative Bonding Solutions and Insurance Strategies and the host of the Contractor Success Forum podcast, to discuss bonding and how contractors can benefit from it. Stay tuned!Time Stamps00:35 - Memphis Fun Facts03:29 - Stephen Brown's Journey as a Podcaster05:44 - What is a Bond? Why is it Required?09:05 - Where is a Bond R

Feb 2, 2023 • 42:10

149 - Labor Laws with Molly Aspan

As business owners, we're often so focused on keeping our customers happy that we neglect to look at the other side of the coin - our employees. So, whether you manage one hundred employees or just one, there's a long list of things to consider when you hire your first staff. Listen in as Martin and Khalil welcome Molly Aspan, a Labor and Employment attorney, to discuss labor laws and common issues that all business owners should be aware of.Time Stamps00:29 - Weather Changes01:22 - Episode Intr

Jan 19, 2023 • 1:02:19

148 - Southwest Airlines, ChatGPT, & Qualified Leads

What can business owners expect in 2023? Join Martin and Khalil as they discuss the recent Southwest Airlines incident, new AI technology trends that can benefit your business, and an interesting perspective on qualified leads worth exploring. Stay tuned!Time Stamps00:40 - Martin's Holiday at Donnelly, Idaho01:56 - Southwest Airlines’ Recent Meltdown07:37 - Software & Systems13:03 - The Value in Having an Advisor & Mentor15:35 - ChatGPT20:19 - How SMB Owners Can Benefit from ChatGPT31:13 - The “

Jan 12, 2023 • 45:25

147 - What You're Probably Not Considering with Your Insurance Policies with Brian McPherson

With all of the stress that comes with running a business, it's easy to overlook one of the most crucial aspects - insurance. But, before you jump into the whole idea of getting one, do you know what kinds of coverages are available with insurance policies and how to make the most of them? Stay tuned! Time Stamps00:19 - Episode Intro01:43 - Intro to Brian McPherson03:34 - Why You Need Business Insurance06:16 - Financial Damaging Holes to Look Out For08:55 - Endorsements on Business Owner's Polic

Dec 29, 2022 • 48:13

146 - Conducting A Year-End Review for Your Company

As the New Year approaches, have you taken the time to sit down and evaluate how 2022 has gone for your company? A good year-end review is essential for any business because it helps you lay a solid foundation for the coming year. If you haven't done it yet, listen in as Martin and Khalil walk us through the process and provide a few extra tips along the way.Time Stamps00:19 - World Cup06:26 - 2022 in a Glance09:42 - US Manufacturing Industry 13:58 - Trans Siberian Railroad15:20 - Why is a Year-

Dec 22, 2022 • 50:11

145 - Why You Need to Offer Health Benefits to Your Employees with Holly Peppler

All SMB owners want to take care of their employees. Yet so many businesses fail to offer health benefits to their workers. Holly Peppler of Strategic Benefits Partners joins us to break down the misconceptions business owners have around health benefits and provide us with a clear path to offering employees better benefits without breaking the bank.Time Stamps00:19 - Healthcare in the 1970s01:34 - Health Insurance Changes Before & After Obamacare04:24 - Intro to Holly Peppler04:58 - How Much Do

Dec 9, 2022 • 45:34

144 - You Probably Qualify for ERTC

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

Nov 28, 2022 • 44:24

143 - Working Capital: What It Is And How You Should Use It

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 Notes04:47 - What Does Working Capital Involve?08:57 - Why it’s Vital to Understand Your Working Capital14:12 - What to Consider Before Increasing Your

Nov 10, 2022 • 22:33

142 - Slow Down Strategies

Show Notes02:54 - Inflation Rates In The Eighties 07:50 - The Way Of Inflation 13:19 - Cash Is King?17:37 - Cash Reserves And Letting People Go21:11 - Applicable Slow Down Strategy28:50 - Maintaining Your Relationships33:00 - 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.” - M

Oct 27, 2022 • 38:21

141 - Co2, Third Generation and Amy Brooks

Show Notes04:51 - Who Is Amy Brooks 07:06 - The History Of City Carbonic10:19 - What Was It Like For Amy To Grow Up In City Carbonic?11:53 - Having Perspective In A Family Owned Business15:01 - The Business 25 Years Ago 19:53 - City Carbonic And Soda Pop 24:57 - The Transfering Of Ownership In Amy’s Family Business33:15 - Running The Business As A Highschooler 37:39 - How Long Did Revisions Take40:37 - Growth In Newly Created Markets47:17 - Amy’s Strategy Within New Legislation 52:32 - Taking Ca

Oct 13, 2022 • 1:18:20

140 - Retaining Talent

Show Notes02:47 - The First Step Is Hiring Well04:12 - Current Issues06:21 - Hiring Isn’t Always The Best Solution08:33 - Prioritizing Your Culture 11:19 - Love Languages In Your Business12:17 - Strive To Understand What Your Employees Care About14:07 - How Do You Have Purposeful Conversation? 15:53 - The Boss Who Truly Knew His People17:55 - Conclusion Quotable Moments“People put up with all kinds of under performance, no performance and disruption of their culture cause they're reluctant to le

Oct 6, 2022 • 19:42

139 - How To Deploy Capital

Show Notes02:33 - What’s The Point Of Deploying Capital?04:49 - Making Sure It's Capital07:51 - 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 capit

Sep 29, 2022 • 28:31

138 - Keeping An Eye Out For Financial Indicators

02:44 - What Are Roller Coaster Profits 06:16 - The One Objective Of Business12:15 - 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 TechstackQuotable Moments“It's so important for people to

Sep 22, 2022 • 53:40

137 - From Corporate to Contractor With Chris Edwards

Show Notes00:05:02 - Chris’s History In Finance, Entrepreneurship, 00:12:02 - How Chris’s Experience In Finance Translated To Running A Business00:14:24 - The Personal Transformation From Corporate to Entrepreneur00:16:37 - What Is Valuable In Contracting?00:20:56 - Chris’s Tech Stack And How He Decided On It00:25:49 - The Influence Of Twitter00:29:38 - Why More Isn’t Always A Good Thing00:33:33 - Growth Within A Rural Area 00:37:09 - Chris’s Strategy For Acquiring New Business00:41:12 - Respect

Sep 15, 2022 • 1:07:57

136 - Scaling Your Business With Ali Azhar

Show Notes00:03:04 - Ali’s History 00:07:18 - Scaling A Business As A College Dropout 00:11:04 - From An Internet Company To A Gutter Cleaning Company00:15:28 - A Business Run By Ego Instead Of Intellect 00:23:44 - Growth Comes From Accepting Failure00:34:36 - Ali’s Beginning Experience With HOVER00:39:03 - What Makes HOVER Compelling?00:42:27 - What’s The Culture Like At HOVER?00:48:23 - HOVER Invests In Its People00:51:16 - What Ali Does To Help Contractors 00:57:20 - How Does Technology Influ

Sep 8, 2022 • 1:18:30

135 - Taking A Leap In Your Business With Sean Glessing

Show Notes05:43 - Sean’s Business Background10:21 - Sean’s Process Of Getting A Second Job13:31 - How Sean Set A Price For His Work17:16 - Making A Decision About Attending College As A Contractor24:26 - Keep Your Priorities In Mind When You Make Decisions26:40 - The Big Next Step In Your Business: Hiring31:08 - The Value Of Learning In The Field 33:04 - Moving Past The Million Dollar Point38:46 - What’s The Focus Of Sean’s Team?40:21 - The Systems In Place In Sean’s Business45:01 - Expansion As

Sep 1, 2022 • 1:17:38

134 - Helping Your Employees Succeed With James Freeman

Show Notes05:31 - What It’s Like Stepping Into A Business As CEO06:30 - Background of PJ Fitzpatrick 12:52 - The Value Of Listening To Your Employees15:00 - 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 Assets34:51 - Embracing The Team As A Whole37:40 - What Is HOVER?40:03 - How Does HOVER Work And What Can It Do For A Bus

Aug 25, 2022 • 1:08:47

133 - Impact Of A Foundation

Show Notes01:42 - Who Is Sean Glessing?03:55 - Why Sean’s Cabinetry Needed A Growth Foundation04:48 - Why Buying Into A System Is Key06:02 - The Changes Thanks To Hubspot07:39 - Why Sean Chose Benali09:17 - 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 t

Aug 11, 2022 • 13:55

132 - Generating Demand For Your Business

Show Notes01:17 - Capturing Demand 03:42 - How To Capture Customers That Aren’t Aware Of Their Need05:33 - 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 nex

Aug 4, 2022 • 8:42

131 - How Big Is Your Business?

Show Notes01:00 - Intro 01:45 - Measuring Based On Head Count03:06 - Measuring Based On Sales04:14 - Measuring Based On Service Area Or Locations05:51 - Measuring Based On Profit MarginQuotable 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 su

Jul 29, 2022 • 10:03

130 - The Obstacle Is The Way

Show Notes00:00 - Intro04:13 - Definition Of The Obstacle Is The Way 06:33 - What Is The Change Formula 08:45 - Why Thinking About It Is The Worst Part11:40 - How Do Obstacles Start 14:00 - Customer Concessions16:00 - Charging An Upfront Cost18:30 - Martin’s Canada Client 20:00 - Have Really Clear Expectations23:25 - Why Delegations Is An Obstacles 27:00 - Delegation Is A Must27:50 - Gut Feel Decisions 32:59 - What Is The Difference Between Hesitating And Waiting 34:00 - Common Hesitations 39:30

Jul 21, 2022 • 42:09

129 - Keep Customers Accountable With The Credit App

Show Notes00:00 - Intro 02:50 - What Is The Credit App 04:50 - Doug’s Background08:50 - What’s The Impact On Your Credit Score? 16:20 - Protect Yourself With A Contract18:00 - Big Projects Doug Has Worked On19:30 - Disclaimer For The Credit App 21:40 - What Does The Process Look Like?24:00 - Making Sure To Keep The Credit App Informed25:16 - 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 Money41:00

Jul 14, 2022 • 47:22

128 - Making Better Use Of Your Time

Show Notes00:00 - Intro03:22 - 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 No23:40 - People Want Their Time To Matter 27:00 - Look At Your Environment32:25 - Appreciate The Effort Behind The Ask33:32 - ConclusionQuotable 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.” —

Jul 7, 2022 • 38:04

127 - The Contractor Death Spiral

Show Notes00:00 - Intro03:45 - 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 Back18:24 - You Have To Be Uncomfortable To Get Out21:25 - The Death Spiral Can Start With Good Intentions 24:11 - Understanding A Business Owner With One Question25:16 - ConclusionQuotable 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

Jun 30, 2022 • 31:37

126 - Your Focus Is Powerful

Show Notes00:00 - Intro05:11 - Getting Distracted Is Easy06:55 - Internal Focus As Business Owners09:33 - A Good Salesman Sells One Thing10:35 - Complexity Is Wiping You Out14:15 - What Does Focus Look Like In Marketing?17:00 - Learn To Love The Process20:00 - Focus Compounds25:00 - Company Examples 28:20 - Delayed Gratification 33:20 - Comparison Robs The Joy From Life37:50 - Conclusion Quotable Moments“You're effectively reaching nobody by targeting everybody.” - Khalil “When you know what you

Jun 23, 2022 • 38:06

125 - How To Calculate ROI

00:00 - Intro00:30 - Inflation Is Everywhere 02:30 - Is This Worth It? 03:30 - Why You Need To Track Your Data 07:03 - Understanding ROI &Margins07:20 - 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 & Habits12:30 - Knowing Your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)14:06 - Calculating The Lifetime Value 16:12 - ROI In Your Company17:50 - OutroQuotable Moments“You’re seeing it across the board – the cost of bus

Jun 16, 2022 • 19:12

124 - There is More to a Good Vendor Than Price

00:00 - Intro02:51 - Here’s An Example For You04:05 - Why Relationships Matter 05:30 - There’s More To It Than Pricing06:07 - Why You Need To Build Relationships06:50 - The most important thing about vendors 08:50 - How To Ask Your Vendors About Other Vendors09:25 - So, What Makes A Good Vendor? 11:26 - You Need To Consider Availability 12:19 - Having An Ally13:00 - Why You Should Have MANY Vendors16:35 - In Summary 18:00 - OutroQuotable Moments“A lot of people just worry about price but there’s

Jun 9, 2022 • 17:51

123 - A System For All Of Your Online Accounts

00:00 - Intro01:15 - The Accounts You Need01:50 - Social Media Accounts 02:33 - Meta Business Suite Essentials & Benefits04:23 - Using A LinkedIn Company Page05:35 - Why You Need To Be On Twitter & Tiktok06:23 - Golden Username 06:50 - Choose One That You’re Good At08:35 - Google Workspace vs. Microsoft09:54 - Using Your Google Workspace12:36 - Directories For Businesses14:04 - General Must-Have Accounts15:43 - Why Tracking Is Essential17:36 - Keep Your Logins Organized18:00 - OutroQuotable Mome

Jun 2, 2022 • 18:37

122 - Using A Site Map To Transform The Way You Sell

00:00 - Intro01:00 - What Is A Site Map?02:00 - Where Do I Start?03:00 - Step #1: Understand Your Business Objectives03:45 - Step #2: List Out Visitor Objectives06:00 - Step #3: Work On Your CTAs08:00 - Step #4: List Out All Potential Pages14:00 - Step #5: Creating The Perfect Navigation15:00 - Step #6: Writing Out Each Page’s Purpose16:00 - Step #7: Brainstorm Every Section17:45 - OutroQuotable Moments“A site map allows you to plan out your website and all of the pages and their purposes.” – Kh

May 26, 2022 • 18:32

121 - Two Approaches To Help You Use Lean

00:00 - Intro01:37 - How To Bring Lean Into Your Life02:41 - “This Is Lean” Book03:20 - Here’s What Lean Is05:00 - Resource Efficiency05:45 - Flow Efficiency06:33 - The Difference Between Resource & Flow10:20 -  Why Flow Efficiency12:05 -  How To Apply Flow Efficiency Everywhere13:20 -  Reducing Build Time & Getting Lean15:00 - OutroQuotable 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 constantl

May 19, 2022 • 16:50

120 - Eliminate Costly Mistakes With One Simple Tool

00:00 - Intro01:30 - A Story On Why You Need Them02:30 - The Purpose Your Checklist Actually Serves03:15 - What Your Checklist Needs03:45 - How You Use Checklists05:00 - Why Checklists Are Essential08:00 - The Obstacles You Could Run Into10:00 - The Simple Truths Of Checklists12:00 - OutroQuotable 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

May 12, 2022 • 12:53

119 - 9 Reasons To Start Your Marketing Yesterday

00:00 - Intro01:00 - Contractor’s Time-Related Marketing Objections01:30 - 1st Reason: It’ll Save You Time03:00 - 2nd Reason: Get Qualified Leads03:30 - 3rd Reason: Gain Ideal Jobs04:30 - Contractor’s Budget-Related Marketing Objections04:45 - 4th Reason: Increase Your Budget + Your Prices05:30 - 5th Reason: You’ll See An ROI06:30 - 6th Reason: You’re Not Selling Enough07:00 - Contractor’s Expertise-Related Marketing Objections07:16 - 7th Reason: You Can Fire Yourself08:00 - 8th Reason: Work On

May 5, 2022 • 11:16

118 - The Difference Between 1099 Contractors & W2 Employees

00:00 - Intro01:20 - The Conveniences For Both02:00 - So, Which One Is Right?02:40 - The Penalties On W2s03:35 - What The IRS Says04:20 - The Hidden Things You Need To Be Aware Of06:30 - Miscategorized 1099s07:15 - It’s Your Choice, But It Could Be Very Costly08:00 - OutroQuotable 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 determinati

Apr 28, 2022 • 8:24

117 - Using Software To Be More Efficient

00:00 - Intro01:00 - Software Won’t Solve All Your Problems01:45 - It’s About Behavior Change02:50 - First, Create A Process TImeline05:20 - The Core Areas Of Business07:00 - The Steps To Be More Efficient08:00 - Why You Should Beware Of One Size Fits All Software09:00 - The Cons Of Using The Wrong Software10:10 - You Need To Make Sure Your Softwares Integrate11:00 - Knowing Where Integration Is Necessary12:00 - OutroQuotable Moments“Software is NOT a silver bullet. It’s not going to solve all o

Apr 21, 2022 • 12:54

116 - Paying For Performance: How Hourly Is A Failing Format

00:00 - Intro02:00 - What P4P Is03:10 - Why P4P Is In Your Best Interest As A Business04:05 - Labor Is The Biggest Variable05:00 - Do Your People Know?06:00 - Why You Should Incentivize Employees07:00 - The Breakdown Of How P4P Works08:15 - How P4P Attracts Better Employees09:20 - Easy Software You Can Use For P4P10:10 - How It Makes Profit Measurable11:30 - OutroQuotable Moments“Paying by the hour and paying for seniority are antiquated concepts that are still around.” – Marting“Paying by the h

Apr 14, 2022 • 12:20

115 - Making The Decision To Hire

00:00 - Intro01:00 - Who Was Your 1st Hire?02:30 - The Signs You Should Hire04:30 - The 1st Thing You Have To Do When Hiring05:45 - Why You Have To Plan Training06:45 - How Hiring Can Positively Impact You + Your Business08:00 - Knowing Who You Can Afford To Hire09:30 - How It’s More Affordable Than You Think10:10 - Less-Obvious Hiring Impacts + Responsibilities10:50 - Deciding To Hire Is A Milestone11:30 - OutroQuotable Moments“You’ve got to be willing to delegate and you need to have trust.” –

Apr 7, 2022 • 12:58

114 - One Place To Look

00:00 - Intro3:20 - Hear Martin’s Example5:40 - What’s ERP Software?8:00 - Why Integration Matters10:00 - 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 Essentials18:35- From Legal Pads to ERPs20:00 - Our Software Stack Recommendation22:00 - OutroQuotable 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 sys

Mar 31, 2022 • 23:39

113 - Building a Growth Foundation

00:00 - Intro02:10 - Plenty Of Work, Shortage Of The Right Kind02:30 - So, What’s A Growth Foundation + Its Benefit?04:00 - A Website That Converts08:50 - A Customized CRM Tool10:05 - Set-Up Streamlined & Integrated Accounts12:30 - Meaningful & Measurable Messaging14:00 - Uniform Design & Templates14:30 - Immediate Results From The Growth Foundation15:00 - Good Content & Building Upon Your Growth Foundation17:00 - Promoting Your Good Content19:30 - Want What We’ve Discussed? Benali Can Help20:24

Mar 24, 2022 • 21:31

112 - Mowing, Marketing, & Managing Franchises with Mike Andes

00:00 - Intro02:10 - How Mike Got Started05:14 - Mike’s First Employee08:16 - The Growth of Augusta Lawn Care10:40 - How Mike Handles The Seasonality of Landscaping13:00 - Mike’s Approach To Marketing20:00 - How To Raise Prices23:00 - How Mike Knew He Wanted To Franchise26:00 - The Value Metric Used To Raise Prices30:00 - The Software Mike Recommends & Uses34:00 - So What’s Pay For Performance?39:50 - How You Calculate Pay For Performance44:00 - Efficiency With Pay For Performance53:00 - OutroQu

Mar 17, 2022 • 54:44

111 - Replacing Yourself

00:00 - Intro01:30 - Mark Twain Analogy04:30 - Why You Need Courage05:40 - The 3 Attributes of a Successful Business Owner07:45 - The Difficulties Of Replacing Yourself08:15 - OutroQuotable 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 engag

Mar 10, 2022 • 8:44

110 - Homeowners vs. Builders

00:00 - Intro05:30 - The Differences Between Homeowners & Builders08:27 - Their Unique Sales Processes15:45 - The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide22:00 - Increasing Your Margins26:00 - The Differences When It Comes To Marketing30:30 - The Value Of Case Studies35:00 - Traps You Fall Into With Homeowners39:00 - Referral Program Strategies46:15 - Summarized Pros and Cons48:00 - OutroQuotable Moments“When you work with homeowners, you can have higher margins.” – Martin“An Ultimate Buyer’s Guide outlines the e

Mar 3, 2022 • 47:07

109 - Building A Lean Business with Colin Reed

00:00 - Intro02:45 - Meet Our Guest, Colin Reed05:00 - Colin’s Start With Lean Thinking & Consulting08:00 - How To Be Lean In A Grocery Store12:00 - The Deadly Wastes That Can Kill Your Business13:15 - The 1st Deadly Waste - Overproduction17:00 - The 2nd Deadly Waste - Inventory21:20 - The 3rd Deadly Waste - Transportation22:15 - The 4th Deadly Waste - Defects29:00 - The 5th Deadly Waste - Processing34:00 - The 6th Deadly Waste - Motion42:00 - The 7th Deadly Waste - Waiting48:00 - How We Help Co

Feb 24, 2022 • 1:01:21

108 - An Inflation Explanation

00:00 - Intro00:30 - Jeff Finney’s “In-Theory vs. In-Practice”02:30 - What’s Inflation?05:55 - The Rule of 7207:30 - Inflation in the 70’s vs. 202210:30 - Inflation in Real Estate13:40 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Crypto17:20 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Real Estate19:40 - Uncertain Inflation Strategy - Loans21:11 -  Bad Inflation Stategies For Contractors26:00 - Good Inflation Strategies For Contractors30:00 - Efficiency Is The Best Defense Against Inflation42:00 - Moving To Higher Marg

Feb 17, 2022 • 49:11

107 - Software Q/A

00:00 - Intro00:37 - What Tech Stack Is02:00 - 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 It06:05 - How To Build A Marketing Framework, On Budget07:04 - Non-Basic Benefits Software Can ProvideQuotable 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

Feb 10, 2022 • 10:28

106 - Vitamins vs. Medicine

00:00 - Intro01:30 - Vitamins v Medicine02:15 - Applied To Construction Industry03:30 - Why You Need To Understand Vitamins + Medicine04:30 - Let’s Recap05:30 - OutroQuotable 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 vita

Feb 3, 2022 • 6:02

105 - How To Pick A Channel

00:00 - Intro02:00 - Let’s Define A Channel02:42 - How To Pick Your Channel03:50 - What To Do Once You Pick A Channel05:10 - Applying The Approach Every Time05:35 - OutroQuotable 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 c

Jan 27, 2022 • 5:06

104 - Finding Your Rhythm

Show Notes00:00 - Intro01:45 - New Year Motivation04:40 - Work Rhythms12:00 - Rhythm vs Process17:50 - Being Specific (Khalil)18:45 - Martin Client Story20:20 - 3 Questions to Ask Your Employees24:20 - Being Firm29:19 - Being Specific in Your Ads + Marketing30:00 - Features vs Benefits33:00 - Key Partnerships + Referrals37:00 - Other kinds of strategic partnerships38:00 - Partner Agreement Doc44:00 - OutroQuotable Moments“Question your rhythms. Ask yourself if it’s valuable and if there alternat

Jan 20, 2022 • 46:57

103 - Pricing, Branding, & Scheduling

00:00 - Intro01:55 - Highlights of the Year06:05 - Marketing for Contractors11:20 - Pricing Conundrums20:50 - Martin’s Wordkeeper Story22:30 - Under Promise, Over Deliver23:50 - The Issue of Surcharges30:00 - Consumer Price Index31:00 - Inflation in the 70’s35:20 - Martin’s Article - What is Money?39:30 - Why You Need To Be Reasonable With Prices43:29 - How Measuring Brings Clarity44:50 - Scheduling Issues Arise51:50 - Outro & RecapQuotable Moments“When you're really focused on branding, focused

Dec 23, 2021 • 55:17

102 - Less Stress

00:00 - Intro01:45 - The Two Types of Stress02:00 - The Causes of Bad Stress04:30 - The Causes of Good Stress10:00 - Why Small Failures Are Good11:00 - What Bad Stress Boils Down To12:20 - Why Processes Are Crucial15:51 - Good Books Mitigate Bad StressQuotable 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, doub

Dec 16, 2021 • 17:53

101 - Don't Be Held Hostage

00:00 - Intro01:15 - Adios to Lincoln Riley03:00 - Is Your Business Holding You Hostage?13:00 - Don’t Let Software Be Your Bottleneck23:00 - Know What You Want & Stick To It34:00 - Let’s Talk About Sustainable Growth42:20 - Rollercoaster Profits47:00- OutroQuotable 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 l

Dec 9, 2021 • 50:38

100 - Current Events

01:15 - Intro, Coffee Convo02:00 - Challenges that MH has had this week05:00 - Tracking KPI’s14:00 - Tom Brady and Bill Belichick18:00 - The Great Resignation & the Future of Hiring21:10 - What a Bonus Program Looks Like33:40 - Employee Development & Incentives48:15 -  Passing on Costs & Wage Increases51:00 - Get in TouchQuotable 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

Dec 2, 2021 • 50:34

99 - Moving Obstacles

00:00 - Intro03:15 - Partnerships10:00 - Resentment in Partnerships18:50 - Hiring + Retaining Your Team29:00 - Cultural Fits32:15 - Investing in Your Team36:00 - “You Can’t Eat It All”40:00 - Reactive vs Proactive Price Increases41:40 - Just Do It43:00 - Why Branding Is So Important45:00 - Examples of Branding50:00 - You’re Not Alone/RecapQuotable 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

Nov 18, 2021 • 53:00

98 - Safety with Gary Messec

00:00 - Intro02:00 - Meet Gary Messec09:30 - Procedures & Systems12:00 - OSHA & MSA (Mine Safety)18:20 - Who Is Responsible for Safety?24:45 - Types of Hazards29:00 - Safety Procedures35:30 - OSHA 300 Forms & Resources41:15 - Martin’s Stories/Cost of Training43:20 - Your Employee’s Buy-In48:20 - Don’t Cut Corners48:05 - OSHA Audits52:20 - Benefits of a Safe Workforce54:50 - Get In Touch With GaryQuotable Moments“If they’re proceduralized, you can follow them step by step and eliminate the hazard

Nov 15, 2021 • 57:48

97 - The Evolution of a Business Owner with Jeff Finney

00:00 - Intro04:00 - Evolution of a Coffee Drinker07:15 - We Hope You’re Hungry09:40 - Jeff's Background11:50 - How Jeff Started Woodworking22:50 - College? Y or N26:25 - The Value of Finance28:50 - Full-time Business Owner31:05 - Partner Conflicts + Dynamics37:50 - Going Solo40:00 - Making a Profit42:30 - Not Being a “Yes Man”55:00 - Build A Business To Sell1:02:00 - Getting Out Sales1:11:00 - Don't Focus On Sales Only1:22:00 - How to ScaleQuotable Moments“For our young listeners out there, tak

Nov 4, 2021 • 1:33:21

96 - In-house vs. Outsourced

00:00 - Intro01:00 - Martin is Grumpy04:30 - KB Stroy about Client & Outsourcing05:30 - 2 Types of Outsourcing06:50 - When to use subs - Examples and Reasons09:45 - What happens if you don't outsource?10:30 - Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing13:00 - Advantages and Disadvantages of In-House14:30 - Inside Outsourcing17:00 - Starting a Business - Stay in Your Lane22:00 - What to consider when choosing who to outsource24:30 - OSSHA 300 Form (Where is your audience?)31:00 - Contracting is t

Oct 28, 2021 • 47:33

95 - Quit Getting Screwed with Karalynn Cromeens

00:00 - Intro02:30 - Liens Don't Have to be One-Sided04:00 - If You Aren't Careful, You'll Fail05:30 - Different Clauses in Liens11:20 - Your Bid is Your ___13:00 - People That Don't Use Contracts15:00 - Expectations Document17:30 - Counselor, Not Lawyer21:30 - Realistic Litigation Fees24:30 - It's Worth the Investment25:50 - The Stigma of Lawyers26:30 - 'Reasonably Insured' - What it means33:00 - Cloud v. Paper36:00 - The Rules of Having a Partner40:00 - Being Employees vs Partners45:00 - Karal

Oct 21, 2021 • 58:21

94 - Onboarding Customers

00:00 – Intro4:50 – Managing Customer Expectations9:00 – Getting Started with a customer or client13:30 – Starts with Sales14:30 – Marcus Sheridan18:20 – When does onboarding end?22:00 – Contract vs. Expectations Doc.26:00 – How to set expectations31:00 – Areas to set expectations38:00 – OutroQuotable 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

Oct 7, 2021 • 38:31

93 - Choosing the Right Software for Your Company

00:00 - Intro01:00 – How the Software Starts04:00 – The Benefits of Software07:00 – The Reality of Software09:30 – Building Your Tech Stack13:00 – Managing Multiple Softwares16:00 – 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

Sep 30, 2021 • 25:10

92 - Employee Engagement with Chris Zervas

00:00 - Intro1:00 - Who is Chris Zervas?6:15 - Communication in the Workplace (3-Legged Stool)13:50 - Contractors and Communication15:30 - The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cobane23:45 - Nonverbal Communication29:00 - How Communication has Changed (Martin’s Story)31:00 - Learning Leadership Communication Skills34:00 - Communication between Generations40:30 - Retaining Employees43:50 - The Importance of Culture48:40 - Appropriate Relationships with Employees53:30 - Vulnerability as a Leader55:40 -

Sep 23, 2021 • 1:08:35

91 - Protecting What You Build with Eric Daffern

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% wh

Sep 16, 2021 • 1:18:36

90 - Building a Family Legacy with Michael Barnett

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)2

Sep 9, 2021 • 53:59

89 - Mo' Money, Mo' Problems with Sergio Garcia

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 determi

Sep 2, 2021 • 1:41:29

88 - Outclass Your Competition with Hilarie Blaney

00:00 - Intro10:20 - What is Etiquette?16:20 - Zoom Etiquette26:35 - First Impressions43:00 - Table Manners53:00 - Unspoken EtiquetteQuotable 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 commun

Aug 26, 2021 • 1:27:02

87 - Onboarding Employees

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

Aug 19, 2021 • 54:51

86 - Selling Your Business with Hank Bockus

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)Quota

Aug 12, 2021 • 1:36:22

85 - Make it Easy

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 s

Aug 5, 2021 • 8:07

84 - Why You Need an Apprentice with Jennifer Cowns

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 trad

Jul 29, 2021 • 1:05:27

83 - Self-Confidence is Key

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 confide

Jul 22, 2021 • 47:07

82 - Delegation

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

Jul 15, 2021 • 44:18

81 - Marketing Metrics that Matter

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.” - Mart

Jul 8, 2021 • 41:03

80 - Taking Marketing Seriously

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

Jul 1, 2021 • 1:22:54

79 - Labor of Law With Tom Robertson

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

Jun 24, 2021 • 1:03:37

78 - Hiring Post-COVID

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 worki

Jun 22, 2021 • 8:46

77 - The Power of Content

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 ap

Jun 17, 2021 • 1:11:54

76 - Managing Customer Expectations

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

Jun 15, 2021 • 11:41

75 - The Profit First Master with Rob Williams

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, m

Jun 10, 2021 • 1:00:57

74 - Be Lean, Be Seen: “2 Second Lean”

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

Jun 8, 2021 • 15:45

73 - Learn by Doing

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

May 20, 2021 • 15:17

72 - The One Thing

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

May 18, 2021 • 50:04

71 - Surprise!

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

May 13, 2021 • 9:32

70 - When You Know They Need To Go

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 f

May 11, 2021 • 39:03

69 - Small Signals

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 expec

May 6, 2021 • 8:51

68 - It’s All According to Plan with John Pollock

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

May 4, 2021 • 1:36:42

67 - Small Things

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 c

Apr 29, 2021 • 8:30

66 - Making Small Business Magic with Mike Michalowicz

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

Apr 27, 2021 • 24:05

65 - Partner or Not to Partner

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 m

Apr 22, 2021 • 9:04

64 - The Financial Advisor to the Contractor Stars with Foster Wilcox

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 conversa

Apr 20, 2021 • 1:07:30

63 - Simplifying Strategy

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

Apr 15, 2021 • 11:32

62 - The Fire Safety Guy with Kris Pettigrew

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 sprinkle

Apr 13, 2021 • 1:36:26

61 - Sword of Damocles

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

Apr 8, 2021 • 7:21

60 - Changing Your Reality

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

Apr 6, 2021 • 1:31:27

59 - When You Know They Need To Go

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

Apr 1, 2021 • 12:20

58 - The Foundation of Schindler Design Co. with Reid Schindler

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

Mar 30, 2021 • 1:28:53

57 - Customer Profiles

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

Mar 11, 2021 • 23:41

56 - Financial Statements Made Easy - Statement of Cash Flows

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!

Mar 9, 2021 • 33:08

55 - Tyranny of the Urgent

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 plausi

Mar 4, 2021 • 9:32

54 - Financial Statements Made Easy - Balance Sheet

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

Mar 2, 2021 • 49:45

53 - Establishing Core Values

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

Feb 25, 2021 • 24:40

52 - Financial Statements Made Easy - Profit & Loss Statement

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 y

Feb 23, 2021 • 54:41

51 - 23 Hours & 55 Minutes

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

Feb 18, 2021 • 6:57

50 - Financial Statements Made Easy - Without Numbers or Math

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

Feb 16, 2021 • 41:29

49 - Prospecting 101 - Tactics

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.”

Feb 11, 2021 • 9:30

48 - Can’t Adapt? Then Retire. with Kristine Sexter

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, whe

Feb 9, 2021 • 1:42:10

47 - Spur of the Moment Pricing Decisions

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 subsequ

Feb 4, 2021 • 6:46

46 - Building an Org Chart

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 yo

Feb 2, 2021 • 37:50

45 - Prospecting 101 - Principles

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,

Jan 28, 2021 • 12:06

44 - Leading Leaders with Bruce Ross

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

Jan 26, 2021 • 1:23:20

43 - Grow with No

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 tha

Jan 21, 2021 • 7:22

42 - What am I Doing Wrong? with Cary Daniels

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 m

Jan 19, 2021 • 1:32:13

41 - Building a Sales Pipeline

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

Jan 14, 2021 • 13:35

40 - Money Grows on Trees with Monty Marcum

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,

Jan 9, 2021 • 1:39:46

39 - How Do You Know?

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.

Jan 7, 2021 • 5:22

38 - Building a Best Workplace

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

Jan 5, 2021 • 1:03:25

37 - Gangster Loans

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, f

Dec 31, 2020 • 4:40

36 - How to Work with a CPA with Lori Yearwood

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’

Dec 29, 2020 • 1:25:20

35 - Exactly What Needs To Be On Your Website

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 (16:37ResourcesWebsite Audit from BenaliMore from Khalilbenali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martintheprofitproblem.comannealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Th

Dec 24, 2020 • 21:58

34 - Evolution of a Business Owner

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

Dec 22, 2020 • 1:09:58

33 - Is Debt Worth The Risk

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)“C

Dec 17, 2020 • 9:03

32 - Roofing Supply Co. with Tami Hasselwander

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

Dec 15, 2020 • 1:26:02

31 - Advisors & Mentors

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)ResourcesAdvisor & Mentor ChecklistMore from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from The Cashflow Contr

Dec 10, 2020 • 9:28

30 - Get Paid with Jan Reeves

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:

Dec 8, 2020 • 1:11:39

29 - The Purpose of Business

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)ResourcesThe Cycle of Business More from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookI

Dec 3, 2020 • 7:22

28 - Stop the Spinning Top: Creating a Strategy for Growth with Chad Board

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

Dec 1, 2020 • 1:14:00

27 - Know Your Customers

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)ResourcesCallRail for listening to recorded inbound customer callsMore from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMo

Nov 26, 2020 • 8:25

26 - Build a Business to Sell with Larry Hughes

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 gr

Nov 24, 2020 • 1:44:20

25 - Cash vs. Accrual Accounting

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 Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from The Cashflow ContractorAsk Us A QuestionSign Up For A Free Consulta

Nov 19, 2020 • 4:44

24 - Finally Talking Sales with John Hill

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 ess

Nov 17, 2020 • 1:59:07

23 - Getting Started with a CRM

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)ResourcesThe Profit Problem by Martin HollandHubSpot (free version)More from Martintheprofitproblem.comanneal

Nov 12, 2020 • 9:29

22 - Three Ways to Compete

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

Nov 10, 2020 • 1:02:34

21 - You Just Can't Hire Good People Anymore

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)ResourcesHiring for Attitude by Mark MurphyInterview QuestionMore from Khalilwww.benali.com

Nov 5, 2020 • 9:22

20 - A Strong Foundation with Will Blake

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 th

Nov 3, 2020 • 2:07:51

19 - How to Capitalize on Every Job

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)1. Know where your jobs are coming from. (2:25)2. Invest more in the places where your customers are finding you. (3:00)3. Ask for reviews - on every. single. job. (3:30)4. Create a survey that you can send to every single customer. (4:10)5. Photograph every single job — profes

Oct 29, 2020 • 10:09

18 - Brisket, Carpet, and Maybe Some Sales with John Hill

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

Oct 27, 2020 • 1:52:48

17 - The 1% Rule

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)ResourcesPrice Increase CalculatorThe 1% CalculatorMore from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from The Cashflow ContractorSubs

Oct 22, 2020 • 6:46

16 - Building a Family Legacy with Michael Barnett

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)2

Oct 20, 2020 • 53:59

15 - 5 Quick Marketing Wins You Can Do Right Now

Things you need to get started. (1:15)1. Update your Google My Business account (2:20)2. Get at least 50 reviews on your GMB page (3:38)3. Set up a CTA on your website (5:04)4. Add your CTA to all of your social accounts and your GMB (6:35)5. 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 websiteSocial media accounts (start with Facebook and Instagram)An email addressA

Oct 15, 2020 • 12:12

14 - Website vs. A Salesman

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

Oct 13, 2020 • 1:02:51

13 - They Say I Make Money, So Why Don't I Have Any?

Storytime — I had a client who was making over $100,000 in sales each month. The problem? He had no cash.(0:20)1. You haven’t been paid yet. (0:55)2. You already spent the money. (2:00)3. You, the owner, took it. (2:44)Resources3 Reasons You Don’t Have CashMore from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from The Cashflow ContractorSubscribe to Our NewsletterAsk Us A QuestionSign Up For A

Oct 8, 2020 • 4:27

12 - Company Culture & Why It Matters

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 s

Oct 6, 2020 • 1:03:24

11 - Understanding Your Customer's Buyer's Journey

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)ResourcesBuilding a StoryBrand by Donald MillerHomeowner Heather StoryBrand BrandScriptBuyer’s Journey infographic More from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com

Oct 1, 2020 • 10:22

10 - How Passion Turns Into Opportunity with Antonio Aparicio

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.

Sep 29, 2020 • 1:40:41

09 - Bid Like You Mean Business

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)ResourcesBreakeven CalculatorMore from Khalilwww.benali.com khalil@benali.comLinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from Martinwww.annealbc.com   martin@anealbc.com LinkedInFacebookInstagramMore from The Cashflow ContractorSubscribe to Our NewsletterAsk Us A QuestionSign Up For A Fre

Sep 24, 2020 • 9:13

08 - Mo' Money, Mo' Problems with Sergio Garcia

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?

Sep 22, 2020 • 1:41:29

07 - Where to Start With Your Marketing

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

Sep 17, 2020 • 14:14

06 - Protecting What You Build with Eric Daffern

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% wh

Sep 15, 2020 • 1:18:36

05 - Administering the Business

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

Sep 10, 2020 • 1:01:43

04 - Doing The Business

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 manag

Sep 8, 2020 • 1:22:25

03 - Getting The Business

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 ex

Aug 31, 2020 • 52:58

02 - Guiding the Business

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 answe

Aug 31, 2020 • 52:09

01 - The Four Areas of Business

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

Aug 31, 2020 • 1:12:47

The Cashflow Contractor

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! I

Aug 31, 2020 • 6:04