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Game Changing Tips to Explode Your Business Growth
70 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of The Better Contractor podcast, join host Brent Oberlink as he tackles some viewer submitted questions from contractors and business owners. Wondering when to add another crew? Curious about the one piece of advice that can set your business on the right path? Brent dives deep into these topics and more, providing actionable insights and practical wisdom for those navigating challenges in the contracting world. Tune in to elevate your business game and make informed decisions that drive success.
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Transcript
Relentless Execution in Entrepreneurship
00:00:00
Speaker
Relentless execution is basically doing something relentlessly nonstop over and over and over and not giving up on that. What I've seen a lot in the entrepreneurial space, business, whatnot, to me, you haven't really failed until you quit. Now there are going to be circumstances financially and other things that may take you out without you having to give up. I'm aware of that. But there are a lot of times where people have given up because it got hard.
00:00:30
Speaker
And if they would have pushed through that hard, they probably would have made it.
Introducing a New Q&A Format
00:00:48
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of The Better Contractor. Today, we're going to try something different. We're going to do a Q and&A style podcast. So you may have seen on our Instagram, we asked, hey, can you order some questions you guys have for us? So this podcast will be a little bit shorter, um more you know feedback from you guys, questions that you guys want to hear. i Unfortunately, the professor Travis is not on this episode. So If you've kind of learned from previous episodes, I'm a little bit more to the point, and Travis is a little bit more talkative. So instead of being 45 minutes to an hour, this one will probably be pretty short. So anyway, um and give us some feedback on this one. We'd love to see it. Next time we post some question and answer, please feel free to to type in a question, entrepreneurial contract, that type related.
00:01:38
Speaker
um So let's get started.
Key Advice: Never Give Up
00:01:40
Speaker
So first question, we have two today. um What is one piece of wisdom for those starting their business journey? So if I had to sum that up into a simple statement, it would be relentless execution. So what does that mean? What is relentless execution? Relentless execution is basically doing something relentlessly nonstop over and over and over and not giving up on that.
00:02:07
Speaker
What I've seen a lot in the entrepreneurial space, business, whatnot, to me, you haven't really failed until you quit. Now there are going to be circumstances financially and other things that may take you out without you having to give up. I'm aware of that. But there are a lot of times where people have given up because it got hard.
00:02:26
Speaker
And if they would have pushed through that hard, they probably would have made it.
Personal Story of Perseverance
00:02:30
Speaker
So the relentless execution is being aware that there's going to be a slow start. There's going to be tough days. There's going to be lean days. You're going to get lots of no's before you get yes's. There's going to be long nights. um And believe me, I'm aware of this. When we started Lantern Corps, we grew fairly quick, especially in the beginning.
00:02:50
Speaker
And it seemed easy at times, but now that I look back, I'm like, man, there was a lot of long nights, hard nights, weekends. I remember especially the first two or three years, especially my wife was in law school and I remember working six, six and a half days a week. I tried my hardest to take off Sundays. so There was still some I had to work, you know, at least a little bit after church. But I remember working six, seven a.m., taking a few breaks here and there to go to the gym or eat whatever. But for the most part, working from seven a.m. until nine or 10 at night at times.
00:03:23
Speaker
um But that's what it took. I knew that's what it would take, and it eventually paid off. But seeing yourself through those periods um is is when you will start to see, hey, this is starting to have some fruit to my labors from the past several years. So that relentless execution is key, guys. So if I had to kind of just put a few bullet points to this, do not give
Staying Focused on Business Goals
00:03:46
Speaker
up. Number one, stay focused on your goal. When you started your business,
00:03:51
Speaker
You probably had a vision, a goal, something in mind. Stay focused on that. That is going to adjust with time. And I'm aware of that and it should adjust as you as you continue to improve and get better. But stay focused on that original goal, whatever that was. Number three, have a plan and be aware that you may need to change that plan and adapt. Meaning you may have COVID hit. You may have some other completely unforeseen things happen during your business time.
00:04:18
Speaker
you're going to have to adapt your plan a little bit accordingly. So I'm all about having a plan. I'm all about executing a list, but you also got to be aware there's going to be wrenches thrown in that list and you're going to have to adapt to those. so Number four, focus on the big picture. A lot of times people will get, especially in the beginning, because in the beginning you're acting as a marketer, you're acting as your accountant, you're acting as all these different roles that as your company grows and gets bigger, hopefully you're able to hire for those roles. But in the beginning, you're acting on behalf of almost all those different roles. That makes it easy to lose track of the big picture. So you need to keep in mind and do it as often as possible to just step back,
00:04:59
Speaker
look at where your vision is, look at where you're going, and make sure your plan and what you're executing on daily is still getting you there. Don't get mired down. If you're a HVAC contractor, don't get so mired down that you're the one doing all of the work in the field or you know at the house or the remodels or whatever. You're gonna have to at some point not be that person if you're willing to grow and scale your business.
Importance of Consistent Execution
00:05:24
Speaker
So don't get so drawn into that, that that's where you stay. Stay focused on the big picture.
00:05:29
Speaker
Number five, we go back to the beginning. Execute consistently. Guys, I can't stress enough how important the consistent execution is. It is everything in business. Second question, when to add a crew and how?
Deciding When to Expand the Team
00:05:46
Speaker
So with that question, I guess I would ask a couple of questions to yourself. Number one,
00:05:53
Speaker
Are you currently able to meet the schedule? it's Meaning, are your crews behind? Are you telling customers, hey, we're months out? Are you not able to meet deadlines? Are customers getting aggravated because you're just simply too far out on scheduling or you're not getting stuff done anywhere near the deadline? And number two, are you financially able to add that equipment?
00:06:12
Speaker
Depending upon those answers, then I would say now is the time to add a crew. If you can say, hey, we are behind schedule, and yes, we can we have the financial ability to add equipment, assuming you're in an equipment heavy industry, then yes, it's time to add. So then, what do you need to do? You need to build systems. So if you have a crew, and this is your A-team, it's your only crew, and you've built this crew, and they're great.
00:06:35
Speaker
The last thing you want to do is add a second crew and that crew ends up being the exact opposite of your first crew. So all of a sudden this company that you built that is loved and respected because you were involved in your first crew is, you know, reminiscent of you, all of a sudden becomes quite the opposite. Like, oh, well crew two showed up and my job site now is terrible. That's what you don't want.
Maintaining Quality through Systems
00:06:56
Speaker
So this is where your systems to track data, to ensure quality and safety are met.
00:07:01
Speaker
Basically that is ensuring that your standard for crew one and for yourself is continued on to crews two and three. So build those systems. um A mentor and buddy system, you know, that is a great way to do it as well. So if you have a, if you can beef up crew one before you start crew two. So if you have a crew of four, if you had the ability to add a fifth, let that foreman and yourself start training that fifth person, add the six and eventually train those people with that good crew. So they develop the good habits, the good mindset. They know what you're, what is expected at your company.
00:07:34
Speaker
and then gradually move those people into a crew too. But use that buddy system. Let crew one monitor them as they first get started. But use that buddy system for them to hold each other accountable in the field. Another item, audit and visit. So this is important for you as a business owner. You need to get out there, especially when you turn the second crew loose. Visit them in the field once in a while. Do a quality audit, do a safety audit. Check to see if the culture matches your company culture. You may have someone who interviewed amazingly well, and as soon as they got in the field, it's a totally different person.
00:08:04
Speaker
So your job as you add crews is to make sure that what made you who you are at the beginning, you know, obviously if you started the business and you're awesome and your first crew's awesome, you hired your buddies, if that is your A-Team, I'm assuming it is, the last thing you want to do is hire a second crew as your C-Team and a third crew as your F-Team.
00:08:25
Speaker
You have to make sure that as you continue to grow that you're replicating what has worked and what has done well.
Feedback and Sharing for Growth
00:08:31
Speaker
So build those systems and then have your buddy system and make sure that you're repeating the positive things from crew one. And then once you do that, keep selling and keep booking. That's the last thing you want to do is end up adding a second or a third or fourth crew and not have enough work for them. So make sure your sales process is also amped up to be able to keep these guys busy. So you're not laying people off after you just did all this hard work.
00:08:56
Speaker
So guys, that's the Q and A episode. Give us a little bit of feedback if you would, subscribe to the podcast. If you liked it, tell a friend about it. We're wanting to get out there to more and more contractors, more and more entrepreneurs. My passion specifically is helping other people to grow their business. I love what I've done. It's been challenging at times. I want to see other people do it. So if you found value in this kind or this ah podcast, please, please share, subscribe. Thank you.