Contractor Evolution

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP156My guest on the show today is Luke Hansen - Founder and CEO of Company Cam, the industry-leading job site photo tool that allows you to manage work from anywhere. Today’s episode is a Tech CEO’s 4 Business Lessons for Contractors.  We talk about brand building, strategy, social media, and more.To get a deal on CompanyCam click here: https://companycam.com/ceSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP155 If you’ve ever wondered how an Open Book Management business operates and whether or not this model might work for you. You’re in luck! Open Book Management, or OBM for short, is a business philosophy and system that communicates the entire financial picture of the business all the way down to the laborer in the field.  The fundamental idea is that every set of hands comes from with a free brain, and people generally play better when your keeping score.  Our guest today is Ryan Markewich, founder of Creative Roots Landscaping in Kelowna, BC, and a certified Great Game of Business Coach. For the last twenty years, he’s run Creative Roots fully “Open Book” and is here today to tell us about it. I ask him: Does OBM really work? Or is this just another hyped-up business framework? How much extra work is it to train employees on the financial reports and KPIs in order for them to truly be “in the game”? How do they select future partners from their employee pool?  How do they groom them? And what does it actually mean when an employee purchases a tranche of the company? Open Book Management isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve ever been curious about it, this is a great jumping-off point. To know more about Ryan visit https://rmark.ca/ and https://www.greatgame.com/about/our-coaches/ryan-markewich  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP154 My guest on the show today is Kyle Nitchen. I found Kyle through his substack and newsletter called “The Influential Project Manager” - which is worth a follow, btw. As a senior project manager for Layton Construction, Kyle has built over 350 million dollars worth of hospital wings, Surgery rooms, and urgent care centers all over Los Angeles. He writes about all things construction, leadership project management on his substack and today we talk about: Why Project Management in the construction industry is as big of a dumpster fire as it is How many of the modern tools and methods, from Gantt charts to critical paths, while useful, are incomplete in today's construction environment - and what to do instead Lastly, he takes us through the 7 archetypes of effective project managers - a simple but powerful framework to develop your PMs with. To learn more about Kyle Nitchen: https://kylenitchen.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP153 Marcus Sheridan is back! As if writing one of the most celebrated marketing books (They Ask, You Answer) of the last 10 years wasn’t enough, he’s co-authored a new book all about how to CRUSH IT with video content. It’s called The Visual Sale. Kinda catchy 😉 Two out of every three adults already choose video as their primary information source, and one recent study showed that 96% of consumers look for videos about products and services before buying them. So the question is… is your business geared for this? Because this is one mega trend you want to be on the right side of. In today’s episode, you can expect to learn: The exact word-for-word Chat GPT prompt to give you your first 50 video ideas. The 6 core videos every modern contractor needs to have and why (and how to go make them.) And, whether hiring an agency/freelancer or building out the capacity for video in-house is better. To know more about Marcus visit: https://marcussheridan.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP152 My guest on the show today is Cameron Herold, best-selling author of 6 books, many of which you’ll know and love: The Miracle Morning, Meetings Suck, and arguably his most popular Vivid Vision. But today’s conversation is about his latest book, The Second In Command: Unleash The Power Of Your COO, which I am immediately putting on the must-read list for all of you. Cameron was the COO of 1-800-Got Junk and helped Brian Scudamore grow from just $2 million a year to over $100 million a year.  He hosts a podcast called The Second in Command Podcast, where he interviews COOs of some of the biggest brands in the world. Shopify, Zendesk, Asana, MailChimp, and the list goes on.  He’s even built a mastermind group for COOs called the COO Alliance, which is like a breakthrough academy but just for COOs. Super cool. The book and today’s episode amalgamate Cameron’s wisdom gained through decades of filling, studying, coaching, and writing about the all-important COO role.  To know more about Cameron and his courses visit: https://cameronherold.com/ and https://investinyourleaders.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To get the resource bundle we talk about in the episode, click here: https://trybta.com/SOP No one sets out to run a dumpster fire of a business.  And yet… we can all admit that, at least occasionally, it feels that way.  Things tend towards chaos. Entropy is a real thing. This phenomenon is literally baked into the fabric of the universe. But that doesn’t mean through smart systems, we can’t overcome it and create organizational order. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are arguably the most critical weapon in this battle, and my friend Tom Hughes is back on the show to enlighten us.  Tom’s a lean manufacturing guru, owner of Lumen Electronincs, and the author of Improvement Starts With I and GREAT Processes - two amazing books devoted to organizational change through SOPs.  Expect to learn: Why “pulling” SOPs out of your team is more effective than “pushing” SOPs onto them How using a multimedia approach to SOPs ensures they actually get followed Leadership tactics to create a Kaizen culture that continuously improves itself   To know more about Tom and GembaDocs visit: https://gembadocs.com/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP150 Do you shove off your social media strategy to already busy employees who half-ass it or just don’t have the time?  Because I certainly have. When you’re slammed running a business, making Instagram posts can feel a little beneath you. And so the default move is to pawn it off to a junior who inevitably does very little with it. This is exactly why a fully formed strategy is so important. It gives you something tangible to hand off so that someone else on your team can find success with it. Jonathan Cor is the founder of Customer Growth - A contractor-focused social media agency. He advises and consults with 7-figure and 8-figure businesses dialing in their social media strategies to deliver actual business results you can measure. Today we answer a few questions: With so many content creators and distractions, is social media still worth investing in? What are the ingredients that go into a simple and easy-to-execute strategy? What should your posts even be about? Who should be capturing and posting them?   To know more about Jon and Customer Growth visit: https://www.customergrowth.co/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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

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

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

Order Dan’s book here: https://trybta.com/BBYT To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP144 My guest on the show today is Dan Martell.  Award-winning Entrepreneur. Investor. Author. Since his new book Buy Back Your Time was released last year, I’ve had at least 10 Breakthrough Academy members ask me to have him on. And when I read it, I understood why.  Buy Back Your Time is an antidote to the time-sucking and stress-inducing nature of entrepreneurship.   Through clean diagrams, personal stories, and sage wisdom, he offers a pragmatic and deeply intuitive path to avoid building a business you grow to hate.  A scenario many entrepreneurs sadly find themselves in. Dan’s life story is wild, and we start the interview there, so I won’t spoil it. But the meat of the interview is focused on the core framework of his book called: The Buyback Principle.   This was an absolute banger episode, guys. I hope you enjoy it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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

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

For a free copy of Kyle’s book, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP139 It’s time for episode 2 of our Wealth-Builder Series! For the growth-minded contractor investing in real estate is an obvious, lucrative, and fun place to put their hard-earned profits. Making money in trades and construction and investing said money into real estate of some shape or form seem to go together like peanut butter and jam. This makes sense... You already have the skills, the tools, the know-how, and the contacts to elbow grease your way to wealth. One of the core components to success here is financing - most real estate transactions involve a lender in some capacity, but getting continuous financing isn’t always easy, especially as an entrepreneur. To have a long and successful career as a real estate investor, you need to “be lendable” - and this is a skill worth learning.  Kyle Green is the founder of the Green Mortgage Team and is our guest on the show today.  Throughout his career, he has funded over a billion dollars in mortgages, almost entirely to entrepreneurs. In today’s conversation with Kyle, we talk about: How entrepreneurs can find the balance between being tax efficient with what you pull out of your business while still remaining lendable in the eyes of a bank The most common ways contractors majorly screw it up with real estate  And lastly, we talk about how rising interest rates are changing the investment landscape and what you can do about it  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To download Sarah’s Succession Planner and Personal Records Organizer click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP138 What would actually happen to your business if, tragically, you died tomorrow?   “Hit by a bus” as they say. Would it unravel rather quickly without you at the helm?   What financial condition would your family be left in? Morbid questions… For sure… But ones worth asking.   My guest on the show today is Sarah Cronin, managing partner of OBEO Planning Group.  She works directly with our Breakthrough Academy businesses on their financial and succession planning, giving her a tonne of first-hand experience helping small business owners wealth plan for the future and protect themselves and their families should the worst happen. We discuss: What can and will happen to your business and family in the case of your untimely death (warning, it's grim) Why, for co-founders, dialing in a partnership agreement is the easiest way to limit your downside in the case of death, disability, or disagreement How to draft a succession plan so that your wishes are captured and executed properly and not left up to chance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP137 To learn more about Darcie Crowe visit: https://croweprivatewealth.com/ Today’s episode is the first of a multi-part Wealth Builder Series Here is why we’re making it.  We are blessed to get to work with over 600 contracting companies all over North America helping them systemize for growth. Having been at this for 8 years, we are getting to a point where many of our members are asking us an interesting question: “My business has become a well-oiled machine and is now making enough money that my family’s needs are met…. What should I do with the rest?” To answer this question, we’ll be bringing on world-class experts in real estate, equities, portfolio management, lending, and economics.  The focus is simple.  How does the entrepreneur behind an efficient and successful blue-collar business become truly wealthy?  What should we do with our hard-earned profits to maximize our returns, limit our downside, and design a life we truly love? Today is episode 1, and we’re lucky to be joined by Darcie Crowe of Crowe Private Wealth at Canaccord Genuity. She’s a senior portfolio manager and has been in the industry for the last 18 years, but she comes from the investment banking and equity capital markets world. To set up the rest of the series, this first episode is going to be focused on: The investor's mindset and how it helps you succeed over time When and why you need to start investing outside of your own operating business How a well-balanced portfolio is structured and the various asset classes within See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.