This Podcast Is Episode Number 0231 And It Will Be About Unique Strategy Massively Increases Contractor Cash And Profits

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Contractors Are Selling Their Time First, Skill Second

Value of Time – Your time as the Contractor is the most valuable. I hope you are doing the tasks that only you can do. Yes, you can do your contractor bookkeeping. My question is: Why Would You?  

Your answer – I have a cash flow problem. Spending hours doing your bookkeeping will not solve that.
In fact, doing contractor bookkeeping yourself will be painful, take time away from the things you do that make you money and take a lot longer than having someone else do it.

Why, because every piece of paper has a story and your brain wants to replay the story (fast or slowly depending on the story). Say for example you waste an extra minute on every piece of paper. How long will it take you to finish all of the bookkeeping chores for the day, week, month or longer? This is after you have QuickBooks setup for your construction company and you know exactly what to do with that piece of paper.
 
As a Contractor who is serious about their business. There is only one answer to cash flow issues.  
Sell Your Way Out of A Problem (author unknown). With money in hand, you can make better decisions.

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For Some People, Sales Is An Ugly Word. Reality Is Everyone Is Selling And Buying 

You are choosing what to purchase and when

• You Need Something (a new truck)
• You Want Something (a fancy truck)
• You Must Have Something (a tiny vehicle)

Since the beginning of time Children have figured out how to get where they want to go

• Walking will get you where you want to go, it just takes longer
• Skate board is another mode of transportation
• Then the bicycle
• Mom and Dad are the default transportation

Mom and Dad are usually the favorite sources for transportation depending on the activity. It is much easier to take all the soccer equipment, baseball equipment, and football stuff other activities.

• It's about sports,
• it's about friends,
• it's about dating,
• it's about transportation

Who sold who on the benefits of after school activities? The Parent or The Child?
The bigger commitment, in the beginning, is the parent in both time and money. We want the best for our children, and that includes additional activities, opportunities to make friends and preparing them for their future will skills and opportunity for college (if desired).  

I remember a year juggling multiple after school activities – that was a busy season. It took planning to do multiple drops, pickups and spending time watching each sport in action. The practices, the games, and the matches. Yes, I pushed our children to do the activity. Some they liked, some they didn't.  

The selling begins when our children become teenagers and want to learn to drive and then borrow the car. Before then, it was all practice.
 
Because we want them to grow and mature, we plan from the moment they arrive until the moment they launch out on their own. We still plan, nurture and support from afar. Isn't email, instant chat, Facebook and other social media wonderful? We can offer suggestions and try not to be offended if our children roll their eyes, chat with others and say "there goes Mom or Dad again" Of course, our children miss the humor when we as parents refer to each other of a Classic Movie or TV Series. 

Many of you have searched Fast Easy Accounting.com website, read the blogs and listened to our podcasts. Thank you! We try to be as clear as possible, in our opinion what works, and what doesn't.
We understand Construction Contractors and Construction Bookkeeping and Construction Accounting.

Offer One Hour Free Consultation To Chat About Your Business.
Discussion includes the following:

• What have you been doing so far?
• How is that working for you?
• Are you getting the results you desire?
• What area of Construction do you focus on (new, remodeling, service & repair, handyman, other services)?
• Are you a Home Builder, General Contractor, Specialty Trade Contractor, Handyman, offer Professional Services?
• How are you doing your bookkeeping?
• What accounting software do you use, if any?
• Do you have W-2 employees, 1099 Contractors, both?
• How do you invoice your clients?
• What do you want for us to do that would be helpful in your business?

In Our Opinion - Biggest issue contractors have paperwork.  
Part of that paperwork is creating proposals, contracts, changes orders, invoicing the client, collecting the money which all needs to happen before you can pay the bills.

Hint, vehicle expenses, liability insurance, cell phone and other overhead costs happen even if you never make a sale.

Sales 101 – Signed Documents. In an age of electronics, just sending an email with a proposal and getting a verbal "Yes" is great until the customer decides not to pay.  

Sales 201 – Signed Change Orders. Customers already remember when you are deducting something.
Many times customers conveniently forget the part where what they are adding costs additional and is replacing what you deducted.

Sales 301 – Get The Money, Invoice early and often. Especially on big ticket items. The longer you wait between billing periods, the more likely your Customer will look for reasons not to pay. Call it a draw if you need to but get the money. I cannot stress this too often. The Term OPM (Other People's Money = Job Deposits)     

Sales 401 – New Trend I have heard stories of customers (not clients) altering the pricing on the proposal document.

Sales 501 – You add value to the lives of your clients. Homeowners are not going to offer a check when they sell their house. Hint – many contractors create deals with Investors where they will get paid a percentage of the profit when the house sells. Don't count on it!  

We see the paperwork from Builders, General Contractors, Specialty Trade Contractors, Handyman. It is heartbreaking when a Contractor goes out of business due to poor paperwork.    

We continue to look for new ways to help our clients with improved processes, additional software that works easily. As a Construction Contractor, you already have too much to do. We are here to lessen the load, not make your life harder.  

Never Too Small - We specialize in working with the Brand New Startup, Handyman, Specialty Trade Contractor or General Contractor who is doing all the work (no employees to less than ten employees). As a Construction Contractor, you can choose the type of contractor you want to be:

The Four Types Of Contractors

Dog And Pick-Up Truck

This Wonderful Soul - Has a heart as big as the outdoors and likes working alone. They are easy to get to know. They usually have either a pick-up truck or a van with a dog sitting in the passenger seat hanging his head out the window watching and occasionally barking hello to folks and other dogs while feeling the breeze as the contractor zooms down the road.

They Do Not Think About - Retirement and when asked about it the reply I get most often is something like "Retire, nope, I don't need new tires yet."

These Contractors - Enjoy being their own boss, doing what they want when they want, how they want and works hard. They typically do not feel the need or desire to grow the business or hire employees since they would only get in the way.

Most Of Them - Run their business as a sole proprietor

They Generally Earn - $20K to $40K a year after all expenses