TCF276: Go Farther Together with Colin Toop
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Tom’s guest today is Colin Toop, the host of the Tools of the Trade podcast, where he talks to other leaders in the construction industry in order to pass on knowledge to the rest of the community. Colin has been an electrician for 14 years now, from being in the trenches all the way to project management. Over that
TCF275: Change to Grow with Ryan Amato
Just like any business owner, contractors want their business to grow. With that growth, contractors are faced with many questions. Should they use employees or subcontractors? How do they bring in more leads? Tom’s guest today is Ryan Amato and he knows all about these difficulties. Ryan comes from a long line of painters and decided to start his own business after 18 years in the union. Starting with just him and his father, he
TCF274: busybusy with Isaac Barlow
Show me a contractor that doesn’t know his numbers and I will show you a contractor that will never achieve financial freedom. Tom’s guest today is Isaac Barlow, and he knows all about the numbers. Isaac grew up in the construction industry out in Salt Lake City, Utah. He worked his way up through every aspect of a construction business all the way to starting his own company, busybusy. busybusy is the only construction time
TCF273: Work ON Your Business with Frank Borque
It’s all about working on your business, not in your business. That’s the only way to make your business better! Tom’s guest today is Frank Borque, a consultant and coach to contractors all over the world. Frank has been a contractor for many years, building a business to over 100 employees only to watch it crumble with the financial crisis of 2008. At that point, he had to rebuild his company to be more efficient,
TCF272: Building Community with Jean Brownhill
Having your home remodeled is not a cheap venture, so the worst thing you can do is rush it and choose the wrong contractor. Tom’s guest today is Jean Brownhill. Jean runs a rapidly expanding business from New York City. After a classic terrible experience with a general contractor, she decided to start her own business that serves as a network for only the best general contractors that are all committed to being the best
TCF271: Stay Intentional with Shiloh Churchill
Everything in life starts with the right mindset, and everything will fall into place after that. That same principle applies to owning a business. Tom’s guest today is Shiloh Churchill. Shiloh owns and operates a landscaping business in Boulder, Colorado. He was able to take his business from under $100k in the first year to over $1M in the second year at the age of only 16. Shiloh has found success for multiple reasons, but
TCF270: Numbers Tell A Story with Vicki Suiter
There is nothing more important to the health of any business in this country than knowing the numbers. Tom’s guest today is Vicki Suiter, a woman who simplifies the complexities of finance for contractors and business owners around the country. Vicki was a banker for 7 years and finally realized that she couldn’t work 70 hours every week for someone else’s dream. You can learn all about how managing your margins can save your contracting
TCF269: Just Make The Decision with Todd Dawalt
Everything has been thrown up in the air like we’ve never seen before and it seems like the tendency is for everyone to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. You just don’t have to look at it that way. Abraham Lincoln said, “If I have 6 hours to cut down a tree, I’m going to spend 4 hours sharpening the ax.” Now is the time to sharpen the ax. Wherever there is
TCF268: Satisfied Customers Are Liabilities with Brian Kaskavalciyan
Right now, contractors need their customers more than ever. Times are changing and there is no denying that. Tough times are ahead and the best avenue to get through to the other end is your past customers. Today, Tom and Brian Kaskavalciyan are back with a double-double, both recording for their respective podcasts. That’s 2 for 1, people! Brian’s company, gFour Marketing Group, helps contractors get reviews, referrals, and repeat business after a job is
TCF267: Marketing by Committee with David Chism
Sales are oxygen for the life of a business, and just because the world has stopped moving doesn’t mean that your business can stop breathing. Tom’s guest today, David Chism, knows all about how to bring in that oxygen. David has spent years helping contractors with their marketing, and it such unprecedented times like these, contractors need more help than ever. You need to ask yourself three questions. Where are you at right now? Where
TCF266: Drugs, Money & Mindset with Jeremiah Campbell
Right now, you can choose to let the current state of the world, a divorce, financial problems, or a million other excuses stop you from moving forward. If that doesn’t work for you, then you can grab your life by its collar and make it work for you. The choice is yours. Tom has Jeremiah Campbell in the house today, metaphorically, of course, to discuss how becoming present and self-aware trump all when it comes
TCF264: Getting Into the Right Mindset With Mike Klotz
In this episode, Tom shoots the shit with Mike Klotz. Mike is a long-time member of The Contractor Fight and has been a part of our programs for quite a while and is doing some really good stuff. Since he’s joined the fight, he’s recaptured a ton of his time, doubled his personal income, and is barely running around anymore while making a ton of more money. Tom and Mike really dig into Mike’s take
TCF263: Overcoming Barriers With Brad Balentine
Brad Balentine is an electrical contractor and the owner of Tri-Point Electric outside of Philadelphia. He’s been part of The Fight and some of the programs for several years now and has been doing some cool stuff. Nine years ago, Brad started Tri-Point with just him and a van and since then he’s grown his business every single year to the point where he now has 10 full time employees. Listen in as Brad shares
TCF262: Getting out of Your Comfort Zone with Mark Bunker
Mark Bunker is the owner of Bunker Building, a building and remodeling company out of Massachusetts. He’s been a part of the Fight Community for some time and eventually jumped into some of the programs. In just a couple of years he’s been able to go from being in the field full time with one helper to now having four full time guys while he takes care of sales and maintaining the business. He’s a
TCF261: Establishing Yourself as an Expert With Joe Everest
Today’s guest is Joe Everest, the owner of Ozark Fence. Joe has been a part of some of the programs in The Fight for the past year and a half and he’s been doing some amazing things. Not only is he learning a lot and growing his business, but he’s been a huge resource for other members in the group. He runs a rockin’ high profit, high revenue company and he’s always willing to share
TCF260: Getting Over the Head Trash With Brad Huebner
Brad Huebner is a handyman from Southern Indiana. He’s been a part of The Contractor Fight for a while now and has been having some great success in his business. Today, I wanted to bring him on so that you can hear from a peer of yours talk about a couple of things that he’s learned the past year as a part of The Fight and how he’s applied that to his business. Resources: TeamHandy.com
TCF259: Workglue with John Busick
Workglue is “The Ultimate Project Management Software” and was made with Contractors in mind by a Contractor himself. John Busick is the co-founder of Workglue and is a painting contractor from northern California with 35-40 employees doing $3-4 million a year. After many years of managing his contracting business, John finally scratched his itch and started developing Workglue. Because of that, we now have an awesome product that will help you be more profitable as
TCF258: Building A Solid Contracting Business with Kyle Hunt
Kyle Hunt hosts the podcast Remodelers on the Rise where he inspires entrepreneurs like yourself with great tips, strategies, and information that helps grow remodeling businesses. In this episode, Tom and Kyle discuss many of those tip and strategies that can help out ANY contracting business. Resources: Remodelers on the Rise Remodelers Community Facebook Group Text JOIN to 516-219-9735 to Join Kyle’s Weekly Text Group Order Your Fight Planner The Contractor Fight Facebook Group
TCF257: Using Email Marketing for Your Business With Laura Reale
Laura Reale is a 20 year veteran in the marketing and landscaping industry. Laura and her husband own and run AquaReale, providing the Philadelphia area with beautiful natural landscapes. In addition to that, Laura is also the host of the podcast Landscape Marketing Secrets and the owner of PondTent, an email marketing system geared towards pond builders and landscapers. Resources: Landscape Marketing Secrets Landscape Marketing Secrets on iTunes AquaReale Pondtent The Contractor Fight Facebook Group
TCF256: How to Grow Your Contracting Business Fast
Who doesn’t want to grow their business? What if we told you there’s a couple of steps you can take to not only grow your contracting business, but do it quickly as well? In this episode, Tom shares some key ways that you can quickly and efficiently begin to grow your business so that you’re able to take it to the next level. Resources: The Contractor Fight Facebook Group The Contractor Fight Night $100k Contractor
TCF255: Finding and Retaining A-Players with Dr. Sabrina Starling
It’s something every contractor struggles with - finding and retaining A-Players (or FWs as we like to call them). Today Tom welcomes back “The Business Psychologist” Dr. Sabrina Starling. Sabrina is the author of How To Hire The Best Series and the co-host of the Profit by Design podcast. In this episode we talk about her new book, How To Hire The Best: The Contractor’s Ultimate Guide to Attracting Top Performing Employees and learn some
TCF254: Don’t Be Bullied By Budget
Have you ever been in a situation where a prospective client will say to you “if you can meet our budget, we’ll let you do the job”? It’s ridiculous how often we are at the mercy of a prospective customer. The root issue is we’re giving our control away as a contractor and it’s been happening for decades. In this episode, Tom shares three huge ways that you can take that control back today. Resources:
TCF253: Common Mistakes Contractors Make
Today Tom goes over some of the most common and easily preventable mistakes that he sees contractors make over and over and over. If you have a shitty bank account or high stress, chances are you’re making at least one of these mistakes on a regular basis. Listen in, take notes, and get ready to transform your business. Resources: Fight Fest - Nashville, TN The Contractor Fight Facebook Group The Contractor Fight Night $100k Contractor
TCF252: Using Facebook Live To Grow Your Business with Alan Decker
In this episode, we’re talking about Facebook Live and using it to grow your business. Facebook Live is a great way for you to answer common questions and establish yourself as the go-to expert in your field. There’s no better person to help make that point that our guest today, Alan Decker. Alan is the owner of Docker’s Pondscapes and over the past few years, he has taken advantage of using Facebook Live to show
TCF251: Facebook Q&A
Today we’re going to dig into some of the things that have come across The Contractor Fight private Facebook group. If you’re not already in the group, go join it today. We’ve worked really hard on curating a kick ass community of FWs where you can get the help you need from other contractors who have the same goals and mindset. Resources: The Contractor Fight Facebook Group The Contractor Fight Night $100k Contractor The Bridge