3 Tips For Construction Industry Business Owners.
Business Owners Only.
Disclaimer: This Podcast is for Construction Industry Business Owners who want to hear the truth no matter how much it might sting. If you’re looking for nicey, nicey leadership advice? Go watch a TED talk!
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If I knew then…
We’ve all had those moments when we’ve thought, ‘If only I knew then, what I know now.’ If you haven’t, you’re either lying to yourself or not paying any bloody attention to what you’re doing lol.
Hight sight certainly is 20 / 20 and as a business owner in any industry, a time machine would be worth its weight in gold. However, in the construction industry, it would be worth 1000 x its weight in gold.
Therefore, on that note, this week, we are going to look at what twenty years of Business Owner experience in our industry has taught me to value are the top 3 tips that I would travel back in time and shove down my younger, more ignorant, and nieve selves throat!
Tip No.1:
Understanding and appreciating that you are no longer a tradesman or tradeswoman running a Business. You are a Businessman or Businesswoman running a trades Business! They are not the same thing.
Overlooking this perspective is very common and very dangerous. Granted, at the outset, this trades worker mindset is both sufficient and necessary to get the company off the ground.
However, once the Business is established and starts to grow, your mindset needs to shift and grow with it. If we think of it from a sports analogy, it’s the difference between the team captain’s mindset and the coach’s mindset. They both want to win the game; however, they must approach things from a different perspective.
The simplest way to think of this is that your Business will only grow and evolve to the extent that you grow and evolve.
Tip No.2:
Quality is the expectation!
Does this really need to be stated? Yes!!!
Unfortunately, most business owners and tradespeople in small-sized construction companies think that performance quality is a direct benefit of working with their company.
They don’t grasp that the client is paying for quality. That no matter how much of a bargain they got the works done for, they still expect it to be spot on.
Therefore, if quality is the expectation, just doing a good job will not impress them. They are impressed by all of the things that have zero to do with the quality of your actual works, things like:
- Did you keep your work area clean and tidy?
- Did you do the job when you said you would?
- Where you on time?
- Did you keep them up to date with progress and manpower shifts?
- Where you friendly and easy to work with?
- Can you work alongside other trades?
- Where you respectful to the client?
None of the above have a single thing to do with your actual trade. However, they have everything to do with whether the client will ask you to price the next project!
In simple terms, most clients would rather choose a subcontractor with a slightly inferior quality output/finish who does all of the above. Over, a superior quality subcontractor who’s difficult to work with or around.
Don’t let your ego get in the way of growing your client base and your Business’s size. All that matters in Business are results.
Tip No.3:
Respect the un-respected.
Not in the sense that your mum taught you i.e. to respect others and treat them as you would like to be treated (although that is solid advice lol.). Respect the fact that you’re back to being an apprentice.
Not a trades apprentice, but a business owner apprentice, an entrepreneurial apprentice. And the first rule of being an apprentice is always to listen more than you talk.
Yes, you’re the boss. Yes, you own the company. Yes, you can fire everyone. But none of that shit is important! Results, increased profitability, market share growth is important, not you being right.
Respect the fact that getting a business off the ground is just the beginning. It’s extremely hard to get a business off the ground, and you deserve major respect for having the guts to go for it. However, that stage has passed now, so you need to move forward to the next stage, and you can’t do so if you’re still living in the past.
Respecting the fact that you don’t have it all figured out, that you have plenty to learn. That some of your old habits, attitudes, and perspectives might have to change or be outright cut from your working life is extremely important.
Respect that you might have to train, educate, coach, or fire some of your existing people.
In short, respect that successful multi-generational business owners understand they have more to learn than they currently know.
Conclusion
By being aware of these three tips, you are ahead of most small business owners in the construction industry. But, if you implement these tips, you with become a stronger leader and increase your chances of dominating your industry.
Program vs. Podcast?
The Construction MPa Program is an entirely different beast than the Construction MPa Podcast. However, it was ultimately built with the same end goal in mind, too:
A) Help small business owners strengthen their businesses themselves via a step-by-step process.
B) To provide a home for small business owners to openly discuss the challenges they face in a sales and bullshit-free environment.
If you want to know more about the Construction MPa Program, check out: Program Outline Page.
Business Owners Only.
“If you want to strengthen your business today. You need Construction MPa.”