Can You Get A Crew Together?

I love getting the calls every week from prospects looking for me to get a crew together. Typical conversations dont start with "Can you get a crew together?". This past week I decided to have some fun with the person on the other line. Here is the conversations:

ME: "Hello, this is Justin how can I help you"

Bill: " Hey Justin, my name is Bill and I got several properties were looking to rehab and I wanted to know if you have a crew or can put a crew together?"

ME: "WOW, Bill where did you get my information?" "I would love to help you, tell me more"

Bill: Goes on and on about investors, and addresses, and working with tight budgets, etcccc...(Minimum 7.5 minute explanation)

ME: "So, who referred me to you?"

Bill: "I got your info online and I like the name of your company, are you interested in these project?"

If you have been in business for decent amount of time you have come across this type call. They have no clue what you do and really have no interest in knowing about you or the value you bring to the deal. I am not interested in going through the hiring process for someone I dont know. Testing strangers out on customers I have never worked with before. Supervising multiple jobs and being pulled away from existing customers. What do people really think about what I do? Do they devalue my trade so much that they think I wave a magic get er done wond and the project comes together..

I usually let them off with I am too busy or I am just not interested. I decided to see how far Bill wanted to go with this. I meet him today and will follow up with everyone next week.

How do you handle this, tell me your story?

Comments welcome.

Does Work Keep You Awake At Night?

TIP FOR SLEEPING BETTER...WRITE IT DOWN

I love to get work done at night. Its the only time the house is quiet and most productive for me. The kids are in bed, I can grab my job folders and knock everything out for a week in just a few hours. Then I would read until I fell asleep. I would dream about each job and what had to go were the next day. I would play my schedule in my head. The alarm clock goes off and the day begins. Around 2-3 pm I would need a pick me up, coffee or energy boost to make it through the day.

Does this sound typical with you?

The problem for me happened when I couldn't drink coffee anymore.

What was I going to do? I needed my pick me up in the afternoon.

I researched several options about coffee replacement drinks and found  a bunch of synthetic drinks and herbs that I didn't want to take. I cold turkey'd the coffee and had headaches for a week. Withdraws suck.

I then focused on getting more sleep and changing my late night routine. Go to bed earlier, wake up earlier and get some work done. This worked but, I was still dreaming about work and not getting the proper sleep....

I was fortunate enough to listen to someone recently faced with the same nightmares about work. This person would lay in bed half awake dreaming about there to do list. Awful night sleep led to poor performance and professional help. After thousands of dollars trying to find a cure for this late night curse, they were asked to write down what they were thinking about. SOLUTION: Take your to do list and write it out. Beautiful night sleep ever since.

I personally tried this 3 months ago and it works like a charm. If your dreaming about work, write down the dream on paper with your handwriting and get it out of your brain.

Let me know how this works for you and if you have a tip?

Daddy..."You Need To Get A Real Job"

Happy Easter..

I love spending time with my family. I cant think of anything better to do. My 6 yr old son is starting to become very inquisitive and started asking questions about what I do. This video tells the entire 1 minute 43 second story...Enjoy

Leave a comment or two and enjoy your Easter,
Justin

5 Tips For A Successful Contractor Mastermind

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               I am blessed to be a part of a highly organized mastermind that focuses on accountability and Growing each others business. I wanted to give some tips to Contractors who have thought about Mastermind groups. These tips will make your mastermind blossom with ideas.

1. Choose the right fit: I interviewed 21 people before choosing the right players for our group. I focused on what others could bring to the table that I didn't posses and vice/versa. We all have similar personalities but, were very distinctly different. All different trades.

2. Get Organized: Have the schedule set and agenda sent out ahead of time. Here is what works best for us and will work for you. 

A) Meeting Organizer-We choose to rotate monthly. 5-7 in group. Meet Weekly or Bi Weekly.

B) Tell us your win this past week- Give each other about 3 minutes each or pass if you have no win. 

C) Hot Seat-This is the focus of the meeting. Someone from within the group explains the challenge their facing and each person take a turn giving their opinion. 30 minutes total

D) AHA Moment-This is not just for Opera, give something of value during the AHA moment Example: New technology, Marketing, Sales Tip. 2 minutes each

3. Accountability: Once your in, you have to make meetings. Missing throws everything off. Too many misses and your out.

4. Take notes: I personally record all my Masterminds. Some of the info talked about is so rich I have to listen twice. Plus taking notes makes you engaged in conversation. I have personally taken away several ideas worth six figures or more overtime.

5. Have Fun: We meet for breakfast and we meet for lunch sometimes. Relax environment and the creativity goes through roof.

I have attached the meeting agenda that we use with some notes here: http://static.smartpassiveincome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Mastermind-Structure.pdf

COMMENT, If your interested in Masterminding shoot me a message and lets chat? Justin

WOW...Thank You. The 4 Minute Idea.

My pool guy Jack comes every Wednesday like clock work to clean and balance my pool. In the past several years I have only seen him twice. I got a brief conversation with him in 2011 to talk about a new pump that started leaking.

When I come home every Wednesday the pool looks great, which is what I am paying for.

The pool deck looks spotless of leaves and debris, which I do not pay for.

It took me about 13 cleanings to realize that everyday there was leaves and debris everywhere. I finally called Jack and found out that every Wednesday he blew the pool deck off. WHAT..Why?

Jack informed that when he unloads his trailer to clean the pool he has a small gas blower that he uses to blow the leaves off the deck and away from the pool. Once the pool is clean the presentation is better to have a clean deck and pool. Also, there was chance the deck leaves would end up in the pool by the time I got home.

This took Jack an extra 4 minutes to blow my deck off every week. This equates to 16 minutes per month.

WOW..Thank you, was my response.

The Aha moment was then for me. What am I doing to get a similar response, WOW thank you??

What are you doing in your business to get a WOW Thank you?

This past Wednesday we posted our 11th Podcast for Contractors. Marketing the Basics, great information. Here is the link to listen on your Phone or Computer. http://contractorssecretweapon.com/back-to-the-basics-marketing/

Does 10 Estimates Keep You Honest..Follow Up Video.

Wow this blog post has gone viral through the Contractor Community.

I had the opportunity to interview the 10 estimates customer. He got to breakdown his thoughts and hiring process. Check the video out and leave some comments below..

Here is the original Post:
http://sellingandmarketingforcontractors.blogspot.com/2014/03/does-10-estimates-really-keep-everyone.html

The Contractor Secret Weapon Weekly Podcast is growing. Here is the latest episode to help with Unique Selling Proposition. Hope you enjoy.

http://contractorssecretweapon.com/8-usp-in-your-marketing-what-makes-you-unique/

Sharing A Win..What does Success Look Like TO YOU?

This week was great. I wanted to share a win with you the devoted readers.

I got invited by my 4 year old(Gianna) to Daddy Daughter Luncheon at her school Wednesday.

I cleared my entire schedule from 10:30-12:30 to be able to spend about 30 minutes with her. The little chairs in her class were wayyy too low for me to go. I found a nice lunch spot against the wall.

I believe these moments last a lifetime in the memory bank for both of us. The monetary bank can take a back seat for a little. I consider this a win for multiple reasons:

1. I have the flexibility to be able to do what I like, when I like to do it. 
2. I have freedom from a time clock. 
3. Freedom from a cubicle or driving to the same place everyday.
4. Spending meaningful time with my daughter and family.
5. Disconnecting from the phone or email to relax.
6. The list goes on......

I would like you to notice that none of these are monetary successes. 

I think too many contractors get caught up in looking at success by the dollars in the bank account. If that's the case, I would advise you to reevaluate how you look at success. I decide to slow down and start taking it all in about a year ago and shifting what I considered a win to what matters.

At this luncheon there were 9 children who's parents couldn't make the luncheon. The children were put at a table together. While the other children who had parents got to hang out around the room and eat lunch together. Seeing the small children with no family was heartbreaking. I wanted to take at least 2 of the 9 or was hoping the teacher might buddy them up with other families. Didn't happen.

Share your WIN with me or give a thumbs up?