Why it Costs More to Play Small as a Home Improvement Contractor Business

Audio Transcription

It Costs More to Play Small in your Home Improvement Business

Hey there, welcome to another episode of your concrete success podcast. This is your host Danny Barrera here with concrete marketing crew and the concrete marketing crew, my beautiful wife, Mady, and our amazing marketing manager here, Andrea, what's going on guys? How's it going? Well, we're excited to talk today about several topics, but most importantly, that it costs more to play small, which you might not think.

I know you shared it with our team and our huddle. Yeah. Okay. It might be an investment that pushes you. It might cost you something to play more and to learn more and to get more coached, but it might be worth it. 100%. I mean, look at whatever you desire in your life and your business. And I, this is what we do every single day.

Contractors, businesses that are wanting to rise to the next level. And a lot of times we notice the same thing. It's almost like when they start to experience the growth and the momentum and they start to feel the friction or that ceiling that they put themselves in. A lot of times it's, it's, they go back into the comfort zone and that's what we call play small.

It's like, Hey, it's easier to stay comfortable. But it's going to cost you a lot more because if you dare to push through that ceiling that you put yourself, that box that you put yourself in guess what? There is a next level of abundance in every area of your life. We talk about this, like it's, it doesn't just apply in business.

It applies to your relationship. I mean, what if you were to play bigger in your marriage, in your relationship? What, what if you were to play bigger as a father, as a parent, what if you were to play bigger as the leader of your company? What if you were to play bigger? Making the financial investments that yes it's going to cost more.

In the beginning, it's going to look at it that way. But when you look at the return is significantly greater. And this is the one thing where we want to make sure we bring you the information that's going to help you bring your awareness and empower you and not persuade you to make some sort of financial commitment.

We're actually making a commitment to do more for. All of you listening here. So I want to thank each and every one of the listeners here at your concrete success podcast. I was asking Andrew, it's like, what is this thing doing here? Where's the concrete marketing crew logo? What's going on? I mean, you might have to stay tuned and find out.

I'm not going to, I'm not going to say everything right now. So is that a play smaller thing? Like, is that, that's definitely not a play smaller thing. Okay. Okay. So how comfortable is it to, to just start rolling some things out? Yeah, it happens. Okay. I think. I have a couple of questions, though, because I want to think about that small mindset for for contractors there.

They're in their small minded business. Is it that they don't want to trust someone else? They don't want to have hires. They don't want to step forward. Like what? What do you hear when someone is that small minded mentality? Yeah. All right. So there is one, one thought of abundance, right? Like, I don't think anyone goes into business saying, Hey, I want to get into business so I can work the hardest and work 80 hours, 120 hours a week.

I, I personally don't think that that is what it is. We're looking for freedom. We're looking for purpose. We're looking for, Hey, what this financial abundance. And then as you, you get in the weeds, you're like, man. You know, I need to hire some people and then you hire someone in that person doesn't work out.

And then those intrapreneurial scars either limit you and again the Bible says that people perish because of the lack of what vision, vision and understanding. And a lot of times you're not clear on where you're going. You kind of just one step in front of the other, but you have no idea where you're going.

So this is where the planning takes place for you and your business. What, where do you, do you, where do you want to go? A big pivot that we've made in our agency is like, Hey, we're going to go from becoming the best digital marketing agency. For our clients to becoming their best growth partner to assist them in every step of the way, because that's what we started noticing.

Hey, some clients, they're just crushing it. The ROI, the ROAS, the return on ad spend is ridiculous. 25, 30 X our ROAS. And then we're looking at it and they're like, well. You know, like we had one client that his, he was like at 600, his goal was 6, 6 50 for the year. Is that right? ? Yeah. And then he's like, I made nine over $900,000.

Over 900,000. Okay. Say it again though. Because, yeah, so his goal was low. Yeah. He exceeded his goal, but that means he had the kind of a smaller, he had limited himself out it, and he still like this year's goal. He still wants to go small, he wants to go smaller. And I was like, no, I want more for you. I don't think you go.

Right. So those are some of those things where. You start experiencing your own limitations based on your own experience. And this is the power of surrounding yourself with other individuals that are playing at a higher level. This is something Maddie and I do. It's get together in places where, like, we're not even, it doesn't feel like we're even in the game.

There's rooms where these entrepreneurs, I mean, they're swimming in 30 million a year businesses and we're like, what are we doing? Like, are we even in business, you know? That's a cool table to sit at though, because You're, you're finding, okay, Danny Barrera, he has a strong mind of like goal setting and everything and then you're like, man, I'm around people crazier than me.

This is, this is pretty cool. Well, it's, it's amazing to, to get yourself in those environments. So this is why we're encouraging our clients. And not just our clients, but I would encourage you the power of masterminds, the power of getting in proximity with other individuals that are playing at a bigger level than you that are going after bigger targets than you are.

That is, that is the biggest thing. So if you're playing small, it's because you're giving into your ego. And your ego is always wanting to protect you from getting quote unquote hurt. But the reality is you're going to have to experience some sort of pain, some sort of uncomfortness in the whole deal.

So, that, that applies to you hiring more people. Like, how many contractors, Maddie, have you heard? Well I, I, I want to Make sure that the quality of the job that we're doing, right? My standard. My standard. I'll just do it myself. I'll just do it myself. You see, there's answers to that, right? You can, you can Either systematize your business to a better offering or build some sort of training facility inside of your warehouse so that you're training your people, just like we train our people, that's not easy.

That's that's hard and it's scary, you know, it's scary to train other people to do the things that you know that you do well, because there is the inevitable thing that they will mess up at the beginning when they're. Starting to learn the thing and you have to go back and teach it and fix it, but it's so beneficial and there's so much growth in having somebody else train in what you teach them and then having them grow into that role.

It helps you expand, get bigger, keep going, but there is a fear involved. There's 100 percent and if you stay small and you're like, no, I just can't. I can't do it because I can't risk it. Then, you know, you stay little. It costs your community, though. I think that's something that's eye opening to me when we talk about what we do helps feed families as a marketing agency, as a marketing partner.

If, if you have a vision for your local community and you want to provide more jobs, then grow your business and, and provide a great work experience and training. And I think that. Could be that could change your local landscape instead of just complaining. Oh, you know, I wish I could find more people.

It's like train them up and change the look of your community, you know, and that's the whole thing. It's you're being very selfish when you're thinking small you're just looking after yourself. And I want to call you into action. Like this is a year of being strong and courageous, like step outside of that box.

And if you don't know where to start, start having those conversations with individuals that are playing at a bigger level than you are and be a student for a while. Like there's a lot of things we do in our business that are just like, dude, we have a sabbatical every eight weeks for our. Team members.

And we talk about this. Hey, if we want to play at this bigger level and serve our employees, they've got to do their part. So not only are we calling ourselves into action to get uncomfortable from a financial perspective, if the company is not profitable, the company cannot do what we do. That's the reality.

So. It's in our best interest to play at a bigger level in profitability. And not only that, but make sure our employees are playing at the bigger level so we can serve our clients at a bigger level. And that, that is part of the whole thing. It's like the whole ecosystem starts to play better. The more that you're invested.

And that's something else I've learned is like, Hey, your, your employees, your team members will never play bigger than you do. So that's the other thing is playing smaller and that's in every way shape or form like it, you know this Monday we go through our Huddle and like gratitude and in Ruby Maddie.

What what like she's I'm amazing Ruby big shout out to you What was she talking about today Ruby? She was talking about maybe like two weeks ago. She started telling me that she wanted to buy a house She wanted to buy property because she was sick and tired of people paying rent for somebody else's property.

And this past Monday huddled, she actually found a property and she didn't think about it. She's like, I got it. I just went in there and I applied for it and I got it because she, it was a great opportunity and she didn't play small and now she's going, she, she, she went from like thinking about purchasing a property to purchasing a property in like two weeks because she had that opportunity and now she's, she's just going to go for it and I was so proud of her because she was, she was on another thing.

She was like, you know, giving God, like trusting God to provide for her. That's playing big. Which is the big. That's the biggest thing. There's a boldness in her. That's slang big. Yes. There's a boldness in her. Well, that's, that's the whole thing. It's like, I want you to speak to that, you know, courage. Yeah.

I mean, you're a pastor's wife. You know, I come from a, my, my parents were pastors at one point in time, but it's living in faith, living in courage and boldness. I mean, everything you're executing, speak to that. Well, John Maxwell says. everything worthwhile is uphill. And the moment I heard that, I was like, ah, man, but it's so true.

And I think if you're willing to take risks, continue to push forward, you're going to have those Valley seasons and God's going to walk you through those Valley seasons, but you're going to still be climbing towards more that he has for you. And I think the enemy comes to steal, kill, destroy. That's all fear based.

Yes. There's lies. There's cover ups. Yes. When we step into the light and start walking in truth, we start walking in boldness, then it's, it's electric. It makes such an impact in your life. It makes an impact on your team and then you're actually leading in a way that you feel proud of what you're doing.

Boom. And one thing that Maddie was sharing, there's a, a little bit of, of a tempo here. Okay. Okay. We talked about she turned that Ruby turned. The idea into action in a pretty short amount of time, and you've talked about it before Danny. Sometimes we're playing too slow and small. Talk to us a little bit about the speed of success.

Success loves speed. That's one thing. One of our. Clienteers, clients, Colby, he, he was like, man, I never thought I could accomplish what I accomplished with you guys in this year, but he's stepping into a role where his target is. Double of what he's on pace or track to do and he's fully committed to doing it and he's like, what do I need to do?

What needs to be in place in constant contact with with our team? Whoever's managing his campaign and that's the beautiful thing is like when when you set your targets It's how fast are you taking that first next step or are you going to stay in the season where you're like? Well, i'm gonna wait until april until we're in the season Like dude, if you've been thinking about getting the website done like That should have already been in place.

If you haven't otherwise just get it started right now. Why? Because of development, the process, everything you got to do, the advertising campaigns, the strategies you're going to be testing out that doesn't start out in the season. By the time you're rolling into the season, you should already have your pixels warmed up.

You're already, your audience has warmed up with your messaging. So, you see, that's the whole thing in, in, in the advertising world. That's the way I look at it. But as far as from a personal perspective, I mean, you know, when God speaks to you and you feel called to do something, if you're not taking action, this is the weirdest thing that happens because I've navigated through this season, my, my last year, like the end of last quarter is that God gives you curve balls.

And for me, it's like God gave me so many curve balls that he was just redirecting me to what he called me to do. And this is one thing like irreplaceable fathers. Play a clip here in the moment here. I'll make sure a Christian starts loading it up. That's. I, I felt the calling for launching into irreplaceable father, which is helping divorced men who are navigating through struggle, chaos, have no clue, don't, don't have any clue.

And just to give you some, some reference, that was me. That was me about eight years ago, give or take eight years ago, I found myself sleeping in my car you know, sleeping from one friend's couch to another, bringing my kids because I didn't have a place of my own. I was quite literally taking showers on, on on the, the gyms.

And like, dude, I have nothing going for myself. It was a reinvention process. I had just gone through a divorce. My ex stayed with the place and all of that. And it was a valley for me. It was a valley and I found myself that that is what the most desperate time of my life. I found myself trying to figure myself out and it only redirected me to God.

Now, fast forward years later, I'm running an agency, we're growing, things are going amazing. Everything, we're crushing it and I'm at a service at a worship service and I'm worshiping and I felt God just hit me. It's like, Hey, I want you to. Go and do this. Will you do it? And I'm like, ah, I'm coaching agency owners.

Like, dude, I got a solid gig making, you know, a healthy six figures, just coaching agency owners. I got an agency that's thriving, that we're growing. And and I'm like, I'm very comfortable. I'm very, I'm playing it very safe here. Like, it's very A curveball comes at you, you're like, do I want to hit this curveball?

So, so, what ended up happening, like, we're moving, we're moving, we're moving. And you know, this mid last year You know, we decided to hire some individuals and like, man, that was, that was when God spoke to me. It's like, Hey if you don't come and do this, like, like this is it, this is what you're called to do.

And it was interesting how everything just started unveiling. And for myself, it exposed me, it exposed me to my fears, my insecurities. And I'm like, God, like, you know, concrete marketing crew, like this is what I work. So hard to build for the past seven years and like I have an amazing wife She's helping out and all of that and and you know, it's it's a test it was really a test for me to Not not just see the leadership that I built for the the company and you know everything that's going on But it's to trust God in the process and saying you know, what are we really gonna do this?

So come at the end of last year You know, I had a production set to record training for agency owners, and one of my friends is now a business partner, Jeremy Searles. He told me, Hey, we're ready to shoot your your master class. And I'm like, you know what? I really feel guilty not doing this. I'm going to have to shift the entire training.

To devote it for irreplaceable father like, you know, I don't have the curriculum set in stone. I don't have it I don't have like it's it's purely faith based and I really mean it. I really mean it I mean, we we developed this curriculum in a way that is impactful powerful But I want you to just get a taste of that because the way it's come out I mean everyone I'm sharing it with we're rolling some ads right now for for the releasing in February But I mean I have guys Who are calling me in tears and they're like, man, what are you doing?

Like I want to be in it. And like, so I roll it out. Welcome to the irreplaceable father masterclass. During our time together, you'll be going on a journey. We're going to go through the woods of chaos and confusion and head towards a tower. This tower is where your children are waiting for you.

This modules we're going to talk about. Dealing with the chaos, the purge, the preparation and the liberation that you're seeking as a man. I started so disconnected with myself, with God, not knowing how to get out of the situation. So disconnected from my children, where they didn't even want to see me.

For as bad as it may look, for as dark as it may be, that is your starting point. So now. Here's your assignment. What does being a new replaceable father mean to you?

So talk about trusting God 100 percent and like not playing small. That is not small at all. What an impact it can make on so many lives. And you know, I think about my kids when we say we're slow to obey, it doesn't count. We call it slow obey is no obey. So you taking action and actually stepping forward and doing what is like, Hey, this would be big.

And doing it, that's a huge deal, and if you didn't do it Then the assignment will go to someone else. That's right. Yeah. And that's going to happen in so many businesses. It's like, Hey, if you don't step up, guess what? Someone else is going to come in and just start running everything that, you know, you've been given to run.

That's, that's the, that's the reality. But Maddie, you've been behind the scenes. Maddie has experienced my evolution and transformation and, and you know, here's the thing I could talk all day long about it. I can talk about like. Men's transformations and all of that. But she has seen, she met me when I was quite literally, I was snorting cocaine, driving long distance carrying money, transporting money.

So I was a money transporter. In big amounts, you're talking about like half a million dollars and over and I found myself in this pit of putting myself in very dumb ass situations as a man thinking like, Hey, I'm getting my shhh together. I'm able to make some money here. I'm a hustler.

I got this together and God took me into just a spin. I mean, I. When Maddie, can you talk to that? Because you met me not too long after that. I mean that was that was a very interesting. It was very scary. I was scared when you would call like would go on those trips I'd be like you need to stop this now like ASAP And it's interesting how you just you did you you all of a sudden just like you you left all of it And you started from like And that's very hard for you because you're a person who has this vision and this, this, and, and it, it really took you, you, you accepted that path and you started going down that like, like that straight and narrow path.

Like you started going down that. That correct, you started listening to God and actually going up that hill that, that Andre was talking about. And that hill was very hard for me, like emotionally, like I would be just laying on the floor crying and I'm like, dude, I, I just have all this to deal with as a man.

And then talk about starting Concrete Marketing Crew. I mean, there's pictures. Yeah, there's pictures of Concrete Marketing Crew in my, 800 square foot house that I lived at that time and you sitting in a little corner in a teeny tiny little desk Like that's where we started concrete marketing But you know we did we started concrete marketing crew and I was a teacher for 15 years And it was I had the stable income.

It wasn't the greatest income because teachers don't make that much money But shout out to teachers I was making a stable income. I had the insurance. I had the thing. It was, that was very like small lifestyle for me at that point, you know, but it was secure and it was a point in time when you were like, let's go, let's do this.

And I said, okay, let's do this. And we started a concrete marketing crew back then, 2017. And we've been, you know, doing it since, but that was also one of those moments where I. We could either stay small and you kept doing your little thing like little here and side hustle to my side. Hustle. Hustle. And we had like, you know, a couple bucks that we were like, you know, we had, you know, the little, or we were gonna play big and we decided to play big and we moved forward and here we are.

And like you, you've said, you know, I have in my whole life also tried like been a person who's been afraid to play big in certain roles and in this past. Couple, like I said, in, in one of these past episodes like this, this is a new year and, and there is no small Yeah. And a lot of the, a lot of the things that are happening and, and, and a lot of your, you fulfilling your purpose with Irreplaceable Father calls me as your partner to step up and play big two.

Yeah. And it's been a very, you know, exciting thing to do. You have to say. Yes. Let, let's talk about when, because this is another thing. It's, you know, last year. I tried to do it in my own strength. Like I'm like, man, I'm going to go out. I'm going to hunt for all the talent. I'm going to hunt. Like, I got it all figured out.

Right. You know, we went through like an entire three month span of complete chaos. I mean, out of nowhere. And it's because I tried to do it in my own strength. And I mean, you spoke about trusting God in the process and one of the key things that the biggest lesson I had is like, Hey, this is. This is in God's hands, 100%, like trusting the whole thing.

And like the, the crew that we have at this very moment you were telling me about, we just have a new account manager just started out. She's amazing. What was her feedback? Like she was so she's like, pinch me. Is this real? You know, she was so she's, she's so great. And, and, you know, I think that one of the things too, that is, is so important is that.

We always say, you know, we are, we are providing blessings to, to people and in turn, God will bless us because that's, that's a mindset that we have in our agency, you know, and, and she's happy. She's thrilled. She was very excited. She was telling me that yesterday. I feel like I need to pinch myself. Is this real, you know, and having trusting God to provide in, in, in these, in all of these aspects of playing his best.

big role that he has for us. It's hard to just let go of that control. But once you do, everything just starts falling into place like perfectly, perfectly. Yeah. And that's the thing is when you obey, there's that obedience, which I'm going to call you into action. Like you're might be listening to this message here.

Hey, I'm not Christian. I'm not a believer. Well, God. It's speaking to you here right now, like there are some things in your life that you need to assess that are just not working and you need to learn how to surrender those specific areas of your life. Because when you come from a place of surrender, let me tell you, my friend, my brother, like you're not going to do it in your own strength.

You're, you're going to be put against the wall this year, the next 12 months, 18 months, 36 months, you're going to realize that some things aren't working because you're allowing your ego to try to do it all. I tried to do it myself, so I want to encourage you with that. And the more that you surrender is, is beautiful, like everything else just starts opening up for you.

Which is what you've been called to do now for you. You you've stepped up to the plate here, market and manager. I mean, what's been you, you know, the, one of the ways that you've stepped up to the plate getting uncomfortable and all that. Well, even being here today and actually learning more of, of new industries, you know, my niche was always church and ministry, and now I'm expanding to.

Contractors and, you know, garages, so learn the willingness to learn is a huge part of going from small to big and continuing growth, because if it's just, hey, I know this. And so it's comfy. That's that's going to be fine, but it's not. I don't know. I don't know if you guys like easy. I guess I don't because I never end up choosing the easy path because, you know, when there's friction, you end up growing.

And I think I like growing. Yes, that's the thing is once you experience growth, there's some sort of addiction that you develop to it. If that's a good word to. To put it with it, but there's a high that you get that you constantly seek and you're like, man, I, you know, I've come this far. I'm just not going to settle for this and you will determine what that is.

So just an action item here for you, whatever you've been thinking about growing your business, hiring new individuals that you need in your, in your company so that you can continue evolving, investing more into advertising. What does that look like? It could look as. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's like, Hey, you need a new website and you know, you know, you, you, you need a new website.

This is the year, like stop playing at the levels that you played 2023, 2022 things are going to get tighter in the economy. That is a fact. And if you're not putting all your efforts forward. All equally, this is what we have evolved and stop offering the accelerator stand alone. And we started looking at the most successful clients, what are they doing and what do they have in place and what are they leveraging?

And why are we not offering that to all of our clients all at once? That's one of the main things which we are. Forced in our clients to level up, but they're excited about it, which they're excited. Everyone has been excited. I'm like, Oh my gosh, we've been talking about videos, such a blessing. We were like, Oh my goodness, what's going to happen?

And every single person that we have spoken to has been like, yes, I need this. Sign me up right away. It's been amazing. It's that's also confirmation. Also a confirmation. It's another thing about trusting God. Us playing bigger building more accountability internally for our teams. Like our accountability has increased only increased from last year.

But let's talk about the one last question here that you guys have. What's one last question that you have in this topic? You see, I turned them. I gave them a curve ball, right? He gave us a curve ball that we have to. Play big. Okay, Danny. So I get that. We're saying like all this playing big and all that stuff and whatever whatnot, but like as a contractor who's listening to this, like how, give me an example.

Like, I know we've been talking about like, you know, all the things like kind of like spread out. How can you play big? How do they play big in this new year? Like what, how, what do they have to do to play big? Like what's step one. I love it. I love it. I love it. So. So you've been given the greatest, one of the greatest gifts is your ability to have a vision.

You know, and that's the whole thing. People perish because of the lack of vision. So, that being said, that is the gift. That is, that is almost like the seed that you've been given. It's yours, it's your seed. If you just throw that seed on, on the soil that you're not watering, what happens? The bird comes and eats it.

That's right. It doesn't actually grow. It doesn't grow. So what is the water? What is the water that you got to put in? It's your action. Your action, what is your action? So if you don't have a growth plan in place, if you don't have your next 12 months mapped out in your key targets, your key objectives for growth, that's the starting point, that's the next starting point.

Now, if you do, then you start, you got to start getting everything under control. And then looking at, okay, is this, you're going to require me to invest another 30 percent on top of what I did last year, just to be able to make the same amount. And what does it look like for me to look at my financial? So job costing is a big deal this year.

I don't, and this is what I'm preaching to our account manager. She's like, stop stop letting our clients play small. Like if they're not profitable out of the gates, like that's our number one job. Let's increase our pricing. Now. If you increase your pricing, but then you have a presence online and a website that looks like you built it yourself, you can't back it up.

We got a problem. There's a disconnect. So that's, that would be the main starting point. What about you? Yeah, I definitely think having those conversations with everyone on your team, are you aligned as a team? It's not just you, it might be, you have a spouse. It might be that you have some, some hires that you need to make, but.

Share that vision. Don't just have it and keep it to yourself. Actually cast that vision to your team and make sure that's flowing out of you so that you're all aligned. And I think we do that a lot as Concrete Marketing Crew and that keeps us connected. And really keeps us, there's not people in the dark, there's not people who don't know.

We're, we're together and I think you can do the same thing for your business. That's right. And if you have not yet visited codingsmastermind. com, make sure that you check out it's an event that's coming up next month. In Dallas, Texas. If you're looking to level up your business and looking to mastermind with other businesses who are playing a higher level processes, systems, hiring, recruiting, marketing, sales, scaling, your concrete coding, flat work, residential home improvement business.

Make sure that you check out codings mastermind. com. And also check out your concrete success podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple. Anywhere else? Where are you posting this? It really goes everywhere that there's podcasts. Yep. That's right. Make sure you follow us on social media. Leave us your comment.

Let us know how we're doing and how we can serve you this year. Have an amazing rest of your day. Thank you for tuning in. Goodbye.