The Level 10 Contractor Daily Podcast

If your contracting business is generating $5M–$15M a year but netting 10% or less, you don't have a lead problem — you have a math problem. In this episode, Rich breaks down 6 proven strategies to engineer your net profit to 15% or better: raise prices, pursue higher-end work, cut wasteful expenses, build a repeat and referral system, invest in brand farming, and leverage financing as a price support tool.

This week's Sunday podcast is a "throwback Sunday" so to speak, because it's a recording of a webinar Rich did a few years back as a part of a "Personal Edge" series he used to do. This is an all-time great message… as he talks about belief from both a secular and spiritual perspective… and uses the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25 to help you understand how to multiply your talents. This is really good stuff… and, as always, Rich has plenty of fun stories to make the concepts come alive.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. Rich reminds time and again that effective marketing is good storytelling. That is what we are focusing on this week: how and why it is crucial to tell your company's story in a way that explains–without a doubt–why you are the absolute best buying decision for your prospects.

Alright podcast listeners, we're going to kill two birds with one stone; Rich is going to help you understand how to write better copy for sales letters.. AND at the same time, he's going to give you a killer letter for rehash.// To make this happen, he's going to take a really bad rehash letter that was written by a closet organizer company, and he's going to give it an extreme makeover. As he does, he'll walk you step by step how and why he changes the letter… and when it's all over, BOOM, there's a great rehash letter you can use for your company.

It's Throwback Thursday. In this episode, Rich tackles the classic question: Can David beat Goliath? The answer is yes—when you wield the power of Identity. Rich explains how smaller contractors can outmaneuver giant competitors by clearly defining who they are, what makes them different, and why customers should choose them.

Pop quiz: If a prospect won't answer or return your phone calls despite multiple attempts… Does that mean they don't want to talk to you? Well, yes, in some cases… but also, surprisingly, in other cases, it does NOT. That might be shocking information, but it's actually quite possible that ignoring you has a lot less to do with YOU than it does with…. well, life.

Tuesday's podcast is one of the more important ones we've published in a while… we talk a lot on here about making the jump to $10MM in sales, and that's a worthy goal, obviously. But how do you make sure your company won't collapse under its own weight if and when you DO get to that level? That's what the manager of a $4MM restoration and exterior remodeling company wanted to know--so he emailed Rich and asked to discuss it on this podcast. As usual, Rich asks him a thousand questions to make sure he understands the particulars of the situation…. Then he gets in a really nice groove with some GREAT advice on planning ahead so you grow with your eyes wide open. You'll want to make sure to listen to this one all the way to the end.

Did you know that you can actually take advantage of the momentum that your competitors have in the market… based on their reputation, their advertising spend, their general awareness… and use it to your advantage? Yep, you can… and today, Rich is going to give you 5 ideas of how to do it.

Welcome to the Sunday podcast, where Rich takes a break from marketing and instead focuses on topics more in the realm of self improvement and spirituality. This week's podcast is about overcoming temptation–how do you actually do it? As you might expect, Rich has a different take than most. Take a listen and see what you think!

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we focus on joint ventures. What's a joint venture? It's when you work with other companies to leverage either their brand or their customer list to generate leads and sales. Rich covers three instances of joint ventures in this episode. First, becoming a content provider… second, what he calls "left field endorsements," and third "when you have something to sell no one has ever heard of." Sit back and take notes. The answer to your question about where to locate more leads might just be your neighboring businesses.

What do Calloway Big Bertha Drivers and Victoria's Secret Bras have in common with a local painting company? Well…. Nothing, potentially… unless that local painter takes a little bit of time, thought, and effort to take some of the mundane things that he does as a matter of standard operating procedures and figures out a way to make them truly extraordinary… so they stand out from the crowd. I mean, any golf company could have made the head of their driver massively huge and stuck a name on it like "Big Bertha," right? And any underwear company could have made their collection a little fancier, then stuck it on gorgeous models and mailed 100 catalogs a week to every home in America all throughout the 90's… right? So what could the painter do? What could YOU do?... you know, to stand out from the crowd? Rich is about to tell you, and it all starts with… of all things… a chicken fajita from a taco stand in a soccer shop.

It's Throwback Thursday, and today's episode is all about customer service, and creating "Raving Fans." Six main points will be covered: educating your customers, communications, how you look, doing something unexpected and memorable, dealing with problems, and getting your team to buy in. And trust me… you're going to love the story in the middle about Joe The Installer. This is hard-core Level 10 Stuff from early days!

Wednesday's podcast proves that just knowing a lot about your business doesn't mean that you necessarily have any idea how to talk intelligently about your business in your marketing. The tendency, for most business owners, is to start spewing platitudes instead of really getting down to telling their story. Rich is going to share with you a letter from the owner of a roofing company that got basically NO results… and you'll quickly hear why. Rich takes and completely resurrects the letter and makes it so it actually WORKS.

Rich delivers one of his best live performances at the GAF Northeast Summit, breaking down what actually makes SEO work for contractors—and why most company websites fail miserably. He explains geo-keyword targeting, identity-driven content, and the need for a properly structured site with core pages, service-area pages, and blog content. Rich also covers Google review thresholds, AI-driven optimization, and why companies doing $2M+ should treat SEO as a long-term engine for generating steady, quotable leads.

Stop losing your best employees. Rich reveals 5 proven strategies to motivate your remodeling or home services team without breaking the bank. Learn why growth can outpace culture, the power of random appreciation, and how a $60 cash gift created legendary loyalty. Perfect for contractors struggling with burnout and retention issues.

Welcome to the Sunday podcast, where Rich takes a break from marketing and instead focuses on topics more in the realm of self improvement and spirituality. This week he's going to tackle the tricky issue of poverty and income inequality. We can all agree that this is a major issue… and that the solutions being doled out by government, well, they just don't work. Who needs government thought when we have Rich to guide us… let's see what he has to say!

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we talk about offers. From discounts to educational material to running contests, offers can be a great way to move a prospect along in the buying cycle. People ready to buy will be incentivized to act immediately or pass up a juicy discount, while shoppers less far along in their decision-making process will gladly fork over their contact details to gain a helpful guide. Contests and sweepstakes too can spur a buyer into action. Rich will discuss each and why they are crucial to your marketing success.

 In this episode, Rich breaks down the nuts and bolts of launching a podcast for your business. From equipment and format to messaging, positioning, and promotion, you'll learn how to turn a simple show into a powerful authority-building, lead-generating marketing machine.

It·s Throwback Thursday, and today we are getting in the wayback machine and traveling to 2015 to a webinar Rich did on the topic of Pay Per Click advertising. As you listen, keep in mind that this is about 11 years old, and some of the specifics about h

Wednesday's podcast is based on a question that Rich gets ALL THE TIME from clients… which is… Should I star in my own TV and radio commercials? It's a good question, and to be sure, there are pros and cons either way.

 Ever wonder what advice Rich would give you if you asked him, "Hey Rich, what marketing activities should we engage in?" Well, that's exactly what one of Level 10's clients asked him, and you know Rich–the man likes to talk. Lucky for us, he always has something worth listening to. We're going to pick this conversation up when they're talking about targeted direct mail, then they're going to cover, well, not EVERYTHING… but pretty darn close.

Direct mail isn't dead—you're just doing it wrong. Learn the 5 proven strategies that helped contractors generate millions, including past customer campaigns, radius marketing, and the Wall Drug frequency principle that crushes digital-only competitors in 2025.

It's Sunday, and RIch is going to continue his conversation about Grace. Last week he talked about it in quite a bit of detail… and today he's going to focus on the practical, real-world application. This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we showcase clips that will help you create engaging and diggable content, both for your website in the form of blogs and case studies as well as for social media using videos and testimonials. Google loves a website that grows so if you want to win the SEO war, you are going to have to put in the time and effort to add pages of relevant content. This may seem like a headache until you realize you have all the material you need running your successful business as is to satisfy Google's algorithm and shopping prospects.

Friday's podcast is Quick Tips for using videos on your website… it's a short, quick episode… Rich is going to cover the IMPROPER use of video, How to create a spectacle,  how to make videos (hint: it's your phone), Giving your SEO a boost… and using whiteboard explainer videos. This one will get you thinking!

Rich offers 4 reasons why you might consider changing your company name.

Discover what true company culture looks like when Rich attends Service Champions' legendary all-company meeting. Watch as a 40-year-old HVAC technician shares his Corvette dream while employees earn cash prizes, $3,000 mission trip checks, and genuine connection. No boring policies or fake pep rallies—just authentic leadership that turns employees into family. Learn how Level 10 contractors build cultures people actually love working in.

Rich takes a really boring story that a company wrote in their newspaper advertorial, and tells it in a different way that highlights a BETTER STORY!

Rich is going to talk to you about the Sunk Cost Fallacy… the logical fallacy that compels you to continue to pour resources into something–even if it's not working–simply because of all the effort you've ALREADY put into it. There are 5 areas that you need to evaluate… and here's Rich to share them with you.

It's the Sunday Podcast, and that means Rich steps off the marketing path and veers into the side roads of spirituality and self improvement. Today is firmly under the header of Spirituality, and Rich is going to explain what grace is, and why it is the key to finding our way back to God. This discussion takes several twists and turns, so pay close attention!

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we showcase customer service. How are you treating your money-makers? Are you doing everything you can to ensure customers have the best experience working with you… hiring the best people, staying in touch throughout a project, and following up to make certain they are satisfied? If you aren't taking care to deliver top notch customer service, you can kiss repeat and referral business goodbye, not to mention the glowing reviews that move the needle for prospects considering you for future remodels, windows, or roofs.

Okay so you know Rich talks about SEO a lot–and for good reason! It's a great way for your company to get anywhere from dozens to HUNDREDS of leads a month from people who are currently actively searching for what you sell. So recently Rich heard that Ted talks are 18 minutes long… and the idea of a Ted Talk, of course, is to get your most powerful message out there in as powerful a way as possible… but in a compact amount of time–18 minutes. Turns out, he only needs 16, but with this intro, it's 18. Here you go with the condensed and awesome version of how SEO really works.

So you might be asking yourself… this Level 10 podcast is pretty good, but does all this stuff Rich talks about actually work? Well I'm glad you asked! On Thursday's podcast, Rich interviews Level 10 Contractor client Shawn Clemens, owner of Clemens Home Solutions in Muncie, Indiana. Holy cow–you're gonna want to pay attention to this one! They first had Level 10 build their new website, which went live about a year ago. Since then, they've had Level 10 handling their SEO, radio, and paid facebook advertising… and we've also helped them with direct mail, and their brand ambassador program. How's that going? In a word: Spectacularly! Here's a preview of what you're going to hear: Issued leads from their website are up 15,400% January to August of this year versus last year, with their old website. Radio is working, Brand Ambassador is working, and Facebook is generating consistent high quality leads for cheap.

Radio is dead in 2026—not dying, DEAD. After spending millions on radio ads over 25 years, I'm exposing the 82% weekly reach scam and revealing a real client case study: $93K spent, 39% marketing cost, and why I pulled the plug completely. Learn where smart contractors are moving their ad dollars instead (OTT, CTV, digital) and stop lighting your budget on fire.

Rich uses a fishing analogy to explain why most roofing websites fail to generate leads at this year's GAF Conference in Chicago. He reveals that the average contractor website scores just 27 out of 100, despite using "professional" agencies. The episode covers the fundamentals of driving traffic through Google search and converting visitors into leads, explaining that most people have never replaced a roof and turn to Google when they need one. Rich shares actionable strategies for making your website a competitive advantage in a crowded market.

Oversized visuals stop people in their tracks. In this episode, Rich explains the "Big Bill" strategy and five proven ways contractors can use giant dollar bills to break patterns, start conversations, and make their marketing impossible to ignore. 

It's the Sunday Podcast, and that means Rich tackles topics of either a self-development or spiritual nature, and as you might guess from the podcast title, today it's self-development. One of Rich's favorite quotes comes from Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, who said, referring to the early days of the business when its future was anything but certain: Confidence: More than equity or liquidity, that's what a man needs. Rich is going to discuss how to develop that elusive trait… and as you know, he's got plenty of great stories to back it up. This is a recording from an old webinar he did in 2010… you're going to enjoy it!

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we showcase the advantages of becoming a consumer advocate in your marketing. Consumers want to make the best buying decision possible. By becoming the font out of which that knowledge comes, you can make sure they understand exactly why your business is the absolute right choice. We take on our competition head to head… and compel prospects and other spectators onto our side. Topics covered today will include studying your competitors, leveraging their advertising dollars to your advantage, creating a 3rd party "consumer reports" type website, and more.

I don't know if you know it or not, but Level 10 Contractor will perform an audit on your website and score it on a scale of 1 to 100 for both Findability--which has to do with how well people can find your site when searching keywords on Google… and also Conversionability… which is how well your site is doing at converting lookers into leads. On Friday's podcast, Rich reviews a website audit with the marketing person at a Roofing company in Chicago… and, well, Rich found a site that actually scores less than ZERO. To be precise, the site scores a negative one. That's right, a negative one… out of 100 possible points. How does a website score less than zero? Well, let's find out.

Bright pink suits, big bills, giant golf clubs, and facebook ads targeted at people who like moustaches? Yep, that's exactly what Rich is going to talk about on the Throwback Thursday episode. It's from a keynote he gave recently at the Service Nation Alliance on the topic of guerrilla marketing. What Rich is talking about is using your brains and your ingenuity to generate interest and leads instead of just your checkbook. This is one of the most fun and interesting keynotes Rich gives--and has loads of great ideas that you might want to implement, regardless of how big your company is.

Most contractors aren't bad at business—they're bad at marketing. In this episode, Rich explains why your marketing underperforms, why "traffic cops" aren't marketers, and how expert marketing is the difference between surviving and dominating your market. 

Tuesday's podcast is a piece of a strategy session that Rich had with the owner of an almost 5 million dollar door & window company… who, despite that impressive sales amount, was still behind the curve on a lot of its marketing. On the part of the strategy call that happened BEFORE what you're about to hear, Rich went through a website audit, and pointed out that the website was severely outdated, and how and why their SEO was not working. Finally, Rich lowers the boom in the "super nice but you still get the point loud and clear" kind of way that Rich seems to have perfected--and tells him, quite literally, "It's time to up your game so you can get this thing to the next level." And you know what, sometimes that's the case; what got you to $2 million or $5 million… or 20 or 50 million for that matter… is NOT what is going to get you to the next level.

Rich has kind of been on a website and SEO tear lately… talking about how to make your site more Google-friendly, so you can generate more organic traffic and leads. Monday's podcast is an important part of that same discussion; it's all about diggability… which is strategically making additional content visible and unavoidable to people who are on your website. In other words, making sure that they don't just engage with the content they're currently reading, but also making sure that they "dig around" in your website for even MORE engaging content–hence the term diggability. As usual on Monday's Rich has FIVE WAYS for you to do this.

It's Sunday, and as you know, that's when Rich turns his attention to spiritual and personal growth topics, and today he's going to stick to personal growth. He recently ran across a list of advice from a gentleman named Kevn Kelly, who was one of founders of Wired magazine, and who was called "the Most Interesting Man in the World" by podcaster Tim Ferriss. Take a listen, I'm sure you'll find a few things in here--or a few dozen--that will be worth your while.

Every Saturday, we showcase a topic important to you by rounding up the greatest highlights and clips from Level 10 Contractor's ENTIRE podcast run. This week, we discuss the importance of blogs on your website. Blogs are a great way to engage your prospects and build the  case why you are the superior choice. They are also masterful tools for winning the SEO war.

Friday's podcast focuses on media buying… and Rich is going to make some pretty strong points about his favorite metric… C P M! That's right, cost per thousand. This is just one more example of why it's so important, and why it's imperative that you be fluent in media speak, or you will get killed in negotiations. First, Rich will give an overview and an explanation… then he's going to play a recording of a call between him and some media reps… this is good stuff!

Thursday's TBT podcast is a strategy call between Rich and the marketing person at a garage door and garage flooring company who is looking for a little help with their website. We are going to pick up the conversation right AFTER Rich goes through a demonstration of some really good Service Area pages on a Level 10 Client website… then he gets into a conversation about what it really takes to beat Google's Algorithm, among other things. Other topics covered include: Why other SEO companies can't seem to figure this out, how SEO is like a war… and how to strategically create troops to put into your SEO battles. This is really good stuff, and represents Level 10's latest thinking on web building and SEO.

Rich Harshaw explains why most remodeling companies are terrible at marketing: owners excel in sales or production but almost never in true marketing strategy. Without a real expert, companies rely on generic messaging, weak websites, and ineffective ads. Rich urges contractors to focus on strengths and hire specialists to win market share.

Tuesday's podcast is a book review--Rich doesn't do a whole lot of these, so you can be sure that if he's recommending--and reviewing--a book, it's probably a good one! This one is called "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath… and as the name would suggest, deals with the concept of making ideas stick in peoples' brains. This is the book where the concept of "The Curse of Knowledge" first came from… and it goes through a formula the authors call "Success" which is an acronym for Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and Stories. S  U C C E S… I guess there is only one S in their success formula… nevertheless, this is pretty good stuff.

Most print ads fail because they look identical. Rich Harshaw explains how to stand out using five strategies: vary ad sizes, get personal, go bold with design and headlines, offer helpful information guides, and tell compelling identity-based stories. These tactics trigger attention, boost leads, and dramatically improve ad performance.

Today's podcast falls more into the personal development category… and it's all about the small stuff. Or not doing the small stuff. Or trying to figure out why you're so averse to doing the small stuff. From health to wealth to relationships and spirituality… Rich's message will help you identify and DO the little things.