Podcasts about builders

Every Friday around 8:15​-8:20 a.m. on KFAN 100.3 the Power Trip Morning show plays the Initials Game presented by Builders & Remodelers!The game involves 12 items people, place, things, phrases or anything as long as they share the same initials. All 12 items share the same initials. The contestants do not know the initials until they are revealed shortly before the game starts. Each item has 6 clues. As soon as the contestants know who or what the host is describing, they yell out their name. Their name is their buzzer. If the contestant gets it right, they get a point. If they get it wrong they are out for just that item. The item does have to be pronounced correctly. It is best out of 12 with tiebreakers if needed. Tiebreaker items have 3 clues.#InitialsGame #ThePowerTrip #KFAN1003FOLLOW The Power Trip on Social Media:► Like the show on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow Cory Cove on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CoryCove​​► Follow Chris Hawkey on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Chris_Hawkey​​► Follow Meatsauce on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Meatsauce1​► Follow Mark Parrish on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarkDParrish► Follow Marney Gellner on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarneyGellner► Follow Zach Halverson on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ZachHalversonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if courage wasn't something you either had or didn't, but something you could build? Nikki and David open up about the real journey of courage, not as a Hollywood moment, but as a daily practice. From David's vulnerability in asking for help after a major injury, to Nikki's story of taking the stage during the emotional turbulence of divorce, they strip courage down to its core. The duo introduces a four-step framework rooted in faith, values, support systems, and taking action, even when it's scary. This episode is a call to action for anyone stuck in self-doubt or fear of failure. Whether you're facing a personal crossroads or seeking to lead others with more heart, you'll walk away inspired to become a courage builder, not a courage killer.   Additional Resources: Follow Addicted to Betterment wherever you listen to podcasts! Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn Connect with David on LinkedIn Watch Gut + Science (and more) on YouTube! Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn Follow PeopleForward Network on LinkedIn Learn more about PeopleForward Network   Key Takeaways: Courage starts with knowing you're not alone. Core values anchor brave decisions and actions. Borrowed belief powers you through tough times. Trying new things builds your courage muscle. Be a courage builder, not a courage killer.  

You built the team.You hired well.You know you should step out of the day-to-day.But every time you look closer… you find something missed.So you step back in.It feels responsible. It feels like leadership.And slowly, the business learns to depend on the very habit that keeps it from growing.Nothing breaks. Clients stay happy.Yet growth feels slower than it should.In this conversation, AJ Cassata and Dr. Yishai explore the moment founders discover that responsibility and personal involvement quietly stop meaning the same thing.About AJAJ Cassata is founder of Revenue Boost, helping B2B companies build outbound systems that keep businesses alive through consistent pipeline and growth.INSIDE THE EPISODE• Why founders still feel the urge to double-check work they've already delegated• How catching small mistakes quietly reinforces staying involved• What keeps pulling leaders back in during high-stakes moments• How teams unintentionally learn to escalate back to the founderTHIS EPISODE IS FOR• Founders stuck between operator and leader• Leaders whose standards keep pulling them back in• High performers still acting as the safety net• Owners whose business works but growth feels constrained• Builders beginning to suspect they may be the bottleneckWHAT TO DO NEXTSharewith a founder who keeps stepping back into the weeds. They'll feel seen. And know you understand what leadership actually costs – and what it takes to level up.Connectwith Dr. Yishai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dryishai/ Let's ChatBook your free Ceiling Break Session on his LinkedIn page to get the shift yourself. ABOUT THE PODCAST You were built for speed.But right now you feel slower than you look on paper.Most founders try to outwork that slow-down.It only burns them out.Your mind is the only machine your company doesn't upgrade.So leaders keep pushing against the wrong thing.Hosted by doctor of psychology and executive coach Dr Yishai Barkhordari. DISCLAIMER This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace medical, psychological, legal, or financial advice. It is not therapy, clinical advice, or coaching guidance. All examples and stories are illustrative. Some examples or stories are composites. Results vary based on personal effort, context, and market conditions.Always consult qualified professionals before making decisions that impact your business, health, or well-being. © 2026 Yishai Barkhordari. All rights reserved.

Empathy is pioneering bereavement care as an enterprise benefit, transforming how employers and financial institutions support employees during life's most challenging transitions. Working with 9 of the top 10 life insurance carriers in the US and Canada—covering over 40 million people—Empathy created a new category by combining grief support with practical logistics like probate navigation, account deactivation, and estate settlement. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Ron Gura, Co-Founder & CEO of Empathy, to learn how the company went from testing five verticals simultaneously to dominating life insurance, then leveraged the group life/employer overlap to expand into employee benefits. Topics Discussed: Testing five enterprise verticals simultaneously to find product-market fit Landing New York Life through their venture arm and innovation team Why life insurance carriers need to be risk-averse (and how to work with that reality) The strategic overlap between group life insurance and employee benefits Investing in brand at seed stage when your barrier to entry is psychological aversion Navigating dual audiences: decision-makers in their workday versus end users in crisis Expanding from loss to adjacent life transitions like disability leave and estate planning GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Run parallel vertical tests with focus constraints, not sequential exploration: Ron identified 10+ potential verticals but intentionally tested exactly five simultaneously—hospices, funeral homes, employers, and two others before life insurance emerged as the winner at position five. This parallel testing with artificial constraints forces prioritization while dramatically compressing time-to-insight. Sequential testing would have meant potentially cycling through five failed pilots before discovering their strongest market. B2B founders with horizontal platforms should pick their top 3-5 verticals and run focused pilots in parallel, accepting that this burns more resources upfront but eliminates the risk of quitting before finding your wedge. Map the ecosystem overlap between buyer personas before choosing your wedge: Empathy's expansion from life insurance to employers wasn't growth strategy—it was recognizing an architectural reality. Half their carriers sell group life, meaning MetLife doesn't sell to consumers at metlife.com but exclusively to employer groups. When Amanda at Paramount loses her sister (not covered by insurance), she calls Paramount HR. When her husband dies (covered by MetLife group policy), the beneficiary calls MetLife. Same end user, two different enterprise entry points into the same moment. B2B founders should map these triangular relationships before choosing their wedge vertical. The question isn't just "who has budget?" but "who else touches this user in adjacent contexts?" Brand investment at seed stage is product strategy when fighting cognitive aversion: Ron's insight: "The barrier to entry isn't regulatory and isn't technology. It's us humans trying really hard not to think about our own mortality." This isn't a marketing problem—it's a fundamental go-to-market blocker. The company made what most would consider Series A investments (premium domain, design system, tone/voice framework) at seed stage specifically because brand reduces psychological friction to adoption. Contrast this with Monday.com starting as "daPulse" and rebranding years into success. B2B founders addressing taboo topics (death, mental health, financial distress, relationship issues) should model brand as a core distribution lever, not post-PMF polish. In deeply human categories, buyer's lived experience is your demo: Enterprise buyers at Citibank, MetLife, or Google aren't experiencing crisis during the sales cycle—they're evaluating ROI in their normal workday. But as Ron noted, "Everyone we're talking to...they're humans. They have parents, they had loss, they went through probate." The most common response after seeing the product: "Damn, I wish you called me a few months ago. I needed this a year ago with my mom." This turns product demo into personal recognition. B2B founders in universal human experience categories (caregiving, bereavement, parental leave, financial stress) should structure discovery and demo to activate buyer's memory of their own experience, not just their budget authority. Category creation is a resource-attraction strategy that trades speed for competitive exposure: Ron explicitly acknowledged: "There's pros and cons to defining a category. It's helpful when you attract resources, talent, capital. It also creates very fertile ground for a number two sympathy.com to come along and learn from this podcast...what to go after." Category leadership accelerates recruiting and fundraising by providing narrative clarity, but it simultaneously publishes your playbook. Every hiring blog post, podcast appearance, and positioning document teaches future competitors which verticals to target and which to avoid. B2B founders should treat category creation as a conscious bet: trade competitive opacity for talent/capital velocity. If you're not ready to defend your position, stay in stealth longer. Bridge new categories to existing budget lines through analogous benefits: When entering new verticals beyond life insurance, Ron doesn't educate from zero. With employers, he positions bereavement care alongside caregiving solutions, fertility programs, and parental leave: "This is a life transition happening in my own intimate house. Just like a new baby. I have new duties now." This isn't metaphor—it's budget mapping. Bereavement care gets evaluated against existing family benefits spending, not created from scratch. B2B founders in new categories should identify which existing line item their solution logically extends, then structure ROI narratives around reallocation, not net-new budget creation. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

The Texas Tribune is grateful for the support of our sponsors. Presenting sponsor for this TribCast Live event is Builders. Major sponsors for the program are Texas Matters and Raise Your Hand Texas. Please note that while sponsorship provides critical support for the Tribune, sponsors play no role in programming or the line of questioning for Tribune events.The 2026 Texas primary elections mark a pivotal moment in a state where many races are effectively decided long before Election Day. There are more than 18 statewide elected officials up for election, along with Texas' members of Congress, state legislators, district-based judges and local elected officials.Leading up to March 3rd's primary election, join TribCast hosts Matthew Watkins and Eleanor Klibanoff, along with a panel of experts, for a discussion of where the state's most consequential races stand and what their outcomes could mean for Texas.

Are you goal setting, tradie? Many tradies and builders start their businesses without clear goals, focusing initially on just surviving. Without direction, businesses can become overwhelming, with more work, stress, and insufficient financial reward.No one starts a business to be overworked and stressed, but without goals, you might end up there. The good news: it's not too late to change this.You can set goals - start with these two: 1. A 3-year business vision2. Short-term goals for the next 4–6 monthsUse the Trade Business Lifestyle Ladder as a guide, focusing on money, time, and freedom. Identify specific steps to move up from your current position and tackle urgent problems first. Aim for realistic goals to ensure progress.So get the Goal Setting worksheet and get started.--------------------------------------Get the "YOUR BUSINESS ASSESSMENT AND RE-SET." for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-assessment-reset-setting-goals-dlIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Hi Tradies, memory isn't that great. You can't rely on it.If you want a successful business that gives you more money, time and freedom, you need to act more like a businessperson and less like a tradie.And that means not relying on fallible memory — yours, and everyone else's: customers, staff, suppliers and partners.I see a lot of things done on handshakes and verbal agreements. Instructions, arrangements, agreements. This creates problems, of course - different recollections of what was said or agreed: forgetting to do things or not doing them properly.The answer, as usual, is systems and writing things down.I'll tell you a quick story. I once shared a memory about a friend, Ted, who I thought had done a week in jail over a dispute with a client. His wife later told me it wasn't true. He got in trouble, but he didn't do time. My memory was close — but wrong.That's how memory works. Yours is the same. So is everyone else's.Here's where your memory can cause problems in your business.1 Your Tasks. Many of you don't write things down. You trust yourself to remember. You need a system — a diary, phone notes, Outlook, Gmail, and voice notes to your admin. Pick one and use it.Your Appointments. Too many people don't put everything in their calendar or don't check it properly. All meetings and jobs should be in one synced calendar. Have a system to get “See you Thursday at 2” into your calendar straight away and another to remind you to check it.Agreements with Customers. Quotes, variations, dates, access, rules, changes — if it matters, write it down. Send a confirmation email: “Confirming we agreed…” This is important because if they don't remember it the same way you find out now and if they don't disagree now, that's now the truth. Attach it to the job.Job Instructions to Your Team. Too often it's a quick verbal briefing and everyone's expected to remember it. They won't. We all forget, misunderstand, and mix things up. Every job needs written instructions, job cards, plans, drawings, and site diaries where needed. These belong in your job management system.Agreements with staff. Contracts, pay, reviews, warnings, leave — keep proper records (and send email confirmations). Use HR software if you can.Agreements with suppliers. Same as with clients. Record what you verbally agree - prices, discounts, delivery, terms — confirm in writing and attach to your job management system.The Other S#*t. Phone calls, site conversations, ideas, things that occur to you. If it's written down, it's what happened. Put it in your diary or send it to your admin.This is part of becoming a businessperson instead of just a tradie. It stops you forgetting things, saves you time, and prevents f#*k-ups.It's a game-changer. If you don't have this in place — for you and your team — get onto it.--------------------------------------Get the Written Confirmation Worksheet for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-for-trades-written-confirmation-worksheetIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Hi Tradie, how's business? That's a pretty open question, isn't it?Usually, the answer to that is pretty basic, isn't it?"Not great""Pretty good""Good, we're booked out till Easter"But they're just conversational responses, aren't they? They're not real answers to the question.I'm a business coach, obviously, so I am interested in a real answer to the question, which will be longer and more complicated.It might involve a general statement like those ones but then some further clarifications.If we're having a Strategy Session and you're considering buying my program, we start here and I probe for specific answers.I want to know how are money, time, and freedoom -the 3 things everybody wants.We're interested in how profitable your business is—how much you get from it as wages and profits compared to how much you want to be getting and compared to the industry benchmark.We're interested in how hard you're working—how much time you put into your business and how much is left for you.And we're interested in how much you get to enjoy that time without worrying about stuff or being called by people or having to have your phone or laptop with you to check in. How much freedom from your business you have.They're the personal things you want as the owner and boss, aren't they?And they're all influenced by the things that are going on in your business:Have you got enough work on?Is it profitable work?Is it organised & efficient?Are people paying?Are your people performing well?And a million other things.So, how's business and what are you doing about making your business better?It's a good question, isn't it?Obviously, I'd like you to buy my thing, which is business coaching for tradies and builders. But, if you're not ready for that, here is a thing I've made that's free and no sales call required so you can make a start. It's usually exclusively for my clients.It's the Business Assessment and Re-Set for Tradies.It's a 4 video training sequence, with worksheets for you to take yourself through.You'll assess your business for how it's going and then you'll assess yourself for how you're operating as a business person and as a tradie, you'll set some realistic goals for your next few months and make a specific project plan for each one to help you hit those goals.Have fun.--------------------------------------Get the Business Assessment and Re-set for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-assessment-reset-dlIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Make a Plan to Hit Your Goals Why make a plan? To hit your goals, it's in the title of this video.If you've been following this series, you'll have made some goals, so now you have to decide how you're going to make them happen.And that's where the impact filter comes in. It's a simple tool to use to help you plan projects and get them off the ground.Grab the Impact Filter worksheet and start making those goals happen.--------------------------------------Get the "YOUR BUSINESS ASSESSMENT AND RE-SET" for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-assessment-reset-make-a-plan-dlIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Is Your Business Giving You What You Want?Most tradies want the same three things: More Money, More Time, More Freedom. That's exactly what the Trade Business Lifestyle Ladder measures.It helps you assess how well your business is serving you across Money, Time and Freedom.There are eight levels — from Problem Business at the bottom to Beautiful Business at the top — and they're realistic: a few million a year, a four-day week, eight weeks' holiday, and a business that doesn't need you every day.What business do you want? Lots of tradies work hard for everyone else and don't get the reward they could. The answer is to put more focus on your business, not just your trade.If your business isn't giving you what you want, it's time to do something about it.Start by grabbing the Trade Business Lifestyle Ladder and assessing yourself.--------------------------------------Get the "YOUR BUSINESS ASSESSMENT AND RE-SET." for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-assessment-reset-dlIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Are you behaving like a Tradie or a Businessperson? I'm talking specifically about becoming more conscious of your behaviour - how you act at work, as the trade business owner. You should be aware that you need to act like a businessperson if you want your business to be better: more money, more time and more freedom.How do you do this, though?First, assess yourself, download the Tradie VS Businessperson worksheet.--------------------------------------Get the "YOUR BUSINESS ASSESSMENT AND RE-SET." for Trades and Builders here: https://pages.smallfish.com.au/business-assessment-reset-tradie-vs-businessperson-dlIf you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

☎️Schedule a Business Evaluation Call with The Construction Leading Edge Team HERE – EPISODE 432: What if the reason your team is stressed, your projects feel harder than they should, and your profits aren't where they should be has nothing to do with labor shortages, material pricing, the market, your subcontractors, or even your clients?  What if the real issue is that you've been letting your clients run your business and, without meaning to, have adopted what I call the Burger King philosophy? In this episode of The Construction Leading Edge Podcast, I break down why letting clients run your business is costing you big time, and how to take back control without losing the relationships you value. You'll learn a clear framework to set boundaries that protect your time and profit, and build a rhythm where clients follow your proven process instead of running your schedule. 

250 - Luke Winslow-King In episode 250 of Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine, host James Patrick Regan speaks with singer/songwriter Luke Winslow-King. Luke joins us from his home in Spain. In their conversation Luke shares with us what life is like in Spain and he tells us about his experiences busking in Europe and dealing with Gypsies and his experiences with his band in Europe. Luke talks about living in New Orleans previously and going to the university of New Orleans and busking there as well with a group of musicians known as the “Loose Marbles” that eventually became Tuna Skinny, Hooray for the Riff Raff as well as members of Luke's band. Luke describes his gear including a resonator that he's had since 2001 and the rest of his gear and a shoutout to his home music store Elderly Instruments. Luke discusses his early touring experiences with a group of friends following a book by Pete Seeger of Woody Guthrie songs called “California to the New York Islands” Luke describes his current tour schedule traveling throughout Europe and the US and talks about his band, both in Europe and the US and he gives us insight into booking in Europe. Luke tells us about his new record “Coast of Light” his ninth album and he describes his musical education. Luke discusses his future, recording an album with “Little Freddie King” and another album for himself. To find out more about Luke you can go to his website: lukewinslowking.com Please subscribe, like, comment, share and review this podcast! #VintageGuitarMagazine #LukeWinslowKing #LittleFreddieKing #CoastofLight #BuskinginEurope #NewOrleans #TubaSkinny #hoorayfortheriffraff #ElderlyInstruments #resonatorguitars #GibsonGuitar #JamesPatrickRegan #theDeadlies #haveguitarwilltravelpodcast #HGWT #tourlife https://www.patreon.com/cw/HaveGuitarWillTravelPodcast Please like, comment, and share this podcast! Download Link

In this episode of AI Marketing for Remodelers, Kai Biami and Spencer Powell discuss the overwhelming landscape of AI for builders and remodelers. They emphasize the importance of focusing on key areas for AI implementation, including establishing systems and SOPs, leveraging data analysis, and exploring vibe coding. The hosts provide actionable insights on how to effectively learn and implement AI tools, advocating for a shift from passive learning to active implementation. They also highlight the evolving nature of software development in the age of AI, encouraging listeners to adapt and innovate in their businesses.

249 - the Sky Chiefs - Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders, The Jayhawks) and Kevin Pittman (The Dads) In episode 249 of “Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine,host James Patrick Regan speaks with the Sky Chiefs, who are Stephen McCarthy from The Long Ryders and The Jayhawks and Kevin Pittman who's put out two solo albums and also was in The Dads. In their conversation Kevin gives us a little bit of his history and then Stephen joins and we discuss the “Sky Chiefs” debut album and how it was recorded and produce 36 years ago and the Personel on the album and they take us through the musical styles on the album. Stephen tells us about his time in California playing with the Long Ryders The two tell us how they met while Kevin was in a band called “the Dads” and moved from LA to back to Richmond, VA. Stephen talks about his main guitar a tele style guitar with a b-bender “string bender” installed by Gene Parsons, the inventor of the string bender Gene is interviewed in episode 117 of this podcast. The two both tell us about the gear not just for the album but also what they're using now. Stephen discusses seeing Danny Gatton play many times early on. The two describe the few shows they did 36 years ago and they talk about plans for shows upcoming and discuss the support they're receiving from Sirius/XM's Outlaw Country. The two talk about a new album and the work they are doing separately, Stephen with a new Long Ryders album coming up (Stephen gives us a little bit of the Long Ryders history and logistics for an upcoming tour) and he tells us about his tour work with the Jayhawks. The two talk about the Palomino club in LA and encounters with Nudie Cohen at his shop. To find out more about Stephen and Kevin”s album you can go to their website: theskychiefs.com Please subscribe, like, comment, share and review this podcast! #VintageGuitarMagazine #theSkyChiefs #StephenMcCarthy #KevinPittman #theLongRyders #theJayhawks #BBender #StringBender #TheDads #JamesPatrickRegan #GeneParsons #theDeadlies #haveguitarwilltravelpodcast #HGWT #tourlife https://www.patreon.com/cw/HaveGuitarWillTravelPodcast Download Link

Tradie, are you ready for Christmas? (Do this now while there is still time!) Get the Quick Christmas Cash PlanYou need to be ready for the shutdown period - don't get caught out - get the template and get organised.--------------------------------------Get the Quick Christmas Cash Plan for Trades and Builders here: https://www.smallfish.com.au/tradies/christmas-cash-plan/If you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility), Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Remember — you're not just a tradie anymore. You're a business owner.And it's your job to make sure your business is trading profitably.A lot of people don't do this properly. Don't be one of them.Here's a simple monthly money check-in I do with all my clients — and I want you to do it too.✅ Step 1: Log into your accounting software(Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks — I'll use Xero as the example)✅ Check your cashYour bank balances. All business accounts. No hiding. Enough cash to pay wages? Good.My clients log these in our Big Numbers Tracker.✅ Check what you're owed and what you oweIn Xero: "Invoices owed to you" and "Bills you need to pay".Make sure data is up to date. Are you owed more than you owe? Not too much overdue?✅ Check the month's revenueLook at your P&L. Did you invoice much? If not, can you? If you can't — why not?✅ Check your gross marginThat's Gross Profit ÷ Revenue.Builders: aim for 20–30%Other trades: 30–40%If it's outside the range — investigate. Materials bought but not invoiced yet? That's fine, but fix it next month.✅ Check your net profitTarget: 10% of revenue (after paying yourself properly).If you're not hitting it, ask why.Common culprits:- Underquoting or discounting- Inefficient team or poor scheduling- Travel/project management time not quoted properly- One-off expenses- Poor job setupIf your margins are off, something's wrong. Fix it.This is your job now. Stay on top of it.Don't put your head down and hope it sorts itself out.I can help, of course.If you're not doing this and you need your arse kicked — come and find me.My clients use the Big Numbers Tracker. You can have it too — $39 to get started.--------------------------------------Get the Big Numbers Tracker for Trades and Builders here: https://www.smallfish.com.au/tradies/big-numbers-tracker/If you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility) Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

What is the TRUE COST of your TRADESPEOPLE?A lot of tradies and builders misunderstand how much their people actually cost their business, and, because of that misunderstanding, they undercharge for the labour they're selling.Labour is one of the biggest costs in a trades business, and if you don't charge enough, you won't be profitable. You have to put time and energy into understanding your business's numbers and making sure you run your business profitably.How do you do this? I've made a tool called the Tradie Labour Cost Calculator - it calculates the REAL cost of tradespeople. Get it and calculate the cost of your people for how you pay them, and how you charge your customers.And start charging enough to cover their costs to your business.That's your job now: to make sure your business IS profitable.--------------------------------------Get the Tradie Labour Cost Calculator for Trades and Builders here: https://www.smallfish.com.au/tradies/true-cost/If you want more money (profit), more time (off work), and more freedom (from work, stress, responsibility), Book a Money Call: smallfish.com.au/tradies/money-call/FOLLOW US AT:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallfishcoach/Twitter: https://twitter.com/smallfishcoachInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallfishbusinesscoach/YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/smallfishau

Every Friday around 8:15​-8:20 a.m. on KFAN 100.3 the Power Trip Morning show plays the Initials Game presented by Builders & Remodelers!The game involves 12 items people, place, things, phrases or anything as long as they share the same initials. All 12 items share the same initials. The contestants do not know the initials until they are revealed shortly before the game starts. Each item has 6 clues. As soon as the contestants know who or what the host is describing, they yell out their name. Their name is their buzzer. If the contestant gets it right, they get a point. If they get it wrong they are out for just that item. The item does have to be pronounced correctly. It is best out of 12 with tiebreakers if needed. Tiebreaker items have 3 clues.#InitialsGame #ThePowerTrip #KFAN1003FOLLOW The Power Trip on Social Media:► Like the show on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow Cory Cove on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CoryCove​​► Follow Chris Hawkey on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Chris_Hawkey​​► Follow Meatsauce on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Meatsauce1​► Follow Mark Parrish on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarkDParrish► Follow Marney Gellner on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarneyGellner► Follow Zach Halverson on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ZachHalversonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send a textYou don't need a million dollars to start building wealth, you need time.Happy Black History Month! In this episode, we sit down with Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, CFP® the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Planning Officer of Zenith Wealth Partners, a black-owned wealth management firm on a mission to generate $1 billion in wealth for women and people of color. Chelsea is not only leading a firm; she's cultivating the next generation of diverse financial planners who are committed to helping first-generation wealth builders take confident steps toward financial freedom.We talk about why waiting is the most expensive decision women make, how money discipline does not have to mean deprivation, and why so many women are focused on becoming work optional instead of retired.Chelsea shares her journey into wealth management, emphasizing the importance of financial education, particularly for black women and first-generation wealth builders. The conversation covers topics such as overcoming financial challenges, the value of early financial planning, and the concept of 'work optional' lifestyles. Chelsea also discusses effective strategies for managing cash flow, the significance of building a lasting legacy, and tips for transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship. Follow & connect with Chelsea Ransom-Cooper:Website LinkedIn InstagramWant to take this conversation one step further? Join us for our next Money Talks, a free 30 minute live session where we'll dig into a question we hear all the time from women business owners: Budgeting for Businesses to Offer Benefits. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions! Follow & connect with us! Website Facebook Page Facebook group Instagram TikTok LinkedIn YouTube Reddit Resources Have questions? Click this to check out our expert Q&A for tips from industry experts, tailored to help women address their most common financial concerns. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive financial tips delivered weekly here! ...

Telo Trucks is reimagining the American pickup for dense urban environments. With over 13,000 reservations and plans to deliver their first vehicles in 2026, Telo is tackling one of the hardest challenges in business: starting an automotive company. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, I sat down with Jason Marks, CEO & Founder of Telo Trucks, to learn about the company's journey from building electric motorcycles to creating a mini truck that's 152 inches long—shorter than a Mini Cooper—but delivers the bed capacity of a full-size pickup. Topics Discussed: Pivoting from electric motorcycles to mini trucks after weekend street research revealed 89% preference for trucks Solving the safety engineering challenge of vehicles with no front overhang and minimal crumple zones Reaching unit profitability at 5,000 vehicles before attempting volume manufacturing Dual go-to-market strategy serving both urban consumers and commercial fleets replacing golf cart + truck combinations Navigating overlapping regulatory jurisdictions: NHTSA, EPA, CARB, IIHS, IICAR, and functional safety standards Running 100 virtual crash simulations daily using automated AI tools to accelerate safety validation Learning from 60+ failed automotive startups that rushed to high-volume manufacturing without proving fundamentals GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Compress customer validation into concentrated research sprints: Jason spent one weekend conducting street interviews across LA and San Francisco—hitting sidewalks, motorcycle meetups, and car meets with concept drawings. 89% of respondents, including dedicated motorcyclists, pointed to the mini truck concept over the motorcycle Telo was building. This wasn't survey data or focus groups—it was showing drawings to real buyers in target markets and asking direct questions. B2B founders should design rapid validation sprints that test core assumptions with target buyers in their natural environment before significant capital deployment. Pivot immediately when validation data is definitive: Telo was in final partner meetings for their motorcycle fundraise when weekend research proved trucks were the opportunity. On Monday morning, they opened the VC call with "Stop. Before you say anything, we're pivoting 100% to mini trucks." The investors called back two hours later and committed. The lesson isn't just willingness to pivot—it's having the conviction to act on clear data even when it disrupts active processes. B2B founders should establish decision thresholds: what percentage of target customers pointing to a different problem would trigger a strategy change? Reverse-engineer failure patterns in your category: Jason systematically studied the 60+ automotive startup failures and identified the core pattern: raising massive capital ($100M-$1B+) created pressure to sprint toward high-volume manufacturing before proving unit economics or even delivering vehicles. Telo's counterstrategy is explicit: achieve unit profitability at 5,000 vehicles using one-tenth the capital of predecessors. This isn't generic "learn from failures"—it's forensic analysis of what killed companies and designing operational constraints that make those failure modes impossible. B2B founders should map the 5-10 companies that died in their category, identify the 2-3 recurring failure patterns, and build those constraints into their operational model. Announce vision publicly to surface latent demand: Telo launched with a full-size foam and fiberglass vehicle model in June 2023 targeting urban consumers. Commercial buyers—downtown construction companies, wineries doing urban delivery, city parks departments—immediately contacted them. These buyers were spending $80,000 combining golf carts for site work with full-size trucks for materials, creating maintenance nightmares. They needed one platform replacing both. B2B founders shouldn't just build in stealth—strategic public announcements surface buyer segments and use cases you didn't model, especially when your product solves problems in adjacent categories. Define unit economics constraints, then cascade all decisions from them: Telo's entire strategy works backward from one milestone: unit profitability at 5,000 vehicles. This constraint cascades: pricing structure, component COGS targets, manufacturing approach (low-volume vs. high-volume tooling), distribution model (direct vs. dealer), insurance program design. Every functional area has targets derived from the profitability constraint. B2B founders should identify their critical economics milestone, then explicitly cascade what must be true across pricing, CAC, gross margin, and operational efficiency to hit it—before building the go-to-market motion. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Lula rebuilt property maintenance from the ground up by solving a fundamental problem: property managers spend 40% of their time coordinating maintenance with zero visibility into work order status. After pivoting from a B2C app when they discovered landlords were their actual users, Bo Lais and his team made a critical insight—deep PMS integration wasn't a feature, it was the entire go-to-market strategy. Today, Lula's 9,000-contractor network processes 1,000 work orders daily across 50 markets, performing 30 HVAC replacements per day at scale that enables direct manufacturer relationships. Now they're commercializing their internal tech stack as Foresight, a standalone SaaS platform launching Q1. In this episode of BUILDERS, Bo breaks down the strategic decisions behind building integrations as distribution, using network density to create pricing advantages competitors can't match, and knowing when to productize your internal tools. Topics Discussed: Why the B2C to B2B pivot happened after discovering usage patterns, not market research How PMS integration eliminated "swivel chair" friction and became the primary distribution channel Strategic partnership depth over breadth: enabling co-selling with AppFolio, Buildium, Yardi rather than partner proliferation The 250-door threshold where maintenance coordination breaks and technology becomes necessary Network density economics: 30 daily HVAC replacements creating leverage for direct manufacturer negotiations and flat-rate service catalogs The decision framework for commercializing Foresight based on upstream customer advisory group feedback Maintaining discipline around ICP when sales teams naturally want to expand GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: System of record integration is your distribution strategy, not a feature: Lula's standalone app created adoption friction because property managers refused to work outside their PMS. Bo's realization: "They need everything to live in their system of record...They don't want swivel chair. And then providing that real time visibility throughout the entire life cycle of the work order was really valuable because prior to that they assign it to a vendor, and then they cross their fingers and hope that it gets done." The integration solved both adoption friction and delivered continuous visibility their workflow demanded. For B2B founders: if your users live in Salesforce, HubSpot, or vertical-specific platforms all day, your integration strategy IS your distribution strategy—build there first, not alongside. Strategic partnerships require enablement infrastructure, not just signed contracts: Bo's approach rejects partnership sprawl: "It's not about stacking on another 10 partnerships, it's about how do we go deeper and enable those partners to co-sell with us and talk about the value props that together we can provide." This means building co-selling toolkits, joint value propositions, and partner success metrics. For B2B founders: one partnership where the partner's sales team actively sells your solution beats ten partnerships where you're just listed in a marketplace. Invest in making partners successful sellers, not collecting logos. ICP discipline requires sales team enforcement mechanisms, not just definitions: Lula knew their ICP but struggled with execution. Bo learned "it's one thing when we understood who our ICP was, but then it's a whole nother thing to adhere to that and get the sales team to adhere to that ICP." The specificity matters: residential (not multifamily), single-family, 250+ doors (where coordination breaks), capped at several thousand doors (before enterprise needs diverge). For B2B founders: document your ICP, but also build the compensation structures, deal approval processes, and CRM workflows that prevent sales from chasing deals outside the sweet spot—even when quota pressure hits. Message outcomes customers measure, not the technology delivering them: Bo's AI framing: "They care about the outcomes, right? If we're able to move the needle on the outcomes and provide a better experience for residents by automating communication, automating the time to schedule, automating the time to get resolution...it's not the how, it's the result." Lula's AI eliminates truck rolls through upfront troubleshooting and improves one-trip resolution rates—that's what property managers track. For B2B founders: if your customer's boss asks "how's that new tool working," they answer with metrics they're held accountable for (resolution time, truck rolls, resident satisfaction), not "it uses AI." Lead with those metrics. Productize internal tools when customer advisory groups request them and you have defensible advantages: Lula commercialized Foresight after upstream customers specifically asked for their tech during advisory sessions. Bo's competitive moat thinking: "Everyone else thinks they're going to do it better with the AI and automation they have. But our competitive moat is that our on-demand network is built inside this AI work order management system. And because of the scale of our network and the buying power, we can provide instant quotes for a lot of services...our competitors that are just doing software don't have this network of contractors nationwide." For B2B founders expanding product lines: customer pull plus operational advantages competitors can't replicate (Lula's contractor density, manufacturer relationships, 1,000 daily work orders of training data) create viable new products. Without both, you're just building undifferentiated software. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

theion is developing lithium-sulfur battery technology targeting 500 watt hours per kilogram in their first commercial product—nearly double today's lithium-ion cells at 270-300 Wh/kg—with an ultimate roadmap to 1,000 Wh/kg. By replacing nickel-manganese-cobalt cathodes with crystalline sulfur and graphite anodes with lithium metal, theion aims to deliver three times the energy density at one-third the cost and CO2 footprint of current batteries. In this episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Dr. Ulrich Ehmes, CEO of theion, to discuss how a production-focused CEO is navigating the journey from TRL 3-4 to pilot line, why they're targeting electric aviation first, and how a 12-year battery industry veteran evaluates what actually constitutes a materials breakthrough. Topics Discussed: Why sulfur cathodes and lithium metal anodes enable the performance jump beyond lithium-ion The critical importance of monoclinic gamma crystalline structure for cycle life  Navigating the transition from coin cells to pouch cells to industrialization  Strategic decision-making on initial market entry for deep tech hardware  Why process innovation in mixing and coating is required to unlock sulfur's full potential  Building a China-independent supply chain using oil refining waste  The 3-year development reality driven by cycling test requirements GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Price your technology against value creation, not cost savings alone: Ulrich's market strategy centers on "markets which will pay a lot of money for super lightweight batteries"—specifically aviation applications where weight reduction directly enables business model viability. For eVTOLs, the constraint isn't battery cost but energy density; current batteries make many routes economically impossible. This is fundamentally different from cost-driven markets like consumer EVs where incremental weight savings have marginal value. Deep tech founders should map which customer segments face hard physical constraints that only your technology solves versus those seeking incremental optimization. The former will pay 3-5x premiums; the latter will demand cost parity from day one. Match CEO background to the company's primary risk: Ulrich led Leica's 600-person Portugal production facility for a decade before entering batteries, and he frames his value as "I'm a production guy...for me it's very important not to produce only one battery cell in a lab, but millions of cells in highest quality." For a battery company at TRL 3-4 moving toward industrialization, the existential risk isn't the science—it's whether you can manufacture at quality and yield. Many deep tech companies fail because PhD founders remain CEOs through manufacturing scale-up. Ulrich's hire signals that theion's board correctly diagnosed their de-risking sequence. Founders should brutally assess what will kill the company in the next 24 months and ensure the CEO's pattern recognition matches that failure mode. Seek investors where your technology is infrastructure for their thesis: theion's primary investor is "heavily invested in eVTOLs," making theion's battery technology directly relevant to multiple portfolio companies facing the same energy density constraint. This creates structural alignment on timeline expectations—eVTOL companies won't reach commercial scale before 2027-2028 anyway, matching theion's development cycle. The investor understands that battery development "takes time because always when you change a parameter, you have to cycle again to test the cells." This is radically different from a generalist VC expecting SaaS-like iteration speeds. Hardware founders should explicitly map how their technology unblocks other portfolio companies and use this to negotiate patient capital terms and strategic customer introductions. Use competitive landscape size as legitimacy signal, not differentiation: When pressed on disrupting incumbents, Ulrich immediately countered: "We are not the only company working on sulfur and this is good...there are 28 other companies out there." He then differentiated on "monoclinic gamma crystalline structure" validated by Drexel University achieving 4,000+ cycles. This is sophisticated category positioning: the 28 competitors validate that lithium-sulfur is a credible next-generation technology, while the specific crystalline approach provides technical differentiation for those who understand the chemistry. Founders should resist the urge to claim they're the only ones solving a problem in nascent categories—it raises "why hasn't anyone else tried this?" concerns. Instead, position within an emerging category and differentiate on technical approach. Communicate realistic timelines as competence signaling, not weakness: Ulrich states plainly that commercial availability is "at least the next three years" and frames this as doing "first things first and first things right." For sophisticated buyers in aviation and aerospace, compressed timelines signal naivety about certification requirements, manufacturing validation, and qualification testing. A battery company claiming 12-month commercialization would lose credibility with Boeing or Joby Aviation procurement teams who understand the actual development cycles. Deep tech founders should recognize that customer segments accustomed to long development cycles (aerospace, automotive, medical devices) interpret realistic timelines as domain expertise, while consumer/software buyers may interpret them as lack of urgency. Match timeline communication to buyer sophistication. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

CoreStory is building code intelligence platforms that address the fundamental limitation of today's coding agents: their inability to navigate complex enterprise codebases. While foundation models excel at greenfield development, they fail at real-world engineering tasks in systems spanning millions of lines of code. CoreStory's context layer delivers a 44% improvement on SWE-bench, the industry's standard benchmark for measuring coding agent effectiveness on actual GitHub issues. In this episode of BUILDERS, I sat down with Anand Kulkarni, CEO of CoreStory, to explore how his team is enabling the shift to AI-native engineering and seeding the category of spec-driven development across Microsoft, GitHub, and Amazon. Topics Discussed: Building with GPT-3 API 18 months before ChatGPT went public Why even GPT-5 and Opus 4.5 struggle with enterprise codebases on SWE-bench The narrative shift required when selling AI pre- and post-ChatGPT CoreStory's 44% improvement in coding agent performance through context intelligence How "spec-driven development" got adopted by Microsoft, GitHub, and Amazon without formal analyst relations The parallel between JIRA monetizing Agile and CoreStory enabling AI-native engineering Three-channel distribution: direct enterprise, coding agent partnerships via MCP, and hyperscaler/GSI routes Why specs become the source of truth while code becomes disposable in the AI era GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Match your narrative precision to technical depth: CoreStory deploys three distinct positioning strategies based on audience sophistication. For AI practitioners tracking benchmarks, they lead with "44% SWE-bench improvement"—a metric that immediately signals meaningful progress on the hardest problem in the space. For engineering leaders aware of AI tooling but not deep in the research, they focus on velocity gains and ROI metrics. For executives, they describe reverse-engineering codebases into machine-readable specs. The key insight: technical audiences dismiss vague value props, while non-technical audiences get lost in benchmark details. Map your positioning to how your audience measures success in their world. Seed category language through earned adoption, not manufactured consensus: Anand initially called their approach "requirements-driven development" before simplifying to "spec-driven development." Rather than pitching analysts, they used the term consistently in customer conversations, gave talks at GitHub Universe, and shipped demos showing the workflow. When customers naturally adopted the language and community leaders began using similar terminology independently, Microsoft and GitHub followed with their own implementations (like GitHub's SpecKit). The lesson: category language sticks when practitioners choose to use it because it clarifies their work, not because a vendor pushed it. Focus on customer adoption as proof of concept before seeking broader market validation. Position against emergent practices, not just incumbent products: CoreStory doesn't position against legacy code analysis tools—they position as the enabler of AI-native engineering, the discipline that will displace Agile. Anand's insight from watching JIRA's success: "People don't love JIRA. What they love is Agile as a way to move away from waterfall." CoreStory is betting that 10x velocity gains from AI-native practices will drive the same categorical shift. When you're early in a technology wave, attach to the practice change (how teams will work differently) rather than feature comparisons with existing tools. Movements create markets. Design channel strategy around customer problem awareness: CoreStory's three channels map to different stages of buyer sophistication. Direct enterprise comes from teams already deep in AI engineering who've hit the context limitation wall. Coding agent partnerships (via MCP integration with tools like Cognition and Factory) serve builders wanting better AI tooling who haven't diagnosed the context problem yet. Hyperscalers and GSIs distribute into modernization and maintenance projects where AI enablement is emerging as a requirement. Each channel serves a distinct buyer journey stage. Don't force one go-to-market motion—design multiple paths based on where different customer segments are in understanding the problem you solve. Navigate pre-legitimacy markets by hiding the breakthrough: Before ChatGPT, selling anything AI-driven faced immediate skepticism about whether it was "real" or just smoke and mirrors. Anand couldn't lead with AI without triggering disbelief. CoreStory focused on delivered outcomes—"here's what you'll be able to do"—with AI as the mechanism, not the message. Post-ChatGPT, the challenge flipped: everyone expects AI, but now the differentiation question becomes harder. If you're building on emerging technology before market consensus forms, deemphasize the technology until buyers have context to evaluate it. Once the market validates the technology category, shift to demonstrating your specific technical advantage within it. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Most people don't fail because they lack opportunity. They fail because they never fix their purpose.   In this powerful episode of The Abundance Mindset, Vinney (Smile) Chopra and Gualter Amarelo break down one of the most misunderstood — yet life-changing — principles from Think and Grow Rich: Fixity of Purpose.   Vinney shares his personal journey from arriving in the U.S. with just $7 to building a billion-dollar real estate portfolio, and why deciding once — and refusing to turn back — made all the difference.   This episode dives deep into:

If you're building a business while trying to be a present leader, spouse, or parent, this episode is going to resonate with you. In this conversation, I sit down with Jaden Barr to talk about what really builds authority over time. We go beyond tactics and dive into identity, discipline, leadership, leverage, and community.Jaden is a St. Louis-based real estate business owner, former college quarterback at Truman State, and father of two. He left corporate during the pandemic to build his business from scratch in a new market, and his story is rooted in discipline, faith, family, and long-term thinking.We break down how athlete-level habits translate into business, why honoring your calendar matters more than motivation, and how systems create freedom instead of burnout.Here's what we cover:Why personal branding starts with identity, not strategyHow discipline compounds over timeThe role community plays in long-term authorityLeveraging systems to buy back timeBalancing entrepreneurship with marriage and fatherhoodIf you're trying to build something sustainable, not just successful, this conversation will give you perspective.Connect with Jaden BarrInstagram: Instagraminstagram.com/jbarr_realtorFacebook: Facebookfacebook.com/jaden.barr.96Website: Kwjadenbarr.kw.comLinkedIn: Linkedinlinkedin.com/in/jaden-barr-12462610bYouTube: YoutubeJaden BarrConnect with Builders of AuthorityWebsite: BuildauthorityDigital Marketing Agency St Louis | Builders of AuthorityFree Facebook Group: FacebookLog in or sign up to viewGoHighLevel Extended 30-day Free Trial w/TONS of Personal Branding Bonuses: Gohighlevelgohighlevel.com/adammcchesney

In this episode, Steve Fretzin and Evelyn Ackah discuss:Reframing challenges as opportunitiesBuilding security through owning your book of businessDesigning a firm around delegation and technologyProtecting culture by hiring and leading with intention Key Takeaways:Success begins with asking whether challenges are happening to you or for you. A growth-oriented mindset is not optional for entrepreneurs and rainmakers. Those who thrive train themselves to see obstacles as openings, not endings.Relying solely on servicing others' clients limits mobility and control. Developing your own clients creates long-term security and professional freedom. Rainmaking is a learnable skill built through systems, discipline, and study.High-value leaders focus only on work they alone can do. Everything else can be delegated, automated, or systemized through tools and virtual teams. Intentional tech stacks and strong delegation enable autonomy, even four-day workweeks.Skills can be trained, but values and attitude determine long-term fit. Toxic hires damage momentum and must be addressed quickly. Great leaders invest in coaches, mentors, and team development to sustain growth. "Your staff are your dream builders. They help you create your dream. And so you want to invest in them just as much as they're investing in your success." — Evelyn Ackah Check out my new show, Be That Lawyer Coaches Corner, and get the strategies I use with my clients to win more business and love your career again. Ready to go from good to GOAT in your legal marketing game? Don't miss PIMCON—where the brightest minds in professional services gather to share what really works. Lock in your spot now: https://www.pimcon.org/ Thank you to our Sponsor!Rankings.io: https://rankings.io/Lawyer.com: https://www.lawyer.com/ Ready to grow your law practice without selling or chasing? Book your free 30-minute strategy session now—let's make this your breakout year: https://fretzin.com/ About Evelyn Ackah: Evelyn Ackah is the Founder and CEO of Ackah Business Immigration Law, a cross-border firm representing corporations and professionals in Canadian and U.S. immigration matters. With more than 25 years of experience—including leadership roles in Big Law and at Ernst & Young—she delivers strategic, business-focused immigration solutions tailored to her clients' goals.Originally from Ghana and raised in Canada, Evelyn brings both personal insight and professional depth to her work in global mobility. She is passionate about legal entrepreneurship, leveraging technology and innovative systems to build a scalable, client-centered practice.Evelyn is also the host of the Ask Evelyn Ackah Immigration Lawyer podcast, where she interviews industry leaders on immigration and related business topics. Connect with Evelyn Ackah: Website: https://www.ackahlaw.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AckahBusinessImmigrationLaw/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ackahlaw/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ackah-business-immigration-law/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelynackah/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ackahlaw/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw7M2pQKwsRteq-nThuaELQ   Connect with Steve Fretzin:LinkedIn: Steve FretzinTwitter: @stevefretzinInstagram: @fretzinsteveFacebook: Fretzin, Inc.Website: Fretzin.comEmail: Steve@Fretzin.comBook: Legal Business Development Isn't Rocket Science and more!YouTube: Steve FretzinCall Steve directly at 847-602-6911 Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Brian Whorley, Founder and CEO of Paytient, is rebuilding healthcare's broken payment infrastructure. Paytient enables employers and insurers to front healthcare costs for members who repay over time, interest-free. The company now serves 6,000 employers and powers payment solutions for nearly half of America's 50 million Medicare seniors. In this episode of BUILDERS, Brian reveals his counterintuitive GTM pivot from employers to insurers, why he testified before Congress on healthcare affordability, and how to build in highly regulated markets without fighting the system. Topics Discussed: Why healthcare lacks functional buyer-seller dynamics and transparent pricing The World War II tax quirk that prevents employers from giving healthcare dollars directly to employees Cash market case studies: Why LASIK prices decreased in real terms since 1998 while maintaining quality improvements Paytient's unexpected discovery that insurers were better strategic partners than employers Congressional testimony before the House Committee of Oversight and Government Reform on December 10th The company's evolution from founder-led employer sales to insurance-first distribution strategy Launching self-serve for sub-200 employee companies while closing Fortune 100 accounts How Medicare regulations requiring prescription payment flexibility created a 50-million-person market GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Test enterprise distribution earlier than your assumptions suggest: Brian assumed Paytient needed a million users before insurers would engage. Instead, one of the nation's largest insurers partnered early because they recognized out-of-pocket costs as a critical experience gap they couldn't solve internally. The insurer's product team understood the problem but lacked control over member finances. When building in complex ecosystems, large strategic partners may engage earlier than expected if you solve a problem outside their core capabilities. Prioritize partners with longer planning horizons: Brian discovered insurers planning 2027-2029 health plans in early 2025, while employers focused on last month's challenges. This planning horizon difference fundamentally changed Paytient's GTM strategy. Insurers became the majority of their business because they could "invest and reshape for the long term" as part of broader strategy. When choosing between customer segments, prioritize buyers who think strategically over those managing tactical, short-term needs—they'll invest in solutions before acute pain points emerge. Regulatory tailwinds can create massive distribution overnight: A law passed four years after Paytient launched required all Medicare insurers to offer exactly what Paytient provides—prescription cost flexibility with insurer-fronted payments. This regulation instantly created a 50-million-person addressable market. Brian now powers this for "almost half the country." When building in regulated industries, track pending legislation that could mandate your solution category, creating instant distribution through compliance requirements. Build different GTM engines for concentrated vs. fragmented markets: Healthcare is "a very concentrated industry" at the top 40 insurers, where Paytient focuses enterprise efforts. For the fragmented small business market (under 200 employees), they launched a self-serve platform at patient.com this month, immediately gaining traction with venture-backed employers seeking simple subscriptions. The dual-motion approach—high-touch for concentrated markets, self-serve for long-tail—maximizes coverage without burning capital on inefficient sales motions. In trust-based sales, delivery quality drives expansion velocity: When Paytient launches with a Fortune 100, "tens of thousands of people have access to patient now." The benefits stack is "sacred and sacrosanct"—a trust-based, relationship-driven sale. Brian emphasizes the product must work "exactly how you said, even better" because performance creates referrals through benefit brokers and consultants. In high-stakes enterprise deployments, your product quality directly determines sales velocity through partner and customer networks. Navigate regulatory constraints as creative boundaries, not barriers: Brian's core advice for healthcare founders: "You have to work with the system as it is." Many founders approach healthcare "as antagonist" with solutions "too foreign or too different" that threaten the status quo. Instead, innovate within existing regulatory and operational frameworks. There are "plenty of space" and "data requirements for how healthcare can work today" to build billion-dollar businesses while respecting industry structure. Fighting the system guarantees slow adoption; working within it enables scale. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Welcome to the third episode of our new series dedicated to the builders of the Farcaster ecosystem (⁠⁠⁠https://farcaster.xyz⁠⁠⁠). In this limited run, we are going to understand the strategies, timing, and mental models of the founders building the next generation of onchain experiences. In today's episode, we sit down with Ahn.eth (⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/ahn_going and https://farcaster.xyz/ahn.eth), the founder of Quidli (⁠⁠https://quid.li/). We are looking at the plumbing of social finance with Ahn.eth (Justin), a founder who is tackling one of the most persistent points of friction in crypto: making value transfer as intuitive as sending a direct message. We discuss: + why your social graph might be your most valuable on-chain asset, + the structural limitations of current identity systems like ENS, and + how to build a 'Yellow Pages' for the decentralized web that works across Farcaster, Telegram, and email without locking users into a single platform.It is a very useful episode for understanding how portable social graphs can abstract away complex blockchain UX to enable seamless value transfer across any platform.-- The podcasts are authored, edited and produced by Raphael Grieco (⁠⁠⁠⁠raphael-grieco.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠olivecapital.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠).

(this episode is an excerpt) --- Welcome to the third episode of our new series dedicated to the builders of the Farcaster ecosystem (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://farcaster.xyz⁠⁠⁠⁠). In this limited run, we are going to understand the strategies, timing, and mental models of the founders building the next generation of onchain experiences. In today's episode, we sit down with Ahn.eth (⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/ahn_going⁠ and ⁠https://farcaster.xyz/ahn.eth⁠), the founder of Quidli (⁠⁠⁠https://quid.li/⁠). We are looking at the plumbing of social finance with Ahn.eth (Justin), a founder who is tackling one of the most persistent points of friction in crypto: making value transfer as intuitive as sending a direct message. We discuss: + why your social graph might be your most valuable on-chain asset, + the structural limitations of current identity systems like ENS, and + how to build a 'Yellow Pages' for the decentralized web that works across Farcaster, Telegram, and email without locking users into a single platform.It is a very useful episode for understanding how portable social graphs can abstract away complex blockchain UX to enable seamless value transfer across any platform.-- The podcasts are authored, edited and produced by Raphael Grieco (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠raphael-grieco.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠olivecapital.vc⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠).

In this episode of Home Truths, we unpack one of the most pivotal — and often confusing, stages of any renovation: receiving and reviewing quotes.We talk about why prices can differ dramatically, the difference between budgets, estimates and quotes, and why a single lump sum isn't enough to make an informed decision. Jane explains how to properly review a tender, what a cost breakdown should include, and how to compare builders fairly, so you're not caught out later.We also cover the hidden costs that frequently cause budgets to spiral, including provisional sums, client-supplied items, VAT, scaffolding, and permits, and share the one question every homeowner should ask: “What's not included?”If you're planning a renovation or about to receive quotes, this episode will help you approach the process with clarity and confidence - and avoid the costly misunderstandings that often begin with “I assumed that was included.If you're about to get quotes back from your builder - this one's for you!!Sponsored by Plykea;Web:  https://www.plykea.com/Insta: @plykeakitchensBrought to you by HomeNotes;Web: homenotes.coInsta: @wearehomenotes Try the HomeNotes App;Web: homenotes.coInsta: @wearehomenotes Check out our FREE webinars here >>

Are you supposed to be able to mark doom during the part of the game that's all about relaxing and resetting? Dunno if it's rules-as-written, but it happened. Pilfer cooks up a staff stew. Master Brickithon finds out where his palantir went. Oleg gets a new son. • • • Patreon: patreon.com/improvtabletop Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / TikTok: @ImprovTabletop Email: ImprovTabletop@gmail.com Donations: ko-fi.com/improvtabletop • • • Audio Credits The theme song for The Tension Builders is "Melodic Marauders Scared Stupid" by Ned Wilcock. The following songs also by Ned Wilcock. “Fuguenchillen” The following songs are from tabletopaudio.com. All of the 10 minute ambiences on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). “Dark City” “Arcane Athenaeum” The following songs are used courtesy of the YouTube Audio Library License. “Birdseye Blues” by Chris Haugen “Nicolas MF Cage” by Ezra Lipp Professor Umlaut by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4243-professor-umlaut License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license • • • This actual play episode uses the Bump in the Dark RPG rules by Jex Thomas and Last Pine Press. This is a fanmade work of parody. Improv Tabletop is not affiliated with the LEGO brand or its owner The LEGO Group.

Logan sits down with Nick Schiffer, founder of NS Builders, to unpack what it really takes to build a brand so strong that clients wait five years to hire you. With over 400,000 followers across platforms, NS Builders is widely recognized for high-end craftsmanship and polished content—but this conversation goes far beyond Instagram. Nick shares how intentionality drives everything: from floor transition details and branded clothing to proposal books, employee handbooks, and long-term trust with clients. If you want to understand how brand, systems, communication, and consistency compound over time to create real market leverage, this episode is a masterclass.

In 1947 Dave Pace spiced up America with Salsa and this turned into a 90 Billion Dollar category. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [ECO Office Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. I’m Dave Young here talking to Stephen Semple. And the listeners may not know this because we only release these every week or so, right? Stephen Semple: Mh-hmm. Dave Young: But we often record them one after the other. And we just got done recording the episode about Doritos and Tostitos. And now you’re telling me that we’re going to talk about dip, Pace Salsa. Stephen Semple: Pace Salsa. Yeah. Dave Young: So the picante sauce people. Stephen Semple: Correct. Correct. Absolutely correct. Dave Young: And that’s great with Doritos. Stephen Semple: I never thought about it being with Doritos. Dave Young: Really? Stephen Semple: Tostitos, I would, but not Doritos. Dave Young: How about both? Stephen Semple: Okay. Dave Young: I say you can dip a Dorito into anything. I’m in that camp. I’m firmly in the camp that anything dippable is- Stephen Semple: You’re all-inclusive in your attitude towards Doritos and dip. Very open-minded. Here’s the thing I’m going to say. If someone has not listened to the Doritos, Tostitos story, you really should go back and listen to it before listening to this one because there’s certain things that kind of come together in terms of what’s happening in the world. Dave Young: Like chips and dip. Stephen Semple: And these stories are kind of linked even though this story starts in 1947. Well, the Doritos story starts in the late ’50s. They still have kind of a bit of a shared history. Dave Young: These stories that are on a collision course, a deathening. Stephen Semple: They are. And this story’s also not just about pace salsa, but it’s really about the origin of the salsa in the United States as a category, which is a $90 billion category. And the business was started by David Pace in 1947 in San Antonio and was sold to Campbell Soup in 1995 for $1.1 billion. Dave Young: All right. Stephen Semple: So not a bad little payday. Dave Young: Not a bad deal. Stephen Semple: Yeah. So now David Pace was from Louisiana and he moved to Texas after World War II. He had been running a small food business processing sugar substitutes, which were popular both during the war and shortly after the war with rationing because of the sugar rationing. But as rationing was coming off, what he knew is there was going to be less and less of a need for these sugar substitutes. So he was looking for a new idea. And so we have to remember, it’s 1947, food’s kind of boring in the United States. It’s not diverse. It’s bland. It’s meat and potatoes. The condiment that was used to improve food was ketchup. That was the condiment to improve food, right? And Mexican food was not really a thing. About the only thing that people knew about Mexican food, it was spicy. Here’s the part that I came across that really surprised me the most. In New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world, and certainly the most diverse city in the United States, there was just one Mexican restaurant in the city and New York at the time. Dave Young: In the ’40s? City. Stephen Semple: In the late ’40s, ’47. Dave Young: Okay. Wow. Stephen Semple: There was only one. That was it. Now, you could get Mexican food in the South because let’s face it, 100 years previous, a lot of parts of the South were part of Mexico, right? Dave Young: That’s right. Stephen Semple: As we like to remind ourselves. So here he is in- Dave Young: Well, Tex-Mex started just spreading in. Stephen Semple: Yeah. So here he is in San Antonio. He was stationed in Texas during the war and he’d settled in San Antonio, but he had never had Mexican food because now he’s off the base living in San Antonio and he tries salsa for the first time. And he’s like, wow, this is great. And he decides he needs to bring it to the market. A couple of challenges he ran into. First is how to make it. There’s lots of recipes around. He wanted to make his own version to sell the non-Mexican, so he wanted to tone down the intense flavors. He also needed to be able to jar it so it had shelf life. Here’s one of the fun challenges he ran into. A couple of the recipes he worked with would ferment once put in a jar. Well, what happens in a jar when something ferments? Dave Young: Botulism? Stephen Semple: No, kaboom. They blow up. Dave Young: Kaboom. They blow up. Okay. Yeah. Stephen Semple: So exploding jars, exploding jars of salsas, not really the objective. Dave Young: That’s never a good look either. Stephen Semple: Not really. But he gets it figured out and he brands it as Pace Picante Sauce. So it was first of all, promote it as a sauce, not a dip. And he starts selling it locally. He advertises it in the newspapers, but again, not as a dip as a sauce, like a marinade, something you brush on meat before baking. That was how it was being positioned. Dave Young: Well, it’s still, that’s the label on the jar is Pace Picante Sauce. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: I’ve always wondered about that. He did that so he didn’t have to… Well, go ahead. Stephen Semple: But that was just kind of how he thought about it. And so for over a decade, he works on building up a following in Texas. It was building slowly. He liked spicy food, but most people didn’t, because even though he took the spice down, it was still spicy. Now he hires his son-in-law, Kit Goldsbury, and Kit hates spicy food, like can’t stand it, but still thinks he can sell it. And Kit starts at the bottom working every job and works his way up. And there’s a point where Kit becomes more senior. And Pace is now in five states and is making some money. They’re having some success. Dave Young: Good. Stephen Semple: But Kit’s goal is he wants us to become coast to coast. He wants to turn this into a big thing. But here’s what he notices. It’s too hot for northerners, but northerners want flavor because they’re eating Doritos. They’re eating nacho Doritos and cheese Doritos. They’re eating those things. So it’s not like they don’t want flavor. They just don’t want the heat. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: There’s a marker for something interesting, unique, and different, but to go national, he needs to mute the heat. Dave Young: Needs to call it mild. Stephen Semple: Right. And around this time, Tostitos takes off and which is being used for dipping and it’s a massive success. So he decides to lean into the dip angle because he saw what was going on with Tostitos and he said, “You know what? We need to make this as a dip, not as a sauce, but I still need to take down the heat.” So he hires tasters to try all the jalapenos out there to find out which is the one that would work the best. Here’s the problem. Taster’s results were really inconsistent. He goes, “Okay, so I’ve still got to solve this heat problem.” So he hires a food scientist to engineer a heat-free jalapeno. Dr. Rasplicka, I think is how you pronounce his name, who basically created this measurement system for capsaicin, which is about how hot it is. And from this, they were able to figure out how to remove the heat because they were able to identify each one, able to identify the source of it and create this non-heat version of salsa. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Now, you jump the gun on it a little bit, as you often do. So remember, while Americans didn’t want heat, they wanted something interesting. So of course they didn’t call it bland. What did they call it? Dave Young: Stay tuned. We’re going to wrap up this story and tell you how to apply this lesson to your business right after this. [Using Stories To Sell Ad] Dave Young: Let’s pick up our story where we left off and trust me you haven’t missed a thing. Stephen Semple: Well, Americans didn’t want heat. They wanted something interesting. So of course they didn’t call it bland. What did they call it? Dave Young: Mild. Well, they’ve got the three. They’ve got mild, medium, and hot. Stephen Semple: Right. And that’s exactly what they did. They had the other spice levels, but they didn’t go with bland. They went with mild. Dave Young: Yeah, yeah, yeah. This the Goldilocks rule, right? Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: Wow. Stephen Semple: And so therefore, and with mild, everyone can enjoy it. And then of course they offered the other spice levels and they market it as a dip. Very quickly, sales went from $3 million to over $50 million. Dave Young: I can imagine. Stephen Semple: So successful, supermarkets started placing salsa in the chip aisle because it was not in the chip aisle previously. In 1991, salsa passes ketchup as the number one condiment in the United States. Dave Young: Not till ’91. Stephen Semple: Not till ’91. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: 1995, Campbell’s buys the business for over a billion dollars. Dave Young: All right. Stephen Semple: Now, I forget what year it was. I think it was ’92, but anyway, early ’90s, Campbell’s actually created a Heinz Salsa. Dave Young: Really? Stephen Semple: Yes. And it failed miserably. Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: But if you think about it, we often bump in these situations where companies do these line extensions, right? Where it’s like, “Well, why not? It’s tomato. It’s a condiment. It’s all this other thing. We can do a Heinz Salsa.” Why wouldn’t a Heinz Salsa work? People love Heinz ketchup. They’ll love Heinz Salsa.” It bombed. It totally bombed. Like bombs so much to the degree that it only existed for about three years and they went, “You know what? Instead, we’ll spend $1.1 billion buying a competitor rather than trying to develop our own.” Dave Young: Heinz is what it is and you know what you’re getting. Stephen Semple: But how often do we see that whole line extension happen and it fails? Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: Right? Like Gerber’s wanting to make adult food. Dave Young: No. Stephen Semple: Doesn’t work. Heinz making salsa. Dave Young: Make adult food and call it something else. Stephen Semple: Coke understood this when they went into the energy drink market because it was not Coke energy drink. They knew that would fail. Coke understood that. They were like, “No, no. Coke’s a pop. It’s a soft drink. It’s not an energy drink. We’re going to have to do something completely different.” But it’s amazing how often businesses will make that mistake of, “Oh, well, we do this thing. Let’s also market ourselves this thing and do this line extension.” And it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Dave Young: I think there are just invisible boundaries that if you don’t know them and you try to cross them. And in this case, it’s the style of food, right? Heinz goes on certain things, but it doesn’t go on Mexican food. You don’t dump ketchup on Mexican food. You don’t dump mustard on Mexican food. And Heinz makes ketchup and mustard and relish. Stephen Semple: And pickles. Dave Young: Pickles and all of those things, but they’re definitely not things that you put on Mexican food. Stephen Semple: It’s interesting. I was having this conversation with Michael Torbet, one of our partners, because we’re dealing with a situation with a client, an existing client where we’re struggling with getting them to think about not doing a line extension. And I was sharing with him this whole story of Heinz and we were talking about Gerber and a bunch of other companies that tried to do line extension and have failed. And we got talking about ketchup. And I was saying to him, “Well, I think the reason why it didn’t work because ketchup is something that you put on hamburgers.” But I like how you put it. It’s not specifically about hamburgers, but the foods that you put ketchup on, because again, Heinz is successful in pickles and they’re successful in mustard, but there’s foods where pickles, mustard, and ketchup go together. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And none of those foods does salsa go on it. It’s a different food category that salsa goes on. So you could make salsa and you could probably make cheese and that would actually work. Where you think about it, ketchup and salsa from a manufacturing standpoint are closer than salsa and cheese. Dave Young: Yeah. Those are weird associations. Stephen Semple: In fact, those companies do make cheese. They make cheese with a little bit of jalapeno. Dave Young: Yeah, absolutely. They’re right there next to the picante sauce. Stephen Semple: But I loved how you expressed it, hidden barriers, but they exist. And if you cross those barriers, it doesn’t work. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Very cool. I didn’t think about them as being hidden barriers. That’s an amazing observation. Dave Young: Like Rolex should never make a phone. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: Right? Well, phones keep times like, yeah, but that’s not right. Anyway, that’s just an example. There’s just lanes. Stephen Semple: Right. But there’s a couple of luxury watch brands that tried to dip their toe into the smartwatch market and it didn’t work. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And Rolex was not one of them, but I can’t remember who did, but they did and it failed terribly, failed terribly. Part of the appeal to a Rolex is the handmade and craftsmanship and all this other stuff. Dave Young: Well, and I don’t know. I have an Apple Watch and I have an Apple Watch not so much so I can tell time, but so it can do some other things for me. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: It can notify me. I use the timer function all the time and I could just carry a stopwatch around my neck or some kind of timer. But I also noticed that Apple sells, you can buy really fancy, upgraded, shiny, gold, sparkly, diamond encrusted versions of Apple Watch cases. The thing still does the same thing, but I don’t know how popular that stuff is. I’m guessing it’s pretty niche. Stephen Semple: I’m going to guess it probably is. And again, it’s not a line extension. It’s an add-on to an Apple Watch. It’s not a different watch. It’s an add-on. Dave Young: I think the guy that’s buying a Patek Philippe… I don’t know. Stephen Semple: Philippe Patek? Yeah. Dave Young: Or even a Rolex. Stephen Semple: Were you? Yeah. Dave Young: You’re not buying it for the same reason you’re buying an Apple Watch of any sort. And you’re not going to be fooled by the glitz and glam of the accoutrement on an Apple Watch into thinking that you’re buying a fancy watch. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: It’s still an Apple Watch. Stephen Semple: It’s still an Apple Watch. Yeah. It’s a different thing. Dave Young: Interesting. Yeah. Stephen Semple: Anyway. Dave Young: That’s a fascinating subject to just these invisible barriers. Stephen Semple: In a great book that covers this a little bit is the 22 by… Is it Al Ries and somebody? Dave Young: Trout and Ries, 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Stephen Semple: Yeah. And one of the laws that they go through is basically don’t do line extension. And they’ve got some great stories in that book around it. And anybody interested in branding, it’s a great… I have it on my desk and it’s a bible I refer to because those 22 laws, yeah, they are like you break them at your peril. With all of Heinz power, it couldn’t extend that and instead gave up and spent a billion dollars buying a competitor. Dave Young: And probably didn’t rename it Heinz. Stephen Semple: They did not. They kept it as Pace. Yeah. Dave Young: And they learned their lesson. Stephen Semple: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Dave Young: We’ve spent this time talking about Pace and just before this recording, we talked about Doritos, Tostitos. I’m getting kind of hungry. Are you getting hungry? Stephen Semple: Yeah. And of course we also talked a little bit about Taco Bell. Dave Young: Yeah. Yeah. Stephen Semple: As a sidebar. Yeah. A lot of food conversation here late in the afternoon. Dave Young: If people hear my tummy grumbling in the microphone, you know what’s going on. If we weren’t in different cities on the same continent, I’d suggest we go out and grab a bite somewhere, Stephen, but we’ll have to do that another time. Stephen Semple: We’ll have to do that another time. Exactly. Dave Young: I’ll bring the dip, you bring the chips. Stephen Semple: All right, you’re on. Dave Young: Thanks for bringing us the Pace story. Stephen Semple: All right. Thanks, David. Dave Young: Thanks for listening to the podcast. Please share us, subscribe on your favorite podcast app and leave us a big, fat, juicy five star rating and review at Apple Podcasts. And if you’d like to schedule your own 90-minute empire building session, you can do it at empirebuildingprogram.com.

Recorded live from the 2026 International Builders' Show in Orlando, Housing Developments welcomes Jason Eichenholz, philanthropist and owner of The New American Home 2026. Jason explains how this home isn't just a residence, but an activation center for his foundation, Jonathan's Landing.

Send a textWe break down how to turn raw land into builder-ready communities while reducing risk by securing the buyer first. Brandon shares the three-phase model, the biggest mistakes to avoid, and why the right city partners and civil engineer change everything.• buyer-led land targeting and concept planning• securing city buy-in before heavy spend• locking a national builder during due diligence• three phases: entitlement, horizontal, exit• multiple exits to fit the market cycle• designing lots to match builder product lines• choosing developer-friendly states and cities• costly pitfalls from poor engineering and approvals• investor options: passive capital or mastermind coaching• community impact: rooftops, retail, tax baseGive us a five-star review, write something nice, subscribe, follow, all of the things because podcasts, you know, we do these for you to help you learn, educate, and help you become a better real estate investor Support the showThanks again for listening. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and leave a FIVE-STAR review.Head to Dwanderful right now to claim your free real estate investing kit. And follow:http://www.Dwanderful.comhttp://www.facebook.com/Dwanderfulhttp://www.Instagram.com/Dwanderful http://www.youtube.com/DwanderfulRealEstateInvestingChannelMake it a Dwanderful Day!

Tired of watching your best practitioners walk out the door with your hard-earned client list? Here's the truth bomb you need: they're not leaving to steal from you—they're leaving because you haven't given them a reason to stay. In this episode, Kim breaks down the three-tier system that transforms your business from a revolving door of resentful employees into a thriving company where top talent fights to stay. What You'll Learn: 1️⃣ Why most employees aren't business-minded (and what that means for your hiring strategy) 2️⃣ The difference between building a personal brand vs. building a scalable company 3️⃣ How to create a development culture that makes leaving feel like a downgrade 4️⃣ The 3-tier structure: Visionaries, Builders, and Integrators—and why you need all three 5️⃣ Why "fairness" in the workplace isn't optional if you want to keep good people 6️⃣ The real reason your star performers are eyeing the exit (hint: it's not about money) I took notes for you: Download the worksheet here > https://link.kimguillory.com/widget/form/YuJ4m69dvSzmXnt7ggbI  Ready to become the leader who can hold space for bigger success? This episode will challenge you to look in the mirror and ask: Am I creating a workplace worth staying for? Resources Mentioned: Want help becoming the visionary leader your team needs? Email Kim or reply wherever you're listening to explore working together. support@kimguillory.com If this episode resonated, please: Share it with a salon, spa, or wellness business owner who's struggling with turnover Leave a rating and review to help us reach more business owners Send Kim your topic requests for future episodes Full show notes: https://kimguillory.com/podcast/stop-employees-from-leaving 

On this episode of the Established Podcast, we hear from Jillian Friot who is the CEO of the Global Venture Network and Donna Harris, the CEO of Builders and Backers.    Jillian and Donna were interviewed as part of our Established Network, Monthly Innovation Circle, and we continue to host these events on the third Thursday of every month. Sign up today at: http://est.us/TheMIC202   Get Involved! Founders, investors, startup teams, entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs), and innovators, we invite you to join the Established Network, our digital hub where creativity, capital, and collaboration collide. https://established.network    Watch the episode on the Established YouTube Channel at: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us    Subscribe to the Established podcast: https://theestablishedpodcast.com/     Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Check out Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs    Connect with us on Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

In this episode, I'm coming at you live from FENCETECH to learn how Gopher Wood is helping 3rd generation fence builders. Whether you're just getting started or are looking to grow your fence business, this is an episode you don't want to miss!Watch the live recording here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://youtube.com/live/2GXEPj_ZHPMSubscribe to my YouTube for shorter clips of this episode:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCObWyk_pdREnpfoX3Kba-hg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Show DescriptionChris has opinions about being sick, implied target for popovers, should Apple provide cross platform virtual machine images for Safari testing, what tips are there for beginners to HTML and CSS, which website builder CMS's do we recommend, and a Chipotle hack for your lunch plans. Listen on WebsiteWatch on YouTubeLinks The Missing Link for Web Components – Frontend Masters Blog Better defaults for popovers - Manuel Matuzovic 346: With Ben Evans – CodePen Ben Evans on CodePen Pure CSS Only Portrait - Isla Pure CSS Still Life - Water and Lemons A Single Div Webflow Craft CMS Sanity Contentful

In the first part of this two-episode series on the tombs of the tomb builders, host Stephanie Rice journeys beyond the iconic monuments of the Giza Plateau to explore the long-overlooked settlement of the pyramid workers.Often overshadowed by the Great Pyramids themselves, the massive wall known as Heit el-Ghurab, aka the “Wall of the Crow”, once concealed the remains of a thriving community. Ongoing excavations have revealed barracks, bakeries, administrative buildings, and, most importantly, carefully constructed cemeteries that challenge long-standing myths about enslaved labor or alien technologies.This episode examines the archaeological evidence for a socially stratified yet respected workforce: laborers buried in modest but well-built tombs, artisans interred higher on the hillside, and even small mastabas and pyramids constructed for workers. Through burial architecture, grave goods, and settlement remains, we uncover a story not of disposable bodies, but of skilled Egyptians who brought their regional traditions with them in life and in death.Offline Sources Cited:David, A. Rosalie (editor). 1996. The Pyramid Builders of Ancient Egypt: A Modern Investigation of Pharaoh's Workforce. Routledge, London New York.Forshaw, Roger. Trauma Care, Surgery and Remedies in Ancient Egypt: A Reassessment.Lehner, Mark. 2015. Labor and the Pyramids: The Heit El-Ghurab “Workers Town” at Giza. In , pp. 397–522.Lehner, Mark. 2023. Combinatorial Evolution and Heterogeneous Cohabitation at the Giant Pyramids. Journal of Urban Archaeology 8:21–46.Steinkeller, Piotr, and Michael Hudson. 2015. Labor in the Ancient World: A Colloquium Held at Hirschbach (Saxony), April 2005. International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economies No. volume 5. ISLET, Dresden.TranscriptsFor transcripts of this episode head over to: https://archpodnet.com/tpm/31LinksThe Past Macabre Research Notes on SubstackSee photos related to episode topics on InstagramLoving the macabre lore? Treat your host to a coffee!Website | The Giza Plateau Mapping ProjectWebsite | Information about the worker's cemetery at Heit al-Ghurab from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and AntiquitiesArchPodNetAPN Website: https://www.archpodnet.comAPN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnetAPN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnetAPN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnetAPN ShopAffiliatesMotion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ronak Desai, Co-founder and CPTO at Payment Labs, breaks down a surprisingly hard problem that sits at the intersection of fintech, sports, and compliance. If you have ever assumed paying winners is just a simple payout flow, this episode will change that view fast.Payment Labs helps tournament organizers, league operators, and modern sports businesses handle payouts plus tax compliance and support, all in one system. Ronak explains why spot payments are high risk, why manual workflows still dominate the space, and how stablecoins and AI are about to reshape fraud, identity, and trust.Key TakeawaysOne time payouts are a fraud magnet, inconsistent winners and risk based rules make verification and compliance much harder than payrollSolving payments without solving tax and forms still leaves the biggest liability sitting with the organizerMany sports and esports operators still run payouts in a surprisingly analog way, checks, cash, and post event cleanupAI is now good enough to pressure identity verification, and stablecoins make recovery harder because transfers are effectively finalProduct adoption depends on meeting users where they are, younger athletes expect texting and simple flows, not tickets and portalsTimestamped Highlights00:29 What Payment Labs actually does, payouts plus tax compliance plus support for sports, esports, and creator economy use cases01:15 The origin story, a real tax problem hit an esports operator and exposed how broken the payout workflow is02:46 Why spot payments raise risk, random recipients, fraud pressure, and why bank partners treat this differently than payroll04:58 The industry reality check, still running on checks and cash, and what digitizing the workflow unlocks next06:58 AI fraud versus AI detection, how identity verification is getting bypassed and why stablecoin rails raise the stakes11:55 The NIL wild west and the product lesson, meet athletes where they already live, including iMessage supportA Line Worth RepeatingNow you have AI committing the fraud and then you have AI detecting the fraud.Pro Tips for Builders and OperatorsIf your users are young and mobile first, build support where they already communicate, texting beats ticketing for adoptionDo not bolt on AI for a storyline, use it where it replaces manual work you already do and frees time for higher leverage decisionsMap your tasks with the Eisenhower quadrant, then automate what is repetitive before you chase shiny featuresCall to ActionIf this episode helped you think differently about fintech, fraud, and modern payout infrastructure, follow the show and share it with a founder or operator who touches payments. For more conversations at the intersection of tech, data, and real world execution, connect with Amir on LinkedIn and subscribe to the Elevano newsletter.

Autonomize AI is transforming healthcare infrastructure by eliminating administrative waste and reimagining how health enterprises operate. Covering 150 million of the 330 million lives in the United States and powering three of the five largest health enterprises, Autonomize AI has found traction by solving healthcare's hardest problems first. In this episode of BUILDERS, we sat down with Ganesh Padmanabhan, Founder & CEO of Autonomize AI, to explore how he built an AI platform from the ground up for healthcare—not by retrofitting existing technology, but by immersing himself in the industry's unique challenges and building solutions that address the fundamental inefficiencies plaguing the system. Topics Discussed: The origin story of launching during COVID with conviction around unstructured data Landing the first enterprise customer with a PowerPoint and prototype before writing production code The evolution from clinical trial patient matching to powering major health enterprises Why solving the hardest problems first created faster traction than targeting easy wins Building credibility as an outsider by leveraging past successes and being honest about failures The distinction between building AI for healthcare versus building AI from within healthcare Scaling from a $10,000 pilot to multi-million dollar ARR with deep customer immersion Why healthcare is fundamentally a trust equation, not a technology problem The future vision of an AI-native health enterprise operating system GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Don't write code until you have a signed deal: Ganesh didn't write production code until securing his first enterprise customer. He used a compelling pitch deck and an expensive prototype stitched together from cloud solutions to demonstrate feasibility. Once the deal was signed at $150,000 annually, they built the sustainable version while delivering value with the prototype. This approach validated real demand before significant investment. Solve the hardest problem, not the easiest one: Counterintuitively, Autonomize AI found faster traction by tackling the most difficult challenges in healthcare. Ganesh explains, "The simplest way to actually get traction, solve the hardest problem that's out there. If you do that and you can actually solve it...if the problem is big enough for them to move, they will." Hard problems often have fewer competitors and more desperate buyers. Wait for pattern recognition before scaling: Ganesh knew he had a business when the second and third customers requested exactly what the first customer bought. He waited for this repeatable pattern before raising a seed round, ensuring he wasn't just solving one customer's unique problem but addressing a genuine market need. Immerse deeply in one customer before broad expansion: Autonomize AI spent 12 months becoming better experts on their first major enterprise customer's systems than the customer's own internal teams. This deep penetration transformed a $10,000 pilot into millions in ARR and provided invaluable learning that shaped their entire platform approach. The investment in one relationship paid exponential dividends. Build from the industry, not for the industry: Ganesh's advice is clear: "Don't build AI and bring it into healthcare. Come into healthcare and build the AI." Most companies fail by retrofitting technology into healthcare's nuanced environment. Success comes from immersing yourself in the specific industry, understanding its unique constraints and trust requirements, then building solutions from that foundation. Leverage past credibility through specific storytelling: As an industry outsider, Ganesh built trust by sharing concrete past successes: growing Dell's convergent infrastructure business from zero to $1.3 billion in five years, working with major healthcare clients in previous roles. He also shared failures openly, creating authentic credibility. He notes, "People learn more from their successes than from their failures...you learn what to do then what not to do." // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

248 - David and Howard - the Bellamy Brothers In episode 248 of “Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine!, host James Patrick Regan speaks with David and Howard, the Bellamy Brothers. In their conversation the two discusses their home in Florida and the Brahma Cattle they raise. They discuss their current tour schedule which is extreme and the logistics of their tour and they talk about 50th anniversary show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on June 25th. They tell us about their connection to Ovation guitars after their gear was stolen while on tour with Loggins and Messina in the ‘70's and they also talk about the guitars they're using now on the road, Parker Fly guitars. The discuss their former bassist and lifelong friend Wally Dentz who unfortunately passed away just a couple weeks ago. They describe their early influences gospel and early country and the early English bands and they talk about playing with their dad who was also musical and they tell us about the early incarnations of their bands that eventually became the Bellamy Brothers. The tell us about the work they did early on working with and for Jim Stafford and Gallagher and David's song “Spiders and Snakes” which Jim recorded and the song “Let Your Love Flow” which jump started their career. They talk about doing tv work when tv was a very big deal and they discuss how Conway Twitty helped them break into the Nashville establishment. They discuss the members of the their band and plans for a new album to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They also talk about their other project a line of marijuana called “Old Hippy Stash” that's distributed by Trulieve. To find out more about David and Howard you can go to his website: bellamybrothers.com and they're on all the socials. Please subscribe, like, comment, share and review this podcast! #VintageGuitarMagazine #DavidandHowardBellamy #theBellamyBrothers #ParkerFlyGuitars #OvationGuitars #JimStafford #Gallagher #JamesPatrickRegan #ConwayTwitty #WallyDentz #theDeadlies #haveguitarwilltravelpodcast #HGWT #tourlife https://www.patreon.com/cw/HaveGuitarWillTravelPodcast Download Link

Every Friday around 8:15​-8:20 a.m. on KFAN 100.3 the Power Trip Morning show plays the Initials Game presented by Builders & Remodelers!The game involves 12 items people, place, things, phrases or anything as long as they share the same initials. All 12 items share the same initials. The contestants do not know the initials until they are revealed shortly before the game starts. Each item has 6 clues. As soon as the contestants know who or what the host is describing, they yell out their name. Their name is their buzzer. If the contestant gets it right, they get a point. If they get it wrong they are out for just that item. The item does have to be pronounced correctly. It is best out of 12 with tiebreakers if needed. Tiebreaker items have 3 clues.#InitialsGame #ThePowerTrip #KFAN1003FOLLOW The Power Trip on Social Media:► Like the show on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow the show on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PowerTripKFAN​​► Follow Cory Cove on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CoryCove​​► Follow Chris Hawkey on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Chris_Hawkey​​► Follow Meatsauce on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Meatsauce1​► Follow Mark Parrish on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarkDParrish► Follow Marney Gellner on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarneyGellner► Follow Zach Halverson on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ZachHalversonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three years. Over 100 episodes. Countless conversations about building better.In this special anniversary episode, Curtis Lawson reflects on why Your Project Shepherd was started in the first place — and why the mission matters more now than ever.After 21+ years building custom homes and stepping into failing projects, Curtis saw the same patterns over and over again:Homeowners who didn't know how to hire the right builderContracts structured incorrectlyPayments mishandledProjects where trust was assumed instead of earnedClients stuck in bad situations because of sunk cost and fearThat's why Shepherd Construction Advisors — and eventually this podcast — were born.This episode isn't just a look back. It's a reminder of what this platform is really about:✔ Educating homeowners so they can build smarter✔ Helping builders elevate professionalism✔ Creating better communication between teams✔ Reducing stress, mistakes, and preventable disastersIf you're a homeowner planning a custom build or major remodel…If you're a builder trying to run a more disciplined, process-driven company…If you're an architect or designer who wants smoother projects…This episode will re-ground you in what truly matters in residential construction.After three years, the mission hasn't changed:Better planning. Better communication. Better projects.

Margin pressure is squeezing builders from every direction – rising costs, longer timelines and more complex projects. But profit isn't usually lost in one big moment. It's lost through small breakdowns in process, procurement and pricing discipline.   In this episode of "The Building Code", Carly Ward is joined by Sarah Biben and returning guest Tyler Farrell, founder of Killowen Construction, to break down how builders protect profits through tighter workflows, smarter procurement and clearer pricing communication.   They explore how forecasting, purchase orders, job costing and standardized processes help builders surface risks earlier, defend margins and maintain trust with clients throughout long build cycles.   What you'll learn: • Why margin squeeze often hides behind strong revenue • How disciplined process and procurement protect profitability • Where builders lose money without realizing it • How pricing clarity improves financial outcomes and client confidence   Subscribe here, and never miss an episode.   Got podcast topic suggestions? Reach out to us at podcast@buildertrend.com.   Links and more Find Killowen Construction here Learn more about IBS 2026 here Follow Buildertrend on social: Instagram | Facebook Watch The Building Code on YouTube Join The Building Code Crew fan page on Facebook to connect with fellow listeners and keep the conversation going   #TheBuildingCode #Buildertrend #KillowenHomes #BuilderProfitability #ConstructionFinance #MarginProtection #CustomHomeBuilder #Procurement #JobCosting #ConstructionLeadership #BuildingBetter #ResidentialConstruction

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil interviews Asad Almanassra, founder of Let's Build Cleveland, a construction and remodeling company serving both residential and commercial clients. Asad shares how his company stands out in a highly competitive market through transparency, integrity, and strong customer service. He discusses current market trends, including the shift toward remodeling over new construction, and explains the importance of standard operating procedures for scaling a business. Asad also highlights how marketing, documentation, and financing options help build trust, strengthen relationships, and support continued business growth.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Register here to attend the live virtual event "Why Central Florida is the Year's Most Compelling Housing Market" on Thursday, February 19th at 8pm Eastern. Keith looks at how a changing Federal Reserve leadership might shape the interest rate environment, then zooms in on what's really happening with homebuilders versus remodelers across the country.  You'll hear about a lesser-known strategy some investors are using to step back from day-to-day landlording while keeping their income, and then we head to Central Florida to explore why one fast-growing market is quietly becoming a hotspot for new-build rental properties.  Along the way, a longtime Florida builder joins the show to explain how they're creating affordable, investment-friendly homes and what kinds of rents and tenant demand they're seeing on the ground—plus a way you can learn more live if this opportunity fits your own portfolio plans. Resources: Register for the event at GREwebinars.com Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/592 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, the naming of a new Federal Reserve Chair. Then are homebuilders in trouble today? There are a dwindling number of them, and their profits are down. I'll talk to a homebuilder. Listen to what amenities tenants want today, and it's interesting. We'll learn how low of a mortgage rate builders will give you. Now there's an opportunity here today on get rich education.   Corey Coates  0:30   Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors, and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast or visit get rich education.com   Keith Weinhold  1:14   mid south home buyers with over two decades as the nation's highest rated turnkey provider, their empathetic property managers use your return on investment as their North Star. It's no wonder smart investors line up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone headquartered in Memphis, with their globally attractive cash flows, mid south has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and 4000 houses renovated, there is zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate with an industry leading three and a half year average renter term. Every home they offer you will have brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter in an astounding price range, 100 to 150k GET TO KNOW mid south enjoy cash flow from day one at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid southhomebuyers.com   Speaker 1  2:17   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  2:33   Welcome to GRE from countersport Pennsylvania to Davenport Iowa and across 488 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to get rich education now more than ever, where you learn about personal finance and real estate investing matters. There's more AI generated content out there. This show is all flesh and blood me. There's also more clickbait content out there that says something like the housing market is about to have a price crash. No, it's not. They're just there to get short term attention. So your information source really matters today. New incoming Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, was recently named. He will replace the outgoing Jerome Powell on May 15. I want to tell you more about that in a moment. But first, just imagine if this scenario were to occur, say that we get a Fed chair that has to deal with really high inflation. And so what this Fed chair does is that he successfully brings inflation down, and he does that without triggering a recession that's called a soft landing. Well, you know what? That's exactly what Jerome Powell did the past three years. Yeah, that's what he's accomplished, and he doesn't get credit for it. He only gets a lot of criticism. Now this doesn't mean that I love Powell. I don't even know that the Fed should exist at all, but Powell got a lot of criticism for calling 2022, wave of inflation transitory, and being too late to respond to it. So he gets some credit here as his term of more than eight years winds down. Let's listen in to some of Jay Powell's recent comments about succession,    Speaker 2  4:23   you've obviously experienced a lot during your time as Fed chair, served under multiple presidents. I'm wondering what advice you have for whoever your successor might be.   Speaker 3  4:34   Honestly, I'd say a couple of things. One is, you know, stay out of elected politics. Don't get pulled into elected politics don't do it. And that's another thing. Another is that you know, our window into democratic accountability is Congress, and it's not a passive burden for us to go. To Congress and talk to people. It's an affirmative, regular obligation. If you want democratic legitimacy, you earn it by your interactions with the our elected overseers. And so it's something you need to work hard at, and I have worked hard at it so and the last thing is, you know, it's easy to it's easy to criticize government institutions so many ways. I will tell whoever it is you're about to meet the most qualified group of people you not only have ever worked with, you will ever work with and when you meet fed staff. And not everybody's perfect, but, but there isn't a better cadre of professionals more dedicated to the public well being than work at the Fed.    Keith Weinhold  5:43   Yeah. So to Powell's point, the next Fed chair, worsh, does champion fed independence, much like Powell has. That is a good thing that keeps America from turning into a banana republic that maintains a strong dollar. Warsh was actually a Fed Governor back during the 2008 global financial crisis, so he's got that experience when he comes in as Fed Chair in three months, he's widely expected to lower interest rates more than Powell did, much like the president wants. Kevin Warsh looks a lot like Michael Scott from the office. He has got to be less bumbling than him, though, overall, the effect on real estate and mortgage rates by shifting from PAL to worsh, I mean, that should be pretty mild. Maybe you'll see rates go a little lower than if pal had stayed and speaking of rates, wait till you see how low the mortgage rate is that our homebuilder guest is offering today. What's really happening with homebuilders now? How much trouble are they in? Homebuilders have largely been maligned. Overall. There are fewer homebuilders today in America than there were 20 years ago, and there are more remodelers than there were 20 years ago, fewer home builders, more remodelers, and that's for a few different reasons. Over the past couple decades, we just have substantially higher labor and material costs, stricter building and energy codes, higher interest rates, and that disproportionately hurts long duration construction projects. We've got zoning constraints and land constraints that make ground up development slow and uncertain and risky. So while the number of Home Builders in America is down, the number of remodelers are up, because America's housing stock is getting older. Its median age is over 40 years, and that creates constant demand for upgrades. Capital prefers faster, lower risk cycles. That's what remodels offer, and homeowners with locked in low mortgage rates choose to stay in place. And what does that make them do? That makes them renovate and remodel, not move. So this is why, compared to 20 years ago, you have fewer home builders and more remodelers. Today, that's per the NAHB and the Census Bureau and all these forces, they've resulted in a lower profit margin for homebuilders. Yes, homebuilder margin compression for a lot of the bigger builders, including DR Horton, just as you might guess in this cycle, their profits were greatest in 2022 and they have fallen since then. Higher mortgage rates came in, and builders had to lose profits by offering more incentives to entice buyers. You're going to learn more about that today and how it really spells quite an opportunity for you and I. When the final change in national home prices was tallied for the end of last year, they had risen in 16,500 zip codes. All right, that's 63% of America's zip codes, and prices were lower from a year earlier in the other 37% home price gains were concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, and the story there continues to be too many buyers and not enough homes. In fact, over 85% of zip codes saw price growth in Illinois, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Indiana, slow, steady, stubborn, kind of like winter refusing to leave. Losses were predominant in the Sun Belt. Prices caught their breath there. There was price attrition in Florida, with 96% of zip codes, so nearly all of Florida, then California, 78% of zip codes had a price loss. Texas, 75% of them and Arizona, 73% the biggest pocket of opportunity appears to be in Florida. Florida property is on sale. And because real estate is local. A lot of times we talk here nationally, but to get to that local level, sometimes you have to dig in to a local market to really find out what's going on. We're going to do that today. Now, central Miami, Orlando and Tampa, they're not generally the spot for obtaining cash flow from long term rentals. I've identified an opportunity. We'll get into that with this Florida homebuilder shortly. It's kind of funny. You'll run into people that say they want opportunity, but what they really want is certainty. How it plays out, though, is that once the certainty arrives, the opportunity is gone, and that's how to think about Florida and maybe Texas and some of these other markets today that have had price attrition.    Keith Weinhold  10:48   Now, three weeks ago, here on the show, I discussed the 721 exchange for the first time. So I won't get into all those details again when it comes time for you to sell your investment property, the 721 can be the best way for you to cash out. Perhaps you've been investing in real estate for a while and you have turned get rich education into got rich education. How the 721 exchange works is they basically say you have a case where you're a rental property owner and you realize that you don't want the hassles of landlording anymore. Oftentimes, this can mean you're older and real estate investing already took you where you wanted it to take you in life's journey, but you still like the financial benefit that ownership gives you. What you can do is exchange your properties into a partnership and receive shares in that partnership. Now that's different than a 1031, exchange. That's where you trade up some of your property that you directly own for what's usually more and larger property that you directly own. Well, instead, here's the big deal with exchanging your properties into a 721, partnership. The rules stipulate that this is not a taxable event, and therefore you don't have to pay any capital gains tax or depreciation recapture. Now that you're an owner in the partnership, you still get some of the benefits of owning the property, like appreciation and cash flow and such, yet no management or landlording at all like you would have with a 1031 and with a 721 you get all these benefits across a greater number of properties and markets diversification because you're a fractional owner in the other properties that are in the partnership, not only your own, and when you eventually pass away, your shares are stepped up in basis and can be distributed equally to heirs and C It's surely easier for you to divide shares among, say, your three children, than it is to divide your 18 rental houses among three children Who are going to have different goals and varying degrees of financial savvy. So the 721, exchange is a great estate planning tool too. You will have this partnership that makes an offer to buy your property. You're exchanging them for partnership shares. There's a firm that does this called flock homes, and they have a certain Buy Box to be clear with the 721, exchange, you can basically trade your rentals for shares in a diversified, professionally managed Real Estate Fund. This means that you keep your hard earned equity defer capital gains and other taxes, and you still get access to steady income and long term appreciation without the hassle of landlord duties, and you can visit flockhomes.com/gre, and get a free valuation. Get an offer for your property, see if it fits their buy box and see how much they'll pay you. There's often no need to pay to fix up or stage the property for sale or pay agent commissions for a certain investor type. This really can be a rather life changing experience for you to liquidate some or all of your property have zero tax obligation and still enjoy income and appreciation. So again, what you can do is stop by flock homes.com/gre, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/g, R, E, let's discuss the home building climate today.   Keith Weinhold  14:38   I'd like to bring in a premium Florida homebuilder guest to the show, Jim, because there has been more homebuilding in Florida such that some areas of the state have excess supply. And when you add that onto the fact that the hot pandemic migration to Florida has slowed such that home prices have made a rare dip in the state, that is why it. A timely topic. Jim, you're on GRE Welcome to the show. Keith, great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, and we did the IRL thing in Colorado there a few weeks ago. That was great hanging out in person. You provide entry level new build homes, mostly in Central Florida. And these are properties that are conducive to real estate pays five ways. These are properties that investors chiefly buy as rentals. So just bigger picture, tell us about that overall experience over, say, the last five years, as the pandemic wound down,    Jim Sheils  15:35   yeah, as the pandemic wound down, obviously Florida had a lot of attention. Some of it, rightly so, some of it, I think a little more inflated and commercial attention getting thrown at it. And you know, the type of deals that you and I have always stayed away from were very popular in Florida. You know, we're talking really nice houses. Keith, beautiful, nice HOAs people got in in 2021 let's say, with those very low interest rates on a six or $700,000 home, but now they're realizing that it's not going up $100,000 a year as they thought. And when they try to sell it, well, people trying to buy in $700,000 home, they're not getting that low interest rate. And if these people try to hold it and rent it, well, it doesn't cash flow, so it breaks one of those rules. It's not putting money in people's pockets, taking it out. And so we're seeing there was a large distribution of those types of houses around Florida. And then there were some builders like us that really focused on what was the most needed, and that was workforce housing. Now workforce housing, though, Keith, as you know, a lot of the builders don't want to build it. Why? Let's be straight. It's because the margins are lower right. But as you know, with me and my partner Chris, it was always let's make less margin and do more volume. That was always our model, and that was the area of the market where we felt we could build it right, we could get it financed right, and we could manage it right to hit the five things. And so we're seeing today, post pandemic, there are still key markets where the population growth is still the highest, coming into Florida, the prices are still the lowest, and there is a shortage of this type of workforce housing.   Keith Weinhold  17:11   Yes, you've identified a geography within Florida that have some of these characteristics like you're talking about. Tell us more about that region.   Jim Sheils  17:20   Yeah, we call it the Ocala region, so Central Florida, just west of Orlando. Right now, for example, u haul does their U haul top markets rankings every year? So where are the most U haul trucks going to now, you don't want to be on their side where they're coming from, Keith, because that's obviously the opposite. But for the second year in a row, the greater Ocala area has been the number 1u haul destination place in the country. So there's still a ton of population growth going there. Central Florida, I'm not going to say it sat out the growth during the pandemic that a lot of areas of Florida did, but it was starting at such a low basis with such a small amount of attention that today, even when people say, oh gosh, like I just said, house is 600 700 800,000 we're building new construction single family homes for under 300,000 the 270s a lot of the time. And we're building duplexes sometimes for under 400,000 and a lot of our you know, investors coming from the west coast. Say, are these fully built? Are they? But again, Central Florida has had a great affordability. Remain intact. It has a large population going in. There is a ton of job resource just blowing up in the area. And as you know, these are the things we look for. So we bought a lot of lots there. I'm gonna give credit to my partner, Chris. He saw calla more than I did, and we bought a lot of lots there in 2020 so before all the rises. So we got into the land basis, right? So that means we can build them at a great price. Our land basis is low, and that obviously passes along to our clients. And again, Central Florida is a perfect match for our goal. Because, you know, our goal is workforce housing, that cash flows on day one. But also nothing wrong with fixer uppers. I own a lot. I used to do a lot, but the new construction seems to have a little bit more of a less involvement, which it seems like a lot of our clients want.   Keith Weinhold  19:15   That was really prescient, as it turned out, for your business partner, Chris there to gobble up a lot of that land in 2020 before prices went soaring. And this is one reason why you can do things like offer a duplex for less than 400k That's a new build, which has some people saying like, does that thing include a roof even? But it surely does. These are very good quality livable properties. And the reason I have you here, Jim is because you are rare. There are fewer builders today than there were in decades past, and also those that build to your point earlier. They only want to build higher end properties, not the more affordable ones that you offer. We'll get more details on your price points and what properties. Products you offer later. But yeah, we have more remodelers today and fewer builders. And though it's a few years old, I found it interesting that census statistics show us that between 2007 and 2022 there are 73% more remodelers and 21% fewer builders today.    Jim Sheils  20:22   Interesting. You know, Keith, I didn't know that, and that makes me scratch my head on like when you and I were in Colorado, we were talking about future needs, even with growth that occurred during the pandemic going all the way back to oh eight when a real shortage started to start, we are still at an estimated three to 5 million homes short in the US. It really perplexes me that the amount of builders like us will be going down and not actually entering the market.   Keith Weinhold  20:47   Now, among those that are building, though, much of that is concentrated in the South, as I think we know, there's a recent resi club compilation show that 59% of current single family home building is in the south, and 41% is everywhere else. And how do you define the South? That's basically Maryland down to Florida, all the way out to Texas and Oklahoma. So you are pretty rare in some ways. However, where you're building regionally, that's not a rarity there, but yeah, having more remodelers today and fewer home builders, that's probably the result of a lot of things. You know, for one thing, just land and construction costs becoming that much more expensive over the past five years.   Jim Sheils  21:05    Yeah, we've been lucky, too, as you know, Keith, you've been with us for a decade now. But yeah, and we transitioned a piece of our company where Sumitomo forestry, large Japanese group stepped in and acquired a piece of our property. That was a very exciting thing for all of us together, because we had done well, and, you know, started small and built up to a decent sized builder for Northeast Florida and then the rest of Florida. But now, with Sumitomo coming in again, they build 17,000 homes worldwide every year, between all of their builders. Now being a part of them, we get to use their national material accounts, so they get pricing just as good, if not better, than national home builders, and they let us do our thing, stick to our build to rent, working with investor clients. We're not retail buyer guys, really. We like working with our investors, but just getting those great discounts on materials, again, we're always looking to pass on savings to our clients. Of course, we got to make margins as well, but if we're getting in with deals like that, getting into the land right, and knowing the pinpointed areas to get into, we can get the best deal for everyone. And that's been a major part having such a big, successful partner like Sumitomo keep us healthy, viable and able to do things we could have not even dreamed of five years ago.   Keith Weinhold  22:47   Yes, that gives you more capital and more options. Another unusual aberration in the market that really centers on a lot of what you do is that this fact that and this was mentioned on the show last year for the first time in my life, existing homes cost more than new build homes. Existing homes at about 420k nationally, and new build homes about 392k part of the divergence there is probably builder price cuts. So tell us more about that.    Jim Sheils  23:14   I think the issue Heath is builders built for largest spreads, and people bought very emotionally. I think you're to give you a compliment a very unemotional real estate buyer. You're not looking at, oh, this is a very nice, you know, extra his and hers porcelain sink. And we're looking at fundamental numbers a good, solid property. And I think what's caused a lot of that is people did the opposite. Builders were looking for the largest margin they could get, which was on those types of properties. And then buyers were looking very emotionally, and they were told, Hey, this is going to go up 50 to $100,000 a year. So just sit there and hold on, sure you'll lose $1,500 a month, but don't worry about it. You'll make up for that every year. And obviously we're not seeing that's true. They could have really used your class about the five ways to get paid in real estate. And I think that that's what's doing it. And this is what builders do. I mean, everyone's in a business, and a lot of builders just focus on the largest margin. Now that's eating them up now, because those types of properties are not in demand. To build them on spec would be very dangerous, but you can see that that worked for a short term. We're very glad we went to the low margin workforce housing model, because I see that falling out of favor almost never even in Oh 809, Keith, when I was in the remodel game, a lot of the properties that were new construction coming out that time they were affordable, still did very well.   Keith Weinhold  24:42   We're talking with a premium Florida homebuilder today, because they offer affordable properties that make sense for investors. But what about the demand? Where is that going to come from? Where is that going to be? And that's what's happening with the renter segment. We'll talk more about that when we. Come back. You're listening to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold,   Keith Weinhold  25:03   flock homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem, property or your whole portfolio through a 721, exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture, it's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now Mom and Pop landlords can 721, the residential real estate request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify@flockhomes.com slash GRE, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/gre.    Keith Weinhold  25:39   You know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year, I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program when you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products, they've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest. Start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom, family investments.com/gre, or send a text now it's 1-937-795-8989, yep, text their freedom coach directly. Again, 1-937-795-8989,   Keith Weinhold  26:51   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally, while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com   Ken McElroy  27:26   this is Rich Dad advisor, Ken McElroy. Listen to get rich education with Keith whitehold, and don't twitch your Daydream.   Keith Weinhold  27:40   Welcome back to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, we're talking with Jim a premium Florida homebuilder here at such an interesting time in the cycle, since supply is up in some parts of Florida, Jim and his team has strategically chosen a place that is still fueling a lot of net in migration in Central Florida, and that's where the rental demand needs to come from as well. Now nationally, we've seen the homeownership rate fall over about the past year, from near 66% to near 65% that does not sound like much, but a 1% shift means there are 1.3 million new renters in just the past year. So with that in mind, and the fact that this low affordability for home buying means that people need to rent or stay renters longer, provides some of the Sustainable demand. So tell us more about the rental demand in Central Florida.   Jim Sheils  28:39   Yeah, you know, when we first went out there about a decade ago, Keith, I think it was 82 or 83% of all properties out there were owner occupied, which means it was a very lopsided amount of existing rental property available. And this is before the curve of population growth really took off. But when Chris and I went out there and we were assessing that small percentage of rental property that was out there. Gosh, it was old and kind of beat up. There was not a lot like the new construction that was available. So when we brought in new construction, we saw just the competition. Was hard to compete with us. You know, when it was an older, not so nice taking care of we came in and we saw a jump from, you know, doing older houses ourselves, you know, a person would stay about 13 months. But for the new construction in Central Florida, we've seen a jump to about three years. So that's really positive. People get into a new construction property they don't want to leave, whether that's half of a duplex or a single family. The duplexes are interesting because we're able to build those on infill lots and existing single family home neighborhoods, so a person who doesn't want to live in an apartment can live there, have their own yard, and they couldn't afford the whole single family, but to have half of a single family basically what a duplex is. It makes a big difference, and the people are in great demand of rental in Central Florida there because of exactly why. I said, Keith, the job. Course, continues to grow in Central Florida, extremely strong. The business incentives to come into the area by the local municipality is very, very good. So here's something interesting, Keith, the average salary in Ocala is about 72,000 and the average home price is about 298,000 that is a very healthy affordability one. Yeah, very, very good. And so that job source continues to pay very well. And we've talked about just the logistics centers and the Equestrian Center. That's the largest in the world. Now the villages are just 25 miles south. So Ocala becomes a bedroom community, and that is the second largest retirement community and growing in the US. So there's a lot of job source that allows people to live there at a good affordability. And so that combination of affordability with this extending job source has been really, really good for the Ocala region.   Keith Weinhold  30:59   It's been said that the only place you get money is from other people, and we're talking about your renters in this case. So oftentimes these renters, they had their sense of privacy there, like, for example, do the duplexes even have fenced backyards for each individual side,   Jim Sheils  31:17   depending on where they are? We will. Other times it hasn't been a requirement. We've done lots of surveys to see is it worth the price point to put in full fencing in certain areas. It can be in a lot of areas. Keith, they're just so excited with the price point not having to move into an apartment building that it hasn't even been warranted or necessary.   Keith Weinhold  31:38   Yeah. So we're talking about livability characteristics here, because oftentimes new build rental property results in a higher tenant stay that longer duration, because they're the first person that have ever lived there, and it's also difficult for them to go out and improve their living situation unless they become a home buyer, and that's difficult to do today. Tell us more about the incentives and the property types and so on, because there really are some pretty exciting ones.    Jim Sheils  32:09   One of the best things about Central Florida, Keith, combined with new construction, is insurance costs. Now you and I have laughed about the blanketed statement where you said, oh my goodness, you cannot get insurance in Florida. You can't get property insurance in Florida, or it's doubled, tripled, gone up 7x that is a true statement on certain properties. If you're buying older properties from the 1950s that are within a half mile of the beach on low lying ground, but new construction properties far away from the beach, that is a totally different things. So again, being in Central Florida, where we are, a lot of people think, oh, to insure a single family home there, that's going to be several $100 a month, when actually, you know, and you've seen a lot of our performer quotes, our insurance companies are getting a single family home done for about $65 a month on average, full coverage. And that's the advantage of new construction. Insurance companies are all about risk. They analyze risk. When you're on a new construction property built on higher ground away from the beach, they like that, and they do that a duplex. You're looking at about $100 a month. So incentive wise, we've really searched to team up with great insurance companies that get the best rates full coverage. And again, we surprise people when they say, Oh man, I thought there would be a whole nother zero at that monthly cost. And these are actual quotes, as you know, with working with a lot of GRE people. So that's one great thing, another great thing, Keith, that happened when we joined forces with Sumitomo. And again, Sumitomo 320, years old, one of the biggest powerhouses out of Asia, Warren Buffett, is very heavily invested in another one of the conglomerates, not the housing one we do, but he's very involved in one of their other companies. And when they came aboard, you know, we have no bank debt for a builder, which is rare. And since we have such a healthy balance sheet, we're actually able to work deals with mortgage companies where we'll do what's called builder forward commitments, Keith, and that means we will pre buy mortgages for our clients, for the homes we're building, and we will pass that savings along. So right now, you know, if an investment property in a duplex might be an average of 7% for anyone who walks in off the street to a bank. Right now, our most popular rate program for our investors, for single family or duplexes, is 3.75 Gosh. So as you know, for your five ways, if we want to get cash flow, there's a big difference. Yeah, we're getting affordable housing. But if the rate is over 7% compared to 375 that could eat up the cash flow with us being able to have this power to buy large tranches of money and pass it along and lock our people in again, an average right now at 3.75 is our most popular program, and that's long term money, then we're able to get that cash flow right off the bat. And you and I know how important that is   Keith Weinhold  34:50    for this super attractive 3.75% long term mortgage rate on single family homes and duplexes. How? Much does the buyer have to come out of pocket at the closing table to buy that down themselves? And how much do you the builder participate in that buy down?   Jim Sheils  35:07   You know, it depends Keith at different times, because there is a little bit of a fluctuation. Sometimes it can be as low as zero points or just one origination point to bring it in. It does vary. And also, if people say, hey, I really don't want to bring in any points. Well, that's fine. You know, if you don't want to walk in zero to 2% points for that, you can also just raise your rate up to four and a quarter and probably walk in nothing. So there's different things that we can do, but the goal of it is to have us have the brunt of it. And what I can tell you is, if the average person walked into a bank, and a bank wouldn't do this anyway. It's only for, again, builders with a certain size, but if you went into a bank right now and said, I'd like to buy my rate down to 3.75 the average Keith that this would cost a person off the street going into a bank would be 12 to 15% banks wouldn't even do it for an individual. But that's about the estimates when you look at it. So again, volume has privileged. The fact we're able to buy it down. It does cost us a good amount of money, but we're all able to save since we're kind of working together to buy these larger tranches. And again, the need of any investment for buying down the rate from the clients is very minimal.   Keith Weinhold  36:18   Tell us more about the property types, new build single family homes, new build duplexes.   Jim Sheils  36:23   You know, single family and duplexes are our main focus in 2026 for Central Florida, we've done the research. They're very high in demand. They rent quickly, and they rent long term to produce cash flow. Our average single family home under 300,000 we're aiming to after expense, make about $300 cash flow. Our duplexes should be about twice that amount, about just under $600 a month, or just over in cash flow. And then again, the prices are ranging from about 395, to 420, for a duplex. Again, these are in workforce areas where we're doing great, scattered lots. Scattered lot means there's already existing homes around. We like to go to an area where there's good a fundamental balance of homeowners and renters. So there's retail buyers that have bought their first home, and we will place our rentals in between them, whether it's a single family or a duplex.   Keith Weinhold  37:13   We sure don't need to do a complete audio pro forma here, but those cash flow amounts something near $300 for a single family home, and about double that for a duplex. Is that using, you know, a bought down rate to about 4% and some of these other inputs you're talking about, like low insurance costs and a certain property tax rate, can you tell us about that?    Jim Sheils  37:35   Yeah, property tax rate is property tax rate. We can get pretty dang close on property taxes, you know, based on millage and get that down. But when we do our performers, we absolutely go off of, you know, our average rate to be the 375, to four and a quarter. And then when GRE clients look at our performer, and they look at the insurance cost, that's an actual quote from one of our insurance companies that has insured hundreds and hundreds of these properties. Not a guess, yeah, so they know what they're doing. So yeah, those would be the assumptions made in there, and that's what we're basically getting on a week in, week out basis.    Keith Weinhold  38:09   That is really attractive as we're talking about new build. I imagine there is some sort of builder warranty as well.    Jim Sheils  38:16   There's a state mandated 210 warranty. 210 warranty is something we could talk probably a whole episode on Keith. But for what's good for people to know, basically what that means, you get two years coverage on the small stuff and 10 years coverage on the big structural stuff. And so that's why I like new construction. You know what? I used to personally just buy my own fixer up Return key properties from other people. I could get a one year warranty, and that's the best that really can be done. Now with new construction, we've gone from, you know, with our fixer upper homes, able to do a one year warranty, which is good at something. But now with new construction, we can do a 210 warranty, big difference, and also really helps the safety score of issues if they came up.    Keith Weinhold  38:59   We were talking about new build property, and we tend to project relatively low maintenance and repair costs for an obvious reason, maybe your long term vacancy rate could very well be lower as well, due to my earlier point about a tenant wanting to stay there for a long time, because it's hard for them to improve their living situation unless they went out and bought their own place. And you have the low insurance rates, and you have the low mortgage rates, all contributing to positive cash flow on a new build property. And we think about that tenant and what gets the tenant excited? We start to think about some of those amenities. So tell us about what amenities are offered, including inside, in the kitchen and so on.   Jim Sheils  39:38   Jim, yeah, great question, Keith. We've really gotten a great recipe for success for that. You know, we've been doing this a little over a decade now, and so you're always tweaking your build model. What do people like? What do they not like? What's good for durability? Let's look at maintenance and repairs. Let's look at turn costs. So our goal is always the dual focus. That's what looks good. And what lasts really well, yeah, because you want durability. When you have tenants, you want it to look good, so you sell it down the road, 510, years to a first time homebuyer, it looks great. You can sell it. But durability wise, you don't want a lot of extra expenses or maintenance and repairs. So we go durability. So what we found a couple of things. I always joke about this. I do not like the word carpet, Keith, that is a terrible swear word in real estate investing, I can tell you right now, if I could go back and this is not, you know, owning hundreds of rentals, if I could not have done carpet and just reversed it to like vinyl plank flooring, like we do now, or even tile, which was more, I probably would have been able to buy three or four of our duplexes cash with the amount of money, and that is not an exaggeration. So we do not do carpet. First of all, it seems like trends are changing. It's not in favor right now. So we do vinyl plank flooring, which looks really nice, almost like wood floors, super durable, though, for a young family that's going to be tenant occupied in your property and running around on it. That's great. Kitchen wise, again, we don't sell retail really. We like to work with investors, but down the road, our investor might want to sell to a retail buyer. So we know, you know, from our old fix and flip days of the FHA buyers, the kitchen's got a pop. So we always do, you know, we don't do the white appliances, which you know would save you quite a bit of money, and save us quite a bit of money. We do stainless steel appliances. We do all new cabinetry, you know, kind of the latest, nicer cabinetry, a little bit of an upgrade. And then, you know, butcher block countertops, those are going to wear in about a year or two. Keith, it feels really good to spend that smaller amount, you know. But we, we like to do the more durable, nice looking countertops, you know, that are, you know, just so much more esthetically pleasing and actually durable as well. Same thing in the bathrooms. A lot of new builders will do shower kit, which not a problem if you're saving money on a rehab, you know, but we would rather do tile, bring in the extra subcontractors to give tile, and then in the master we do the dual sinks, which this might sound like little stuff, Keith, but these are the micro movements that help get a tenant in quicker, stay longer and more rent. So we're always trying to do these extra things in the granite countertops, both in the kitchens and in the bathrooms. Those cost more upfront, but we see for long term of tenant we see, for the amount of rent we get, and for resale ability, because a lot of people don't think about that. You know what? In seven years you want to sell one of these properties? Well, it's a seven year old roof, it's seven year old plumbing, you're still in a great spot for an FHA buyer. And that esthetically pleasing flooring, bathrooms, kitchens. That allows an easier sale for them, because we want to look all the way around, not just a rental. I like to hold long term, but if you want to sell in five to 10 years, that's a very valid strategy.    Keith Weinhold  42:48   I like carpet in my own home, but not rentals. But what you're sharing with us, Jim, this is absolute gold that's been brought to you through experience. This over improvement versus under improvement line in rentals, and it really has a lot of balance between durability and price. These are the sort of things that really matter, but you are selling predominantly to individual investors, a lot of mom and pop investors. Why don't you make more sales to the retail, owner occupied market, or to institutional investors, even though that might be cracked down upon now. But why don't you sell to those parties?   Jim Sheils  43:26   Yeah, you know Keith, I did a lot of fix and flip to FHA buyers, and I'm an investor. I really like working with investors. So when this all really went back to is 2009 I had a lot of investors. I was in Northeast Florida. The deal flow was incredible. And I just had a lot of investors, you know, through my different networks and Masterminds, like, where you and I have met, and said, Hey, you're getting great deals in Northeast Florida. Could you help put some together for me? And so I had done quite a few fix and flips to retail buyers, and it just kind of hot on me, you know, way back then, like, Wow. I like working with investors. I like building portfolios. I also like the fact that when I'm normally building a portfolio for an investor, well, they hang out with other investors, and they're not looking to buy one property over the next five years. They're looking to buy five to eight properties over the next five years. great point. And so we just saw it as you gotta like who you work with, right? And nothing against first time homebuyers. But when I was rehabbing houses and selling them, golly, that was a lot of work. And then could be persnickety. Yeah, very persnickety. And so when Chris and I teamed up about 10 years ago, we had both gone through the same kind of aha, like going, Yeah, it seems great, but you could sell for more to a retail buyer. But again, like I go back to even the type of property we build, we'd rather do a volume with investors. Be a builder, buy investors for investors, and work that way. And I think it suits me. I think I would have probably hung up my shoes a long time ago if I was. Working with the amount of properties we've done with retail buyers compared to investors, honestly, and so I think it was just kind of, it was a preference, really, that made sense   Keith Weinhold  45:09   to your point. Investors buy multiple properties, and that way there are fewer parties to deal with. And investors tend to be less emotional than those more persnickety, owner occupied buyers. Well, Jim, you make it easy for investors. Besides all these incentives, you also offer an in house management solution for these investors, often that tend to be out of state. Well, Jim, before I ask you, if you have any closing thoughts, would you the listener like to ask Jim any question directly? Well, you can, because I have a great event to tell you about next Thursday, the 19th, at 8pm eastern Jim here and GRE investment coach, Naresh will co host a live webinar for Central Florida new build income property. In fact, Jim, I think you know Naresh longer than I have, as it turns out, but this event is free, and you the listener are invited. We've had between 250 and 550 registrants for our past webinars. Not all of them attend live. So the benefit of you attending live is that you can have any of your questions answered by either Naresh or Jim in real time, and besides learning about the Central Florida market and more about home building, you are going to see available new build income property, real addresses with some of these rather grand incentives that we've talked about here, you might end up with a long term rate of about 4% again, it is Thursday, the 19th at 8pm Eastern. Sign up is open now at grewebinars.com that's grewebinars.com Any final thoughts here, Jim, for this great event coming up next week?   Jim Sheils  46:52   I think we're going to dig a little deeper. Obviously, this is a conversation that was great, but moves pretty quickly when we talk next week, we're going to be able to dig into more of the fundamentals, some of the stats, and just get underneath the hood of why Central Florida is making so much sense, and just some of the rising stars that we're seeing there that we're very excited to be a part of.   Keith Weinhold  47:13   You've helped our listeners for close to 10 years now. It's been an informative chat as always. Thanks so much for coming back onto the show.    Jim Sheils  47:21   Thanks for having me, Keith.   Keith Weinhold  47:27   Yeah, like our guest touched on Ocala, Florida now has national recognition as the fastest growing city in America, and that's for the second year in a row. According to a new U haul report, Florida is, of course, a rather landlord friendly state. In fact, Florida is the first state to enact a law that allows law enforcement to immediately remove squatters, distinguishing them from legal tenants. Now here's what's interesting and why I've identified this opportunity if Florida prices dipped because people were leaving now, that could be a red flag, because population loss is like gravity. Once it starts falling, it is hard to escape. But that's not what's happening. Instead, what we're seeing is a temporary overbuild hangover. Builders got ambitious. We're in a brief period where supply outran demand and prices softened. That's not decay. That's a sale rack. Any vacant homes are not stranded. They're being absorbed by Florida's still growing population, which has now increased every single decade since its first census count, back in the year 1830 back in 1830 there were about 35,000 residents in the whole state. Isn't that amazing today? North of 24 million, that is 700x population growth in almost 200 years, and it's still growing. That kind of trend doesn't reverse because a few builders over ordered inventory here at GRE this made us target and find in opportunity. This isn't an accident. Central Florida is this year's most compelling. Housing market in that region, Central Florida, is growing faster than the rest of the state at large, and it really sits in the sweet spot of this temporary imbalance. One long established builder overbuilt and now they're motivated. They know what investors want. So, for example, they don't build swimming pools with their homes. They also offer property tours, and over 90% of their tour attendees buy property. They're willing to offer terrific incentives at our upcoming GRE live webinar, like we touched on new build single family rentals, 270k and up duplexes, three. 95 to 420, long term mortgage rates as low as 3.75% you get low insurance rates since they're inland and new build positive cash flow and a builder warranty at the event. You're going to learn all about the growth drivers in Central Florida, why so many renters are moving there and see available properties. This benefits anyone looking for a clear, practical view of current real estate conditions. Joining live does matter, since you can have those questions answered in real time, not after the opportunity has moved on, you are invited for next Thursday, the 19th, at 8p m Eastern. This one is worth circling, not because it's flashy, because it's timed right. Sign up is open now @grewebinars.com that's gre webinars.com. Until next week. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Speaker 5  51:00   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  51:29   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, get richeducation.com