Podcast appearances and mentions of shawn van dyke

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCA187 Get a copy of Profit First for Contractors here: https://www.amazon.ca/Profit-First-Co... Did you know that the vast majority of construction and trades businesses net less than 5% profit a year? In case you were wondering—that's not good. Our guest on the show today is Shawn Van Dyke, author of Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. In this episode, we break down the Profit First for Contractors (or PFC) cash management model, including a prescribed framework for implementing PFC in your business right away. If you change the way you manage your finances, you'll also change the way you think about money flowing in and out of your accounts. And in turn, you'll make better decisions that benefit you and your business. Episode highlights: Unpack how the profit-first approach Shawn Van Dyke outlines in Profit First for Contractors produces a powerful and positive psychological change to the way you see money flowing into and out of your business. Learn the four most common profit-destroying mistakes that Shawn sees owners make all too often. Find out which five bank accounts you need to set up right away. 00:00 - Intro 01:35 - About Profit First for Contractors 10:31 - Why is minimal profitability so common in construction and trades? 15:49 - Brief synopsis of the PFC Model 21:05 - Five bank accounts you need to set up 31:36 - What's the value of the five bank accounts? 47:07 - 4 mistakes that kill profitability 01:05:08 - Connect with Shawn Subscribe to Breakthrough Academy to never miss a video!

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP187 Get a copy of Profit First for Contractors here: https://www.amazon.ca/Profit-First-Contractors-Construction-Money-Making-ebook/dp/B07L38J49P Did you know that the vast majority of construction and trades businesses net less than 5% profit a year? In case you were wondering—that’s not good. Our guest on the show today is Shawn Van Dyke, author of Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. In this episode, we break down the Profit First for Contractors (or PFC) cash management model, including a prescribed framework for implementing PFC in your business right away. If you change the way you manage your finances, you’ll also change the way you think about money flowing in and out of your accounts. And in turn, you’ll make better decisions that benefit you and your business. Episode highlights: Unpack how the profit-first approach Shawn Van Dyke outlines in Profit First for Contractors produces a powerful and positive psychological change to the way you see money flowing into and out of your business. Learn the four most common profit-destroying mistakes that Shawn sees owners make all too often. Find out which five bank accounts you need to set up right away. 00:00-Intro 01:35-About Profit First for Contractors 10:31-Why is minimal profitability so common in construction and trades? 15:49-Brief synopsis of the PFC Model 21:05-Five bank accounts you need to set up 31:36-What's the value of the five bank accounts? 47:07-4 mistakes that kill profitability 01:05:08-Connect with Shawn See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/PCEP187   Get a copy of Profit First for Contractors here: https://www.amazon.ca/Profit-First-Contractors-Construction-Money-Making-ebook/dp/B07L38J49P   Did you know that the vast majority of construction and trades businesses net less than 5% profit a year?   In case you were wondering—that's not good.   Our guest on the show today is Shawn Van Dyke, author of Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List.   In this episode, we break down the Profit First for Contractors (or PFC) cash management model, including a prescribed framework for implementing PFC in your business right away.   If you change the way you manage your finances, you'll also change the way you think about money flowing in and out of your accounts. And in turn, you'll make better decisions that benefit you and your business.   Episode highlights: Unpack how the profit-first approach Shawn Van Dyke outlines in Profit First for Contractors produces a powerful and positive psychological change to the way you see money flowing into and out of your business. Learn the four most common profit-destroying mistakes that Shawn sees owners make all too often. Find out which five bank accounts you need to set up right away.   00:00-Intro 01:35-About Profit First for Contractors 10:31-Why is minimal profitability so common in construction and trades? 15:49-Brief synopsis of the PFC Model 21:05-Five bank accounts you need to set up 31:36-What's the value of the five bank accounts? 47:07-4 mistakes that kill profitability 01:05:08-Connect with Shawn  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we are joined by author of Profit First for Contractors Shawn Van Dyke to talk about price, value, and systems. Sponsors: ⁠⁠⁠Cycle CPA⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠How to Hardscape Headquarters --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/howtohardscape/message

The #1 Decision You Will Ever Make In Construction Business. In this episode, business coach, author, and founder of Built To Build Shawn Van Dyke talks about the core principles that make construction businesses highly profitable. Shawn tells us his own story in which we see how career paths can take surprising twists and turns. Join us as Shawn shares the fundamental elements of success - ones that fuelled his climb to the top. Hear the remarkable story of a man going from an average carpenter to unprecedented business success in real estate development. Discover how pattern recognition, discipline, and a knack for business fuel an unexpected rise in the construction industry. Key Takeaways: Career paths aren't always linear – embrace unexpected opportunities How passion sparks success, even when everything else is going south Why business knowledge is vital in the construction world The art of Giving back - see how it empowers you within the industry And much more .. #construction #bricksandbytes #constructiontechnology #startups #venturecapitalists #businesscoaching  —---------------------------- Stay ahead. Get all the news and insider exclusives delivered straight to your inbox.  Sign up for our newsletter The Bytes Line at: https://bricksbytes.show LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bricks-bytes/ X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bricksbytespod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmNbunUTIIQDzbJgGJt9_Zg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bricksbytes/ —--------------------------- This episode is brought to you by Shft—the BIM partner you need to fill the gap in your digital skills and tackle your BIM needs, end-to-end. Visit: https://maketheshft.digital ---------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00:00-00:02:39) Intro (00:02:39-00:09:25) About Shawn's Journey (00:09:25-00:17:00) About Switching Careers (00:17:00-00:24:30) Principles behind Profit First Method (00:24:30-00:42:34) How To Implement Technology In Construction Businesses (00:42:34-00:45:13) Hardest Thing About Writing A Book (00:45:13-00:45:56) Outro

We really appreciated our visit with Shawn. He stopped by our booth to chat a little bit about what family life looks like for him. Shawn is determined to give construction businesses the tools to become successful in the trade. We will definitely be chatting with him again to learn more on the business side, but we also hear he has a pretty good vasectomy story for us. Stay tuned 

Picture a world where you, a contractor, are paid up-front for your services. Sounds too good to be true? Not according to our guest, Shawn Van Dyke! He's the author of Profit First for Contractors and a keynote speaker who firmly believes in the worth of a contractor's time, knowledge, and expertise, just like that of doctors and lawyers. Join us as Sean enlightens us on how contractors can confidently take the leap to charge for their services, just as we share our PAC process, which is gaining traction in the industry.Ever wondered about managing finances as a contractor? We discuss this crucial aspect in our chat with Sean. We dive into the value of having separate bank accounts for income, profit, taxes, owner's compensation, and OPEX. Shawn lays out the importance of setting aside profit and paying taxes as hallmarks of a thriving business, plus the vital aspect of compensating oneself for the work done in the business. Be prepared to be enlightened on a new approach to managing your business finances!Finally, we take a look at lead generation and time management—two essential components of running a successful contracting business. Shawn shares about the importance of filters in lead generation and how this can transform difficult clients into great ones. Plus, we have a deep-dive into time management techniques, the role of automated systems, and the importance of setting boundaries in the construction industry. Our conversation rounds up with Shawn sharing about his successful Built for Build Academy, its growth, and expansion. So tune in, and let's rethink the contracting industry together!Farmer to Fridge - meat directly to you. We want as many local farms as possible to be able to sell fresh local meat, to local consumers. check out more podcasts here...https://levelupwithduaynepearce.buzzsprout.com

My first Hurricane was an experience that will not be forgotten anytime soon! Like most life experiences I attempt to learn the lessons and apply them to my life and business. Business owners will experience "Hurricanes" from time to time, so I thought I would apply some of the lessons I learned to business in order to see the silver lining in this devastating storm. Watch my Shawn Van Dyke interview here and learn about the Profit First System, https://youtu.be/rZhwaH6TK_Y Join Tampa Bay Tile Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1202102713706371/ Get your Happy Tile Guy website here https://bit.ly/3QFX3SE

Welcome to The Profit Talk! In this show, we're going to help you explore strategies to help you maximize profits in your business while scaling and creating the lifestyle that you want as an entrepreneur. I am your host, Susanne Mariga! I'm a certified Mastery Level Profit First Professional. Let's dive into strategies to maximize profits in your business!  In this episode, I interview Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn is a construction business coach, keynote speaker, and author of two books - Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List.  He is also the CEO of the Built to Build Academy® which creates confident construction business owners by providing operational systems so you make more money, streamline your construction business, and get your life back. Listen to this episode and learn how you can grow your business in a purposeful, profitable way.    Connect with Shawn at https://shawnvandyke.com/ and to join the Austin Event on October 27th & 28th, go to https://www.builttobuildacademy.com/live   Visit my FREE Facebook Group, The Profit First Masterclass, where I'll be sharing additional exclusive trainings to members of the community.   If you're excited about what's next for your business and upcoming episodes, please head to our itunes page and give us a review! Your support will help me to bring in other amazing expert interviews to share their best tips on how to powerfully grow in your business!  DISCLAIMER: The information contained within these videos is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute, an accountant-client relationship. While we use reasonable efforts to furnish accurate and up-to-date information, we assume no liability or responsibility for any errors, omissions, or regulatory updates in the content of this video. Any U.S. federal tax advice contained within is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding penalties under U.S. federal tax law. 

Have you ever felt like... You're taking on more work but you feel stuck You're growing revenue but you're not actually making more money  You're great at your craft but lack some confidence on the business side Then you're going to want to listen to this episode. (Read below on how to win a 1-hour coaching consultation with Shawn Van Dyke -- Value: $500)Shawn Van Dyke, a former engineer and contractor turned construction business coach, hops on the podcast to dig into the problems most construction face, how to identify what's holding you back, and the areas where systems can help you grow, make more money, and get your life back. In this episode we talk about:  Building systems Focusing on profit  How to sell on value...not price  Etc.  WIN A 1-HR CONSULTATION WITH SHAWN

This week we invited Shawn Van Dyke for our 200th episode to pick his brain about what's happening in the remodeling industry. Shawn founded the Built to Build Academy where he trains contractors worldwide to build the systems they need for purposeful, profitable growth. In this episode, you'll hear how to build the perfect price for your business, why you should always get your lead's contact information, the best way to find skilled labor, and much more. Start listening now!

Show Summary From the outside, contractors look like pretty hard-nosed individuals. In reality, they are lovable and soft on the inside and have the goal of wanting to make people smile. It's a compliment, but it is one of the biggest business problems. They get so much satisfaction out of pleasing people, which often means undercutting themselves and not getting paid enough for what they do. Pricing is a challenge across all industries, and even hard-nosed contractors are faced with it. Shawn Van Dyke shares that the first thing he would tell his clients or the contractors to increase profitability is to raise their prices. If you're not making money in a business, then you are running a charity. He also addresses how seasonality affects him as a contractor and how a CPA or a bookkeeper helps the contractors earn money. Shawn also compares the difference between good tax advice and good business advice.   Website: https://shawnvandyke.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnvandyke/ Corporate Partner: People Process - https://peopleprocesses.com/

New podcast alert! Long-time construction pro, contractor business coach, and best selling author, Shawn Van Dyke and Karalynn talk coaching, how to know if it’s right for your business, and what Shawn can offer if it is! Whether you’ve only been in business for a year, or you’ve been around the block for many, Shawn is chock-full of great morsels of advice for contractors in any phase of their journey, so be sure to listen in and take notes! It’s time to decide if you are Built to Build! If you like what hear, show our team some love by liking, sharing, and subscribing. Happy listening!___Find Shawn's Services Here: https://shawnvandyke.com/ Follow Shawn on Instagram @shawnvandykeLearn More About the Built to Build Academy: https://www.builttobuildacademy.com/ Purchase Shawn's Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1790264502/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_8QVPGZ4V85FS9TCZ7PGA Follow us! Instagram: @subcontractorinstitute Facebook: The Subcontractor Institute LinkedIn: The Subcontractor Institute Quit Getting Screwed was recorded on Riverside. fm and is distributed by Castos.

In this episode of the Profit Tool Belt podcast, Dominic Rubino speaks with construction business coach and author Shawn Van Dyke about cash management, paying the most important employee (you), the Boring Success Formula, the 10-25 habit, his book, toothpaste conservation tactics, and more.

Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach, keynote speaker, and author of two books - Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. Most contractors are not profitable which makes them feel uncertain about what they need to do to grow their construction businesses. Shawn believes construction business owners should be as good at business as they are at their craft. That's why, after twenty plus years of owning and operating multiple construction businesses, Shawn developed a system-by-system framework to help construction business owners grow in a purposeful, profitable way. He now works with construction business owners, executives, and managers all over the world and shows them how to stop losing profits and wasting time. He is the founder of the Built to Build Academy® which creates confident construction business owners through business training and coaching programs so you make more money, streamline your construction business, and get your life back. https://shawnvandyke.com/ IG: @shawnvandyke, @profitfirstcontractor, @builttobuildacademy YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw0CMYtRs2Y9mGpLTT8q18Q twitter: @svandyke FB: https://www.facebook.com/shawngvandyke   7:56 "You only have so many hours in the day." - Shawn Van Dyke 9:00 "Everybody is wearing 17 different hats." - Shawn Van Dyke 10:47 Society in general says "Oh, contractors are supposed to work for free." And a lot of them DO, and that's the problem. - Shawn Van Dyke 15:54 "We all spend money...when people sell us their value." - Shawn Van Dyke 20:37 "Yeah, I've done that, I don't need to do it again." - Shawn Van Dyke 22:48 "Selling value has much more to do about emotions." - Shawn Van Dyke 24:41 "Being in that upper tier gets you invited into other conversations." - Shawn Van Dyke

Shawn Van Dyke is an author and business consultant that helps transform businesses looking to make big changes. Shawn helps businesses discover and create the systems they need to be successful. His program, Built to Build Academy, is tailored for businesses ready to grow the right way. In this episode with Shawn, we discuss how he got his start in home improvement, how specializing in something can help you make more money, how you can save money in the office, how to price your jobs, how to overcome money objections, and the tools you need to succeed. Learn more about Shawn at shawnvandyke.com and learn more about Built to Build at builttobuildacademy.com. Shawn has also authored two books—Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. Both are available through his website shawnvandyke.com.

Managing cash in your business is an up and down ride. Late payments, unexpected expenses, and up and down sales all cause problems in running your business. Join Torlando in his conversation with Shawn Van Dyke, author of Profit First for Contractors as they discuss managing cash to put the focus on profits. PCA Website: https://www.pcapainted.org/ Shawn Van Dyke: www.profitfirstcontractor.com

Shawn Van Dyke joins Casey Grey for an interview. Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach, an international keynote speaker, and author of two books - Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. He works with construction business owners, executives, and managers all over the world and shows them how to stop losing profits and wasting time. Shawn helps contractors get their lives back. He is the founder of the Built to Build Academy™ which creates confident construction business owners through on demand training and coaching programs so you can make more money, stop worrying, and get your life back. Follow Shawn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnvandyke/  The Conscious Builder Website: www.theconsciousbuilder.com  The Conscious Builder on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeThir3L7kgmChWyHnKBWVw  The Conscious Builder on Instagram: www.instagram.com/the_conscious_builder/ 

Today we have Profit First for Contractors author Shawn Van Dyke on the show to talk about this cash management system, how it helps contractors, and answers your questions that were submitted. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/howtohardscape/message

Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach, an international keynote speaker, and author of two books: Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List.Most contractors are not profitable, which makes them feel uncertain about what they need to grow their construction businesses. Shawn believes that construction business owners should be as good at business as they are at their craft. That's why, after 20+ years of owning and operating multiple construction businesses, Shawn became a construction business coach. He now works with construction business owners, executives, and managers all over the world and shows them how to stop losing profits and wasting time.Shawn helps contractors get their lives back. He is the founder of the Built to Build Academy, which creates confident construction business owners through on-demand training and coaching programs so you can make more money, stop worrying, and get your life back.Shawn shares a lot of insight on how to hire, build a company culture, how much time to spend on marketing, what best practices to keep in mind when spreading your message, lump sum versus cost-plus, and establishing trust with your clients.Topics Discussed:05:43 Gaining confidence as a coach and public speaker11:10 Mastering sales15:52 Balancing empathy towards customers with the needs of the business19:18 The power of “no”22:39 Guiding your clients through the decision-making process28:24 Answering the three questions of the “delight trifecta” to save thousands of dollars34:26 The number one mistake contractors make when running their business37:16 Hiring “above the line”40:33 Identifying what you hate doing in the business to know who to hire43:17 Understanding “transparency” and how to achieve it with your customers48:39 Lump sum versus cost-plus56:04 When to use cost-plus pricing, especially with supply chain issues amid COVID-191:01:11 The right way to think about profit first1:06:53 The value in having systems1:10:46 Intentional marketing using social media1:15:40 The importance of sticking to your core message in your marketing effortsConnect with Guest: Instagram @shawnvandykeInstagram @profitfirstcontractorInstagram @builttobuildacademyWebsiteYouTubeFacebookTwitterLinkedinResources & People Mentioned:Built to Build AcademyProfit First for Contractors by Shawn Van DykeTed TalksThe Science Behind TED's 18-Minute RuleStart with No by Jim CampNever Split the Difference by Chris VossKey Quotes by Shawn:As a business owner, you're there to make an emotional connection with people first, because if they don't buy into what you're doing on an emotional level, it doesn't matter how good the information is.Your business starts with sales.“Yes” is a lie; “maybe” is worthless; “no” is a decision. Get to the “no” as quickly as possible. Invite your clients to tell you “no” from the get-go.You never, ever, ever, ever want to surprise the client; but you want to delight them constantly.The biggest mistake I see with business owners is them thinking that they have to be the one who figures everything out and waiting too long to bring in an expert.Transparency is not trust.I would rather try to sell my value upfront and then perform a great project than to justify it afterwards.You can only price what you know.You can only spend 100% of your income on your businessMoney—profit—is a measure of effectiveness. The more effective you are with your customers, employees, and community, the more money you're going to make. The more money that you make, the more you can do great things with it.Systems provide truth: Our systems are either working, or they're not.Word of marketing sucks if you don't control the words people are saying.

Nate interviews Shawn Van Dyke, a business coach for contractors. Shawn is the founder of Built to Build which helps general contractors implement business strategies and systems, making sure the business side of the company runs smoothly.0:00 New EC instagram account1:24 Introducing Shawn4:10 Shawns background9:40 College education recommended?12:14 Contractor limitations15:40 Finding middle ground17:00 Having difficult conversations26:54 "I don't care about the money"29:50 Subs wanting to own business in the future33:26 Business resources37:30 Is being a contractor a good business43:35 No easy money47:03 Hiring and employee productivity53:30 Services Shawn offers Find Shawn:Instagram:  @Shawn Van Dyke  @profitfirstcontractorProfit First for Contractors book https://amzn.to/3klOPPr  Mentioned in this podcast: How I Built This podcast

Profit First Professional and author of Profit First for Contractors, Shawn van Dyke creates confident construction business owners through on-demand training and coaching programs so they can make more money, stop worrying, and get their life back.

59% of homeowners still plan to begin their project within the next 2 to 4 weeks even with the pandemic continuing around us. We have a wide-ranging discussion addressing the latest results in Modernize Home Services 2020 Homeowner Insights Survey - the surprises, the confirmations, and any interesting tidbits. Chris and Dom host Shawn Van-Dyke owner of  Built to Build Academy™ to help contractors understand how to navigate and create action to improve their business during 2020. 

This week, Matt chats with Shawn Van Dyke, Author and Founder of the Built to Build Academy. Shawn's expertise in running the show at several home improvement companies has led him to coaching hundreds of pros. In this podcast, Shawn shares some of his proven tactics to turn managers and owners into true leaders. They discuss:

This week, we are joined by Shawn Van Dyke from the Built to Build Academy. Michael and Shawn discuss his path to becoming a construction business coach, his work as an author, as well as the most valuable advice he has received throughout his career.

What You Will Learn: How to get inside a contractor’s mind and speak more effectively to your target The importance of an online presence How to build a content strategy and the “Three E’s” that will help you succeed How to get engage your audience In the latest episode of GWP’s Constructing Brands podcast, we speak with Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn has extensive experience in the construction world and is currently a construction business coach, author, and keynote speaker who guides professionals toward a more profitable future. In this episode we discuss how building materials manufacturers market their product, what they are doing wrong, and what they need to do differently to build a better business. Shawn shares his valuable insights to better understand your end user, learn how to communicate more efficiently with contractors, and how to generate meaningful, engaging content for your target audience. All of these pieces come together in a critical way to effectively market your product, engage and enlist the contractor, and ultimately make your business more profitable. About Shawn Van Dyke Shawn Van Dyke is a construction industry business coach, mentor, and speaker. His mission is to change the way the world views the trades. As a keynote speaker, Shawn Van Dyke provides construction business owners the operational systems and leadership strategies they need to build a profitable construction business prepared for sustainable growth. Resources: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvandyke https://shawnvandyke.com https://soundcloud.com/shawn-van-dyke-828278909

Being human means you are going to go through life with strengths and weaknesses; it doesn’t matter who you are. You don’t have to let those weaknesses stop you from achieving success. Logan’s guest today is Shawn Van Dyke, a contractor business coach, author of 2 best-selling books, and an international keynote speaker for construction groups all over the world. Shawn started as an engineer, quickly moving into project management for large contractors where he was able to see all the trades work together. After years of helping manage projects, both others and his own, he began building scalable systems for other contractors to help build their businesses. Learn to recognize your strengths and weaknesses so you don’t bury your business when someone else can save it!   In this episode, we talk about… Shawn’s background and how he made his way to where he is right now Assessing your personality in order to figure out strengths and weaknesses You have to be self-aware so you know when to hire someone else How to identify if you are stuck in The Craftsmen Cycle The word “no” can be the most profitable word in your business Here’s the easiest way to break out of The Craftsmen Cycle What makes The Craftsmen Cycle unique in the contracting industry Everyone buys your marketing, not the product or service Pre-qualifying to find the right clients and projects Focus on the most valuable piece of content that you can provide   Links to resources: TikTok Profit First For Contractors Check out Shawn on Instagram! For a free copy of Shawn’s book: https://shawnvandyke.com/ The Contractor Fight Contractor Sales Academy Full Sail Marketing Giveaway Full Sail Marketing Facebook Join the CGN Badass Book Club Facebook! Check out our new Facebook group for the podcast where you can interact with other subs and leave reviews: https://business.facebook.com/groups/3353051814723273/?ref=pages_profile_groups_tab&source_id=111717746945247 Sign up for The Blueprint and learn the fundamentals of successful marketing, go to contractorgrowthnetwork.com 

Shawn Van Dyke Kevin speaks with construction industry consultant, business coach and mentor Shawn Van Dyke to learn how trades and craftsmen are faring in the current business climate, and how they can build a recession-proof business for today and years to come. They discuss: Shawn's biggest question… what have you BEEN doing to prepare for a crisis? Whatever creative or innovative programs you put in place now… do it from here on out How the perception of construction works as “essential” might change Think about your communication strategy now for the uncertain recovery period ahead Question? Comments? Email show@doyouconvert.com or call 404-369-2595 and we'll address them on the next episode. More insights and opportunities in the Market Proof Marketing Facebook group. Subscribe on iTunes —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-itunes Follow on Spotify —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-spotify Subscribe on Google Play —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-gplay Listen on Stitcher —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-stitcher  A weekly new home marketing podcast for home builders and developers. Each week Kevin Oakley, Andrew Peek, and others from Do You Convert will break down the headlines, share best-practices and stories from the front line, and perform a deep dive on a relevant marketing topic. We're here to help you – not to sell you! The post Ep 96: Building a Recession-Proof Business with Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC. The post Ep 96: Building a Recession-Proof Business with Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC.

Construction business coach Shawn Van Dyke discusses how trades and craftsmen are faring in the current climate, and how to build a recession-proof business going forward. The post Ep 96: Building a Recession-Proof Business with Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC.

Shawn Van Dyke offers business advice for contractors trying to stay afloat during the virus outbreak. The hosts hear from listeners about wifi thermostats and Sense monitoring and then take questions about the safety of cable railings, finding an efficient mobile home, and what to do about a soggy landscape.

Shawn Van Dyke suggests to pour money into marketing and recruiting great candidates during this time of crisis. Shawn's hiring formula is great: State the problem - The problem in the mind of the candidate (put this in the job ad). Did they just get laid off, need a career change, do they want to get into management?Agitate the pain - Get a connection with the candidate suffering from a similar problem.Give them a plan for success - Tell them what they will do and give them a plan for the next 6 months/year. Call to action - Explain the duties of the job. Ask the candidates for an email with reasons why they want to work for your company it will help them be engaged with your company as they are applying.This podcast was sponsored by Morning Tech Meeting

In episode 112, Bradley Hartmann is joined by Shawn Van Dyke, author of Profit First for Contractors. Bradley and Shawn discuss the challenges contractors face and Shawn gives clear and actionable advice on ways to overcome them to make your business truly profitable. As always, thanks for listening!

Are you busy all of the time but not making any profit in your contracting or service business? If so, you are not alone. We sit down with Shawn Van Dyke to discuss why that happens and how to stop it. This is a MUST listen to those wanting the most out of their business. Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach, keynote speaker, and author of two books - Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List. Most contractors are not profitable which makes them feel uncertain about what they need to do to grow their construction businesses. He is the founder of the Built to Build Academy which creates confident construction business owners through educational, training, and mentoring programs that you can start, grow, and build a profitable construction business. This podcast has been sponsored by morningtechmeeting.com. Click the link to connect with Eric and Larry.

This episode of the New Construction Marketing Podcast is brought to you by my FREE TRAINING Effortless Follow Up: How to Convert Up to 80% More Sales. Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach, an international keynote speaker, and author of two books - Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List and Social Media Influencer. After twenty plus years of owning and operating multiple construction businesses, Shawn became a construction business coach. He now works with construction business owners, executives, and managers all over the world and shows them how to stop losing profits and wasting time.  Shawn helps contractors get their lives back. He is the founder of the Built to Build Academy which creates confident construction business owners through educational, training, and mentoring programs. Shawn attributes a big part of his business growth to the growth of his Instagram-currently he has close to 12,000 followers. He thinks the key to growing your influence online is to be strategic about it. On today's episode of the New Construction Marketing Podcast Shawn shares his best practices to engage your ideal buyer profile and grow your authority.

Hey guys - I have received a few messages asking what podcasts and audio books that I listen to so I thought I would do a quick one just to share what I listen to in the hope you get a few new ones :-)Here's the lists:Podcasts:Joe Rogan - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-joe-rogan-experience/id360084272?i=1000464732485Jocko podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/jocko-podcast/id1070322219?i=1000464675001Jordan B Peterson - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast/id1184022695?i=1000464368458Building Better Humans Project - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/building-better-humans-project/id1081817246?i=1000464718556Gary Vee - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-garyvee-audio-experience/id928159684?i=1000464789514Penns Sunday School - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/penns-sunday-school/id504257078?i=1000464605670Tony Robbins - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-tony-robbins-podcast/id1098413063?i=1000464519043Tim Ferriss - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795?i=1000464131197The Mentor (Mark Bouris) - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mentor-with-mark-bouris/id981791133TED Tech - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ted-talks-technology/id470624027?i=1000459889783Life on the line - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/life-on-the-line/id1271200777?i=1000459783431The Wolfs Den - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-wolfs-den/id1464461126?i=1000464145880Audiobooks:The one thing - Gary KellerExtreme Ownership, The dichotomy of leadership, Leadership, strategy and tactics - Jocko WillinkAtomic habits - James Cear12 Rules for life - Jordan B PetersonNever split the difference - Chris VossInfluence - Robert CialdiniCan't hurt me - David GogginsAverage 70kg Dickhead - Dan PronkProfit first for contractors - Shawn Van Dyke

Eric and Larry explain their Blue Collar Titans podcast summit of interviewing 21 successful blue collar influencers in the industry. These interviews will not be public, but you can hear them by signing up at https://morningtechmeeting.com/titans/. Please sign up to hear amazing stories, strategies, ideas, and content that will change the way you view your blue collar business. We spent time with Howard Partridge, Al Levi, Shawn Van Dyke, Joe Kowalski, Ellen Rohr, Derek Preece & Katie Harris, Tom Ziglar, Steve Coscia, John Braun, Bruce Deloatch, Mason Tomaino, Tersh Blissett, Josh Zolin, John Braun, Kevin And Annissa Coy, Brett Gilliland, Wood Boyles And Dan Baker, Eric And Larry, And More! Please visit morningtechmeeting.com to find out more about Eric and Larry.

Shawn is a construction industry consultant, business coach, and mentor. He is a keynote speaker and travels the US working with and training construction business owners on how to streamline their businesses. After spending nearly 20 years in and around the construction industry owning and operating several businesses, he left the “C-Suite’ to focus on his mission: TO CHANGE THE WAY THE WORLD VIEWS THE TRADES. On this episode, Shawn Van Dyke details how to ensure profitability for your roofing business. Show Highlights: Tip No. 1: We Go to the bank account - When Do You Read Your Balance Sheet Tip No. 2: Why are you reacting to the balance in your bank account? Tip No. 3: What is the law of induced demand? Tip No. 4: Profit is the reason that you are in business! Tip No. 5: Be great at cash management, then accounting Tip No. 6: How to set rules for the expenses in your roofing business Tip No. 7: How to know if you priced the job incorrectly Tip No. 8: How to stop selling the wrong work, at the wrong price, to the wrong client Tip No. 9: If you don't pay a premium, you will get an inferior service Tip No. 10: How to get your time back to get more profitable jobs Links: https://shawnvandyke.com/ https://www.profitfirstcontractor.com/ Instagram @shawnvandyke For Tips, Strategies, and Free Downloads visit our website: roofermarketers.com The Roofing Success Podcast Text Jim @ (612) 512-1812 – Say Hi! I would love to hear your feedback, pros & cons! Please leave us a review!

Brent Hull from Hull Millwork and Hull Homes joins the guys to talk about preserving homes, the hierarchy of moulding, when did the master-builder die, tipping the scales back to craftsmanship and much more. A must-listen for the romantics! This episode is sponsored by: Cape Cod Lumber is hosting the Build On Expo December 12th in Randolph, MA. Be sure to register for free at the link below. A full schedule of events featuring Finding Unicorns - Attracting Talent to Fill Your Skills Gap with Shawn Van Dyke, How can an Interior Designer add Value to your Next Project? with Amy Kearns & Brain Charron, and Attracting, Developing and Retaining Young Talent with The Modern Craftsman.  capecodlumber.com/build-on-expo Kuiken Brothers Classical Moulding Collection featuring over 70 historically accurate moulding profiles. All milled from poplar in stock with 16ft lengths. kuikenbrothers.com Where to find our Guest: @hullmillwork_hullhomes on Instagram hullmillwork.com Where to find our hosts: Nick Schiffer @nsbuilders on Instagram and YouTube Tyler Grace @TRGHomeconcepts on Instagram John Hourihan @heresjohnnyh & @vintagebuilders on Instagram Follow The Modern Craftsman on Instagram @the.moderncraftsman Music: "Dessert" by Nate Gusakov  nategusakov.com

Why does my P&L tell me I'm making money but I don't have any cash in the bank? I hear this from contractors all the time. Where did the money go? Today, we are going to answer that question and others in my interview with Business Coach Shawn Van Dyke. We'll also get into Shawn's new book, Profit First For Contractors, and learn how you can transform your construction business from a cash-eating monster to a money-making machine. Show Highlights: One of the first things that Dave did as a young business owner after he bought out his dad's roofing business was to hire a business coach, which he feels is the best thing he could have done to help him develop a business plan. Shawn often sees business owners that do not understand the financial reports and statements and how to actually use those as tools to drive and grow the direction of their business. It's just math, it never changes, and once you learn how this works in your business, you never have to learn it again. You only need to apply it to your changing This makes all the difference! If you underprice your work you're going to get work simply because you're underpriced and you'll most likely be working for the wrong type of client, who will drain more time, energy, and money from you. You'll have to produce work and this is when you'll find that money starts leaving you faster than you could have imagined, then you'll be at the phase to start finding more work again because you're running out of cash and you don't have enough money to pay for the job that you're on. Shawn explains this cycle as the four phases of the “Craftsmen Cycle”: Price work Get work Produce work Find work You have to sell your value because there are customers out there who have a problem and will pay what your work is worth so that you can make a profit. Avoid the customers who tell you that they will never pay your prices. At first, it may seem that a lot of money is coming in because you're charging more money than perhaps you ever have before, but this is deceptive! You must understand the difference between margin and markup. “The $100 Example” is a great way to remember the difference between margin and markup, as Shawn relates. If you buy something for $100 and you mark it up 20%, the price you're selling at is $120. The gross profit if you buy something at $100 and sell it at $120 is $20. Now here's the mistake people make: Many think if they marked something up by 20% and they have a 20% profit and they spent $100 to get it, that $20 profit divided by $100 = 20%, and that's their margin. Therefore, they think their margin and their markup is the same. WRONG!! The $100 isn't what you sell, it's your cost. You don't sell your cost, you sell your price. The $20 profit needs to be divided by your price ($120), which would equal 16.7%. This 16.7% is your margin. A 20% markup will ALWAYS produce a 16.7% margin. It gets worse the bigger the numbers need to be. A 50% markup will ALWAYS produce a 33% margin. You have to start charging where you want to be so that you can generate the cash to get there. Profit is not an event, profit is a habit. The earlier on you can sell value, the more profitable you will be. Lower volume, higher margin. Learn how your CPA could be giving you wrong “business” advice, although their “tax” advice is correct. Your income is 100% of your budget. If you spend more than 100% of the money that comes in to your business, you will have problems. Pay yourself what you're worth. How much would you have to pay another person, or multiple people, to come in and do what you do? Don't forget your taxes! That has to come from the income that comes from your business. If you get a $10,000 check to start a project, a portion of that will go to your taxes, some will go to your salary, some will be profit, some will go for operational expenses. Go to your bank and set up a profit account! This is not accounting, it's cash management. Here's how cash flows: when money comes in we have to account for it, then we management it, and when it leaves the business we have to account for it again. You are responsible for the numbers and you have to know what they mean and whether they're correct or not. Shawn provides a story that will drive this point home. This really is a simple way to run your business and be profitable. Links: For Tips, Strategies, and Free Downloads! Download My FREE 1-Page Business Plan! The Roofer Show Text Dave @ (510) 612-1450 - Say Hi! I would love to hear your feedback, pros & cons! Please leave me a review on iTunes! ARE YOU READY FOR 2020? JUMPSTART YOUR BUSINESS!! Dave will work with you one-one-one. Contact Dave HEREto get Started! Connect with Shawn! To Buy Shawn's Book, Free Downloads and Resources, Including a Margin and Markup Table and a Free Video Series: Profit First For Contractor For a Free Action Guide and to Sign Up for a Coaching Program: Shawn Van Dyke Facebook: Shawn Van Dyke Instagram: shawnvandyke Twitter:@svandyke Mentioned Book: Profit First For Contractors, by Shawn Van Dyke THE ROOFER SHOW SPONSOR INFO: Need Help Answering the Phone Or Online Chat? Use Ruby Receptionists!! Find Out How They Can Help Bring In Leads!! Click here and use the code Roofer50 for a special discount! Call Ruby Or Call Ruby at (844) 326-7829 Check out the app!! —->Dave's Listeners Get a 21-Day Money Back Guarantee

Shawn Van Dyke is a construction industry consultant, business coach and mentor. He is a keynote speaker and travels the US training construction business owners. Shawn started off in the industry in engineering, obtaining several degrees, including a masters in structural engineering. He eventually realized he’d rather be out in the field and became a project manager. Since then, Shawn has worked in numerous facets of the construction industry, gaining a vast knowledge of the different aspects of the industry along the way. All of his background and knowledge came together when he realized that his systems were scalable and led him to his current career of consulting and mentoring business owners. He’s written two books, Profit First For Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List, and he travels all over the world as a keynote speaker. One of his biggest focuses is prioritizing his time and finding freedom within structure and boundaries.  Listen to this week’s episode to hear more about Shawn’s journey! Please reach out if you have any feedback or questions. Enjoy!  tatsuya.n@castagra.com Twitter @TatsuyaNakagawa Instagram @tats_n LinkedIn Tatsuya Nakagawa YouTube Tats

Learn more about Shawn by following him on Instagram (@shawnvandyke).

Hear Two Vital Tips For Ensuring Success In A New Roofing Company In This Episode Titled "Failing Farmer Finds Future In Applying Commercial Roof Coatings"

Hear Two Vital Tips For Ensuring Success In A New Roofing Company In This Episode Titled "Failing Farmer Finds Future In Applying Commercial Roof Coatings"

Twin brothers graduate from 8th grade, launch garage door business at 20, and eventually use profits from commercial roofing to found a local children's ministry.

RESOURCES: Affiliate Link How To Win Friends & Influence People Google Earth RoofingThatPays.com/review Conklin Roofing Systems DISCLAIMER: These notes were automatically transcribed and NOT grammatically corrected. Read at your own risk! I'll say it again you know, if you don't focus on quality, you don’t focus on servicing your clients, you're going to go out of business in a year maybe within a few months. As a contractor, you know commercial roofing is an amazing opportunity that rewards hard work, but you also see huge issues emerging like finding time to bid jobs, hiring motivated employees, rocketing insurance fees and rising lead costs. On Season One of the roofing that pays podcast, experienced contractors will share their secrets to what's working in the exploding Commercial Roofing industry. Welcome to roofing that pays! Lavern and his twin brother operate a commercial roofing company in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Welcome to the show. Hey, it's good to be on. Let's go back to your growing up years, your family's occupation. How was it growing up? What did your family do? My dad, he was a landscaper and lawn care when we grew up. That's all we knew. Always after school. We always went out help them through the summer, we always help them till my brother and I we started getting to the age where we knew we were going to be out of school, we went for a private school that we were out earlier than most what happened. We lived in western Pennsylvania where they get a lot of snow. And he wasn't sure what to do with three or four boys that didn't have anything to do for the winter months, when we couldn't do lawn care. He sold the lawn care company. And we all started working for a storage builder storage shed builder there locally. And we worked there for a number of years, my dad actually worked there for between 10 and 15 years, my twin brother Linford worked out around five or six years. And I worked there for around two years. And then I moved on and started working for a construction company where we just did general contracting anything from building new homes, to putting driveways in almost anything you can think of. So that's where I got my construction background. I had five brothers, three sisters that we had a lively bunch of home how to get done at home, we worked hard. We had a little 10-acre farm tomatoes, had our own cow. You ended up running a garage door installation company, how did you end up getting into that? One of my uncles was working for a very successful garage door company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And he installed doors and he was like, Well, hey, why don't you guys just start hanging doors. He said, it's not that complicated to start your own business and starting a door company. That age 20, my twin brother and I decided we're going to start hanging garage doors part time, we did a weekend and evening that are day to day job. And we just slowly started building that up, we made a decision to just take a leap and we added general construction to our garage door business. Then we started a construction business alongside or door business. That's kind of the transition for when we work in our early age 20 we started a company starting garage doors and then slowly granted on marketing dropping within our business. You ended up getting into commercial roofing. And then as well, how did you learn about Commercial Roofing? It's kind of funny looking back and we had friends that were twins came to my brother and met him I think it was a at a church service after where they were just discussing why you always do you know, chat and wonder what we work and what we do. They found out we do construction. And they said, Hey, you know, you guys need to look into going Commercial Roofing. And we were like, We didn't even know there was commercial roofs out there. That's how small we thought back then we didn't even think Commercial Roofing. And I still remember saying, you know, talking to my twin brother Linford and saying, you know, is there even a flat roof around here, like, I mean, what kind of business that flat roofing, commercial roofing is or even works. During that time we were they were the ones that introduced us good. They came down actually had a meeting at my twin brothers house and just sat down, he kind of showed us the systems and gave us a number of you know, profit margins, labor costs and all that. And we were like, Hey, we don't have anything to lose. Let's look into doing this thing. We just slowly started growing into going from advertise. And that's how we got started doing commercial. What was the process you used to get up and running so quickly? There's a lot of different things. And I'm sure we could have grown faster. But we did have a really good year, the first year, we added the commercial roofing side to our existing business, we didn't just jump out and completely stop doing what we were doing. But we did have a very good year that first year that commercial roofing usually doesn't happen that fast. And I'll give the credit back to us following the plan. They simply told us spend some money on advertising, do some cold calling, and some direct mail campaigns and trade shows. That's what I would try to do, we basically follow the plan. And the plan was really simple with basically spend a little bit on advertising, make sure that people understand what you do that you do Commercial Roofing in front of people, and then bid as many as we can sell the job and then do the best quality work we can. And we kind of followed those three, four steps, it just took off from there the first year, we did really have a good year compared to previously just doing residential. Let's talk about one of your biggest challenges in a commercial roofing job or running a commercial roofing business. And the reason for this is so that we can learn what is something that we can learn from that you went through that and help us avoid mistakes. There we are challenges business, business or life when the light without challenges, there's a lot of different things that come into play. One of the biggest challenges we still faced, and I feel it's one of the biggest one that any company faces is communicating in the correct way with the people that they rub shoulders with. And if you really, really think about it, dig deep. Everything we do in business, in life, is communicating with people around us, it doesn't matter if it's in church doesn't matter if it's in family. It doesn't matter what kind of in life, it's relating with people. So communication in the correct way, I would definitely say is the biggest challenge. And if we don't learn how to do that correctly, your business isn't going to work. It doesn't matter if it's commercial roofing. And it doesn't matter if you're raising rabbits, it doesn't matter what you're doing. If you're not communicating in the right way. If you just look back communication starts way back, even before you start the project, like let's just say we are jumping into the commercial roofing project, the very first thing that our mentors told us to do was go out and make the very first phone call, we had to make the very first phone call we had to make is a communication skill. And then especially when it comes in the time to sell the job and getting the job that your communication skill isn't where it needs to be. You're not never, you're never going to sell the job unless you did on under project. So that would I would definitely say that's the biggest challenge is that learning how to communicate properly with other people. This is just a very, very simple thing. And this is an example. We've had times in the very beginning over the years in the commercial industry, if you don't communicate where they want you to set up and you drive in there, let's say it's a flat field, and you think it's okay, just to drive in there and set up, we've had the experience where someone got really, really upset with us just simply because we drove in the wrong spot when we came to set up at that job site. And he started that's just a very, very small example. But that was like the first day on the job, you made a wrong impression without building owner. And it's wrong communication. All we do at this point is before we ever get out with the employees, before we ever send anyone out to start the start the project, we make sure that we have exactly where the setup location is where they want us to set out where the water spigot is, you know, every detail the before you even get out to the job, just simple communication, a phone call and saying hey, Bob, this is Lavern here, without our roofing were you playing that we staged this area where we can work. So that's just one example. And just a little example, but just that example of not communicating properly before the roof was started, could have ruined our relationship with that building, or just because of that one little thing. Thinking back, what is one thing you did differently if you were starting over in commercial roofing? Following a little bit more of a roadmap, having some systems in place and having a better plan in place. And that even goes up to more even quality work back when we first got started. We were brand new in the commercial industry. And we just went out and put roofs on like, we just we decided there's no option, we're just going to, you know, do it and then learn from the mistakes. Looking back, I think we if we would just ask a couple more questions to our mentors, we will save ourselves a lot of headache, and build a lot better relationships by simply having a little bit more of a system in place. And by following a little bit more of a roadmap of people that lead the way before we were in the industry. What sets you apart from other contractors in your area? One thing that I think every one of us and we do especially here in our own roofing company is we focus very, very highly or very hard on quality, and focus on serving our clients to the very best of our ability even go past that. Like even if it doesn't make sense. If you think the client is off, you know, somewhere on the left leg somewhere, if he's not even right, we do everything we can to service that client and do the very, very best quality work we can, because if you really look at it, quality and service to the customer is one of the number one things simply because if you don't have clients, you're going to get out there's this take a look at your income coming in and keeping your business what's the number one thing is, it's not your office girl, it's not any secretaries. It's not the sales people, which I know they're all they all have their place. But the number one thing in setting yourself apart, and keeping the income coming is have a happy client to the very, very best of your ability. And like I said, you need to go 10 times further than you think that you should to make that client happy. I feel that's what sets us apart in our company. Our number one goal is to make our clients very, very happy and show them that we care about them and try to give them the best return on their investment by us being able to service them. And so we'll service a client will service a client will service the client service client. And when we're putting that roof on, we go far, far beyond what's required even for specs, because we want to give them the best quality roof that we possibly can. I recently put together a short ebook on different marketing ideas. And one of those chapters I just touched briefly on the idea of “gifting”, sending out gifts to your clients or using gifts even to start a relationship with a prospect. I know you do quite a bit of gift giving in your business, do you mind touching just a minute on what you do as far as giving gifts? It comes back to servicing that client making that client happy. And we feel we actually we feel they become a lot more clients actually become brand, we have done a lot of different things. But one thing we very consistently do at least once a year and it's usually somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get homemade bread, which everyone loves homemade bread. And we'll get homemade jam from an Amish store Mennonite store and we'll put that together and usually either put a hat in or a couple pens or you know what we change that up a little bit. But it's always bread is always jam and every company different. There are clients that if we skip them that year, I'd say we had done a roof with them for three years or so. And we happen not to get up to their locations. And you know, we didn't do a roof with them for within three years or so. We've actually had clients call us up. Or if they happen to meet us or phone conversation, they said, Hey, you miss me this year, I miss my bread and jam, it just builds that that relationship with them. And it and like I said it doesn't have to be bread and jam, it can be anything that fits for you. But we feel it's very key to and we personally hand deliver those and I know different sized businesses, you won't be able to do that. But my twin brother and I, we split it up and we'll go spend at least three to five or even seven days on the road through winter to for sure. Make sure we actually personally hand deliver that we have a system in place. If it's five year old client, we might not get out a year, but we have life. But the key is you have to build that personal relationship with them. And then we're also very keen on writing handwritten thank you notes throughout the year. If he gets you to do a repair through the summer, we almost always and we don't like to miss this. But we'll write him a thank you card for giving us that work. And send it in the mail note, you know, after your job is done. In two or three days, we're going to get a handwritten note from the owners thanking them for the job that they gave you. You know, it didn't him. That's why we keep saying if they're keeping your business alive, they're giving you the work. It doesn't matter how busy you are, we should be thankful for every single job that comes in. And we need to show that thanks to them and just build that close relationship with them and they're never going to get anywhere else. You purchase your roofing products from Conklin, you're also one of the top contractors for roofing volume, Preferred Contractor title, you've earned a bunch of awards with the company; What would you say to someone that feels Conklin’s direct sales model ads cost to the roofing products? And those companies that do retail, spend just as much or more on advertising, doing it the conventional way that Conklin does by doing it with direct sales. And by paying us as distributors. That commission, if you look at those numbers, often actually pays a little less or almost exactly the same than like Walmart, Kmart, Sears and I know some of the going out of business, but the regular retail sales companies, they spend just as much or more if you break it down by percentage wise, that Conklin does by paying their distributors and doing direct sales. What has Commercial Roofing allowed you to do for yourself and your family, that you couldn't have done before? We do love the Conklin roofing systems. And we feel with the training that they do gave us and you don't have to use their training or whatever. But we really appreciate how much time and effort they put into training us and having training set up. And just simply the commercial world if I look at the Commercial Roofing, compared to the Residential Roofing, which we were big into; The profit margins consistently are bigger in the commercial roofing. And there's basically one factor that comes into play that makes that happen. If you look at one Residential Roof, you might have 5,000 square feet, you might have 10,000 square feet with a really big one. Commercial, we've had five-acre roofs that we worked on it with three or four people. Basically, the time that you spend per square foot on the commercial industry, compared to the amount of time you spend in the residential is way less, you get a lot more square foot done on a commercial roofing you do on a residential brief, like if you're charging per square foot or whatever per square, however you're doing it, the profit margins are just a lot higher, because you can do a lot more square foot in way less amount of time in the commercial thing you can in the residential. So that's one of the key factors. And then also Commercial Roofing. There's just you're in the commercial world and who doesn't want to be in the commercial world, the jobs are bigger, there are a lot easier to work with. Most of the clients are easy to work with because they’re business people just like we are residential, you're actually working with someone's personal home personal life. And they're usually a lot harder to work for than a real business owner that understands business understands profit and understands what you're doing. And all he wants is a professional roofer out there that's doing a professional job and making his roof not leak. So those are just a couple of things. The commercial industry for us completely changed our lives, the profit margins are a lot higher. And it's given us a lot more time to do a little more what we want to do I have a family, I have a lot more time to spend with the family. If I just take it back when we were doing residential, like we literally cannot afford to take off. Now it's more of a choice, I just have to make the choice to take off. But we can easily take off if I want to take off next week with what the commercial industry is done for me. I can take off next week without feeling it. We have a nonprofit organization, we actually helped start here in Ohio. And that is another passion I have is with more income. And I know there's pros and cons here depends how you want to twist it. But I feel as someone making a good income that they should be sharing a lot more and a lot more if you get back to God and support some of the needs. I mean, there's so many needs in the world that we had kind of a calling to start a children's ministry here in Ohio. And that's actually up and running. Without the income that we're making doing commercial common roofing. There's probably no way not saying anything's possible with God. But there's probably no way that this children's ministry we are up and running at this point. Without L&L Roofing been able to, you know, supply the need, buy a house, you know there are a lot of expenses starting nonprofits. And without that without the commercial owners who without using the common products, I'm 99% sure that filter the ministry wouldn't be up and running. Appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule and your busy day. And just four short questions with four short answers. What I call the lightning round… Is your favorite product coatings or membranes? We love the coatings. What is a favorite app you use in your business? We use Google Earth a lot. What's your favorite business book? How to Win Friends and Influence People. If the trip was free? Would you rather spend time at the mountains or at the ocean? At the ocean. Thanks for listening to roofing that pays. before you go, can we ask a huge favor? The biggest thing that helps spread this message is when you rate and review us. That tells the platforms we're doing something right. Take a moment to rate and review us at roofingthatpays.com/review. That's roofingthatpays.com/review. Thanks so much. Until next time, do more roofing that pays!

(https://buildingoptimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ShawnVanDyke_121118_FINCH_BW-96-e1563897807313.jpg) Welcome to a mini-episode, the final of three with business coach and construction consultant, Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn is a national speaker and author of Profit First for Contractors (https://www.amazon.com/Profit-First-Contractors-Construction-Money-Making/dp/1790264502/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=profit+first+for+contractors&qid=1563896765&s=gateway&sr=8-1) , available on Amazon. We covered ‘Attracting Talent’ and ‘Getting Paid for Pre-Con’ in our first two episodes. This time, we cover a few random topics from common bad advice he hears to preparing for the next recession. You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com (http://shawnvandyke.com/) , and also on social media, @shawnvandyke.   Show Notes: [1:00] – The worst advice Shawn hears. [3:25] – What Shawn preaches that he doesn’t hear anyone else preaching. [6:40] – Shawn’s advice for weathering a downturn.

Profit First for Contractors (https://www.amazon.com/Profit-First-Contractors-Construction-Money-Making/dp/1790264502/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=profit+first+for+contractors&qid=1563896765&s=gateway&sr=8-1) , available on Amazon. In this episode Shawn outlines plan to help you get paid for your pre-con work. If you’re not doing it already, this is worth a listen! And if you are, well Shawn may have a few ways to enhance your program. Stay tuned for our third installment with Shawn coming next. It’s a good one. You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com (http://shawnvandyke.com/) , and also on social media, @shawnvandyke. Show Notes: [1:20] – Why do we need to get paid for pre-construction work? [4:30] – The difference between an up-front estimate and professional services. [7:40] – How do you sell the client on paying you to perform the pre-con work? [14:45] – What are the specifics that should be included or excluded in a pre-con phase? [20:40] – The trap of offering ballpark pricing. [29:10] – A major cause of litigation. [30:00] – A few more specifics to include in your pre-con agreement.

Profit First for Contractors (https://www.amazon.com/Profit-First-Contractors-Construction-Money-Making/dp/1790264502/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=profit+first+for+contractors&qid=1563896765&s=gateway&sr=8-1) , available on Amazon. This episode covers attracting talent. We’re doing two more episodes with Shawn, one on getting paid for your pre-construction work, and the other, an episode on bad advice and other timely musings such as thoughts about the economy. You can find Shawn and his menu of offerings at shawnvandyke.com (http://shawnvandyke.com/) , and also on social media, @shawnvandyke. Show Notes: [1:25] – Where should we be looking to find our next hire? [2:50] – The cost of a bad hire. [6:20] – The percentage of people who actually hate their jobs and what to do about it. [7:00] – Why you need to always be cultivating a pool of hire candidates. [9:40] – Why ‘we’re hiring’ isn’t the right message. [12:10] – What terms are builders having to offer to attract the right people? [15:30] – What are the best systems to retain employees? [20:30] – Why are employees typically disengaged? [23:40] – Where to find more of Shawn.

What steps are involved in finding a contractor or builder you can trust? As a homeowner, for you to know the steps to finding a contractor or builder you can trust, it can be game-changing for your new build or renovation. And that’s why I’m so excited to be bringing my guest to you: Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn Van Dyke is a Construction Business Coach, Author and Speaker. Based in the USA, he works internationally with clients to help them run better construction businesses.  Shawn has brilliant advice to share on: how to select your contractor or builder the types of conversations to have with them before you hire them the ways to know you can trust them before you sign that contract and how to work with them in a really productive way.  SHOW NOTES: So, let me tell you a bit more about Shawn. Shawn Van Dyke is a construction business coach and the author of two books: Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List - 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business.   Most contractors are not profitable which makes them feel uncertain about what they need to do to grow their construction businesses.  Shawn believes construction business owners should be as good at business as they are at their craft.   That's why, after twenty plus years of owning and operating multiple construction businesses, Shawn became a construction business coach.  He now works with construction business owners, executives, and managers all over the world and shows them how to stop losing profits and wasting time.   Shawn helps contractors get their lives back.  He is also a keynote speaker and Fine Homebuilding Brand Ambassador. You can find him all over social media sharing his knowledge and experience.   He doesn't mince words and gives practical advice to contractors so that he can accomplish his mission: to change the way the world view the trades.   He believes the best way to accomplish this mission is to help contractors run world-class businesses so that they are seen for what they truly are - business professionals who provide an extraordinary service through their devotion to their craft, their customers, and their communities. Shawn is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife and 5 kids. I ASKED SHAWN VAN DYKE THESE QUESTIONS ... You’re on a mission to change the way the world views the trades. What do you think this view is / has been?  What do you think one of the biggest hurdles is to improving the impression that homeowners have of the construction industry, contractors and trades? What should a homeowner do to know they can trust their contractor before they hire them?  You encourage your contractor community to charge for their pricing process. Can you talk through why you think this is beneficial for both contractors / builders and homeowners? You shared a great blog and video on “Transparency is not trust” that talked about what line-item quoting doesn’t work. Can you explain more about why this is not great for the homeowner or the builder / contractor? When problems occur, what are your suggestions for contractors to deal with these with their clients, and keep things moving overall? Listen to the episode now. And be sure to get in touch with Shawn to let him know you heard him on Undercover Architect, and to thank him for all he shares!! This podcast is an edited version of the full interview with Shawn. This interview is now featured inside my online course “The Welcome Home Course” for American homeowners.   Head to https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-welcome-home/ to learn more about “The Welcome Home Course”. In Shawn’s full interview, he shares more information about ... how important a payment schedule is when establishing contracts and cashflow for jobs - and what this is, and why it’s so essential how, as a homeowner) to avoid working with a contractor or builder where corners might be getting cut, things getting missed, sub-standard quality happening, and it all being hidden where you can't see (or don't know to look) Shawn’s recommendations for setting up a good working relationship between a builder / contractor and homeowner In “The Welcome Home Course”, I’ve teamed up with award-winning American architect, Eric Reinholdt, to create a specific course for American homeowners. If you’re planning your renovation or new build, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and confused about the best way forward. Many homeowners make the mistake of diving in, and fall for all sorts of terrible advice as a result. And the journey becomes far more stressful, expensive and time consuming as a result. And their finished home never lives up to the dreams they held so dear. When you have the steps to follow … the map for your journey ahead, you can then move confidently towards that future home you’re dreaming of, and not waste any time or money.  When you know that step-by-step system has been created over decades of experience in hundreds and hundreds of family homes like yours, you can save so much stress in your project, and create a home that works and feels great. And when you have the steps, as well as professional know-how, design knowledge, tools, resources, and guides, you can shortcut your journey, enjoy your experience, and avoid the heartache and drama so many experience. If you’re keen to make your journey simpler, be confident that the home you’re dreaming of is achievable, and know the steps to get you there …’The Welcome Home Course’ is the way. Together with Eric, we’ve packaged up almost 45 years experience to show you the way to your future family home.  Head to https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-welcome-home/ to learn more and join us. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST: Find more information, resources and links for Shawn Van Dyke here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/podcast-finding-contractor-builder-you-can-trust-shawn-van-dyke Find out about “The Welcome Home Course” for American homeowners here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/the-welcome-home/ And “How to Get it Right” for Aussie homeowners here >>> https://undercoverarchitect.com/courses/how-to-get-it-right/

What a great Interview with Shawn Van Dyke! Shawn is the author of Profit First for Contractors He is on a mission to change the way the world views the trades and he’s empowering contractors to run sustainable, profitable businesses. Listen to the full episode and for specific points see below for minute markers. 12:40 Craftsmen cycle 20:00 Selling with Questions 24:00 Listen for Quantity of words 30:30 How to Calculate Your Price 35:00 Markup vs Margin 43:25 Shawn’s Mission 46:50 How to Manage Your Money 1:00:35 Manufacturer news sponsored by Laticrete 1:02 Tile Money Tip sponsored by Laticrete Manufacturer news;  Please join me in welcoming Jack Mullins to the LATICRETE Gulf Coast Region. Jack joins the team as a Technical Sales Rep for territory 186 where he will be responsible for sales in Alabama. Jack has spent the last 15 years as a Distributor Representative in Alabama and East Tennessee. Prior to his time as a Distributor Rep, Jack installed tile and stone.  Jack’s knowledge of tile installation and tile sales will be a great addition to our team. In his free time, Jack enjoys riding motorcycles, golfing, and working on old cars. This episode of Tile Money is brought to you by the National Tile Contractors Association and Sponsored by Laticrete International. Find out more about Shaw Van Dyke https://laticrete.com/ https://www.tile-assn.com/# https://shawnvandyke.com/   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/luke190/message

If you think running projects can be difficult, you should try running a business! On this episode of Time Limit, Shawn Van Dyke digs in to the many highs and lows of running a construction business. It’s a wide-ranging conversation that touches on a lot of points that will resonate for you, no matter your industry or whether you’re a business owner or a project leader. Topics discussed include: Challenges you might face on projects, particularly in construction Changing the way you act, work, and think when running a business How to use the Paperwork Punch List:28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business Achieving work-life integration Finding the time to keep up with project work and administrative work

Are you a contractor looking to apply Profit First to your business?  Shawn Van Dyke joins us to discuss Profit First for Contractors and the translatable steps you can use to make Profit First work for you. Welcome to episode 247 of the Entrepreneurship Elevated Podcast!

Shawn Van Dyke is a construction industry business coach, speaker, and author and has taken the core concepts of Mike Michalowicz's Profit First and customized them to address the specific needs of the construction industry in his book, Profit First for Contractors.   Shawn is a great and knowledgeable guy and in this recording, once I get past talking about his vs. my hair, I interview him on:   - Making Cents of the Financial Statements - Why it’s so important to understand your numbers   - How Profit First for Contractors Works - What it is, the basic format of it, and why it works.   - We dig into the Initial Assessment Exercise from Profit First   - And then do some rapid-fire questions about helping you forget about Industry Standards, Destroying Debt, and other key takeaways we’d like to you walk away from this recording with.   Enjoy! You can find a copy of the book at: www.ProfitFirstContractor.com  

SVD is back on Builder Funnel radio this week with some killer tips that can help you manage your cash better, and get your business into the habit of being profitable. Shawn has owned and operated construction businesses for over 20 years and is the author of Profit First for Contractors and The Paperwork Punch List: 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business.

Owners don't pay themselves enough. Who else would work crazy hours with little to no pay?! Shawn talks to us about the Profit First strategy as it relates to the construction industry! Tersh and Shawn dive into Shawn's new book, and talk a little as to why he decided to write the book.     Find Shawn here: connect@shawnvandyke.com https://www.instagram.com/profitfirstcontractor/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvandyke/ https://shawnvandyke.com/   Find Tersh here: Tersh@bluecollarroots.com https://www.instagram.com/tershblissett/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tersh-blissett-137121a3

Owners don’t pay themselves enough. Who else would work crazy hours with little to no pay?! Shawn talks to us about the Profit First strategy as it relates to the construction industry! Tersh and Shawn dive into Shawn’s new book, and talk a little as to why he decided to write the book.   Get your copy of the book from Shawn’s website, or simply click this link https://amzn.to/2Gy7YNZ to get it on Amazon.   Also, check out Mike Michalowicz’s book Profit First if you haven’t already! https://amzn.to/2RFYWA5 Find Shawn here: connect@shawnvandyke.com https://www.instagram.com/profitfirstcontractor/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnvandyke/ https://shawnvandyke.com/   Find Tersh here: Tersh@bluecollarroots.com https://www.instagram.com/tershblissett/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/tersh-blissett-137121a3

“My company or our homes just aren't that interesting” and other common lies home builder marketers tell themselves. Shawn Van Dyke – a master of Instagram – is here to strip away all of your excuses. He built his current company almost exclusively using content creation and social media – and he's going to tell you exactly how he did it. Story Time  Becca has power again! Andrew is now a remodeling contractor News (2:08 ) Google Totally Wants To Replace You (call screening & handle simple tasks) Facebook's new hardware device wants to replace FaceTime Adobe Photoshop is coming to tablets and mobile – RIP Canva? 360 Topic Of The Week (9:38) Help! I'm Not Interesting! or The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Content Creation with Shawn Van Dyke Your Answers to Last Week's Question of the Week (58:36) Subscribe on iTunes —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-itunes Subscribe on Google Play —> https://now.doyouconvert.com/mpm-gplay Read the full transcript of this episode here. A weekly new home marketing podcast for home builders and developers. Each week Kevin Oakley & Andrew Peek from Do You Convert will break down the headlines, share best-practices and stories from the front line, and perform a deep dive on a relevant marketing topic. We're here to help you – not to sell you! The post Ep 35: Help! I'm Not Interesting! With Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC. The post Ep 35: Help! I'm Not Interesting! With Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC.

“My company or our homes just aren’t that interesting” and other common lies home builder marketers tell themselves. Shawn Van Dyke – a master of Instagram – is here to strip away all of your excuses. He built his current company almost exclusively using content creation and social media – and he’s going to tell […] The post Ep 35: Help! I’m Not Interesting! With Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on Online Sales and Marketing for Home Builders - DYC.

In this week's episode, Spencer hosts Shawn Van Dyke for a second time! Shawn's previous episode was widely popular, so we brought him back for round two. Shawn is a construction industry business coach, and this time around, he gives us the rundown on techniques to find (and train!) great employees, as well as how to build from scratch - or even identify your current company culture. Shawn has a wealth of knowledge around the construction industry, and with this episode, he delivers big time. If you're in the construction industry or would like to get your foot in the door, Shawn has some great tips that can help. Want more Shawn Van Dyke? Listen to his first appearance on Builder Funnel Radio: https://soundcloud.com/builder-funnel-radio/episode-13-growing-your-contracting-business-w-shawn-van-dyke

Join Justin for the second episode of a two-part series in which he interviews friend, Fine Homebuilding ambassador, and building-industry business consultant Shawn Van Dyke. 

Join Justin for the first episode of a two-part series in which he interviews friend, Fine Homebuilding ambassador, and building-industry business consultant Shawn Van Dyke. 

Shawn has a lot to say about closing the skills gap. He suggests that one part of the solution is to "solve your own skills gap" — that is, run your business right, use the right hiring process, and train the right people. Shawn also takes an interesting look at the financials of going into the trades vs going to college.

Shawn Van Dyke starts our Business Coaching Series!!! Author of “The Paperwork Punch List” 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business. Former GC; Redbud Construction (7yrs) and Chief Operating Office at Finish Point Trim & Millwork (3+ yrs). Love some good biz talk and this is Shawn's bread & butter, enjoy!!! Shawnvandyke.com

Today’s featured guest is Luke Mann from @rangelinehomes in the foothills of Denver Co. One thing you are going to notice as you listen to this story, is Luke’s passion for cleanliness and attention to detail. It’s one thing to have a contracting company, but it’s another thing to run it well. And that is what Luke’s story inspires us to do. I know you’ll have a takeaway from today’s story.  So, listen all the way to the end. And be inspired! We have a new author on our team who just came out with a brand blog post on protractorpodcast.com. His name is Lawrence Winterburn @gardenstructure , and he’s started a blog series called Sales 101. This first blog post in this series is all about How to find the right leads for your contracting company. It is a great read for both new contractors as well as those who’ve been in the trenches for a while now. Check it out today in the articles section at ProtractorPodcast.com Today's #protractortip is from Brad Leavitt @aft_construction is all about [Good Photography] This tip is a "must listen" if you are serious about marketing your business effectively! Also mentioned in today's show: Matt Risinger @risingerbuild Lou Olerio @oleriohomes Shawn Van Dyke @shawnvandyke Today's the Day! Seize the moment! Stay Focused! And go make a difference! #Protractors - Making A Difference!  

In this week's episode, Spencer hosts Shawn Van Dyke. Shawn is a construction industry consultant, business coach, and mentor. He teaches construction professionals how to grow and scale a successful business. He is also the author of The Paperwork Punch List: 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business and a Fine Homebuilding Brand Ambassador.

Today we’re diving into some amazing business insights with Shawn Van Dyke.  Shawn has been John’s business coach since 2016 and we’ve talked about him on the show several times.  We’ll hear his back story, and then he drops some serious knowledge on what it takes to make the jump and create your own freedom […] The post MFP 037: Making the Jump & Creating Freedom w/ Shawn Van Dyke appeared first on MADE FOR PROFIT.

We can’t find any skilled labor, does this problem resonate with your trade? Shawn Van Dyke has come up with a solution to this ongoing problem. As we talk about the solutions and the change of mindset you will come to the conclusion that for this  will actually work. . I have a real and fun and exciting guest with Sean Van Dyke and Sean is a construction industry consultant business coach and mentor. He's the author of the paperwork punch list 28 days to streamline your construction business and find the home building brand administrator. Shawn is the keynote speaker and travels the US working with and training construction business owners on how to streamline their businesses. That's a fun thing. No one likes to work hard.   Yeah. Before becoming a business coach Shawn owned a Construction Management Consulting Firm and General Contracting Company. He also served as an Executive at the Specialty Contracting Company and enjoys living life in East Tennessee where it's nice and warm this time of year and happily married with five kids.   So, Shawn, I'm just excited that you are with us today. And, you want to share some valuable information farm with Dave. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for inviting me on. I'm looking forward to chatting with you. Yes. Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you got from here to there to where you are today.   Yeah, it's got an issue with it. When I hear my own bio read off I kind of hear my wife you know in the back of my head just saying you know to some people all that stuff sounds impressive to her and be married to an entrepreneur. It sounds like, man, you can't keep you can't keep down a job dude, you know.   Well, I as I say as I started out my career I guess by getting a couple of degrees in engineering and I got a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in structural engineering. Spent a few years doing that and then realized I don't think I want to be an engineer. And so, I transition to commercial construction doing some project management for some commercial contractors and then kind of bounced around as we do in construction sometimes from company to company and ended up doing some real estate development working and as a construction manager for a real estate developer. Traveling all around the Midwest and the Southeast building large commercial developments.   And by then we had number two on the way and I was on I was on the road three days a week and my wife were kind of like yeah this isn't going to work out so well for being a dad. So, I started my own construction management company and real estate company that transitioned during the downturn into the general contracting company.   And let's see what happened after that. Yeah, I went to work as a Chief Operating Officer for a trim and millwork company and spent several years there. And I guess that was the last job that real job that I had and left there about a little over a year and a half ago and went into what I'm doing now doing construction consulting and coaching and mentoring.   So, I travel all over the place and teach construction business owners you know how to streamline their business how to run a better business. And I'm just I'm really enjoying you know what I'm doing now before I was working for one company doing these things and now I get to work with literally dozens of companies all over the U.S. and Canada. Even have one client in Sweden.   So yeah if you're listening to this and you've got issues and problems it doesn't matter where you are in the world. Contractors we all have the same you know the same issues when it comes to the business side and the paperwork and the people. So, don't feel like you're alone out there. You're not you're not alone.   Everybody's struggling with the same thing and it's kind of funny everyone and you know you thought some might say well my business is different. Yeah right. Yeah. So saying we've got people you've got the paperwork you know the regular business and I'm dealing with people and it's all people. And so, I'll bet your wife’s a lot happier too now.   Well yeah, it depends on where you are. You know when I started this I didn't think I was going to be traveling so much and now I'm doing different training. I travel to my client’s locations and do executive training or employee training. But then also doing keynote speaking at trade events and that kind of stuff so I sold my wife on the whole deal.   Hey, you know as you know as I travel around then you know we find somebody to watch the kids and then you come out we can have a long weekend and some of these nice places. But you know when you when you have a speaking gig in I don't know. In Detroit in February or something like that. It's not exactly. You know what I sold her on Detroit in February is not exactly you know the long weekend. You know that I kind of promised her or whatever so are booking some.   Some stuff like Hawaii and Miami and LA in the summer when it's when it's nice and yeah what I've got I've got an I've got one client in Hawaii I have another one in Key West Florida. So those aren't the those are the worst places in the world that have to travel any time of the year so we'll see if that happens. Now you said you had five kids out with your oldest and you're young. You can't ask me those questions that they keep changing ages. I can’t remember them. I got grandkids. I've got them from 15 to 1 Yeah. So that's all I know. Yeah.   So, at one time at one time we have four boys and then the baby is a girl. So, four boys and then we had a girl. I think my oldest is he's in sixth grade so I think he's about to turn 11. I think he's going on 12 or maybe he's 10 going on 11. See this is very embarrassing. And you know I don't care about that sound to sound the same way. I know that the oldest is 15 and I said the baby just turned 1 a couple months ago. And there's a, let’s see, that's there four others in between.   Yeah. So, I think I've got an almost 12-year-old a 10-year-old probably and 9-year-old a 6-year-old that gets the four boys and then the baby girl is easy because she was born on my birthday. So as if she wasn't spoiled enough already She'll be sorry she'll be 3 on March 5th.   So, my oldest and one of my older ones were born both on November 6th. So, Abby goes when her brother was born. Oh, that is awesome and she had a birthday party with him. Yeah. Yeah well, my wife told me I don't have any more birthdays. They're all hers which is fine with me because I'm just you know I'm just getting older so they can all be hers anyway so yeah. So.   So, as you travel with here you're your clients. What are some of the biggest challenges that they're having to overcome in the marketplace right now? Yeah, right now it really you know it really comes down to and I hear this with every client especially with me. Construction is back. Things are booming. If 2018 doesn't isn't your best year in construction than you, you're doing something wrong because there's just so much work out there and from the downturn and this is kind of gets into the issue we're going to talk about you know we lost two million plus jobs 10 years ago.   And, it's not like those people were waiting around till it picked back up because like they left they're gone. They left the industry they left the country. They're just not there. So, demand is huge for construction and there are not enough people to fill those the available spots for Labor, skilled labor and then so I hear that all the time from my clients    Shawn, I just can't find the skilled labor that I need for you know for my business. If we had more people than we could do more work or are we just you know we're delaying projects because we just can't get to you know everything.   And so, I hear that a lot we can't find the skilled lay. You know we can't find it. And I say you're exactly right. You can't find it because it doesn't exist. Right. So that kind of hits I'm like will get hired you to help me solve the problem. Right. And the thing is the problem is they're just not making plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders you know like they used two generations ago where that was a viable option now. And there's nothing. Well, give me all my soapbox here.   No there's nothing wrong with a college education. But I might get in trouble by saying this but the value of that college education with technology and all that is just not as high as it used to be. And so, there is this you know there's this there's this labor gap and it's huge right now. And so, to solve it the problem the problem is that you know that these people don't exist.    I say what you're doing is you're hunting for unicorns you're looking for this mythical creature that's supposed to you know mythology the unicorn I guess if you capture it you know the horn of the Unicorn had special healing properties and all of these other things. Right. That's what you're looking for you're looking for this-this guy or gal with five or 10 years’ experience that can just jump in on the crew lead the crew to you know a successful project. You're just looking for a unicorn. It's a mythical creature that doesn't exist.   Not too long ago I was in an education class and the teacher was going through said Okay so I went there was like 50 people in a classroom and I watch it and it was all for construction because I want everyone to look around the room and he goes How many people. And he goes how far under 40. Nobody resigned. He said how many people are under 50.   And there was a couple but most of them are 50. But they said here's the problem. He said there are no new contractors taking getting their licenses to fill the gap of what you guys are moving out of and he says that's creating a big problem in the marketplace. And I go Yeah and I said Here's a stupid thing guys if you don't realize that or not you are competing on price when you have you are no longer a commodity. But I need you and you're fighting against each other on price. Stop it yeah.   Yeah and that and that the solution to the problem is to say OK you know if we if we can't find it because it doesn't exist then what are we supposed to do. Well, you have to create it. And they're both hard problems to solve. I think that finding something that doesn't exist is a lot harder than creating something that you that doesn't exist. Meaning we stop hiring for skill, we stop hiring for technical expertise. Those are things you can teach somebody.   But what you need to hire like most other successful businesses and we need to take a note from you know the big Fortune 500 companies. And the other things like that. They hire a lot of cases. They will be hiring for competency and culture and fit. And you say you know things like culture to a construction other like What are you talking about. We just get the work done. And you know you know we're just the nose of the grindstone knock it outright. But every company has a culture and the culture of your company is what your employees think about working there. Right.   So, you know you may not have spent any time developing your culture but I guarantee you if I go in and start asking your employees you know what. What are some struggles they have working here or what you do have a culture you may just not be aware of exactly what it is? So, if you can if you can improve or you can enhance or you can just talk about what your culture is or what you want it to be then that's going to attract people that are competent and that have the right chemistry for your culture and are a good fit and you just have to say listen you know we can't find these people because they don't exist.   We're going to have to create them. So, what does that mean? Well, we better have a training program that we can take somebody that does. We're going to hire for a good work ethic and passion. Maybe it's not passion towards carpentry or painting or electrical work or you know whatever the trade is but you can probably help somebody to develop a passion because everybody in the trades that are working right now at some point you know no one was born with it. I don't even care if you've been wearing the tools since you were you know since you were a little kid on your grandfather's side and helping to build stuff in the shop.   You developed a passion for the time because you saw what that passion you know what it lived out what it what it created. Well just because somebody is 22 years old and they got a college degree in history, no offense to the history majors out there. But that doesn't mean that that that guy or gal can't develop a passion very quickly in six months and eight months and heck four months with the right company that shows this is what we do we create and build this stuff with our hands at the end of a day.   At the end of the day at the end of a week at the end of a project. We can walk away and point at something and say we built that. It wasn't here before and now it is. And the right people for your company they can develop a passion for whatever the craft is whatever the trade is but you got to train them to do it.   And I think that you could you can easily spend 18 months looking for this unicorn right and you'll probably go through a couple of people. The other thing that I say is if you hire somebody or somebody has the skills that you're looking for on paper anyway or they say they do. You got to ask why are they available. It's probably because no one wants to work with them right so oh this guy got 10 years of experience. He’s been a lead carpenter now you know he's looking for a job. Right. You need to make sure that you're interviewing process kind of weeds out the psychopaths right. Because you know you bring somebody in like that. Yeah, they're technically very competent.   They can do a lot of work but nobody wants to work around them. They won't listen. They won't get on board with the way your company does stuff so that can be dangerous too as when you do find somebody with the technical skills you've got to make sure that you're you know back to the culture thing. You've got to hire for that first and you get the right training program in place in six months, 12 months 18 months.   You can probably get somebody to where they need to be where they're very productive and very profitable for your business. And there are people out there that are the look they are realizing that they were lied to about college. Now if we go 100 grand in debt and get an education then somebody is just going to pay me 50 or 60 thousand dollars just because I went to college and they're working at Starbucks or at the movie theater or in and I've met them I've talked to them they're driven Uber right.   Trying to figure out what the next best thing is. And you find these people that are looking to put their passion towards something maybe it does haven't been carpentry or something like that in the past and you just say hey, come work for us. We've got a training program and we have a path in two years you could move up from this level to that level. You could you can do whatever you want within our company. But you got to have that structure you've got to have something you know you've got to have something in place and it's a lot easier if you focus and do that.   Put those systems and that training in place. You'll be able to take somebody that's pretty green and get them being very productive in a small amount of time because you'll go through the next 12, 18 months trying to hire the skilled guy and having to fire them every time you hire somebody and they come in and work for a little while and you got to let them go then. You know I think there are statistics that say you know when you fire somebody you have to let them go. It costs you 30-40% of whatever their yearly salary would have been.   So, I mean I work for a company like years ago it was co you can't train and fire, and I was like you don’t understand. No, we do understand. I said, “No, you don’t understand the cost involved in training them. Would it take a toll on me? Would it take a toll on you in dollars and cents?” “Well, we don’t care about that.  We just want somebody to do the job. Well, we got to train them. No, if they can't do the job just fire them.” “Well, that doesn't make sense”. You know and again you know it's like going back to like you said it goes back to leadership and culture.   And the nice part about what you're talking about from what I'm saying is that now you're a construction company. You should strategically grow your company along with a path because you're bringing people on board. That you can train. I think that's awesome because, now you're, instead of planning for tomorrow because I need help tomorrow you're planning for the future which if any anybody in the construction industry would hope that their business would last for the future instead of short-term.   So yeah everyone has to look differently at it but I think it's you know what you're talking about is so awesome because it is. It’s long-term. And it's scheduled for long-term growth, but not only that but you've got long-term profits. And then if you've got you know the culture that you've got a good culture or you don't have a good culture but you know that you need to be the leader you need to change then that makes all the difference in the world and you can become you know a force to reckon with in your marketplace.   Yeah. There are companies out there that when they get this. So, here's what I see. I think that the trend is shifting. I think that there are more people getting into the trades. They're dabbling in it a little bit, but society still looks down on construction. Meaning they say oh you couldn't you know you're doing construction because you couldn't have done anything else. And I think that's starting to change a little bit. You know just because of just exposure to it you know things like Instagram and Facebook and YouTube.   They're saying you know that this is this is a viable career to work in the trades. So, it is starting to shift. But I think that the companies that are going to when demand is when the supply does change. And I think it will change. I think eventually the gap will get so big that the government will step in and start throwing a lot of money at trade back at trade schools and putting vote tech back into education   When that happens, the supply is going to jump up. It's the companies that have spent the last ten years previous to that time whenever that is building a training program building a recruiting process. They're going to be able to pick the cream of the crop and then those business owners are finally going to be able to ride off into retirement because now the supply they're going to get the best people and their companies are going to be are going to be set right.   Everybody else is going to be scrambling for the supply and now they're going to say yeah, they've got some technical training. Right. So, there are some more welders, there are some more plumbers there. Great. Now you got a people problem. You know they still don't you know your company isn't set up to work in a team atmosphere and how do we communicate and how do we you know how do we grow because sometimes growing, just for the sake of growing, can put you out of business quicker than anything else.   So, it's those companies that right now when this gap is huge and the work is really hard and they change their mindset from hiring as their first step to recruiting as their first step. They're going to win when the supply does change. When you when there are more skilled technically skilled people. But again, the technical skills part that just gets your foot in the door.   What gets you the job, what makes you the money, and what gives you-you know a huge opportunity with construction companies is your character and in the end, combine that with the culture of the company so that's why I think that's the long game is put do the hard work. Now get your culture and get your training procedures in place so that you can get people good people and train them and then that's a system that you know for success right there.   And if you have a company that's doing this progressively and growing and training and recruiting, then people are going to come to you for. You're going to be able to. I mean you're going to be running the profit margins you should be running to run a very successful business anyways. So, you can you'll be able to afford people who have the right mindset, who have the right culture into your culture and grow within the company. You'll be able to pay them more than the average contracting company.   Yeah, and that's part of the recruiting mindset. Like, listen supply is down demand is high. Guess what you're going to pay more. From the very beginning. But just get over it. That's part of recruit. Like when you know when the Yankees go out and recruit somebody like they just pay the bill whatever the guy needs for his contract right because he's an all-star player and we need him to win the World Series or whatever. Like the money just you know like let's get that out. Let's get that out of the way so yeah you know you are going to pay a little bit more but you know we're playing a long game. What's the payoff in the end right? That that that A player is really going to produce you know produce for me and I hear that a lot to say you know maybe list and they said ok Shawn, I get it.   Dave, I get it you know but I don't know. This is another issue I hear a lot from my clients. I don't know if I can afford to hire somebody. Right. Or when is the right time to hire somebody? And it's this mindset of like oh you know OK let's just look at the numbers and say OK if this is, what I hear a lot is OK we're going to pay somebody 25 bucks an hour. That's $50,000 a year. I don't you know I don't have that kind of cash out, or I don't have that much money or what I don't like.   Whoa. Listen if you're if you're hiring right and you're hired the right person may be there and you've got and what I call an onboarding process right. Maybe it takes somebody a couple of weeks to get into your system, to get in your company. Kind of learn the ropes or whatever. After that, they should be making you money right. It's not a cost any more. Right.   They should be making you mine. So yeah maybe you got to. You should have a cash reserve for a couple of weeks a payroll for that person. But after that, they should be making you money if they're not you hired the wrong person or you're not you're not training them right so it's not really. Shawn, I don't think I can afford to hire somebody. Most of the time it's you can't afford to hire somebody.   You as the business owner have got to concentrate on business development and sales and marketing and now training. You can't worry about wearing the tools every day. You got to hire somebody to do that. And in fact, that's why you're not making the profits you need to make right now is because of your high-value work. The sales, the marketing, the business development stuff that generates hundreds if not thousands of dollars an hour when you can put the time in there. You're trapped doing 30 40 50 dollars an hour of work. Right. I know I run into this with so many people. It's mind-boggling that they can't get past the 12 hours an hour 20 hour an hour even 30 hours an hour mindset. And it's because they are so used to doing it. Stop it.   You know and this is not I don't say it's not easy it's not easy but you've got you've got to start. You know you got to start somewhere. Yeah. And it's and it's I've had conversations with guys while I can't do this because I've got something to do and I'm going you know it's very. It's very challenging in the beginning to do stuff that you just need to make an appointment with yourself.   I mean it takes two hours to this day to do this. And it could be you know like going out and I need to go market. I need to go you know to call at this time. He was looking at a property manager say you need the schedule for two hours. Two hours on Wednesday, and that two hours I said you make your phone calls, make your appointments a week before. And I said if somebody calls in sick, you don't jump out and drop because if you put that off, you call the customer and say listen we're running a little behind.   We aren’t going to make it this afternoon. We're going to reschedule you tomorrow. Because you're talking about making a thousand dollars on a job to maybe get a contract for five ten fifteen twenty thousand dollars. You have to really get to the point of what's the most important. It's not dollars today it's for the owner. It's dollars tomorrow.   Yeah. Yeah absolutely. It's like it's you know. Stephen Covey writes about in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People it's urgent versus the important right. Right we got to and it's hard. The urgent stuff is urgent. Right. But the important stuff doesn't take as much time as the urgent stuff but the urgent always bleeds into the important time so if we can get that focus time, focus on the important stuff you know and what we were talking about before that you know.   OK, what's the first step in our recruiting process like let's just spend some time this 15 minutes 30 minutes this week thinking about recruiting instead of hiring. Right. That that will generate some ideas. Now go do that. Now to deal with the urgent stuff fight the fires and all that kind of stuff.   But then like you said to meet with yourself again that next week. Another 30 minutes what's the next step. And then if you do that for any period of time that creates a habit and gets into discipline then you're at least you know you've got this focused time where you're working on important stuff and then that's what creates momentum and movement towards you know towards having a better year than you did you know then when you had the year before   And I've even had a conversation with people so, well you don’t understand. I said, “Dude, I do understand. I understand everything you're going and I've been through it and I still go through at certain times. But here's the thing if you're going to make an appointment to do something. If you're going to schedule time with yourself to do this or that task you know to create something new.   I said to schedule it and I want you to write it down over there. What’s the worst-case scenario? What would it cost you? A time worth is it worth a thousand dollars? Is it worth ten thousand dollars? or is it worth $12? You have to value yet put the value of your time in there otherwise you're not going to you're not going to force yourself to go through the steps you need.   Like you said this to start to recruit process or even write down what you're even thinking about hiring and I knew I was listening until one guy and he was saying you know he says all of my all the people that worked for me are assets. I think of them as assets. We work altogether. So, once they are no longer an asset then we part company.   But that was a beautiful way to look at it because what's an asset? An asset is something that works for you in conjunction with your goals and everything. It brings you in money. So as an asset can be an expenditure. Right. Yeah, it adds value it adds value to the company. Yeah   So, it's you know it's like you know that rental property is an asset as long as it's paying you. And you ain't going to get rid of it until it stops. You know. That's right. You need to think about your employees like that.   So, you say you've got the recruitment process and I your client they are finding it, course, I know it's hard to work through but I know a lot of them seen a long-term plan. A long-term thing yeah I mean they're starting they're starting to you know they're starting to see that recruitment mentality you know. The other thing too is just like look everywhere for your next employee.   Talk to the guys at the. You know there's a there's a kid that's working at the loading docks of the building supply company. Right now. He's not necessarily “in construction or has school” but he's there. He's close to it. Right. He's you know he's doing work. He's yeah, he's working with people but he's around it a little bit. Right. So that's a great place to start in a company that I used to use to work with.   The owner was excellent recruiter and he would go in and if he found somebody at Lowe's or Home Depot working the cash register and they were smiling and he was treated with respect, he gave that guy a business card and said if you're thinking about being a trim carpenter you ought to give us a call even if you've never thought about it for come by our office see what we're doing.   You're already working at Lowe's your home depot. You're on the outskirts of this thing. We want to show you what we, what somebody like you can do at a company like ours. And we've got, we've hired guys and gals from that you know. So, it starts with just you've got to look everywhere. Everybody's a potential employee.   My roofer friend, his last three salesmen that he picked up they know nothing about sales, nothing about the roofing industry, nothing about nothing. They were all his waiters at his favorite restaurant. Yeah. Waiters are really good. Yeah because they knew how to interact with people, you know they know how to think on their feet. They've got to solve a lot of problems very quickly for very impatient and its people that with five kids waiting on the chicken fingers. Yeah, you know. You know.   Yes. I like you. And so that's so cool for you know a lot of guys that are to listen and you know you've got to think outside the box you've got to be constantly looking for friendly people that you know that are friendly, that is interactive. And the funny thing is that you know we were talking about earlier, you know you look so long for the technical side of it. And I learned a long time ago you know you hire for attitude. You can always teach technical. Because you have 98% of the time you're going to fire for attitude.   That's right to start with the good stuff first man. Yeah. I mean we're all gonna make mistakes technically right. But that's usually not a fireable offense that you know if you if you keep making the same technical mistakes it's probably because you have an attitude problem that you're not learning or you're not listening or whatever but it's really not because of the technical mistakes like you said it's an attitude mistake.   I was a guy I know he was. He put a Facebook post on he goes you know it's I get tired of all you guys in a particular industry complaining that you can't keep good health. He goes I want you to understand what the problem is. It is not your help, it is you. Yeah. Yeah.   And part of that you know part of that recruiting mentality means that the hiring process is longer. It means you need to have three or four interviews. You need probably have other people within your organization interview them. So, what does that mean? Well, we need to train some of our lead technicians or some of our project managers to how to interview. Right. They need to know that skill. That's another business skill that they need to learn because that's going to help you run the business.   You as the owner doing all of the interviews is not going to be as helpful as if you get these other guys. I've seen that before too, where we pulled lead carpenters and said hey we've got this potential guy he's going to be working with you on your team. I want you to have a chance to vote on this because he's not going to be working. Yes, working for me but he's going to be working with you and the insights that the guys on that you know boots on the ground kind of guys that are in the trenches they'll pick up on stuff and not necessarily bad stuff. They'll pick up on other things where they'll say yeah, this person is really good. I can tell their character because we had a conversation totally unrelated to something else but they're a good fit for us. Their attitude and because everybody looks good on a resume and everybody's going to say try and say the right things in front of the owner or the manager or whatever but get them get them with some of their peers and let them just have a conversation. And so, but that takes more time.   That costs a little bit more money. You mean Sean I'm going to pay my lead carpenter to come into the office for 45 minutes in the middle of the day and interview somebody. Yeah, it's going to cost you a couple of hundred bucks but if you make the wrong hire it's going to cost you tens of thousands of dollars. So yes, spend a couple hundred bucks and train your leaders. Carpenter how to do some job interviews.   So, it boils down to you're not hiring for today because you need employees today; you're hiring for tomorrow because you want to grow your company and you want your people to grow with you. It basically what it is. Yes, it is. Because it's going to cost you a fortune or the wrong. Like you said hiring the wrong people in a few. You're hiring because I'm busy and I need to hire people. Then it would be you. I know you guys are going to hate me for saying this but it would be smarter to turn the work away and lose the money.   Yeah, you can. You can always tell this to my clients when they say oh you know we're really busy. OK. You're making the money. No. All right. Well, you can just sit at home and go out of business. You don't need to go and work your butt off for it. Right.   Right. I know. So, the other thing the other thing about what we're talking about you know in recruiting and playing the long game here too as I hear this a lot is. Well, I want to give this person an opportunity. And again, it's just a slight little mind shift change or language change saying don't give anybody an opportunity. What you want, what your what your people actually want is they want a path. Give them a path. Show them where they can go. But they earn the opportunity.   We don't give opportunities to this company. What we give is a path. What we give is training. What we give is you know a path to go from here to here to eventually to a project manager to estimator to a general manager heck you can become the CEO of some companies the owners are they can't wait to not have to run the company of somebody you know.   So, don't give them an opportunity. Let them earn the opportunity but you got to show them a path because people see the path that they're on then they'll earn their way along that path and that path may take a couple of different rabbit trails that you otherwise were trying to force them in. But given someone's strengths and their abilities then your company will be better off.   But what does that look like? Well, that means you have an employee handbook that has job description and job titles and responsibilities and there's an organizational chart and have a communication system and you have a meeting schedule. All of that takes time and planning and thinking just like we were talking about before. That's important stuff the stuff that we got to stop doing the urgent stuff to get those things in place.   Yeah, I talked to so many so many business owners and when I go in to train their employees one thing that we work on I say What's your job title? Well, I'm a lead Carpenter would mean well yeah okay. Are you sure because it sounds like you said I'm a lead Carpenter? Well, sometimes I'm a Lead Carpenter. I think you know it's just like I talked to enough employees and I asked them what their job title is and what that means what are their responsibilities. They don't know.   So, no wonder you're having people problems. No wonder you know the business is kind of even though you're super, super busy and people are really frustrated you don't understand because your people don't know what they're supposed to be doing. They don't know what you want them to be doing because a lot of times people will, business owners will hire to fill a gap you know and they'll hire for a person instead of hiring for a job.   Because when Joe leaves this position we're going to hire for that position. We can't possibly hire another Joe because Joe is Joe.  Yeah. Timing me crazy just I know it's good for you. I know it's true. Wow, this is really awesome. Well, we’re getting close to end this time. Is there anything in the back of your mind that you just wanted to have a thought about that you wanted to bring up to the front. Before we close out in the next few minutes or so.   Oh yeah. I always try to end on this just because somebody once asked me if you could only teach one thing to construction business owners or contractors. What would it be? And it's very simplistic but you got to understand the difference between margin and markup.   Like I'd be happy to teach it because when contractors get that and they understand and we don't have enough time to go into all that but when they realize how the math works on that and what the difference between those two terms are and what it means for their business then it totally changes the way they operate.   At least you know as far as knowing what you know when your costs are, what your markup needs to be to produce a certain margin so I'll leave it with that. Just saying if you don't know the difference between margin or markup or you think you do, you probably don't and that's okay. Again, like we said the beginning you're not alone. No one no one gets this until they really you know studied or whatever. Learn the difference between margin and markup.   Yeah maybe with in the future will do a full podcast about that will drive anybody nuts. Yeah. Doing Numbers doing numbers and math on a podcast is really uncommon. Yeah. You got to picture this that would do well do it. Yeah, ducks and birds you know. Yeah, that's right.   Shawn, it's really been awesome. How do our listeners get in touch with you if they want to find out more about you? What you do and your whole organization.   Yep. The easiest way is just Google me and I should pop up all over the place it's ShawnVanDyke.com is the Web site and that's S-H-A-W-N. But if your if your listeners want to you know get some you know to start making some taking some actions and getting some results. I've got a book called the Paperwork Punch List: 28 Days to Streamline your Construction Business.   FREE e-book on my Web site just goes to ShawnVanDyke.com /the paperwork punch list. Give me your email address and you'll get the book download for FREE. It's about 70 some pages and it just kind of walks us through step by step. Some stuff that you can do over the next 28 days over the next four weeks to start getting some of the paperwork stuff out of the way some of the systems in place.   Well, make sure all that goes on our show. Yeah. When we do that so everyone will be able to do that. Awesome. This is really cool and I really appreciate you talking about this. Really. Something an industry that's driving everybody nuts. Well, man, thanks for Dave thanks for having me on this has been this has been a blast. I think we could probably talk for two hours on different stuff. So, anytime and anytime. Thanks.   You can visit this websites for more details about Shawn Van Dyke: www.shawnvandyke.com www.ShawnVanDyke.com/thepaperworkpunchlist   EMAIL: connect@shawnvandyke.com       There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download.     4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers   If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at Shell@contractorssecretweapon.com   and she will send you our guest sheet.       Our sponsors     Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money      How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. Radius Bomb sends out hyper targeted, laser focused postcards using a map while sitting in your under ware at your kitchen table then go to http://contractorssecretweapon.com/radiusbomb      Painting Contractors, get up to a 24% better response rate just for having the right memorable telephone number 1-800-PRO-PAINTER.Check out your area before someone beats you to it and it’s not available. https://www.1800propainter.com/    

In this special episode, the fourth recorded live at the 2017 Remodeling Show and Deck Expo, Fine Homebuilding editor Justin Fink and editorial director Rob Yagid talk with FHB Ambassador Shawn Van Dyke. But first, the guys talked with Larry from Moisture Shield, the director of marketing at the company that makes synthetic and composite decking materials. Shawn Van Dyke is an FHB ambassador and a specialist in business coaching and consulting. He talked with the guys about customer fear and how to make your clients feel confident. Plus, estimates vs. proposals.

Shawn Van Dyke (shawnvandyke.com) started his career in construction sitting behind a desk designing buildings.  He earned a couple of degrees in engineering, which is to say, he knew a lot of math and very little about how to actually build something.  After several years as a structural engineer, he realized that he didn’t want to be a structural engineer. ... Read More

Shawn Van Dyke is a construction industry consultant, business coach, and mentor.  He is the author of The Paperwork Punch List: 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business, speaker, and Brand Ambassador for FineHomebuilding.com.  He created the SKILLED TRADE | SOUND BUSINESS project.  That on-going research project helps construction and skilled trade business owners identify […]

Ever cut to the chase on a telephone call too quickly? Here Shawn Van Dyke recalls an experience when he got a little hasty and received a little brutal feedback.

The "If we can't find them, we'll have to create them," strategy to the skilled labor shortage. Welcome to Episode #50 of The Construction Leading Edge podcast, brought to you by www.constructionleadingedge.com, which continues to tackle the skilled labor shortage problem in construction. This episode is an interview with Shawn Van Dyke, COO of a trim and millwork contractor in Knoxville, TN and a 20 year veteran of the construction industry. We talk about topics including: The unique approach his company is taking to solve the skilled labor shortage problem. "If we can't find them, maybe they don't exist.  Maybe we'll have to create them." The surprising page on their website that has been a powerful recruiting tool. How new hires can achieve a level of skill at a craft much faster than was possible in the past. How social media helps their carpenters hone and improve their skills. Practical advice you can use to clean up the paperwork side of your business. Resources mentioned in this episode: The Paperwork Punchlist - 28 Days to Streamline Your Construction Business Shawn's website - www.shawnvandyke.com Shawn's email - connect(at)shawnvandyke.com If for some reason you have not joined The Construction Leading Edge Nation... Click here to join The CLE Nation