291. How To Implement AI Without Losing Your Mind [For Contractors] - Tyler Folkman

Get a copy of the episode transcript: https://trybta.com/Transcript298 Get a copy of our Contractor Success Roadmap and see how 13+ contractors scaled to 7-figures (without working more hours): https://trybta.com/DL298 To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP298 In 2015, Vancouver-based contractor Brandon Smith was doing about $500K a year. Along with his business partner, he was handling sales, running production and estimating his own jobs.Eleven years later, he runs a $5M company.The road between those two numbers wasn't a straight line. There was a declined debit card at Quiznos, an eight-foot whiteboard that looked like a murder board, and a global pandemic that threw a wrench in the plan.In this episode, Brandon walks through the exact zig-zagging path he took to go from operator of a 6-figure construction business to the CEO of an award-winning company with time and money to give back.He also shares the one piece of advice from Danny he still hasn't forgotten: move faster.If you're stuck at a lower revenue than you want to be at, this episode is for you.Want Brandon's full sales process? Follow him on Instagram @buildwithbsmith and send him a DM that says "breakthrough." You can also catch his podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6lPo3hHrreDSuz6v4MhikA?si=twW4mktVTxqcH2Nec8AxHA&nd=1&dlsi=71a45319798646cc 00:00-Intro06:01-From Laborer to Business Owner07:48-Early Financial Struggles11:06-Scaling to the $1M Mark17:10-Growing from $1M to $2M23:53-Leadership Growth for Scaling30:49-Business Lessons Learned40:01-What Not to Sacrifice for Business

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP297 Take our five minute quiz and get a custom Contractor Growth Scorecard: https://trybta.com/DL297 You promoted your best salesperson to run sales. Now they are in your office three times a day asking what you would do.That is not a hiring mistake. Perry Holley says it is a development gap, and most owners skip right past it without knowing.Perry is an executive coach with Maxwell Leadership, and he has worked with the BTA Community at Winter Summits and retreats for years. He was on the show back in Episode 132 breaking down the 5 Levels of Leadership. He is back to tackle the level that trips up almost everyone: becoming a developer of people.He walks Danny through seven steps that have to happen before anyone is actually empowered. Recruit, position, model, equip, develop, empower, measure. When somebody keeps coming to you for answers, Perry says go back through the first five and find the one you skipped.The step most owners miss is development. Equipping is teaching the job. Developing is teaching someone to lead themselves: time management, priority management, emotional management, resilience. Skills your crew leads were almost certainly never taught.Perry also covers accountability as ownership rather than blame, why the goal rarely changes but the plan usually does, and the question that tells you whether your team trusts you: are they telling you hard things, or only the good stuff?And if your own development has stalled, his answer is irreducible minimums. Fifty words a day. Two pages a day. Small things done daily, consistently, compounding into something you could not have planned.Follow Perry Holley and the Maxwell Leadership Podcast for more on this: https://www.maxwellleadership.com/podcast/ 00:00-Intro02:24-Executor to Leader Transition09:43-7 Steps to Team Empowerment16:01-Developing Self Leadership & Management19:43-Being a Genius Maker26:50-Accountability as Extreme Ownership34:56-Final Takeaway

Get the free templates from this session here: https://trybta.com/DL296Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP296 Winter is the season most contractors brace for. These four have stopped bracing.This is the replay of our October Marketing and Sales Roundtable, where Danny sat down with three painting contractors running between $5 and $10 million and the founder of CompanyCam.Joe Kelly went from $3.5 million to $10 million in three years at JK Paint in Portland, and he keeps all ten crews working through December and January. Mason Marquis runs one of the largest residential painting companies in Dallas, and his winter discount season produced a better gross margin than his busy season. Toby Woodiwiss has been building Woodiwiss Painting in California since 2004, holds a net promoter score of 100, and runs at 46% gross profit. Luke Hansen founded CompanyCam after years in roofing.Here is what they talk about:The numbers each of them watches weekly, and why every one of them named booked appointments as the earliest warning signHow to tell the difference between passive and active lead sourcesWhich levers you can actually pull when flow dries up.00:00-Intro04:25-Meet the Panelists17:06-Signs of Broken Sales Process28:34-Winter Playbook & Data Tracking48:18-Off-Season Crew Tactics1:03:07-Turning Leads to Booked Work1:28:22-Final Advice

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP295Take our five minute quiz and get a custom Contractor Growth Scorecard: https://trybta.com/DL295There are two levers that move gross profit on a job: labor and materials.Most contractors only pull one.Materials feel fixed. The supplier sends a price, you pay it, and that's the end of it.But what if it wasn't?Prices and terms are negotiable, and your ability to have that conversation shows up in your cash flow and your bottom line.Rhydon Atzenhoffer has been on both sides of the counter. Contractor for many years, supply side now. And host of the HVAC R&D Podcast.Today he walks through how to find the right supplier, how to get the best price, and how to build a relationship that pays off for both of you.Check out the HVAC R&D Podcast here: https://www.hvacrnd.com/00:00-Intro03:35-Distribution Misconceptions 05:29-Choosing the Right Distributor12:03-Securing Lines of Credit18:42-Navigating Price & Value28:29-Streamlining Job Production34:01-Final Advice

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP294Take our five minute quiz and get a custom Contractor Growth Scorecard: https://trybta.com/DL294On the surface, a subcontractor model seems like a good idea. That’s what Red Branch Construction business owner Jacob Toler thought. Higher margin, lower overhead.It worked great for him, until it didn’t. His reputation was unremarkable. His margins were thinning out. Lack of accountability almost toppled the business.And so, Jacob made a massive change that took him from negative profit to a healthy 8.5% net profit.He cut the subcontractors, restructured his office team, and hired four crews in just five months.If you’ve ever wondered whether you should switch from subs to employees or vice versa, then today’s episode will give you a great perspective.00:00-Intro02:05-Initial Subcontractor Model06:47-The Warning Signs & Near-Collapse15:28-Transitioning to In-House Employees21:28-Recruiting & Vetting Processes27:59-Subs vs Employees Model Analysis35:28-Checklist for Business Model Evaluation

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP293 Take our five minute quiz and get a custom Contractor Growth Scorecard: https://trybta.com/DL293 Learn more about Spencer and Entreprenutcases: https://entreprenutcases.com/ Talk to enough contractors and you hear the same sentence."This isn't fun anymore."Sometimes it comes from the guy who is grinding to make payroll. But just as often it comes from the guy whose business is finally working, who has the trucks and the team and the margin, and who feels absolutely nothing about any of it.Spencer Sheinin has seen both versions up close. He is a CPA, the founder of Shift Financial, and the author of Entreprenumbers. He has owned businesses since 2000, across four companies and 300 employees, and he spent roughly twenty years running work that was never really connected to him.He is now writing a book called Entreprenutcases based on interviews with owners who found real meaning in their businesses and the ones who lost it along the way.In this episode, Spencer and Danny dig into why the business stops being fun. The grind that only works for so long. The moment survival is handled and the fight disappears. And what Spencer calls robot mode, the programming that keeps us chasing bigger and faster instead of better.Then he gets practical. Three archetypes of purpose-driven businesses, two questions every owner needs to answer, and the formation moments in your own history that point to the answer.Danny gets into his own version of it too, including the year he quit painting to fly helicopters and what that taught him about being underwhelmed.Fair warning: Spencer is not here to convince anybody. If money is the whole point for you right now, he says that is fine, and he will be around when it stops being enough.Spencer is offering free live coaching on his own podcast to help owners find their purpose. Learn more at https://entreprenutcases.com/ 00:00-Intro04:39-Root Causes of Disconnection 09:56-Recognizing Signs of Burnout22:20-Three Archetypes of Meaning29:21-Money vs Authentic Purpose36:22-Finding Personal Purpose48:02-Organizational Impact of Alignment52:46-Practical Steps for Entrepreneurs

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026Get a copy of our AI Guide For Contractors and learn the 4 highest leverage AI workflows for trades businesses: https://trybta.com/DL292Get Grant’s free Claude skills for your business here: https://skillmatch.zite.so/Most contractors are drowning in AI options.New tools every week. New features buried inside the tools you already pay for. No clear answer on which ones are worth your time.Grant Fuellenbach implements project management systems for contracting companies at GoFirst Consulting, and he uses AI to do it faster. He also hosts the Beyond the Bid podcast.So we asked him a simple question: what should a contractor actually be using right now?His answer was three tools, and two of them are free.Grant walks us through NotebookLM (he calls it the underserved GOAT), Prompt Cowboy, and Claude Cowork. Then he actually walks through the work, with examples: a company brain built from SOPs and training videos, an estimate pulled together from a photo and a few measurements, and an SEO audit that runs on a schedule without him touching it.If you have ever lost a night to an AI rabbit hole and come out with nothing, start here.Find Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantfuellenbach or reach him at https://gofirstconsulting.com/ To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP29200:00-Intro01:49-AI in Contracting & Workflows10:01-NotebookLM & Second Brain21:59-Prompt Cowboy & Efficiency25:50-Claude Co-Work & Automations31:23-Demo of NotebookLM38:45-Final Recommendations

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP291 Get a copy of our AI Guide For Contractors and learn the 4 highest leverage AI workflows for trades businesses: https://trybta.com/DL291Tyler Folkman has been working in the AI space for nearly twenty years.You read that right. While most of us were just getting used to having a website, Tyler was working on next level technology.Today, he’s the Chief AI Officer at JobNimbus. He helps provide roofers with the tech they need to make operations quicker, easier and more profitable.Here’s why we wanted him on the show:Many of you are starting to incorporate AI into your business.The result is that we end up wasting a ton of time going down rabbit holes that lead nowhere, maybe even putting our information at risk along the way.Today, Tyler is walking us through a clear roadmap to using AI to build systems once, properly, so you can power your business with good processes and accurate data.And if you’re not a roofer, don’t worry.Everything we discuss today is relevant to any business owner in the trades.Subscribe to Tyler’s AI newsletter here: https://www.tylerfolkman.ai/ 00:00-Intro04:08-Contractor AI Adoption13:30-Practical Workflows & Estimating22:16-CRM AI Integrations30:08-Managing Data Security Risks40:25-Staying Current with AI 49:22-Future of AI in Contracting

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP290 Take our five minute quiz and get a custom Contractor Growth Scorecard: https://trybta.com/DL290 There's a lot of noise about selling to private equity in the trades right now. Some of you may even be considering this as your exit strategy.But how much do you REALLY understand what’s involved in arguably one of the biggest decisions of your life?Our guest today Tyler Goodhue has been involved in the acquisition of over 200 businesses, primarily in the trades, and he's here to discuss the part nobody talks about publicly.What actually creates value, what quietly destroys it, and how to avoid settling for a bad deal.Today, he’s walking us through what actually happens when you decide to sell to private equity. The whole process: the good, the bad and the ugly.00:00-Intro02:27-Why Private Equity Loves Trades08:04-P.E. Acquisition Strategy11:58-Factors Driving Company Valuation24:57-Evaluating Owner Reliance Risks38:20-Common Seller Misconceptions46:07-Key Contract Deal Terms53:48-Planning an Optimal Sale

Book an implementation call and join thousands of contractors like Jason in running a better business while working less: https://trybta.com/DI1026To learn more about Breakthrough Academy, click here: https://trybta.com/EP289 Get a free contractor Lead Source Attribution template and example here: https://trybta.com/DL289 While contractors and construction business owners are busy scrambling to get our websites ready for AI search, Phil Risher is asking a much bigger question: Will your website even matter in 3 years?Phil is a digital marketing specialist who works exclusively with contractors. He's been watching in real time as AI search puts an end to everything we thought we knew about modern marketing.Traffic is dwindling. SEO is changing. And websites... well, they might be dying.Instead, Phil says AI agents will dominate contractor digital marketing strategies in just a few years.In today's episode, Phil shares his predictions, what they mean for the construction industry, and what you need to start building today to survive the next decade.00:00-Intro02:03-Recent AI Shifts 03:41-Changing Website Traffic 07:32-Measuring Marketing Success 12:43-Gathering Customer Data 24:25-Building Trusted Brands 31:38-Evolving Ad Landscape 34:56-Selecting Right Agencies