marketing, business coach, painting contractor

4 Things That Allow Me to Go on Vacation Without Worrying About Business

Vacation again… can you believe it?

Right behind me here is our packing pile, we are heading to the Grand Canyon again for the second time in the past two years!

My wife and I will hike through the Canyon for four days and then spend a little extra time on vacation.

This would have never happened a few years ago…

I want to share with you the four things that I put into motion, that are very easy and freed up my time to allow me to do things like this.

I am Ron Ramsden and I am a DYB coach, I’m also a contractor here in Northern Massachusetts.

Before I put these to use, I thought I was doing fine, I didn’t have free time though, I worked a lot of hours and I said, “I’ll try them, but if they don’t work, I’m doing them anymore.”

4 things that freed up my time:

No. 1: T-sheets

It helps with time management and time tracking.

We have all of our jobs asserted to T-sheets, the guys punch in, punch out remotely from their phone.

I don’t have to be around on Sundays, I get a summation of all the work that was done and we are able to job cost from that, no more paper time slips or anything else that we did in the past.

This is very beneficial for just a small cost.

No. 2: Basecamp 2

Basecamp is our project management software.

That’s where all the projects are loaded into, the crew leaders are able to access the work orders, they are able to share pictures with me and the homeowners.

We do also have private conversations.

We are able to track everything right in Basecamp, we are also able to do checklists so the crew leaders know what to do, what to check, make sure it’s been done.

I don’t have to be around, I can access it anywhere from my phone, iPad or my laptop.

No. 3: CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

I looked around a lot for CRM’s and I am not a tech-savvy person.

I didn’t want something that would take me months to learn.

I needed something that I could try one day and slowly build on it from there… and that’s when I started using pipeline deals.

There are many, many CRMs out there, I found pipeline deals to be the non-techie guy I am, to work just great.

It’s basically a Rolodex on the computer, I can access any device, so we have all the homeowner’s contact information.

Years ago, if you were to ask me what Miss. Smith’s phone number was, I would be looking all over my desk, I’d run out into my truck, I’d look at a pad of paper, I might find it, I might not.

With this, we can either search by name, address, keyword, we have all different ways to search and find the person.

All their contact information is in there, possibly their spouses, we can also keep all of their colors in there.

We also upload all the files or estimates and anything else that we have.

We have all the information in the click of a button.

So, we have T-sheets, Pipeline deals, and Basecamp 2.

No. 4: We also use an estimating software.

I know there are many out there, some people are very comfortable but I needed something that was easy.

For a non-techie person, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because I didn’t know which software would work for me.

We use Estimate Rocket, they also have a 30-day free trial.

It’s very adaptable, you can save portions of it so when you start keying things in, you don’t have to re-key a whole paragraph or a description of work you’ve got to be done, very easy and professional looking too.

When I send an estimate now, it has automatic email follow-ups so I don’t have to say, “Well I wonder if ever got that estimate, I should touch base with those people”.

When I start a campaign, and these are pre-loaded emails that are editable if you’d like, one day, three days, seven days, fourteen days, you can keep them going, you can modify it, you can delete them altogether and you don’t have to start the campaign.

But I have to tell you, I do not know how many jobs I’ve gotten, weeks or a month later to let me know they wanted to move forward with it and to please put them on the schedule.

I wanted to share those 4 main points that were easy for me to use, affordable to put into play, and they all have trial periods.

So if you don’t really like them, you don’t have to continue them.

But anyways, this is what helped me through my work, less time in the field, more time with me and my family.

And like I said, this allowed me to enjoy vacations, and by the way, the vacations I have, no cell phones, no iPad, no laptops, all the crews are working and I am in the Grand Canyon!

I am Ron Ramsden and I am a DYB coach, I am also a contractor here up in Northern Massachusetts.

Have a great day!

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About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.