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EP 151 : Balancing Craftsmanship and Cost in Subcontractors

EP 151 : Balancing Craftsmanship and Cost in Subcontractors

Introduction:

Welcome to the DYB Podcast! 

In this engaging installment, we dive into the world of contracting and project management with insights from Sonia Garcia, Craig, and Florian Spahiu. 

Sonia shares her evolution from feeling taken advantage of by contractors to mastering hands-on involvement and quality control, a skill honed from her father’s meticulous nature. 

Florian emphasizes the necessity of hiring independent, reliable contractors while likening the decision to choosing quality over convenience—much like opting for healthy food. 

We also explore Sonia’s unique door-to-door sales strategies and the role of appreciation in reducing stress and enhancing work dynamics. 

Tune in as Florian highlights the power of consistent client check-ins and creative team management techniques inspired by “The 5 Love Languages,” enhancing team morale and productivity. 

Plus, hear firsthand successes such as securing high-value jobs and fostering a positive team environment through strategic bonuses and personalized motivation. 

Whether you’re interested in business growth strategies, effective team dynamics, or the art of client relationships, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you double your business and impact your community.

Listen Now:

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Transcript :

Steve Burnett [00:00:00]:
Welcome to the DYB podcast, where each week we share strategies and stories to inspire you to double your business so that you can have financial freedom, time for your family, and make an impact in your community. We sell the DYB poster for $100, but you can get a printout of the DYB system PDF for free. Get your copy at dybcoach.com backslashdybhyphen system. And now this week's episode.

Craig [00:00:30]:
Good morning, fellas. Good morning.

Florian Spahiu [00:00:32]:
Hello, and welcome to MG 11 where our mission is to build $1,000,000 businesses so that we can have an financial freedom and have a impact for our families, time for our families, and make an impact for our communities and welcome. And let's kick it off with some big wins here. Craig, you're up, buddy.

Craig [00:00:50]:
I guess, couple of big wins. First off, got a community spotlight, in the bag recorded and posted. So the first one. And, yeah, it it went well. So hopefully, first of many. And last mastermind group I wasn't on because I was over in Montreal. We were my wife and I were checking out the town and having a lot of fun over there. So that's 2 big wins.

Florian Spahiu [00:01:16]:
Yes. That is so cool. Thank you. Florian, how about you?

Speaker D [00:01:20]:
Couple of big wins. Last week, we had one small job that was, like, for $1600. It came on the spot, and people want to finish the ceilings of the dining room. So we finished that, and then I was gonna another 2 projects. One actually has been since April. She accepted, and then we started yesterday. So that is around it was, like, $9,000, but I have the 25%. So and that is, like, around 36.

Speaker D [00:01:50]:
Still working. We have a big house. Actually, it's been, like, almost 3 months now. So next Monday and November, 12th, we'll we'll finish. Some cards here.

Florian Spahiu [00:02:00]:
Hey. There you go.

Speaker D [00:02:03]:
Thanksgiving, so I'm getting ready. By Monday, I'm gonna pause I mean, send it to by mail. So it's gonna be probably I mean, as I so far, it's 80 cards, but I'm writing everything down. You know? So, this is my big one for this time.

Florian Spahiu [00:02:20]:
Doing things that most others aren't doing. So that's

Speaker D [00:02:23]:
I mean, it become part of your habit, your everyday work. So, like, filling up for, like, focus planner every day by the end of the week. Just what you call that. Do the balance of how much you pay so you can see the money. Right? Every day, I'm I update every day with the with the materials and labor. Yeah. It's part of your audit. You gotta do every day.

Speaker D [00:02:46]:
It's

Florian Spahiu [00:02:46]:
Yep.

Speaker D [00:02:46]:
And I love it. There's nothing wrong with it.

Florian Spahiu [00:02:48]:
Very well. That's nice. Yep. Sonia, how about you? What's a big win?

Sonia Garcia [00:02:53]:
My daughter came into town, so that was a nice little reset moment for me. So that was family time and putting something together last minute. She just she's home safely now, and I'm glad she didn't missed all the storms. She lives in the East Coast in, like, the tip of Jersey and Montague area that she just moved down that way from upstate New York or middle of upstate. So that was nice. That was a big one for me. I knew that.

Florian Spahiu [00:03:19]:
That's good. That's good. I'd say, my big win is, yesterday I did my longest run ever in my life. I think it was on a treadmill, but I did 3 and a half miles. I've done a 5 k, which is what? 3 point and it was a 3.1, 3.2, 3.2 miles. Oh, there you go. But I did just a little bit over. But when I was in high school, I used to run a lot, but we only did 5 k's or less.

Florian Spahiu [00:03:40]:
At 49 years old in 2 weeks, I did 3 and a half miles on a treadmill yesterday. I didn't expect to I didn't expect to, but I was just on this intermediate program. I looked at today, and it was 44 minutes of of getting ready and then running. I was like, look at the thing. And it's a 3.5 miles and my jaw dropped. And I was just like, my focus was in. I'm like, I'm doing this. I'm not giving up.

Florian Spahiu [00:04:03]:
It was hard, but I did. So it was pretty cool.

Sonia Garcia [00:04:06]:
Super.

Florian Spahiu [00:04:06]:
And, also, as far as on the business end, I got a I got a job as a $13,000 interior. I bid it for about 7 or $800 higher than I normally would have. And it was because the the client, it's an it's an a client, but he's extremely picky. And I only got that because usually, when I go to my client or when I go to potential clients and I'm selling out our processes, like, I talk about the Festool sanders we use and the surf prep sanders, and we're sanding trim, and how we caulk tape and backfill trim, pull our tape off. Everything I shot at him, he was like, I know. I've seen your videos. That's why we called you. We're picky.

Florian Spahiu [00:04:45]:
We called you. I know. Everything I did, he everything I said, he goes, I know. I've seen you. And, he goes, I want you to know we're picky. And we're going over colors, and he had a his wife had a folder of all their colors from 15 years ago. All the color names, the dates, the receipts. And and I was like, that is impressive.

Florian Spahiu [00:05:07]:
And he said, yeah. Like I said, we know what we're doing. And but it was pretty cool. So I bid it high not because he's gonna be a a difficult client, but I know that we're gonna spend a little bit extra time just finesse and and tidying up and things like that. So nothing to gouge a client because he's being a butthead. That's not at all what I'm talking about. But it was just a really cool thing because this guy had been watching us. We painted an 18000 R interior across the street and around the corner from him, and he'd been watching our videos on Facebook.

Florian Spahiu [00:05:38]:
And so he called me up, and we got that and lined it up for December. I looked at a couple kitchens this week, and I'm lining it all up for December and January. So it's pretty cool. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that was really awesome.

Florian Spahiu [00:05:50]:
Now we're gonna go into what we can do to make, our lives a little bit easier by breaking something down, making something easier. Craig, what are you thinking?

Craig [00:05:58]:
I'm still in the position where I need to where I need to book book more work. It's still been a little bit hand to mouth, and my bookings are not far enough out in advance. Yeah. So I think I'm running into a an opportunity to book more work, I suppose you'd say. In terms of marketing, I'm doing reaching out to email or, like, reaching out via email. I'm trying to post a little bit more regularly on on social media. I've been calling around offering free touch ups on a yearly basis. So that's one of the ways that I stay in contact with with my client base.

Craig [00:06:39]:
Mhmm. Yeah. So any other magical potions you can

Florian Spahiu [00:06:44]:
Remember a month or so ago, Craig, we discussed one one little thing that that I did, and I actually got a few jobs. This is 2 years ago. But I I flipped through I flipped through my iPhone to the to it goes back, like, 2 years on text messages.

Speaker D [00:06:58]:
Mhmm.

Florian Spahiu [00:06:58]:
IPhone is my work phone only, so they're all clients. And I just went from the bottom of the list 2 years ago. And I just and my wife was driving. We were driving to Oklahoma City, and I just started texting clients, all of them. Just checking on them. Not doing any offers, just checking on them. And I ended up getting a couple of jobs just off of that. It took me, like, an hour and a half because I was getting all of the text messages.

Florian Spahiu [00:07:22]:
I just went from the bottom of the list and all the way up. And I was just, man, I haven't seen you in a while, or I've seen you on Facebook, but I never comment. How are you doing? Things like that. And, so I had a couple jobs that came in the winter. And I usually wanna do this in the winter when I go back, you know, 2 years. But I haven't done it since then because last winter, we were so busy. I probably should do it again this winter, because right now, we're into December, not anything in January yet. But that's one thing it's really easy to do, and it's something I should do anyways.

Florian Spahiu [00:07:54]:
And just a quick follow-up on on texting. But what are you guys doing to follow-up with

Speaker D [00:08:00]:
I have been with you, Dale. I was talking to Steve, it was, like, 4 weeks ago, something like that. We were talking about how to get more clients. So he was saying, like, right now, he said, send, 20 texts to the clients, and don't say, like, too many things. Say, hey. Good morning. I appreciate you. Have a nice day.

Speaker D [00:08:21]:
That's it on the text. Just 20 people. Whatever you have the clients, round them. Let's see how that goes. But it came positive to me, like, from those, like, they respond, like, probably half of it, but I got 2 jobs. Yeah. Okay? But don't say anything else. Just like, I appreciate it.

Speaker D [00:08:39]:
Good morning. I appreciate it. Have a nice day. That's it. Mhmm. Make it friendly. So it's not like a business. It it doesn't sound like business.

Speaker D [00:08:47]:
And people think about, like, I say, okay. We've been in the house. Maybe they have a friend. Or the other thing on the b and I, how you doing b and I?

Craig [00:08:57]:
Yeah. B and I has been a really good source of work.

Speaker D [00:08:59]:
Okay. So you said, hey. I'm a little bit slow. I'm and I need your help. You know? And say, like, if people that don't have any, like, project big project, we have payments of the day. It's just like, I can send my guy, you know, for a day so you can keep moving. Because after payments of the day, you might have a room or something. You might have friends.

Speaker D [00:09:19]:
So that's another thing works for me and being a try to do those two things, and it's gonna help. It's you'll see it. It's gonna pick up.

Florian Spahiu [00:09:29]:
So let me ask you a real quick question. Have you guys ever received a text message, like, weeks later from the mechanic, like, doing exactly what we just said?

Speaker D [00:09:39]:
No. No. I didn't.

Florian Spahiu [00:09:40]:
I did last 2 years ago from my mechanic. And he he reached out to me. And because he reached out to me, I ended up sending another truck in, and I had a couple $1,000 worth of work on that truck just because he took the time and reached out. And it was just a, hey. How's your truck running? Everything good? Something like that, Cameron Lee said. But it was the thought of someone reached out.

Speaker D [00:10:07]:
Yeah. Follow-up.

Florian Spahiu [00:10:08]:
Yeah. And so I I still I don't use him anymore, but it's not because that. He's in a different city, and I have a local mechanic in my own town. It's, like, literally a mile away, and it's just so much easier. But I I still was going to this other mechanic whenever I could back then, just because he was doing things that other mechanics weren't. None of my other mechanics check-in on me. Not a single one. I'm gonna I'm gonna go to the mechanic who's checking in on me.

Florian Spahiu [00:10:37]:
And I struggled with even going to my local mechanic, although he's actually a good friend of mine, the local one, because this other guy did things that other mechanics aren't doing. And so you know your these other contractors, not just painters, but they're not sending out text messages to their clients. That's a pretty that's a pretty inintrusive, thing on our clients, quick text. So I think that's really good. Do you have anything to add there, Sonia?

Sonia Garcia [00:11:04]:
One thing that I do know is, like, when when you mentioned about BNI, and them just stay within them after a one to ones and stuff like that, then reaching out to me and just checking in and saying, hey. Especially the insurance ones are pretty good at it, this one particular one. And I always feel bad because we were like, we won't I wanna use them, but then but he's always helping me out as far as I was uneducated in a lot of areas of insurance for the business. And so it was really nice for him to just say, just wanna have this is going on and I'm but I'm not calling to sell you, but it feels like it, but it's not. But he's still be generally is making sure that I'm, aware of things, especially in the business industry or insurance. And I said, oh, you know what? I did not know that. He goes, make sure you check with your carrier and blah blah blah. And I was like, thank you.

Sonia Garcia [00:11:51]:
Always mindful. And then other friend other ones too just help out too, which I'm probably gonna when you were talking about that, about your ask oh, so sorry. My head Florian, I was like, oh, you know what? I think today's ask. I know what I'm gonna be asking for, and it's not gonna be business. It's just gonna be something else that I'm dealing with right now. So mentally and emotionally. But anyways yeah. No.

Sonia Garcia [00:12:13]:
That's a good idea. And I was I I can send out some text. That to me is unintrusive. Because to me, when I'm asking about business, I feel like, oh, you know, every time that's only, that's the only reason I'm calling you. But like, when you mentioned that about the person in our groups or people just reaching out saying, hey, just checking in on you. How are you doing? It it feels good. Yeah. Non invigorating.

Sonia Garcia [00:12:34]:
How is your how's

Florian Spahiu [00:12:35]:
your door to door been going? Yeah. Have you done it lately?

Sonia Garcia [00:12:38]:
I haven't done it lately, but I did hire somebody to help me. So I'm gonna check with him tomorrow. I got the training in for him.

Florian Spahiu [00:12:45]:
Okay.

Sonia Garcia [00:12:46]:
And then we're gonna go out to together Thursday, but we're gonna go do a a role what do you call that?

Florian Spahiu [00:12:53]:
So what

Sonia Garcia [00:12:53]:
do you call that when you're role play. Right? Role play. Oh, role play. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow. That way we can get going and do it.

Sonia Garcia [00:13:00]:
But I do well when I may get to speak to people, but I'm going during times when people are home, which is

Speaker D [00:13:06]:
Not so far.

Sonia Garcia [00:13:08]:
You know. So that's that may that helps. But it's just it's you just gotta keep the reps in. And it's just me, the solopreneur, trying to do everything has been challenging. I'm sorry. This is not about me right now. Sorry. You know? We're we're getting Craig.

Sonia Garcia [00:13:22]:
Craig. Craig, you know, that's something that works really well, I've noticed, and it helps get grit, but you have to keep consistent at it. That's the only thing. And and I did it was with this per this one group that I saw trade launch, when I went to the there's the one that does drip jobs. He put on this big event, like for 2 days. And so out of those 2 days, there was some highlights that I got, but that one was the one that was, you know what? I think I froze. Did I freeze?

Craig [00:13:52]:
Often. You you unfroze.

Sonia Garcia [00:13:53]:
Oh gosh. Everybody froze. Okay. Good. So when that was one of the ones so that's something where I'm not having to go through Facebook ads. I'm not having because those were I I want I go, I wanted to do the OG. I wanted to get there and say, you know what? Let's try it. Because there's not very many painters in my I don't I have not seen one painter do this other than the canvassing in their area.

Sonia Garcia [00:14:14]:
But other than that, going door to door for paint, I haven't seen anybody, anybody do it. Even my colleagues in the, in the Hispanic community were like, wow, that's pretty good. And I, and being a female doing it was also something different. And I I get a little more re I'm not sure if I get response for that, but I fumble. But if you keep practicing, this script is really simple. I sent it to Isaac and the objections, the common objections, and they work. It's just you just gotta get more rips and you just gotta keep doing it.

Florian Spahiu [00:14:45]:
Yeah. So go go start out in the slums where you won't get any work anyways. Right? Yeah. You can go to the houses you wanna get.

Sonia Garcia [00:14:54]:
Yeah. So you practice on the ones that are kinda media, mid. You yeah. So you can get your practice in, and then you go to the ones that you really you know? Yes. I was doing I've been working on that.

Florian Spahiu [00:15:05]:
That's good. Very good. Hope that helps out with you, Craig, because I know you got this. Yeah. Are you already you're probably already into winter fully, aren't you, Craig?

Craig [00:15:14]:
Temperatures dropped a bit. Actually, we finished off an exterior last week, and that that was late in the season for us.

Florian Spahiu [00:15:22]:
Okay.

Craig [00:15:23]:
Usually, I usually, we'll wrap up interior wrap up exteriors, like, mid October.

Florian Spahiu [00:15:28]:
Okay. Wow. Let's move on here. Florian, how about you?

Speaker D [00:15:32]:
We have talked in the past about the bonus, how to spread bonus. So what I'm doing right now is just give it to my foreman. So I just said to him because we have a big house, 2,000 hours, and it's a dollar per hour as a bonus. So I said to him, by the end of the job, we got to meet those 2,000 hours in order to get $2,000. And this finally I mean, this is following up. Now we have another 600 in order to fill up the 2 1000 hours, so 600 hours less. The thing is I got him on different job because I only think so, but he has to be on top of me. So on the big house, I have another 2 people that are working right now.

Speaker D [00:16:12]:
But because he's moving out of the house, I promised that 2 1000 hours. And I was saying, like, no matter what, if I need 2 1000 hours, I'm gonna give a bonus. I don't know how you guys work. Is that a good idea? Because he's not in the house right now. He's in different projects. Even the different project, we have a project, like, a week ago. And I said to him, hey. Listen.

Speaker D [00:16:33]:
This project is gonna be in, like, a week. So we start on Tuesday, actually, and it has to be by next Tuesday or Wednesday, something like that. So he was on top of the game, and he finished early. Actually, he finished on Friday. And I throw him, like, $200 bonds right away. Because he saved me, like, saved me, like, 16:32, almost 40 hours. Thing is that a good idea. It doesn't matter if he's different developer.

Speaker D [00:16:59]:
Should I give him those $2,000 as a bonus?

Florian Spahiu [00:17:03]:
I think if you if initially, if you agreed on that, I think you should. But

Speaker D [00:17:07]:
the same

Florian Spahiu [00:17:08]:
at the same time, it's a good learning for you to do, to not commit possibly to a full job if you know. Because I don't do buy jobs with my team Okay. Because we're only because we're not the same job all the time.

Speaker D [00:17:20]:
Okay.

Sonia Garcia [00:17:21]:
I don't

Florian Spahiu [00:17:21]:
do it if we're on budget. My guys are pretty good, so I'll just do the this is what I do. I just I'll give them a little bit of extra money, cash. I won't add it to their check, which, you know, sometimes that can sound a little bit sketchy because there's no taxes involved, but I pay taxes on it. If I get cash out of my bank, I've paid taxes. So I guess I'm okay with that. There's been certain jobs, if it's a week long job and it's been the only job we're on, I do not

Speaker D [00:17:44]:
give you

Florian Spahiu [00:17:45]:
a bonus on there. But a huge job, I I haven't given a bonus on hours on big jobs only because I know that any one employee is not gonna be on that job. And

Speaker D [00:17:56]:
so I've

Florian Spahiu [00:17:57]:
given him bonuses that maybe the other team really deserved. Another thing I do too, I don't just give bonuses to my team lead, although I I frequent them to him more. Sometimes I'll give it to a to the guy that is just working and doesn't do anything else but work. And I'm like, man, I I really appreciate you. I might just give him a 50 or give him a 100 and just say thank you.

Speaker D [00:18:19]:
Yeah. That's what I do. I lost a guy in the last Friday. That was I knew he not knew he knew he used to work for me, and he came back. But we had a 5 to 2 years ago. He came back totally different person. Yes, sir. I'll do this.

Speaker D [00:18:35]:
I'll do that. No problem at job site. He's spraying. He does the finish, which is a big help. And on Friday, he stay on the 5 o'clock, so I was there. I was like, and poor guy. He stopped, like, 1 o'clock. But to do oil base is is is a nightmare.

Speaker D [00:18:51]:
So in the end of the job, I go, here's a $100, sir. Go get of your family. He goes, this is for me? I say, yeah. Cool. No. So, oh, thank you so much. We're so happy. And it's work.

Speaker D [00:19:00]:
A little a little bonus like that, it makes people so happy. And yesterday, when I'm on the job side, we were so happy. Thank you so much. I said for Friday, we had a fun time with my family, with kids. We had pizza, which is a good thing.

Florian Spahiu [00:19:14]:
We we've discussed on MG 11 a few different times about appreciation languages of employees. There's time, money, touch, and words of affirmation. So I have one one team member on my team. He's he's pretty sensitive. As far as, if he doesn't feel appreciated, he feels like he's just, you know, really low. So I'm always talking to him how I appreciate him. I don't give him a lot of money, but I give him some money as bonuses. But his appreciation language is just words of affirmation.

Florian Spahiu [00:19:50]:
So I'll send him a text. And every time I send him a text, usually, when someone tells you they they did something and you say thank you, that's usually the last text is a thank you. He always follows up with you're welcome. Always. You're welcome. You know? He he loves words of affirmation. And I always talk to him about how I'm thankful for him. Something happened a little different yesterday.

Florian Spahiu [00:20:15]:
I gave the 1st rain day, which unpaid, that I've done in probably a year that we've lost a day due to weather. But we're working on a couple big exteriors, and I didn't wanna do anything inside because I'm trying to save those for December. And we have nothing but 10 days of rain and cruddy cruddy weather. And I do have an inside job on a rent house that I own that that needs to get done, but I was trying to stretch it out. I gave everybody the day off yesterday with no pay, and I send a message to the team. I'm, like, we don't ever do this hardly ever, but I'm struggling with our schedule, trying to keep things afloat. And but the the one team member that his words of affirmation, he sends me a text in the private chat or a private text. He goes, I don't wanna say this to the group.

Florian Spahiu [00:21:00]:
I'm like, oh, crap. What's he saying? But he was just like, I want I just want you to know I appreciate everything you have done for me. Yeah. And and that's because I I filled his love tank his appreciation tank, I should say. So we need to know where the appreciation tank is on our team members because some of it's not money, some of it's time, some of it is just man, putting your hand on their shoulder. Man, thank you so much. And that's just it lights them up. They wanna do more for you.

Florian Spahiu [00:21:26]:
It's like the kid helping you make pancakes. They're making a mess, but they're so happy just to be helping you and do something for you. So definitely.

Sonia Garcia [00:21:35]:
Where did you find that? That's

Florian Spahiu [00:21:37]:
It's I think it's the same guy who wrote it is the same guy who wrote The 5 Love Languages.

Sonia Garcia [00:21:42]:
Okay. That's right. Name is

Speaker D [00:21:44]:
Yeah.

Craig [00:21:44]:
Gary Chapman, is it?

Florian Spahiu [00:21:46]:
Yes. Yes. It's really good. It's worth reading. It's a short book. And it it lets you know, wow, what's going what's going on? I do a little bit of marriage counseling. And, in fact, I did one last week and was talking about the 5 love languages. And it's the same, except it's not romantic.

Florian Spahiu [00:22:04]:
So, but I was talking

Sonia Garcia [00:22:06]:
to this

Florian Spahiu [00:22:06]:
guy about what he's not doing for he's not putting time in for his wife. He's not spending time. Because some of our team members may be time. And so it may be that you need to take that guy out to lunch a couple times a month. You know? Just go to lunch. Just you and him. Don't even talk about work, and just talk about how much you appreciate him, how are things going in life. And I've done that a time or 2.

Florian Spahiu [00:22:30]:
And when I take when I take someone to lunch, I keep them on the clock. Not saying it's what you guys need to do, but I do. If I take them if I take them to lunch, even if it's not a business thing, because to me, it is business. I'm investing in my team member, So I just keep them on the clock, and they just love that. They got a free lunch. They have to pay $12 for lunch. They got paid. They have to clock out.

Florian Spahiu [00:22:51]:
They spend extra time on lunch. So that's been pretty cool.

Speaker D [00:22:56]:
So do you take your guys 1 by 1 or it's just as a team?

Florian Spahiu [00:23:00]:
Both. But my one on my one on 1

Speaker D [00:23:03]:
done 1 to 1.

Florian Spahiu [00:23:04]:
Yeah. My one on 1 are not very often, but I do them, and I'll do them infrequently. I won't plan them, like, weeks in advance. If it's today's Tuesday, I may send out a text to a guy. Say, hey. Tomorrow, you're gonna be on this job, and I don't think we're gonna be so stressed for time. Let's go let's run over to Pizza Hut and grab lunch. You know? It's really cool.

Florian Spahiu [00:23:25]:
And the other one on one that I do is a stay interviews, if you remember me talking about that a few months ago. And that's really good and eye opening. When you do a stay interview, you're asking a team member, you know, what what are you liking about our team? What are some things you'd like to change? What's making what's causing you to wanna stay on our team and versus leave and go somewhere else? And where do you see some holes in this ship? And you have to have strong skin because if you have a relationship, they will tell you. And I have this this one guy, but I took him to a stay interview. I didn't think him and I were all that close. But when we had our stay interview, he told me some things that he notices that I should be doing differently on the job. And I said, I'm gonna take that. I'm gonna do that.

Florian Spahiu [00:24:12]:
And it's been going well. Because if you listen to them and you take action, when you have to address something that they're doing wrong, like, there is something he's doing wrong right now, which is really minor. It's just a quality control issue. He's gonna he's gonna be really receptive to what I'm gonna say. I'm not gonna I'm having a team meeting this morning on a job. I'm not gonna address that with him because on the at the in the team because that's something that's just him has an issue with. So after the meeting, I'm probably gonna pull him aside. Hey.

Florian Spahiu [00:24:42]:
One thing I've been noticing, you know, man, you're not cleaning your mud buckets out, and that's getting chunks in our mud, and then we're trying to float out walls. It leaves it leaves chunks on the walls, and it just looks messy. If we can just clean it up, put your lid over it when you're not using it, you know, he just sometimes forgets to do that. Not a big deal. But because I had a stay interview with him, he's not gonna get offended when I have a conversation with him after our team meeting today. So that was a long answer to your question, Floyd.

Speaker D [00:25:11]:
But does

Florian Spahiu [00:25:12]:
it does it help?

Speaker D [00:25:13]:
No. It's good sharing. It's like I got some little things which I never talked about it, and I appreciate that. And I was thinking one to 1 to get those guys because when you talk with 1 to 1, it's completely different. Nobody's next to them, so they can share. It's okay. Nobody's close to me. So they can give you a good idea, sir, as you said, and they but they might say what's happened during the job site, how they work.

Speaker D [00:25:40]:
They might say, hey. The format is slow. They might say, who knows?

Florian Spahiu [00:25:44]:
And another thing, Florian, if if you've got one of those guys that won't open up and you're not real close to them, I've done this too. I've opened up a meeting with I'm sorry, and then fill in whatever. Sorry that I haven't stayed in touch with you, haven't checked on you more. I'm sorry that we're not as close as we should be.

Speaker D [00:26:02]:
Mhmm.

Florian Spahiu [00:26:02]:
So I'm taking you to lunch today because I just want you to know that I care about you. I'm sorry that you if you haven't felt like that. But I want you to know I'm approachable. If you have a concern about something that I'm doing or not doing, even if it's you're wrong, I wanna be able to give you the freedom to talk to me. And I'm sorry that I haven't haven't addressed that with you to make you feel very comfortable talking to me about something. So that's why I'm having lunch with you. I want you to know that I'm giving you my uninvited attention. My phone is upside down on silent on the side.

Florian Spahiu [00:26:35]:
I don't look at my phone because they are my attention. And I'm building a really amazing team right now. There's some tweaks I gotta work out, but it's working good. So

Speaker D [00:26:46]:
Sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. My team is very nice. They don't have any any complaint or any fight. They even when I have 5 of them together, they work together. They have fun. They are laughing.

Speaker D [00:26:59]:
There's nothing wrong. And I talk. I have one guy. Sometimes it's I take him home because he drives with somebody else. But I say, hey, man. What's going on? Is everything good? Oh, yeah. I love your crew. Everybody's happy.

Speaker D [00:27:11]:
I said, if something goes on, let me know. He goes, no. Everybody's good. Very good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm happy about it because it's the first time, let's say, after 2 years, I have a crew, and everybody shows up on the job site.

Speaker D [00:27:26]:
And if they have a problem, they'll let me know, but it's not as used to be like, hey. 6:30:1. Oh, I'm not coming today. My kids this, and my kids that. It's like, I was so tired. Get out and schedule completely. Yeah. You plan your day, and, unfortunately, you have to fill up his or her spot.

Speaker D [00:27:44]:
You gotta go and work on the side. You know?

Florian Spahiu [00:27:46]:
And that's why we we prequalify our candidates when they come on our team. Because, ultimately, that's it is our own fault if we have a team that team member that does that as we all have had before.

Speaker D [00:27:56]:
Yeah. Sometimes you're afraid and say, okay. You will need someone to fill out the spot and all of a sudden. I mean, I'm gone. So I'm gone and say, I feel bad. So I want a guy to stay with me forever. It's not gonna happen. We try to, but it's I'm not feel bad.

Speaker D [00:28:13]:
Just try to work with them and say, please, one time, 2 times, 3 times. It's time to go. Cannot handle anymore. You better find somebody else. Like, I did do that later. Yeah. Absolutely. So it's alright.

Speaker D [00:28:25]:
It's not working, so you better find somebody else. You know?

Florian Spahiu [00:28:29]:
Good. Yeah. Very good.

Steve Burnett [00:28:31]:
We'll continue with the rest of this week's show in just a moment. But first, do you have your copy of Steve's book, How to Double Your Business? It's for sale on Amazon for $37, but we want to give you your free copy instead. Just cover the 6.95 for shipping and handling. Get your free copy of the dyb book at dybcoach.com backslashfreehyphentyb hyphen book.

Florian Spahiu [00:28:56]:
Sonya, how about you?

Sonia Garcia [00:28:58]:
Mine's more of the was it what was the name of that book again? That or what is it?

Florian Spahiu [00:29:02]:
Five appreciation languages of the workplace, I think it's called.

Sonia Garcia [00:29:05]:
Okay. 5 If

Florian Spahiu [00:29:06]:
you do 5 appreciation languages, you'll find it. It's in my home it's in my my commercial office in the other town, so I don't have it with me.

Sonia Garcia [00:29:14]:
Okay. Okay. So I know. It was one thing. Okay. I got so I'm in I'm one of those we've had business. We've had it was nice we had this one last one, but I work with contractors. Right? So it's it's really challenging where I get frustrated where I I'm not able to have the team meetings, like, I would like to, or at least I'm sure I could.

Sonia Garcia [00:29:34]:
And I've worked with other I was I did a ride along with one that does like half and half, and he's starting to do that. But I know he's I noticed he he's saying now I have issues with my my employees as well. And so I I look at him like, oh, wow. He needs to hop off the tools because he's really in there. But but then I'm like, okay. I'm so sorry. I'm all over the place right now. It's more right now.

Sonia Garcia [00:29:54]:
It's a lot of feels going on in here thinking, okay, what the heck am I doing? Like, why am I even doing this? It's just, I wanna throw in the towel one day. And then the next day I'm like, finally this morning, I was I go, no, I'm gonna get up, and I'm gonna go. I'm exhausted because I waited for my daughter to get home, and she's home, and I'm really sleepy, but I woke up anyways. So I said, get up, and let's get to the mastermind, because that's how I know I'm gonna feel better anyways. And it's just one of those things where I just, I need to constantly feel plugged in. It's not intrinsic for me with this lately. It's or I don't know if it's ever been. But but it's just one of those things where I'm just constantly having to battle my feelings of just constantly going.

Sonia Garcia [00:30:35]:
Because I know my husband's is in here with me too, but he's full time 50 hours in his general managing job. And then when he puts his foot in there, things. And so, like, right now, we have this beautiful this job went really well. We did we removed popcorn and we removed wallpaper, floated it. But I was really scared because I've never done that before with this one person. And the person that we hired for that where quality control is an issue when it comes to the paint. So what I did is I stayed on the job, and he was like, you're gonna stay here. I go, yes.

Sonia Garcia [00:31:11]:
Because I've never seen this. I know the paint much better. I don't know this, and I wanna know what the process is. So that way, I can sell it better. And so then he was on it. It's just funny because but when I'm not there, it goes awry. And even then, there was, like little details when I didn't want him to do the paint out, but my husband was gonna let him finish it. I go, no.

Sonia Garcia [00:31:29]:
I want the other person on the paint out, not him. Because there's always something that goes there's always something. And so then it went well, but it's exhausting. It was exhausting because I'm like, okay. Why did you do this? Why did you do that? I'm asking a lot of questions. And and I go and I didn't do this beforehand where I was thinking, okay. We could have gone beforehand and asked the process. But it was nice because I'm hands on anyways.

Sonia Garcia [00:31:51]:
I have to see it happen and know what's going on. And so it went really well. It was a really nice project, but with him, I have to constantly be on there. And even I took him to launch and I spoke to him, I go, look, we just need to be proud of what we do. And that's one of my things I go, you do really well with this. As far as I think you do. I wasn't sure. I've never seen it done.

Sonia Garcia [00:32:09]:
You know what I mean? There was a little few there was a few little quality things at the end where I went there and I go, tell me when you're finished. And he calls me like 10:10 minutes and I'm like 30 minutes away. I go, you're gonna stay right there and wait for me. You're not gonna take off. He takes off every time. And so he stayed and sure enough, I found I go, no, that trim is garbage. I didn't say that like that, but I was just like, there was drips. It was sagging.

Sonia Garcia [00:32:31]:
And I was like, no, he doesn't want him to do the paint out. It was supposed to be on the trim work and the details. And I let him know that he needed to come. We needed to wait for that to dry. It was too late because he while he was waiting for me to get there, he didn't go back and check it. So it started sagging where you can catch it. You can like yeah. And so he didn't do that.

Sonia Garcia [00:32:49]:
And I was he was trying to play on me like, oh, it's because I go, no. It's not the product. It's the user. And so with this, we're gonna have to wait it out and we're gonna have to come back. And this is what I'm saying. Do it right the first time and wait on it. When you have to with paint, it's not like anything else. It's a very special thing you have to have to watch out for your it's not that easy when they say, oh, you just paint something.

Sonia Garcia [00:33:10]:
I know it's not like that. And so he came back, it came out, and then I went ahead and and sent him, like, a I sent him one of those Leno Leno Leonardo DiCaprio. I know. I can't remember celebrities.

Florian Spahiu [00:33:20]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Sonia Garcia [00:33:21]:
Yeah. Leonardo DiCaprio. I need a celebrity translator machine. But I don't know if you've seen SNL. So he goes he's, oh, okay. So that's an appreciation. He gets happy about it, and he does more for you too. But I was just, like, glad that I stayed on the project because that's one of the things that I'm having issues with is quality control.

Sonia Garcia [00:33:38]:
Because I'm not on the project, and I'm relying on the contractors to do that. And so what was happening too is I was doing that. They were pretty much taking advantage of me in a sense that, oh, no. She's she doesn't know any better type of thing. That's how I was feeling. And it was like that. Now that I'm on there, they're like, oh, snap. They're doing what they're supposed to do.

Sonia Garcia [00:33:57]:
I go, I know what's supposed to look well. I've even I'm not good at it. My you know, I'm not I don't have enough reps to do it myself, but I've done it. And I know that I have to do it again and do it again. And that's even how my dad was too. He's like, nope. Do it again. Sand it.

Sonia Garcia [00:34:10]:
Do it again. Whenever I was doing work with him and stuff like that when growing up. I you just have to take pride in yourself and and be detail oriented. And so

Florian Spahiu [00:34:18]:
Let me pause you for a second. You Sure. This this guy is your contractor or employee?

Sonia Garcia [00:34:23]:
He's a contractor. And

Speaker D [00:34:25]:
so they're

Sonia Garcia [00:34:25]:
all car. Yeah. But you know what I'm saying today?

Florian Spahiu [00:34:27]:
That's what I'm seeing here is we I don't have contractors, but I know many painters who do. We hire contractors so that we could be hands off, which you have as an employee. And that's he he's a contractor, but he's not a leader. So he's being used as an employee. And therefore, you're paying somebody contractor wages, but you're you you have to treat them as an employee and babysit them. Contractors shouldn't have to be babysit at all because they're it's contractors like hiring a team lead. That's what they are. And so you shouldn't have to maybe just go out and check on them once a day if that and so I think if you have to if you have to pump and prime a contractor, I would not use him.

Florian Spahiu [00:35:14]:
I wouldn't Thank you. I would not use him because that's an employee, and then you're gonna end up legally if he wants to turn on you. He could actually turn on you because you can't tell you can't tell a contractor to stick around for you for 30 minutes. You can with an employee.

Sonia Garcia [00:35:30]:
Okay.

Florian Spahiu [00:35:31]:
And so you've gotta be real not that's really petty, but there's other aspects of it. But if I've gotta if I've gotta teach a contractor who doesn't have a very good character and willing to learn it, I'm not gonna keep that contractor because people grow in their business really quickly when they're when they hire contractors because they're hands off. But if you've got a higher contractor, be hands on, you might as well just hire an employee that you can own their 8 hours a day. You you can Okay. What they do, how they do, when they do. Can't do that with a contractor. So, therefore, with the trade off, that contractor needs to already have that in motion. He needs to have that process already set.

Florian Spahiu [00:36:12]:
His character's already there, and his talent is already there. And he's a leader because that's what a contractor is. And so if he's not that, as hard as it is, because I know how hard it is to find drywall, guys, I would rather lose a drywall job than to deal with that mess.

Sonia Garcia [00:36:30]:
Okay. Yeah. That'll make sense. Yeah. And that's what it feels like.

Florian Spahiu [00:36:34]:
It's way better to lose a job than to gain some stress over over keeping that guy.

Speaker D [00:36:40]:
I agree.

Sonia Garcia [00:36:40]:
Once I remember I I had requested to somebody that was that is the contractor. I don't have to worry. And there, I don't have to worry about it. And so what hap they priced it out for me. And then my husband, it was like, no. That's too much. I go, let them decide if that's too much for them, for the client. And so he's but the area I go, we never we've come across that where we don't that's just again, let them decide.

Sonia Garcia [00:37:03]:
And if we lose it, he just didn't wanna lose it. And I go, sometimes we do, but it went well and she accepted it. And I go, wow. Maybe and then I wouldn't had to had the headache like the other one. And they're pretty spot on these con these contractors that I have found and I like to use, I really don't have to worry about it. They're actually they do what they do.

Florian Spahiu [00:37:21]:
And Take them to lunch or bring them lunch on the job. Those are the people you wanna keep.

Sonia Garcia [00:37:25]:
Yeah. And but but okay. So that does help. But I know a lot of it. That wasn't the the thing that I was worried about, but I'm glad I brought it up because that is what leads to the problem. That's what leading to what I don't why I don't wanna continue on because I'm just like, it's too much on me. And then it's a wear and tear. And and like you mentioned, thank you.

Sonia Garcia [00:37:43]:
That separated that from me. We do have one person that is our dedicated 1099 employee for the most part. And he came back to us also, like, Florian, we had a I had a fallen out with him. Then he comes back like the prodigal child and, you know, wanna and so he's doing much better, but I don't have to check on him as much because I know he'll do what he needs to do. And it's just a little tweaking here and there. Hey, what about this? And I asked him and now we talk about the processes, but his painting is just, I don't worry about him. But as far as the other ones, I'm like, oh, it's too much. And it's really wearing on me a lot.

Sonia Garcia [00:38:16]:
Okay.

Florian Spahiu [00:38:16]:
That's

Sonia Garcia [00:38:17]:
probably why I'm like, I don't wanna do this anymore. I'm just like, if we're not I want I'm like, do I wanna place or non employees? Don't wanna stay with contract work? And then the contract I need the contractors. I have 2 that I like working with, and they're higher, but they're still and I think that's what it is. This guy's the low he he's lower.

Florian Spahiu [00:38:35]:
And there's a reason for that, So

Speaker D [00:38:37]:
Yeah.

Sonia Garcia [00:38:37]:
There is. And I know. And I'm just like, I don't wanna use them anymore. Stop. I don't. Yeah.

Florian Spahiu [00:38:43]:
Here here's how I am with the low quality work because people complain that that healthy food is is expensive. Right? People complain that healthy food is expensive.

Sonia Garcia [00:38:51]:
True. Yeah.

Florian Spahiu [00:38:51]:
But it's not expensive. It's just the other stuff is too cheap. If you eat a McDonald's every day, you're gonna end up in a hospital. You're gonna be paying for it in the long run with stress, with heart disease. The same thing goes with an employee that is cheaper and less quality. Yeah. It's cheaper now, but it's more stress. It's gonna create heartache, heart disease, everything else.

Florian Spahiu [00:39:13]:
Yeah. No. I'm gonna eat healthier now. I'm gonna pay for it now so that and later in life, I have less stress because I've already got everything set up. Now I will say I do eat ice cream at night sometimes. But I don't eat fast food, and I'm not eating french fries. I try not to eat processed food. I'm not eating Doritos and Funyuns and Pepsi.

Florian Spahiu [00:39:35]:
I don't do any of that stuff. And that stuff's really good, but it's really bad for you. It's just enticing. That new guy is enticing because he's a bag of Doritos. He's cheap and quick, but no, man. It's stress. It is stress. Buy some really good food.

Florian Spahiu [00:39:52]:
Really good Go

Sonia Garcia [00:39:53]:
organic now. Yes.

Florian Spahiu [00:39:55]:
Go organic. You don't have to you don't have to worry about any heart disease with these higher paid team members. And so I'd wanna I'd wanna do everything I can to keep these higher paid contractors. What do you guys have to think? We got a few more minutes left here.

Speaker D [00:40:11]:
I don't work with them. Sometimes I do. I have a friend of mine. He's a painter, actually. So if I'm busy, I give it to him. I know he's low, but the last job we did is, like the owner is telling me, like, hey. I'm sorry, but don't use that guy anymore. I said, what's going on? So I go on the job, so I didn't see a lot of things.

Speaker D [00:40:30]:
So I called my friend and said, hey, please. Oh my god. I said, it doesn't matter. Don't say your guys is you. I don't care who is your guys. I called you, and you know how easy you're doing. Right? And I said, it doesn't work. Oh, we're gonna fix it.

Speaker D [00:40:46]:
I said, yeah. We're gonna fix it, but besides you, it's my picture there. I said, the owner calling me and saying, hey. This happened and this happened. Oh, they spent they they sprayed the fascia, and the paint went on the roof. It's come on. He has to pressure clean all the roof after this. So it's better, like I'd rather have less and less work, let's say, less what do you call? Have a small job, but it's higher.

Speaker D [00:41:13]:
It's it's what do you call it's expensive as a job. Like you said, charge a little bit more and don't have a stress. Stress is very is very bad. Right now, for example, that lady I start yesterday, she goes to say to me, like, oh, you know, look at the ceiling. It's wavy. I say, yeah. And she goes, oh, you're gonna fix. I said, no.

Speaker D [00:41:32]:
I'm not the plaster guy. It's not in the contract. Oh, I thought it was a contract. No. It's not. But I will help you. I see what can I do? I'm gonna get the fast tool, but then send it down. And if that thing happened, then that that's different story, but you need a plaster guy.

Speaker D [00:41:47]:
So I didn't wanna give myself I can fix it. Drywall is a mess. And you put yourself on a more troubled side, let's say. So I said, no. I'm gonna try to help you a little bit. If that solve the situation, then the test will send it down. That's fine. Otherwise, hire a drywall contractor, and we'll be happy.

Speaker D [00:42:07]:
So it came to the point that I go there and say, hey. There's a drywall. I don't wanna touch it. And I'm the same way. And I can fix it. I don't have any problem with that. But I'm gonna give myself more work, more stress. That'd rather be out.

Craig [00:42:21]:
One one thing that I'd say, it's all good advice, but I'll I'll do a little devil's advocate. And if you've properly set expectations with him, it might be worth it to give him another chance and just see if the next job goes well. And if he has changed his ways and is performing better for you, you can always keep on using him. But but, yeah, I wouldn't give him any more than one chance.

Sonia Garcia [00:42:49]:
Yeah. No. He's got this is a few chances already. You know, he's

Craig [00:42:54]:
And every time you've explained this is my expectation, you have it you haven't met it?

Sonia Garcia [00:43:00]:
That I I've done it, but I've not been I can't say I'm, like, like, completely that. Like, you mentioned, I feel like this past time I did when I was watching him and I was showing him the and so forth, and he went back. He went and fixed it. It looks really good now. And I was like, where were you where was this before? I know you obviously have the capability. Yeah. And then so he that's where I was like, okay. He has a potential.

Sonia Garcia [00:43:25]:
Mhmm. But as far as, like, the expectation ahead of time, he's like, he's he does it and then he okay. Let me I did it this time, but I'm just gonna skip somewhere here in the next one. He does it every single time on that. You know, like, I'll set the expectation. This is what it is. This is what we're looking for, and then he'll skip a beat. But it's just it is a constant thing where I'm having to constantly be there.

Sonia Garcia [00:43:47]:
And this time I watched him, watched him. Like, I stayed there. And I said, I'm not here to be your babysitter, which kinda was, but I just never seen this before. And then I wanna I need to know the process so I can sell it other if I wanna sell it. I don't know if I wanna sell it. You know what I mean? I just I wanna keep it in my lane, but thank you. I'll consider that because we were gonna use them for the rest of the project because they the we just did a hallway or the entryway. And so she wants to do the whole house.

Sonia Garcia [00:44:11]:
And I was like, he's got the potential. So whatever I saw, I wanna see that on this or if she goes continues with us, I wanna see that work because he has potential. It's just one of those things that he just he wants it fast and the money. Let's go is what it is.

Florian Spahiu [00:44:27]:
So

Craig [00:44:27]:
Yeah. That's the problem. Yeah. That's the problem with subcontractors because they're paying them by the job. There's incentive to do it as fast as they can. And, yeah, some of their creditors are breathing down their neck so heavily that they'll do anything to get the money as quick as possible.

Florian Spahiu [00:44:44]:
We're about out of time here. Let's roll off with our takeaways. Craig?

Craig [00:44:51]:
Just reaching out to my client base. Just keeping more in contact with my client base via text, email, phone call, whatever have you, and, yeah, just reaching out to them. That's it.

Florian Spahiu [00:45:01]:
Awesome. Awesome. Florian?

Speaker D [00:45:03]:
Yeah. The text is gonna work here for sure. I'm telling you, it's, like, 100%. You'll see. Yeah. We're gonna those bonus hours, keep my guys when it comes to the point, like, I have the team to you. Like, these are probably all the database. Give some couple $100, $100.

Speaker D [00:45:20]:
They're so happy. Keep the bonus hours. Whatever I promise, I will keep you about it. That's it right now.

Florian Spahiu [00:45:25]:
Awesome. Awesome. Sonya?

Sonia Garcia [00:45:27]:
The 5 words of appreciative 5 appreciation and then the eat healthy now. I think that's gonna help with the feels a lot because a lot of it has to do with with how the what's happening with the workers and the and then that's making me it's stressing me out and so making me wanna quit. But We're

Florian Spahiu [00:45:45]:
in this we're in this business to get financial freedom and less stress and time for our families. So that's why we're here for Mastermind, and we're gonna grow and learn from each other. And no no more stress on this situation with this contractor.

Sonia Garcia [00:45:58]:
Yeah. Thank you.

Florian Spahiu [00:45:59]:
My my big takeaway is just everything in whole because what I always Mastermind, not I usually don't have a big thing that I wanna unpack, but it's just hearing hearing other people's other contractors' information. We it gives me some ideas on things like going over with the bonuses with flooring. You're talking about, man, I need to set up a better structure myself. So it's just different hearing everybody's situations and knowing different ideas. I just love feeding off of that. Because you don't know what you don't know until somebody brings up a question. Like, wow, I I didn't think of that one. So I love it.

Florian Spahiu [00:46:35]:
And I love you guys. I appreciate you. Dream big. Hustle smarter. We all have this. Nothing.

Speaker D [00:46:40]:
Have a good day, guys.

Steve Burnett [00:46:41]:
I hope you enjoyed this episode. If this was helpful, please share it with a friend to help inspire them to double their business. Again, this is April Burnett. Steve and I are the founders of Burnett Painting and DYB Coach. We want to take a moment and thank you for making us the most rated podcast dedicated specifically to painting contractors. To celebrate, we want to help you break through to higher success. So Steve is now giving away free strategy calls. Just click the link below in the show notes that says free strategy call.

Steve Burnett [00:47:11]:
There are only a couple of openings on his calendar each week, so get your free call with Steve now. Thank you so much for listening, and remember to dream big, hustle smarter. You've got this.
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