The Profit Builder Unscripted

Contractors, These Are the Hidden Costs of Fixing It Yourself

• Vicki Suiter • Episode 46

Share episode

Let us know what you think? Send me a note!

If you’re like most contractors I talk to, you’re great at solving problems. It’s your superpower, and that’s exactly what might be keeping you stuck.

In this episode, I share a conversation I had with a client who was struggling to carve out time to work on her business instead of constantly working in it. The challenge? She wasn’t seeing results fast enough, and that made it hard to stay motivated.

What we uncovered was a simple, powerful shift in how to get traction and actually see progress — even when you're not solving an urgent problem.

This episode is all about how to set up your work (and your team) so you don’t have to stay stuck in firefighting mode to feel valuable.

👉 Give it a listen now! 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

6 Steps to Writing Great Position Agreements 

Build Your Dream Team

Resources:

Connect with Vicki on social media:


If you love listening to this podcast, please leave a review in Apple Podcasts.


If you're struggling to get change to happen in your contracting business and you're finding that it's difficult to set time aside to work on your business, you're really going to want to listen to this episode because I'm going to share some tips with you that are going to be super easy for you as a contractor to implement. Hi, I'm Vicki Souter. Welcome back to the Profit Builder Unscripted.

In my conversation with my client Denise this week, she got to talking about how it's really challenging for her to work on her business instead of working in her business. And when I started to dig a little bit further and ask some more questions, what she said was, you know, when I'm working in my business, it's very clear to me what I've gotten accomplished, right?

When I'm doing something, when I'm meeting with a client or I'm getting a change order signed or I'm fixing a problem, I know and I can see what I've done to cause a result. But when I'm working on my business, if I'm working on a new process or a procedure or I'm doing some research or I'm coaching somebody, I'm not seeing the results immediately.

And it's difficult for me to stay focused on those things because I like seeing results. And I just thought that was so great because, know, I see this a lot with contractors and, you know, when I ask contractors what their superpower is, a lot of times the answer I get is, I'm really great at solving problems. Now, that's awesome. I love that. But here's the problem.

What we end up doing when we're really great at solving problems and that's where we get our sense of value and purpose and worth is that we create and we continue to have problems to solve so that we can continue to have a sense of value, purpose and worth. And sometimes what I notice it's the thing that will keep somebody and keep a business in this state of

We're always putting out fires. always, you know, we've always like everything is urgent that we're having to deal with. And it feels good, right? It feels good to like be that person to solve that problem, overcome that challenge. And yet at the other side of it, we could all probably agree to this is that it's kind of exhausting, right? And at some point you go, all right, like.

I don't know if this is like, this is how I always want it to be. And it comes at a point when you decide, all right, I'm gonna do something different. And what I, you know, in the conversation with Denise, I said, so I wonder if you just don't have, like, are you lacking clarity about what is the result? What's the outcome that you wanna have? As opposed to just that you're working on something.

You know, it's kind of like a, you know, the analogy I use is you're working on a construction project. Now, when you start the project, you have an end result that you're going towards. It's a blueprint. It's a schematic. It's some kind of specification about what is the result that we're, that we're going towards that as you're working on it, you're clear about what the end result is and where you're headed. So it gives it a different.

There's a different press to it or there's a different draw to, I'm not just doing something for the sake of doing it and I'm not just solving a problem, but I'm actually getting to a result. So even as Denise and I started to explore a project that she's working on, which has to do with rewriting position agreements. And I'm like, okay.

It's like a good idea, right? Like you wanting to write position agreements for this position. And it's a good idea to do it because you know that you should do it. Now here's the problem. Every time we start a project with, I know I should, and it's a good idea, but if there is not an outcome that we're working towards, it makes it very difficult to continue to get any kind of momentum or velocity to getting it accomplished or getting it done. The same thing is true when we're working with employees, right, or with our team. 

And we put into, you know, maybe you can relate to this. You put a change in place. You go, you know what, we have this problem that keeps happening. And so we need to have a process so that that problem doesn't happen anymore. So here's our new procedure. But if there is not a clear outcome and there's not clear agreement about how that process or procedure is getting people to a particular result that they've agreed on. 

Oftentimes, that comes in the form of a well-written position agreement that's based on results. That processes and procedures are a tool that are in service to something else. And if you don't have this, something else, it's kind of like the same as building, you know, going to a homeowner and they go, I want it to be completely different and I want new floors and I want, you know, I want new countertops.

And without a blueprint or a schematic or specifications, you just start demoing things and then going, okay, what would you like next? What would you like next? mean, like, can you imagine that how crazy making that would be? Maybe some of you have actually done projects that way. They take an eternity, right? And they're not very satisfying and it's really hard to get traction on them. So if you want to get traction, and this was my conversation with Denise, I'm like, okay, for the sake of what?

Are you wanting to put position agreements in place? Like what benefit will that be to your business? And what ultimate bigger goal do you have about what you want to accomplish in your business and putting those position agreements in place? And as we talked about it, she said, well, first of all, it's going to help get me out of the weeds. Like she is a central point through which everything operates right now. And what we've agreed to is.

Hey, if you want to get out of the middle of the mix of being in the middle of all the things, all the decisions, if you really want to build your team to take on more ownership, you need to define what that criteria is. You need to define how can they win the game. You got to create that blueprint so that they and you know what you're building to. So we agreed. So she said, yeah, so I will be out of the mix and that they will be taking on more ownership of more things. And I'm like, okay.

Great. So the position agreements are in service to something bigger. So what will you be doing with your time when you're not in the middle of the mix? So this was an important question and this is good for you to answer for yourself too, because it all comes back to, hey, when I'm a problem solver, I know what I'm doing, right? Because this was the other part of the thing for Denise is I said, when you're not the one in the middle of the mix, what will you be doing? How will you be spending your time?

She was like, that's a really good question. So we kind of, we know we kind of went back and forth and we explored it a little bit. And we talked about like, what will her role be and what will she be doing and what her, you know, where will her sense of contribution and value and belonging be when she's not in the middle of the mix anymore? And this is really key. And I want you like for you, if you're somebody that's in the middle of the mix and like all these things revolve around you.

And you want it to be different, right? You gotta figure out what you're gonna be doing with your time when you're not in the middle of the mix. Cause if you haven't figured that out, you know what? You're gonna keep yourself in the middle of the mix. Why? Because it gives you a sense of purpose and belonging of mattering. Now, sometimes for people, when I ask that question, it's, wanna be able to go to my kid's baseball game on Saturday instead of doing estimating on Saturday.

I want to be able to go on date nights with my wife on Friday night instead of being at the office until eight o'clock or my husband. I want to be able to spend more time really developing my team and coaching my team and building a bigger business and spending more time on marketing and business development so that I can do different types of projects or whatever, right? So whatever that is for you.

As you're, you if you're, find yourself that you're struggling with getting change to happen or to focusing on working on your business instead of in your business, really ask yourself, like, is, are those some of the reasons for you? Like, are you stuck in the middle of like, that's where my sense of value and purpose and worth is. And how do you create a bigger game for yourself that you're up to that you're playing that's beyond that?

What's the other way that you will win and you can be successful in your business? And it could be that it's personal time. It could be that you've built a certain amount of money in the bank. It could be that you've reached a certain level of profitability. It could be that, you know, it's your ability to, you know, be away from your business for two, three, four weeks at a time. Wouldn't that be great? That's what happens with clients I work with, by the way, that when they get that it's not always about all about the money. 

It's also about the quality of your life. And when you want to have a better quality of life, that means you've got to set your business up to support you having the quality of business of your better quality of life and that your business is not your life. And that's a choice that we all have to make. We all get to as leaders and business owners make the choice. Am I in business to be to run a business or am I in business to do work that I love to do, right? And to have a great quality of life and to be compensated very well for what I do and to be valued for what I do. Now you have to first choose that. You have to choose that that's really the bigger game that you wanna play. And then like I did with Denise's, I encourage you to look at like what's the next win for you beyond being able to be a great firefighter and a great problem solver.

Where are you going to get that sense of accomplishment and purpose so that you have a, for the sake of what, and you have a goal and a blueprint for your business and your life that you're working towards, so that when you're faced with having to make those changes and start working on your business instead of in your business, that you have, that you're working towards something. And that same principle of what you know so well as a contractor in what you do every day is the same principle that applies to whether you're changing it up and you're wanting to move into a different role and work on your business, whether it's wanting to grow your team to take more ownership and accountability, you gotta set a blueprint and schematic and outcome about what's the results that you're after. That's where great position agreements come into play. If it's that you want to... be able to have more effectiveness in sales than having a sales process that also is oriented around understanding what are my outcomes and how do I develop my process so that there's clear outcomes so that when I'm having that conversation with a client that there's something compelling that they're moving towards as opposed to just away from.

The whole, you know, what you know in being a contractor and all those things that make you great at what you do. And man, like it's very complicated what you do. Being a contractor requires so much skill and so much capability and abilities beyond what many people encounter day in and day out. And I have such admiration and respect for you in what you do every day.

And that skill and that talent and that ability to like hold and manage so many elements and make it successful are the same elements that can support you and help you in building teams that take more ownership and grow your business to the next level. So what I'm encouraging you to do is to apply the same principles you use when you're building.

Before you start making change, be clear about what your outcome is, right? Before you start building, be clear about what the result is that you wanna get to. Now here's the other thing. As a contractor, you have a blueprint, a schematic, right? You have the specs on what you're building to. Then after you've gotten that, before you start doing anything, starting with the end in mind and looking backwards, what you do is you look at, all right, what's the end, starting with the end in mind and looking back at where am I starting from? You begin to develop a budget, a plan, a schedule, like right, like you figure out what's it gonna take to get from where I am to where I wanna be. So that's my other recommendation when you're about to embark on change and you wanna start working on your business. The first thing is start with the end in mind.

Be clear about what that is. Second step, be clear about what are you building to? What's the result you wanna cause? Third, start with the end in mind and work your way backward and figure out what's it gonna take to get from where you are to where you wanna be before you ever begin implementing some change. My fourth recommendation is this. Start with the next smallest step. Don't try to eat an elephant all at one time. Start with...

What's the next one smallest thing that you can do? And just like a schedule, like a project, right? You have a schedule, like, what am I gonna, what do I wanna get accomplished? like, what are the milestones? What are the steps? So on and so forth. That same principle, if you wanna implement a change in your business, you wanna start working on your business, think about it just like you do a project. And then make it, don't make it this huge thing, right? It's a small, start out with one small project and then figure out the milestones and then look at the one next smallest step and start working on it from there. And if it includes your team, get by in an agreement about the end result first. There's a whole process I have around position agreements and implementing position agreements.

That is a whole other topic. And if you're interested in learning more about it, I have a course called Build Your Dream Team that's on my website. I'll leave a link below. But if that's a big thing for you that you're looking to develop your team, that might be a beautiful way for you to begin a project called, Let's Get Position Agreements in Place that are results driven, that are specific and measurable, that I know I'm setting people up to win the game because I've given them enough information. Again, just like a project, right? 

The more well fleshed out the design and the blueprint, and the specs are on a project, the more successful and the faster those projects go. So same thing is true with our teams. All right, I hope that you found this to be helpful and valuable today. I would love to hear your comments and thoughts. If you have anything to add, please drop a comment below.

And as always, thanks for being part of this community, and I look forward to seeing you next time on the Profit Builder Unscripted.


People on this episode

Head Shot

Vicki Suiter

Host