499 | From Technician to True Business Owner With Dominic Rubino

Most trades business owners start as great technicians.

Then the business grows.
The jobs pile up.
The team expands.

And suddenly the owner is buried in work with less time, less clarity, and more pressure than ever.

In this episode of Driven To Win, Chaz Wolfe sits down with Dominic Rubino, host of Profit Tool Belt and a trusted advisor to trades business owners across North America.

Dominic has spent years helping contractors, builders, and trades leaders move from chaos to control. In this conversation, he breaks down why so many trades businesses stall out and what it actually takes to build a company that runs without owning every decision.

This episode is about leadership, systems, and financial clarity. It is about stepping out of the truck and into the role of true business owner.

If you run a construction, contracting, or service based business and want to grow without sacrificing your family or your freedom, this conversation will challenge how you operate.

Key Takeaways

• Why most trades owners stay trapped in technician mode
• The leadership shift required to build a real company
• Why understanding your numbers is a non negotiable skill
• The systems that allow trades businesses to scale
• How accountability and coaching accelerate growth
• The truth about time freedom for business owners
• Why strong leadership at work protects your life at home

Connect with Dominic Rubino (Guest):

Website: https://www.profittoolbelt.com/

Website: https://www.cabinetmakerprofitsystem.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicrubino/

Connect with Chaz Wolfe (Host):

Website: http://www.gatheringthekings.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chazwolfe/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gatheringthekings/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaz-wolfe-86767054/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gatheringthekings

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Chaz Wolfe: Does your business have you by the balls, leaving you with no time for anything else? Dominic Rubino and I are here breaking down how to take back control, crush it in business, and finally be able to breathe again. Grab your pens. Let's dive in. 

[00:00:12] All right. What's the name of your other podcast? I didn't know about the other one.

[00:00:15] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, so I've got two. This one's called Profit Tool Belt and the other one is Cabinet Maker Profit System.

[00:00:21] Chaz Wolfe: I love it.

[00:00:22] Dominic Rubino: You can only imagine the audience of that one.

[00:00:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, yeah,~ uh, uh, ~underwater basket weavers.

[00:00:29] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Listen, I just went and spoke at a fencing conference and I was like, fences. Oh my God. Totally overlooked market like cabinetry.

[00:00:39] Cabinetry is a completely overlooked market. Cabinetry, architectural millwork,

[00:00:45] Chaz Wolfe: Well,

[00:00:45] Dominic Rubino: most fit. Great.

[00:00:47] Chaz Wolfe: what I know of it, and I don't know if it's a dying trade, it's harder and harder to find people who are good at it. And so fencing, cabinetry,~ uh,~ at least for us,~ uh,~ you know, it's always. A challenge [00:01:00] to have a good cabinet partner,~ uh,~ in our GC business, but yeah, fencing even the same. ~Um, ~there's just not that many that do it.

[00:01:07] Why do you think that that is?

[00:01:11] Dominic Rubino: You know, it's funny because I just interviewed a guy from Europe that brings guys from Germany, Austria and Switzerland over to North America to work. And over there. The education system is right out of high school. You decide if you're going to go academic or trades and trades is multi generational.

[00:01:28] Like I was a cabinet maker. My dad's my, no, my dad's a cabinet maker. My grandfather was, I will be one too. But here, a lot of guys just back into it. They're like, I don't know. I'll go try that place is hiring. And so it doesn't necessarily draw the kind of. Same, you know, they, they approach it with a different energy, the way you and I might talk

[00:01:48] Chaz Wolfe: For sure. Well, when you have a legacy trade like that, you know, my dad, my grand, there's a lot of pride in that, and pride and quality

[00:01:58] Dominic Rubino: of pride. Yeah.

[00:01:59] Chaz Wolfe: and [00:02:00] so, yeah, you're right, because the, the backed in, you know, I'm just going to go find a job is,~ uh,~ you know, maybe I do it for a little bit. Maybe I don't, you know, ~um, ~and that doesn't, that doesn't equate to mastery.

[00:02:12] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. And then some guys love it. You know, there's people that get into it, you know, they're competing, they're building different pieces of furniture and it's the whole scope,

[00:02:22] Chaz Wolfe: Is it, was that you beforehand? Did, is that, were you, were you a

[00:02:26] Dominic Rubino: I was a painter and more of a handyman with aspirations. And then I got out of the trades and I went and worked in corporate and then I got into coaching. By doing self-development, I noticed you're part of the Cardone Kern thing.

[00:02:39] Chaz Wolfe: Oh yeah. Back in the day that that whole explosion of, of good and bad and indifferent.

[00:02:47] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, so I've been a business coach since 2000.

[00:02:50] Chaz Wolfe: Oh wow. Yeah. You've been around.

[00:02:52] Dominic Rubino: I'm

[00:02:52] Chaz Wolfe: What do you think? So let's just, let me, let me just ask you a question on that. Not just in the trades, but what do you think has changed? [00:03:00] In business coaching in the last 24 years. I mean, it kind of feels like everybody's a business coach today. There are, there are people who think I'm a business coach.

[00:03:06] I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no. I facilitate a community of incredible entrepreneurs. And yeah, we like to press hard and go deep on a lot of areas, but, and I, and I know a lot of things I've been fairly successful, but, but I'm not a business coach. Well, what's changed over 24 years since you've been doing this?

[00:03:22] Dominic Rubino: Well, let's go back hundreds of years. First of all wise, the strongest leaders have always sought wise counsel. Right? So the Knights of the Roundtable. The reason they were there was to advise the king and you, I know that's a story, but it's an allegory for how things always go. And even if you look at the president giving a speech addressing the nation, there's a whole bunch of people behind him or her, depending on what country you're in, and they're there to advise.

[00:03:48] If you ask, let's say the president, you know, what's the status of the cod stocks? He doesn't know the answer, but he turns to somebody who's the minister of cod stocks, fisheries, and says, How much did we ship? And they say [00:04:00] 270 trillion tons. She's like, okay, that's the answer. Trusts that advisor. So that's the first thing that's, that's always been the case.

[00:04:07] The strongest leaders have always sought wise counsel. What's changed in the last couple of years is people are more aware that coaching is a thing. And what you probably don't know as it let's talk about trades people is that one of your biggest competitors who seems to be just grabbing chunks of market share, like a lion ripping at a gazelle has a business coach, but they're not going to tell you

[00:04:30] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.

[00:04:32] Dominic Rubino: right now on the other side of it.

[00:04:35] Tragically, everybody can say they're a business coach. Did you know who has the final say on whether you can be a business coach or not?

[00:04:42] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~I think it's me.

[00:04:44] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, well, I could, I could reduce that. I could, I could drop that down one more level. It's the kid at Staples who takes your business card order.

[00:04:52] Chaz Wolfe: There you go.

[00:04:53] Dominic Rubino: He's the last, or she's the last one who says yes or no. So tragically, there's a lot of theory business coaches. I'm, I'm definitely not a theory business [00:05:00] coach.

[00:05:00] I don't talk like one or act like one. I've built and sold a couple of companies, so I might not be perfect, but I'm real.

[00:05:06] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. And I think

[00:05:08] Dominic Rubino: And maybe you are too.

[00:05:09] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, no, I, I, I think. That's why we have the businesses that we do in what I would, you know, even though gathering the Kings is, is a community, it's still in the coaching space, you know, we're still kind of the same, same,~ um,~ idea, but authenticity actually. And so I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to press on that button a little bit, because I was just talking about this with someone this morning, you know, but that authenticity piece.

[00:05:35] We, a lot of people talk about it, right? Be genuine, be authentic. Like, you know, your sales process, you know, all the, all the stuff in this industry, the over promise under deliver is, is more regular. You know, it's the good marketing, good enthusiasm, great podcast. And they got me. And then when I got in, it was like, Ah, you know, [00:06:00] yeah, exactly.

[00:06:01] And so who I was talking about, this was actually a part of our team. And, and from the beginning of us, you know, of gathering the Kings as a community, it was like, I've been part of groups and they're not really a mastermind they're, they're group coaching, which is fine. And I got great value, but all the quote unquote masterminds that I went to, or that I, I've been a part of were a guru coaching the room, which is fine, but that's not a mastermind.

[00:06:25] Dominic Rubino: That's not a mastermind. I want to be the dumbest guy in the room. I want to be, if it's a mastermind, I want to be looking around the room going, I hope they don't kick me out.

[00:06:33] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I agree with you. And then there's also a percentage of me that, you know, even, even in my sales career,~ um,~ when I was coaching others, that's when I learned the most. And so even if you aren't the biggest guy in the room, but you have a good understanding, a good mindset, you can actually learn three times as much.

[00:06:54] Even if you're The, the, the smartest guy. And so how, for you, I mean, I don't want to just talk [00:07:00] about GTK, but I'm set that up so that we could talk about you and this authenticity around coaching because. One, how are you communicating that, that you may be, you're different than just the guy who just went to Staples and got his business coaching card and he's ready to roll.

[00:07:15] ~Um, ~but how does that look on the other side when someone actually starts working with you? What is authenticity or what is real look like when someone's working with a business coach like you that has the real tangible experience?

[00:07:26] Dominic Rubino: So at first, I have to say, in all honesty, I've never, I, I don't work with other people who aren't. So I don't, I don't know the other side, but what I hear. From clients, customers who have worked with other coaches is there's this tiny disconnect there's, you know, sometimes the, you know, they need a technical answer in a real situation.

[00:07:45] Like, Hey, there's something happening with my production crew, whether it's a field crew or in a, in a shop, and I don't know what to do, or what metrics do we track and,~ uh,~ and a book learning business coach will say, well, let me turn to page 67 and go check out the number we should track is [00:08:00] this. And it, it, it's good. It's good guidance, but it's not real. And, and the real stuff comes from, this is going to, this is a crazy example, but it's an example. Let's use your bookkeeper as an example. The way to keep your bookkeeper on their toes and making sure that you're doing things right is there's all sorts of book learning for that.

[00:08:22] But the real way that I like to do it is every once in a while, go crazy about 30 bucks on the ledger. Like, I don't understand this 30. Can somebody go look that for me? And I need that in an, in an hour. And when my bookkeeper knows that I'm really looking hard at that 30 bucks, they're like, Oh, okay.

[00:08:40] Rubino's on it. Like what's, what's going on here? And that department, you know, I'm not using a carrot or the stick. I'm just being very metrics driven. Like why is that 30 there or not there? And we can do the same with production. We can do the same with quality control. We can do the same with a number of things.

[00:08:56] You don't read that in a book.

[00:08:58] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.

[00:08:59] Dominic Rubino: You know, does that make [00:09:00] sense? It's, it's, there's a, there's a, there's a reality to the situation, you know?

[00:09:06] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. That's true. I think that whether it's trade specific or just. Experience specific like that with that example that you just gave is born out of probably you or one of your clients trusting a bookkeeper for too long,

[00:09:24] Dominic Rubino: Busted. Yeah, exactly. You're like, you know what? I should have paid attention to that.

[00:09:28] Chaz Wolfe: And you realize later and you're like, Oh, okay. So on a more regular basis, I have to keep people honest.

[00:09:35] And it's not, it's not that your bookkeeper wasn't

[00:09:37] Dominic Rubino: Wasn't honest. Yeah. It's just that it's a, it's a test. Can I, here's a, here's an example that I used to hire my EA, my executive assistant, and she's fantastic, but I didn't know how to put that test in there. Cause people will say anything in an interview. But what I'm looking for, for me, for an executive assistant, is somebody who's detail oriented and cares about the details, right? And [00:10:00] so, I don't know how I came up with this, but I intentionally removed the letter S. From two words in the ad

[00:10:06] Chaz Wolfe: Yes,

[00:10:07] Dominic Rubino: and we'd go through the whole process and everybody's, you know, you winnow them down, like you just sort, sort, sort. And we get to the end and, and it's between two different people. And, and so I asked them both the same question.

[00:10:18] Is there something about this interview process that just didn't sit well with you? And the one lady just fantastic. She's like, can I tell you? I'm like, yeah. She goes, there's a typo in your ad. It's been driving me crazy. I didn't know how to tell you. And just a big tick mark goes on her notes, right?

[00:10:33] That's just a big tick mark. And,~ uh,~ you know, you also have to create that conversation where she's okay, giving you that feedback and not thinking I'm not going to get the job for being all things. I'm,~ uh,~ what would you call it? Being critical of it?

[00:10:47] Chaz Wolfe: I love that. And you're right. It's a sneaky.~ Um, ~not like test test is, is the right word, but it almost sounds like I want to make sure that the listener doesn't go try to be malicious.

[00:10:59] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, right. I [00:11:00] don't want

[00:11:00] Chaz Wolfe: trying to catch them

[00:11:01] Dominic Rubino: thing. No, I just

[00:11:02] Chaz Wolfe: trying to catch them doing the good stuff.

[00:11:05] Dominic Rubino: because I've seen the, I've seen the exact tool being used a different way. Like if you're serious about this ad, put the word purple in your response. Well, everybody sees that and they put purple, purple, purple. That's not what we're looking for here. Okay.

[00:11:18] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Extra, extra,~ uh,~ 13 layers deeper. Yeah. Okay. ~Um, ~how, how for you being that, okay, so you, you've been in the trades, you now coach in the trades construction, you've got a podcast on it as well. What do you think has changed in the trades over the last 20 something years since you've been

[00:11:40] Dominic Rubino: Again, we have to go look at the consumer side, Chaz. There's never been a better time to be a contractor, hands down, ever, in the history of the earth. People are busier than they've ever been before. They have more income, but they're more time strapped. If you, if you just Google Earth your neighborhood and zoom up, go look at how many of your neighbors have a [00:12:00] ladder.

[00:12:00] I know you're not going to see that on Google Earth, but that's the, just use that image, right? How many have a ladder? How many have a toolbox that is better than Walmart?

[00:12:07] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.

[00:12:08] Dominic Rubino: And then think about somebody like a mom or a dad who has to drive an hour to work and an hour back, that's two hours out of their day.

[00:12:14] They've also got 2. 5 kids who have to go to 2. 5 baseball and soccer practices and football practices and dance tryouts, all that stuff. Do you think they can afford to get up on a ladder and fix a thing? Knowing that if they fall off from that ladder, they can't go to work.

[00:12:28] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah.

[00:12:30] Dominic Rubino: There's never been a better time to be in the trades, ever.

[00:12:33] Because people value your ability to show up and do the work more than they do how much it's going to cost. It's the best time ever.

[00:12:41] Chaz Wolfe: You know, it's so interesting,~ uh,~ that I agree, I agree with you and we can talk. ~Uh, ~I know you just, you know, learned that I have a remodeling company as well. And, but I, I quickly corrected you and said that I wasn't a remodeler

[00:12:52] Dominic Rubino: I have a remodeling company.

[00:12:53] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, you don't want me on the job site. And I, and so I want to say this to encourage the listener because you just gave some [00:13:00] fantastic information around being in the trades, being in construction, being in service, because of all of those elements that you just described, and that's only going to continue in the upward trajectory, people are going to make more money, they're going to have less time, and they're going to need people to do things for them and their home or their business asset that.

[00:13:15] That they aren't willing to do it for themselves or don't know how to do themselves. And so, ~uh, ~so yeah, building a business around those things,~ um,~ is, is interesting. What do you think I'm going to guess, but,~ uh,~ what do you think has been the challenge for, okay, it's the best time ever to, to own a type of business, but what's the challenge inside of this, the best time ever now to, to own this type of business?

[00:13:39] Dominic Rubino: ~Um, ~this answer is going to sound classic and somebody is going to just shake their head at this, but it depends. Everybody has a different superpower. So a lot of people are just reluctant at being a business owner, or I don't even want to use the word entrepreneur, making something out of nothing. But if you view yourself as a business owner, who's here to solve problems for other people, then you're strong at [00:14:00] something.

[00:14:00] Maybe you're a really good people person. So the marketing and sales a little easier for you, but quality control might not be as easy. You know, so we all have, there's, it always comes down, at least in the coaching that we do to a couple of different buckets. I use buckets that we have the bucket of time and time management.

[00:14:17] We have the bucket of people, right? Money, of course, right? ~Uh, ~growth strategy or exit strategy, then you've got sales and marketing. And the inside of that comes a whole bunch of other things, but those are just generally the buckets. So people are naturally strong at one thing and less strong at another.

[00:14:36] Right? So for one company, you might have a lot of business coming in, but you're not profitable, busy, but not profitable taking time for your family, working as hard as you can, but working hard to stopped, literally stopped working. And that's a different challenge than somebody who's like, we can't finish a project on time. Like we start the job, we know we're going to be profitable. Then it extends three weeks or three days in some cases. And you're like, we're losing [00:15:00] money every minute. And then, you know, as a contractor, you do that thing where you're mad at a piece of wood. It's just a piece of wood and you're like, it's just a piece of wood, man.

[00:15:08] What are you mad at the piece of wood for? Why are you mad at the top? It's

[00:15:10] Chaz Wolfe: there's an underlying issue. Okay. And so for the listener right now, I love the buckets. I love categorizing things like that. And, and,~ uh,~ kind of systemizing the business. What do you see is the one that sticks out the most contractors, construction guys, and growls trades.

[00:15:29] Dominic Rubino: Time management.

[00:15:30] Chaz Wolfe: Boom. I was hoping you were going to

[00:15:32] Dominic Rubino: we consume ourselves with, so you just can't work harder. There's not enough time in the day. Our guys are, our crew is pulling at us. ~Uh, ~our customers have questions. We're getting back to them late. We got back to them late. So we didn't get the approvals on the door handles that extended the job by three days.

[00:15:47] That three days is real money and time management.

[00:15:51] Chaz Wolfe: Okay. And so let's talk about time management. It was funny. I spoke at a conference,~ uh,~ here in Kansas city, just, I don't know, maybe a month and a half ago. And there's a couple hundred people there [00:16:00] and a lot of real estate and construction folks. And, and I asked, you know, raise your hand if you use a calendar.

[00:16:06] Actually, what I was really going for was. Calendar time wise for their family, because I was talking about the, the dynamic between business and family and most, if we're, if we're just honest, most entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed or have a stress, a family or marriage component, it's because they quote unquote work too much, which really just means that they don't know how to manage their time very well, or they don't know how to prioritize and those things are different.

[00:16:29] And so in that scenario, it's like, okay, who uses a calendar? Who doesn't? And believe it or not, I have people actually raise their hand saying that they didn't use a calendar. They were, they were brave

[00:16:37] Dominic Rubino: Yeah.

[00:16:37] Chaz Wolfe: and then I bit their head off,

[00:16:38] Dominic Rubino: Chas, they did or did not use a calendar? Didn't

[00:16:42] Chaz Wolfe: some did not. I told the folks that didn't even use the calendar at all.

[00:16:46] I was like, how we can't, I can't even talk to you about prioritizing your family. You, you don't even value your time. As it is, so talk to that guy for a quick second or gal who's listening right now, who is in the field or [00:17:00] whatever they're doing, whether it's on the sales or the production side of their contracting business, but they don't use a calendar or maybe every now and then it's got stuff on it, but they're not like living by a calendar that they have specifically chosen and designed their week for.

[00:17:12] Dominic Rubino: right

[00:17:13] Chaz Wolfe: Talk to that guy.

[00:17:14] Dominic Rubino: there. So there's so much to talk to that guy about, and I've been that guy. I've been that guy, right? So the very first thing is that if I don't manage my time, somebody else will. I want, I want everybody to think about the busiest contractor in their city. It's probably somebody who started out a lot like them ten years ago and is now building multifamily properties or commercial properties, busier than anybody else, and yet still goes away on vacation and, by the way, runs two or three other companies.

[00:17:40] And we all have that contractor. You have it in Kansas City. We have it up here. Everybody's got that contractor. Do you imagine just walking into his or her office and just starting a chat? It's not going to happen. You've got to call. You've got to, yeah, and you have to call and talk to their assistant.

[00:17:55] You have to get on their calendar. It's a preset time. The meeting starts on time. The meeting has an agenda. The meeting ends on [00:18:00] time. If I don't control my time, somebody else will. And there's the littlest things we can do. Chaz, you and I did this to each other and you probably, you know, I'll, I'll put words to something that is natural for you and I.

[00:18:12] We started this meeting by ending it this interview will be over by X time and if you caught me in the hallway or on the job site, you know, Dom, you got a minute like, yeah, let's talk for five minutes. Let's talk for three minutes. Let's talk for a half an hour. Let's say you're the building inspector.

[00:18:28] I've got an hour for this inspection. Hopefully we can wrap it up by 10. So why don't we start to actually wrap up by 9 45. So the action items. And the paperwork I need to sign can be done. The inspector's like, sounds good. Excellent. Let's go. So I started that meeting by ending it. That's just a quick tip, but it's so powerful.

[00:18:46] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. Do you, you see that happening? Like, I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm listening to the guy's mind who just heard you say that. And he's like, I mean, every time, every, every interaction, [00:19:00] every meeting, I mean, Dominic, every, every one.

[00:19:04] Dominic Rubino: every meeting where you're kicking yourself thinking I'm done. I was done this meeting 20 minutes ago, which then turns into, I was done this meeting 30 minutes ago, and you're just kicking yourself because you're pulled into it. I like to use humor and now I'm not funny. But I like to use humor.

[00:19:21] Time management is a lot like brushing your dog.

[00:19:24] Chaz Wolfe: Okay. Okay.

[00:19:26] Dominic Rubino: Okay. So have you got a dog chance?

[00:19:29] Chaz Wolfe: I do have a great day.

[00:19:30] Dominic Rubino: Oh, Oh, Oh, beautiful. Okay. So I don't know if they shed a lot. Do they shed?

[00:19:35] Chaz Wolfe: Hmm. Yeah. But it's kind of short hair. So

[00:19:37] Dominic Rubino: It's short hair, right? Big dog takes a long time to brush that thing. I feel bad for you in the garbage bag. You have to carry around at night. You go for a walk, but it's another story, but you go and brush the dog and the dog loves it, right? What's the dog's name?

[00:19:50] Chaz Wolfe: his name is King

[00:19:51] Dominic Rubino: King. Of course. What a

[00:19:52] Chaz Wolfe: on, on brand.

[00:19:54] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. But that's also a great name for a great Dane. ~Um, ~so you go and brush King and King's loving. He's like, Oh, dad, you're the best. You're the [00:20:00] best. Right. You're brushing and brushing and you look at it and you're like, I didn't think I needed to brush you King. But look how much came off. So now you're done.

[00:20:08] You've brushed them for 10 minutes. You go to the kitchen to get a glass of water and King comes up. And normally I would say brushes against your leg with King. He brushes against your shoulder because he's a great day,

[00:20:17] Chaz Wolfe: exactly. Although I'm six, five. So, you know,

[00:20:18] Dominic Rubino: Oh, okay. So brushes against your hip. ~Uh, ~but you look,

[00:20:21] Chaz Wolfe: and lanky.

[00:20:22] Dominic Rubino: you look down and you're like, there's more hair now on my clothes.

[00:20:25] How did that, I just brushed the dog, but that's time management. You're never actually done. So the analogy of time management's a lot like brushing your dog is because stop thinking you're done. It's constant, you know, and when you get ahead of that, then you're in charge

[00:20:41] Chaz Wolfe: A hundred percent. Well, and so, so let me, let me fight against the guy who thinks he's done because I think you just gave a huge perspective switch there, which I think is great. For the person that's like, okay, I got my calendar out. I sat down on Sunday. I thought about my week, my top three priorities. I really organized my week.

[00:20:59] [00:21:00] Well, I got these projects. I got this. I got my management. I got my, my, my Elton meeting, you know, all the stuff. Okay, cool. Hey, right.

[00:21:08] Dominic Rubino: Okay,

[00:21:09] Chaz Wolfe: I got all my stuff. And then the week comes and goes and it was successful. And then I got to do it again on Sunday, right? Like it's not done. And so what does that do for me if I just accept one that I'm not done or be rather that like, this is part of what being a professional or being excellent or being a master at owning a business or being an entrepreneur actually looks like.

[00:21:36] Dominic Rubino: So I'm glad you said that because, and you've already pointed out, you're not a home renovator, you own a home renovations company.

[00:21:42] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, right.

[00:21:43] Dominic Rubino: That's a mind mindset shift. Got to say that properly in a public forum mind set gift. That's the first one, you know, on, on our show, I openly talk about the fact that this show is about the business of the contracting business.

[00:21:58] I want you to be a businessman. I'll say [00:22:00] businessman who happens to be a contractor, not just a contractor, who's a contractor. And I'm not knocking that that's, that's good for a lot of people. I want you to be a business person who just happens to be a contractor. That's a mindset shift, right? But let me, let me take that example.

[00:22:14] And there's some people out there listening, going, listen, I can put together any plan I want for the week, but Monday morning, eight o'clock. And I'm already off my plan. Okay. But let me take you up in the perspective of a year at a glance. That's one Monday of 52 Mondays. Get back on the plan. And start working the plan.

[00:22:35] If you hit your plan, 35 of 52, can you hear those sirens outside? The interview might end shortly here. That's not for me. ~Um, ~yeah, the,~ uh,~ but if you only hit 32 out of, of 52 weeks, is that a loss? You've just marched forward 32 times this year, instead of accepting that you're in a rut and staying in the rut

[00:22:56] Chaz Wolfe: And that zoomed out perspective [00:23:00] is so healthy. The reason why you just gave that almost kind of like a, the same lens, but maybe a different thought on it. How many times have people zoom out two, three, four years backwards and there has been no growth, right? Stagnant or, or it's the same frustrations over and over and over again.

[00:23:20] It's the same frustrating things in the business. It's the same frustrating things in the family or marriage or in their health or you know, in their faith or lifestyle, like nothing's changing. Right. They're not doing the things that you're, that you're saying,~ um,~ the time management pieces is, is so nitty gritty.

[00:23:36] It, it, it, it touches literally everything else,

[00:23:40] Dominic Rubino: everything.

[00:23:41] Chaz Wolfe: you know? And so what do you, what do you recommend? ~Um, ~especially as a contractor,~ um,~ you know, is it, is it, is it Google calendar? Is there an app that you'd like to use? Like technically wise?

[00:23:50] Dominic Rubino: yeah. So, so technically I'm going to say this and it's going to sound very harsh and uncaring. Can I, can I say it though?

[00:23:57] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, please.

[00:23:58] Dominic Rubino: I don't care what you use. [00:24:00] I don't care. But what I want you to do is choose one calendar. You can't have multiple calendars. You can only choose one, and then I want you to absolutely become a slave to that system. So I don't care if you've got an old 80s, what was it called back then? You know, bought the binders with the special pages. Daytimer, the Daytimer system, or any of those. If you

[00:24:19] Chaz Wolfe: wife still operates on that.

[00:24:21] Dominic Rubino: I love those. I miss those days. I miss it. But if that's what you use, that's fine. If you're really budget conscious, you need to print off a bunch of pages from the internet of data, data glance, data glance doesn't work for our industry.

[00:24:33] We need week at a glance. Week at a glance pages or week at a glance tools, whether it's Outlook or Google. I, I use Google for everything because Google Docs integrates really well, but use what you want. Let's not get caught up there. But then the very next thing you need to do is what you mentioned Chas, you need to create something called a block schedule, a block calendar, where you take Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, hopefully not Saturday and Sunday folks.

[00:24:58] You can block that, but it needs to be [00:25:00] blocked for You know, soccer, football, lacrosse, swimming, whatever you do with your kids. Right. But then it's broken down into, let's say half hour segments of what you're going to do in advance. And people say, well, Dom, I don't know my schedule. Yeah, you do know your schedule.

[00:25:15] You show up at the office at this time and you're going to leave at this time. So put those in, you want to take lunch at, I don't know, 1130, 12 or one. You choose put it down. Okay. There you go. We've got three things. We already know we're gonna do. When are you gonna market? I heard you on your other podcast talking about marketing for leads for a renovation company If you want to have a healthy company, you need to have a healthy top of the funnel, right?

[00:25:36] So when are you gonna do lead generation? When are you gonna have your first meetings? When are you gonna have your crew meeting? When are you gonna have your safety meeting? When are you gonna have your customer meetings? Put those in there. I started a home renovation for you, Chas, the very first thing I would do is say, Mr.

[00:25:50] Wolf,~ uh,~ during the progress, during this Renovation. We're going to meet every Tuesday at two o'clock for half an hour. That's whether we have an update or not. It's going to be by zoom. Here's the agenda. [00:26:00] And you'll be, you'll think this is the, wow, a very organized renovator. What if I have a question in between?

[00:26:06] Yeah, we can talk in between as well, but definitely Tuesdays at two. That's when we're talking two to two 30. Now it's in my calendar. I'm controlling my time. I'm going to stop for a second. Cause now you got me soap boxing here.

[00:26:19] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, no, it's good. I, I don't, it's not soap boxes at all. I hope the listener is paying attention. And for those of you that are listening that aren't contractors, it's still a place.

[00:26:29] Dominic Rubino: Just take out the word contractor. Could be dentists. Could be insurance agents. Yeah,

[00:26:33] Chaz Wolfe: it's interesting when I purchased my first business,~ uh,~ it was an edible arrangements franchise.

[00:26:37] Dominic Rubino: I saw that.

[00:26:38] Chaz Wolfe: seven of those.

[00:26:39] Dominic Rubino: Yeah.

[00:26:40] Chaz Wolfe: I can remember that first one and I'm like, you know, cutting up fruit, dipping it in the chocolate, making a

[00:26:46] Dominic Rubino: things are delicious. What else do you guys put in those?

[00:26:48] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, crack. No, I'm just kidding.

[00:26:50] Dominic Rubino: So that's just so sweet. Yeah. Anyways, sorry.

[00:26:53] Chaz Wolfe: No, it's great. Actually, it's, it's funny. I've had many, not just one, not just one random customer, but many over the years tell me I, [00:27:00] I will only eat pineapple from either edible arrangements Or Hawaii,

[00:27:05] Dominic Rubino: I was just going to say that the pineapples are incredible.

[00:27:08] Chaz Wolfe: which we obviously have a very special pineapple. The point there is that I can remember,~ uh,~ you know, like I would put something on the calendar, you know, I was a marketing meeting that I had or something, but then I would get lost in the minutia of the day to day. Cause I was very much in the business.

[00:27:27] I'm 25 years old. I'm like. You know, I was the opener and then like I would leave to do a delivery or two and then I would go do a marketing meeting, leave a staff member or two there and I'd come back like I was very much in it.~ Um, ~and so talk to that contractor for a minute. They're the one actually building the cabinets or doing the flooring and the thing that they even set down on Sunday to put in their calendar, it buzzes at them, but they don't even hear it because they're on the job site. How can, how can that person a, they've, they're following along with your time management stuff, but how can they [00:28:00] stick to it better? How can they become more aware? How can they, you know, allow themselves to be pulled by the calendar and not by the current circumstances?

[00:28:09] Dominic Rubino: I mean, I'm a big believer in, as I have to set traps for myself and fall for them every time.

[00:28:15] Chaz Wolfe: That's right.

[00:28:15] Dominic Rubino: So I use calendar alarms on my phone. If I say it out loud, it's going to set a calendar alarm, but you know, if I have a meeting at two 30, then I will set myself an alarm at two 25. Hey, Siri, set an alarm for two 25.

[00:28:30] Chaz Wolfe: There she goes.

[00:28:33] Dominic Rubino: so, and that, you know, then that's, that's a trick I can play on myself. But you know, really the other thing is the accountability of a business coach. And this is, you and I are not trying to sell business coaching. I know you and I, that's not the point of this, but the reason that you've got somebody to remind you of those things is the same reason that your kid is in band practice. They could play the trombone poorly at your house. They can also play it poorly at the instructor's house, but the, the discipline of [00:29:00] sticking to it and doing the little things you need to, to improve is what gets you there, right? That's why we have, do you imagine if your kid came to you and said, I got this great book, it means I don't have to go to college. No, part of going to college is learning and relearning and questioning. Part of coaching or having accountability is learning and learning and questioning. Tiger Woods did it with his swing. And we also got some go through that. Like how many athletes out there constantly have the top coaches working with them so they're held accountable to the things they already know they need to do, but they, they're held accountable and they're holding themselves to a higher level.

[00:29:37] Hey Kings and Queens, Chaz Wolf. I want to talk to you about something that's super important to me. We put a lot of time and effort, we meaning myself and my team into this podcast, into the content that goes out every single day. And if you have been getting any sort of value or insight from this, we want it to be able to reach other business owners too.

[00:29:56] So we would love if you would like comment, share, leave a [00:30:00] review, post, share again, all of the things. On social media, on all the different platforms, or even on the podcast mediums of Apple and Spotify. We would love to be able to get our content into more hands, more entrepreneurs, so they can grow their business as quick as possible.

[00:30:15] Together, we are building a community of like minded entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses to new heights. So let's do this. Let's help each other grow.

[00:30:24] Chaz Wolfe: I think that, you know, that, that touch point. For every, for every person who is growth minded. who wants to win. You know, we have a phrase inside of gathering the Kings grateful, but not done. I can be in this moment, be grateful for what's happened. Good, bad, or indifferent for the view that I currently have comma, but I'm not done.

[00:30:45] I still want more, or I have more of my potential to reach for. And so for that type of person, who's listening, everything that you've just described makes sense. Whether. Yeah. It's an accountability with their spouse or with a performance coach or a business coach or whatever [00:31:00] that, that allows them to have that touch point, not just with themselves.

[00:31:04] Look, I've been accountable to myself for a very, very long time. And I know that that's hard for people, but that's okay. Like you can still be accountable to yourself, but you also then need others. Humans. I don't do anything by myself. It feels like anymore. I work out with somebody in the morning. We, all of my meetings probably are with other people.

[00:31:21] ~Uh, ~all of my businesses now have business partners. Like it is, it is a collaboration everywhere I go, mostly because. I can get more done with collaboration and accountability. It's not just the fact that I had, there's two of us, it's the fact that we're accountable to each other and we're going to run faster, harder because we know like that the other person is not just going to check on me.

[00:31:42] That's like low level accountability. We're talking about like, we're running together. Like if he's running today. I'm running today. I don't even have to talk to him today or, or my, one of my business partners in the construction company. She's, it's a female. I know she's running. She, she was probably running harder today in that construction business earlier [00:32:00] than I was just because of the demands of that specific schedule. So I have to show up today because we're in it. Does that make sense? I know it makes sense to you, but you want to add anything.

[00:32:08] Dominic Rubino: it. No, it makes complete sense. Can I give you an example? It has nothing to do with contracting, but super exciting. I've always wanted to do a grand adventure and maybe I've had some other grand adventures in my life, but I decided that one of my buddies likes to do these off road type traveling.

[00:32:24] And so I contacted him maybe two months ago and I said, Hey, do you want to do a rally? And so we're now, right now deciding between doing the Budapest Bamako rally, Budapest Hungary down to Central Africa by car. You have to buy the car in Hungary or somewhere around there and drive it. Or we're going to do the Mongol rally, which is a little more goofier, but still fun.

[00:32:44] Right. But the accountability is now we're meeting. ~Um, ~we actually just met last night at a pub back and forth with our notes. Okay. The next meeting is now we're going to make this decision. The next meetings we're going to make this decision. So I had to go do my thing last night, which was checking on [00:33:00] something on a Facebook group, and he'd already been in there liking something.

[00:33:03] I'm like, okay, good. He's doing that. I know he's doing his thing. I'm doing mine. But if I had put it in my head and like, you know, one day. I'd really like to do a car rally and maybe drive through Central Europe. It's never going to happen, but I have that accountability. And some excitement and a little healthy competition there.

[00:33:22] Chaz Wolfe: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everything becomes just, you know, so much more. ~Um, ~I mean, we use the word obsessed quite a bit. I mean, I don't think there's work life balance. I think there's work life obsession, right? I'm trying to be obsessed with everything. I, I didn't need, you know, the younger Chaz was already obsessed with business. I put everything behind business. Unfortunately, what I should have done, which is what I do now, I just put everything behind winning in all areas, right? I just wasn't, right. I didn't need to lower my obsession with my businesses or success financially. I just needed to raise my obsession with my wife and raise my obsession with my children and raise my obsession with my health.

[00:33:58] ~Um, ~which you [00:34:00] can do, especially when you have other people that are like lockstep, let's go. And we're winners, you know? ~Um, ~okay. I'm going to, I'm going to take a hard left here because there's a topic that I know that you're good at. And I wanted to make sure that we got to, because

[00:34:11] Dominic Rubino: Oh,

[00:34:12] Chaz Wolfe: there are so many contractors.

[00:34:15] That a don't actually know how much money they make. They feel like they're making money, but they're, they're probably not. And then to exaggerate that situation a little bit more,~ um,~ you have somebody who maybe thinks that they are making money. But they're, but they're losing money and they don't know it.

[00:34:33] So talk, talk about this because,~ uh,~ maybe, maybe we can,~ uh,~ the, just dive right in, but why do you think it is that it's so prevalent in the contracting space one that I'm not tracking? I don't actually know money coming in or out. What do you think that that exists

[00:34:50] Dominic Rubino: Think so. First of all, you have to care about numbers and not everybody cares about numbers. You know, not everybody's a numbers based person, but you know, we need those numbers so that you're not just working hard and [00:35:00] barely getting by and not able to buy braces for your kids. You know, you want it, you want to have the things, especially when we're working as hard as we do. When we talk about knowing our numbers, one of the first problems, and this is a problem for me, there's so many numbers. I don't know where to start. And so you get, what's it called? Analysis paralysis, right? Or you think, okay, I got to look at my P and L and my balance sheet, but I don't know how to read a P and L and a balance sheet, which is totally fine.

[00:35:26] Chaz Wolfe: And so then you just don't,

[00:35:28] Dominic Rubino: And so you just don't, but let me come back and let the listeners know this. The P and L and balance sheet. Are okay numbers, but there's maybe three things I need to know from there. So put that aside for now, we need to know our operational numbers and it follows a very simple and logical process. And I'll say this and people may have to replay this to get this down, but track how many leads you get.

[00:35:49] So how many people contact you? that are interested in your work, how many sales you make, right? Now, once you know those two things, then you can figure out something called your conversion rate, which is your [00:36:00] batting average, right? So out of every 10 people that contact you, how many jobs do you win? If you know those three numbers, you know, the health going forward of your business going forward. Then we've got some, some numbers that you're going to need to track in your company where the transition is between we made a sale to now it's into production. Right? So for cabinetry, which I do a lot of work in, there's some engineering that has to be done, right, where they have to convert it into the proper file format.

[00:36:25] If you're doing home renovations, there's some work that needs to be done. Maybe there's some purchasing. Track a couple of key numbers there. What's the number you need to track to go between the sale is made to the job is started? Then, what are your metrics about the job running properly? Whatever that is, right?

[00:36:42] So home renovations, we've got demo numbers. Maybe next we're going to have to talk about,~ um, uh, ~drywall or insulation, whatever it is, right? Just a couple of key numbers to track that. Then you need a quality control number or making sure you're doing it. Let's not forget OSHA and tracking safety of our [00:37:00] people.

[00:37:01] And now you can get to your P& L balance sheet numbers. If you track those things really simply, you're going to know what the future holds for your business, but there's too many numbers to track. Can we get. Just drowned in the wrong numbers.

[00:37:15] Chaz Wolfe: yeah, yeah. I've seen, I've seen,~ um,~ you know, analysis paralysis typically comes from the personality that, that likes data, but then they just stew on it and they don't really know what to do with it. They're just stewing. And then you have the people like you described that, you know. He doesn't even know that there's a P and L.

[00:37:32] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Running and gunning and that's

[00:37:34] Chaz Wolfe: I mean, left of the line D, we use the predictive index. And so you've got this left of the line,~ uh,~ detail orientedness,~ uh,~ just very free thinker. And, and typically they're much better at not operational things, you know, sales marketing, that type of thing, the relationships. And so, ~um, ~I think those, those are great.

[00:37:50] How, how can it's so prevalent, even for someone like me, who is an experienced business owner, who, [00:38:00] I'm a numbers driven person. I'm a results driven person. I'm not going to get caught up in, in. In like, oh, but we really like this wood. Like, no, no, no. Just what, what, what do we need? Like, I don't, I'm not caught up.

[00:38:13] Right. I'm numbers driven. And I have still found that in my contracting business, it's by far the most difficult to track, to, to keep things in congruency,~ uh,~ to, to keep order moving pieces everywhere. And, and you know, we've been, we've been sort of. You know, between two and three years old now and, and we're, we've got a good grip on it.

[00:38:39] Now, Dominic, it, we didn't at the beginning. And it's not like I didn't know what to do. It just, it was like this swirl of things happening. And then you, and you get into that swirl and then that leads to mismanagement of funds. Because like you said earlier, a project goes too long or you have mistakes or [00:39:00] whatever.

[00:39:00] And then now you're, now you're selling another deal to finish up the other deal. You know, and I'm, I'm saying this because I've also talked to many other contractors and I know this happens constantly. ~Um, ~what can we do as contractors from your perspective as, as coach Dom over there, what, what, what, what do you got for us around, you know,

[00:39:21] Dominic Rubino: is both the most boring and the most exciting document or tool you've ever heard of. It's so simple. We call it the end of job report and all we do. On a piece of paper. I'm going to say it on a piece of paper because that's the, the, the origin story, you can do it on an Excel spreadsheet. You can get a fancy software.

[00:39:42] You don't need fancy software. You can do this on a piece of paper. So let's not overcomplicate it. You write down, what do you think the job was going to cost you? And you know, you break it down, labor material subs. You can make the categories fancy. It's going to break down into labor materials and subs.

[00:39:57] And then you just say, what did we think it was going to [00:40:00] cost? What did it actually cost? So now you've got an end of job report. Did we make or lose money on this job? Did we make up or lose time on this job? Now, the important thing to add is this third component. So if you look at two pages or two columns next to each other, what was the estimate, what was the actual.

[00:40:16] Now on the bottom, I want you to have a left to right rectangle that follows underneath both. And that's the section that on our team, we call it the profit lab. Chas, you and I are going to sit down and we're just going to talk campfire Rubino job. Where did, what could have gone differently? We didn't get the elevator lockout when we needed to.

[00:40:34] ~Uh, ~that HOA is really tough to deal with. ~Uh, ~we didn't have alternate suppliers for handles or, you know, whatever stuff comes up, right? ~Uh, ~the truck showed up and, and it was a roll off truck, not a, not a lift truck. And so a bunch of the joists were broken. Stuff, regular contractor stuff, right? The drywall was left in the rain.

[00:40:52] Always very nice, right? How do we fix that going forward? If you run job to job profitably, you will be [00:41:00] profitable at the end of the year. Now that's, as long as you're not funneling money out doing, you know, pizza and sushi and buying yourself a Corvette. But if you run job to job profitably, you're going to be profitable at the end of the year and we've got many other tools.

[00:41:15] Cause all we talk about is contracting on our. On our show, but start with that end of job report. Some people call it an autopsy. Well,

[00:41:23] Chaz Wolfe: I, we've, we, we have that process and I, I'm so thankful that you said that because it does give you,~ uh,~ it gives you real time information. When does that happen in comparison to the end of the job and then how quickly or how can I implement the feedback from that? Into the next job. Cause that's, that's the, that's the springboard, right?

[00:41:45] We learned something, but what are we going to do with it?

[00:41:48] Dominic Rubino: watch, you watch, watch this happen. Everybody's going to just hang their head or bang the steering wheel as they're listening to this. What you do is you go back to your block schedule

[00:41:57] Chaz Wolfe: Ding.

[00:41:59] Dominic Rubino: and you put in your [00:42:00] block schedule that every Thursday, we're going to review past closed jobs. And I'm going to review it with Chas and my project manager and my whatever.

[00:42:09] And all of us are just going to get on a call or be in a meeting for 20 minutes. And we're just going to talk about the Rubino job or whatever job just finished the more complex, the larger your jobs, the more time you'll need, but that's it. You know, I started as a house painter. I actually started as a Christmas light install kid in high school.

[00:42:27] That was my first trades company. If you call it a trade, it was master of a staple

[00:42:31] Chaz Wolfe: I was gonna say it's, it's blown up. It has to be considered a trade

[00:42:34] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, it used to, it was never a thing. I just, I wanted to have my own company. So that's what the first one I did, but even a painting job is not less technical, you know, just depends on your cadence.

[00:42:46] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. I think that,~ um,~ you know, the ability that the contractor has to shorten the gap, the feedback loop, if you

[00:42:56] Dominic Rubino: Oh, so good.

[00:42:58] Chaz Wolfe: you know,

[00:42:59] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, so I [00:43:00] do job a today and then I move on to job B, but if I do an end of job report on job a, by the time I quote or bid job C, I already know. I already know where the gotchas are. They're not making that tub anymore or those tiles aren't going to work. We got beat on those tiles or the grout or the contractor.

[00:43:17] We got to change that. So you make the change. The insanity would be not making the change.

[00:43:22] Chaz Wolfe: Exactly. But so many people don't. They, they, well, they're not choosing to not make the change. They never sit down for the review. And so they really don't have the identified changes that are necessary. Because once you sit down and, and time block and do the review like you discussed. Then it's like, now we have a choice.

[00:43:41] Dominic Rubino: And those guys are not my competition. So I don't care how they price. Cause I know they're not running a company. They're running a project. That's why my price can be different. Cause I'm running a business. Just happens to be that we do renovations or kitchen cabinets or roofs. It doesn't matter, but I'm running a business.

[00:43:58] And so when you start to think, Hey, I'm getting really beat [00:44:00] up in the market here. These other guys are all underbidding me. Yeah, let them, they're going to be out of business in their own due time. I'm not because I run this business on

[00:44:09] Chaz Wolfe: conversation that we've had recent not, and probably about a year ago. ~Um, ~and, and we're always talking about, you know, pricing and making sure that we're closing the loop every time we learn, we close the loop every time we learn, we learn, we try to close the loop, but, but you're right.

[00:44:21] One of the,~ uh,~ team members. You know, it was just a little bit, you know, the guy that's out there, you know, doing the estimates,~ um,~ a little bit more concerned because he's the one taking the brunt of getting beat up, but it's like, Hey man,~ um,~ okay, cool. Why don't we, why don't we accept that project at those numbers? And let me show you how this looks here on paper.

[00:44:44] Dominic Rubino: Yeah.

[00:44:44] Chaz Wolfe: There's no, there's no money here at the end. And, and so all that we're taking on is liability because the only thing that can go wrong now are the things that can go wrong.

[00:44:55] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, that's a great way to say that.

[00:44:56] Chaz Wolfe: So why, why would we take this on? Like it makes [00:45:00] you feel good because we've just signed a, you know, a 40 or 140 or a 400, 000 project.

[00:45:07] I'm not in this thing for ego, right? Like gone are the days of, of young Chaz, you know, piss and vinegar needing to feel esteemed of himself. You know, like I would rather. Just do it profitably.

[00:45:21] Dominic Rubino: Does your, does your sales guy have an expectation of what his conversion rate should be? And for those listening, that was the batting average I talked about a second ago. How many leads did you get and how many jobs did you close? The difference between those is your conversion rate. Does he, does he have an expectation for that?

[00:45:36] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah, he does. Yes. 30%. ~Um, ~is, is the, it's kind of like the, the bar,~ uh,~ we'd like to see, you know, it kind of goes up and down to pay

[00:45:43] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Can we talk about that for a second?

[00:45:45] Chaz Wolfe: for sure.

[00:45:46] Dominic Rubino: Here's what that means in the field. So when you go and talk, and I'm talking to the audience here, right? So you're going to go talk to 10 different, let's use renovators as a, as the example here, you're going to go talk to 10 different families about renovating their [00:46:00] kitchen or their bath.

[00:46:01] Seven of them are going to tell you, no, they're going to ghost you. They're going to tell you your price is too high. They're not going to be nice people. All of that. Seven are going to say no crushing, humiliating defeat. I want you to feel that defeat. Okay. Does everybody have that? Seven people are going to say no.

[00:46:19] Here, let me hear it. You're going to feel this. No, no, no, no, no, no,~ uh,~ nope. Okay. There you got seven. Here's what you're also going to hear. Yes. Oh God. When can we start? Thank God we met you. Yes, you're going to get three. Yeses. That's what a 30 percent conversion rate feels like folks. You got to get used to that

[00:46:40] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, that's so good. You know, it's interesting because my, my caveat to that 30 percent was, it depends, you know, on a little bit of the lead source, but also what type of project. And, you know, because. I am, I'm okay with the 10 percent if that one project is [00:47:00] easy and profitable, you know, I would much rather have one easy and very profitable job than three, hardly barely profitable jobs that are difficult, you know, so, so for, for us, and I think, you know, we're probably.

[00:47:16] You know, in kind of like the, the, the advanced section here of, of,

[00:47:19] Dominic Rubino: of sales,

[00:47:20] Chaz Wolfe: of sales, but,~ um,~ you know, we're, we're, I understand that some people have to say yes to anything because they're getting going, but that saying yes to everything shouldn't be the way of life

[00:47:31] Dominic Rubino: right? And don't, don't confuse that. I went a hundred percent of the jobs. I'm in front of her, you know? Okay. My friend, you have a problem.

[00:47:38] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. You're not

[00:47:38] Dominic Rubino: You have a problem.

[00:47:39] Chaz Wolfe: You're not talking to enough people like,

[00:47:40] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. The only, the only people with 100 percent conversion rates are drug dealers and another really old,~ uh,~ career choice.

[00:47:49] Chaz Wolfe: yeah.

[00:47:50] Dominic Rubino: That's who has a hundred percent conversion rate.

[00:47:52] Even a grocery store does not have a hundred percent conversion rate. I've walked into the grocery store and walked out without buying. Cause I couldn't find what I need. So they do not have a [00:48:00] hundred percent conversion rate. If anybody else there's got a really high conversion rate, you have a problem.

[00:48:04] Number one, you're leaving money on the table or number two, you're missing something. And number three, you have an opportunity to raise your prices, which means more profit.

[00:48:13] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And that feels scary in the moment because you, you raise your prices, not because you just, because, but because you're now running a business and you recognize that in order to service this customer at a higher level, it's going to take a better experience and you're going to have to hire better people.

[00:48:29] And maybe the cost of goods go up because you're using different materials or whatever. Right. It's not just like, Oh, I'm just going to gouge my customer. And that's what a lot of contractors think. That's why I'm saying it. ~Um, ~it's, it's about creating an experience. And I, and I had to go through this with edible arrangements,~ uh,~ employees, you know, it's, it's tough to sell a, a 200 basket of fruit when you make 15 or 12 an hour.

[00:48:50] Dominic Rubino: Yes. I'm glad you said that. It

[00:48:52] Chaz Wolfe: thing though. It's like, does grandma Betty, she calling to get that basket of fruit just because, and she's going to spend 47 the way [00:49:00] that you would like it, or did she call because it's her grandson's championship soccer game and what grandma Betty is known for is always bringing the best treats.

[00:49:09] And so she needs something large enough and she needs plenty of chocolate on there. And we definitely need his, his,~ uh,~ soccer Jersey number in pineapple numbers on top, and we of course need some balloons and

[00:49:18] Dominic Rubino: And food is love.

[00:49:22] Chaz Wolfe: experience spending 200. She was way happier about that than, than the 47.

[00:49:26] And it was like, Oh, this is it.

[00:49:30] Dominic Rubino: It didn't show enough love. Yeah. They, you bring up a really good analogy because the guy at the Rolls Royce dealership or the Land Rover dealership probably can't afford the Land Rover

[00:49:42] Chaz Wolfe: Right.

[00:49:43] Dominic Rubino: and he has to sell that. And the young lady behind the counter at the jewelry store, probably with her salary, can't afford that.

[00:49:51] Engagement ring, yet she has to sell it. She has to help me fulfill my need to show my love to my, I guess, in that case, fiance, [00:50:00] right. With both Alandra over at a wedding ring.

[00:50:03] Chaz Wolfe: Both together. That'll, that'll land the deal.

[00:50:05] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Yeah. So we have something called the go back report and,~ uh,~ and what it does is, you know, the emotional part of, I can't raise my prices. This is, you talked about what is coaching do. So we offset that emotional part with some logic, cold, hard logic. Numbers are cold. But what's funny is talking about numbers gets hot.

[00:50:25] You ever noticed that, right? Numbers are just cold. Numbers don't mean to offend you or make you happy. It's just a number. So what we do is as, as one of the tools that we use as coaches is there's times to use logic and there's times to use emotion. Pricing is a time to use logic and then add emotion later.

[00:50:43] And we want to build excitement like you just did with aunt Betty, right? Or grandma Betty. So we have this thing called the go back calculator and it allows a contractor to figure out piece by piece, how to put together their right price per hour.

[00:50:55] Chaz Wolfe: Hmm.

[00:50:56] Dominic Rubino: Now, some people are like, Hey, we price branch. We price per,~ uh,~ per linear foot [00:51:00] price per foot doesn't per square for roofers doesn't matter, but you still need to know your hourly rate.

[00:51:05] How much do I pay my guys? What are my overheads? What do I want for net profit? When you understand that and you see the cold logic, then you can make a decision. You might say, Oh my God, we charge more than that. Now you might look at it and go, we're losing seven bucks an hour, every hour, every man on every job.

[00:51:23] You have to make a decision at that point.

[00:51:25] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. That's so good. ~Um, ~I want to,~ uh,~ we've talked about family a little bit, but I see, I see contractors everywhere I go who, you know, are overworked, stressed, overwhelmed. ~Um,~

[00:51:39] Dominic Rubino: Yeah.

[00:51:39] Chaz Wolfe: the go, terrible with their time management, everything we've talked about, but the, the, the benefactor, unfortunately, in a negative sense, is their marriage, is their relationship with their kids talk about that from a, from a coaching element, what, what your experience has been personally, but also then how you help your, your, your,~ uh,~ you know, mentees kind of work, navigate through [00:52:00] that kind of family,~ uh,~ life dynamic.

[00:52:02] Dominic Rubino: So a couple, yeah, it's a couple of things I've heard. I've heard people say, my wife has told me she feels like a single mom.

[00:52:09] Chaz Wolfe: Ooh, I've heard that. Ooh,

[00:52:11] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. I've heard a guy say he was running a mold remediation company and this was the most touching and crazy thing I've ever heard. He goes, Dom, I already lost one wife to this business.

[00:52:22] I don't want to lose this one. Right. Hard. Like those are real hard human emotions. And yet in almost. I would have to say in all of those cases, these guys, cause it's guys, right? We're leading with, I just want to provide for my family and I'll do whatever it takes, including sacrificing myself. And I've been that guy too, trust me.

[00:52:43] You know, I, but I have to remind myself to step back and be, be quality dad. Not our quality husband or quality friend. So that takes time as well. ~Um, ~instead of just working all the time, our capacity to work is crazy. As, as, as business owners and as contractors, we're [00:53:00] used to hard work. We like it. We get positive reinforcement from it, but we got to find a time to also put the work into family.

[00:53:07] Chaz Wolfe: what are your thoughts on? I had a couple, a couple of years ago. I had this,~ um,~ kind of mindset shift. I mean, I'm a builder. I I'm not a builder in a sense of that. I can go build you something. My team can, but Chaz Wolf is a builder. I'm a builder. Businesses of teams, people. What I didn't know then was that I'm a builder of my marriage and builder of my children, but it remains the same that I'm a builder.

[00:53:30] And so for me in those moments where, you know, it's like, Oh, I just got to put away my phone and I'll, and I'll be more present. It's like, actually I just had to get excited about what I was building because I don't need to get excited about getting on a podcast with Dom, like. I was excited

[00:53:47] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. You're already excited to do.

[00:53:49] Chaz Wolfe: I knew was going to be great.

[00:53:50] And, and the deal, the, you know, the, the company that I'm about to acquire, it gets me excited because I'm a builder.

[00:53:58] Dominic Rubino: Cause it excites you. Yeah.

[00:53:59] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. And [00:54:00] so I had to switch my excitement or my enthusiasm towards what I was building. And it just happened to be in this case, my marriage or, or my health, you know, what, what are your thoughts around that, that shift and how have you seen that play out,~ um,~ you know, for, for your folks?

[00:54:14] Dominic Rubino: I, you know what, it's,~ um,~ let's talk about this podcast where people are listening to you and it's a YouTube. Show as well, right? Same, same with mine. Everybody was invited to listen or watch this show, but only a few showed up. And so if you're here listening, give yourself a pat on the back, man, because somewhere there's a box in your brain that said, I need to go learn more about this.

[00:54:37] I'm curious about that. I may not do anything, but I'm curious, but yet you've already moved in that direction just a little bit. And to use a golf analogy, you only have to open your club face a bit for your way off and either side, but that's the thing you've already taken the steps. So the people listening to the show, they're on the same path as you and I, how can I get just a little bit better?

[00:54:56] How can I improve here? Or how can I do less of something that's not [00:55:00] working? So in a weird way, you and I are talking to people that haven't even shown up for this show. The people here are already on the path. They're just at different places in the path.

[00:55:09] Chaz Wolfe: That's right.

[00:55:10] Dominic Rubino: You know,

[00:55:10] Chaz Wolfe: good. Yeah, we define,~ uh, uh, ~you know, success in our mastermind community as winning in all areas, but winning doesn't mean perfect, right? Like you learned today from Dom that I, I should review at the end of the, at the end of the, the project that whether we, you know, projected correctly and whether we made money.

[00:55:30] Okay, great. Now winning looks like tomorrow. Go do that. Maybe in the meeting tomorrow, you actually learned that you sucked in the project and you lost money. Okay, fine. But, but, but you took something that you learned from today and you implemented it tomorrow and now you can make further decisions towards further winning, right?

[00:55:49] Dominic Rubino: Yep. Small hinges, swing, big doors. That's what we say. Right. And I heard it from somebody else. I didn't make that. That was sweet. I didn't make it up,

[00:55:56] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. That's

[00:55:57] Dominic Rubino: but it's true. It's that pivot point. Just the little [00:56:00] things add up.

[00:56:02] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah. Every day, every day. If I can win every day,~ um,~ Dominic, how can. How can the listener connect with you? I mean, if they're listening this far, they've obviously enjoyed just who you are. And, and just, you got this,~ uh,~ this presence about you. That's super calming. Maybe they want to work with you. ~Uh, ~maybe their contractor is like, man, I need some help.

[00:56:19] How can they find you? How can they, how can they connect with you?

[00:56:21] Dominic Rubino: Well, if you can't find me, you ain't looking. Tragically with, with social media today, there's a lot of ways to find me. You can reach out to me on LinkedIn. My name's Dominic Rubino. ~Uh, ~if anybody wants that go back report, send me a text 315 903 7853 and just say, go back and then we'll just, you know, email it off.

[00:56:39] It's just a, it's a worksheet, but it's a powerful worksheet. And then the podcast or the YouTube channel. So there's two of them. One's called profit tool belt. I'm wearing that hat today. ~Um, ~which is for renovators, guys like you and contractors and people in the trades and home services. And then I have another show.

[00:56:55] That's super specific. It's called cabinet [00:57:00] maker profit system. So guess who we talked to on that show, right? Like cabinet makers, architectural mill workers, closet builders. ~Um, ~so the finished wood trades and you know, the big difference there is the, the, the, the closet or the, the cabinetry show, those guys go to a shop and do their work there.

[00:57:16] And the other trades typically go on site and do the work there, but it's about the business of the contracting business.

[00:57:24] Chaz Wolfe: Yeah, I love it. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes for the listener. ~Um, ~I would highly recommend I have, I've talked with gosh, hundreds of people, not only just on the show, but. Hundreds more,~ uh,~ and interviewed people and, and we've had all kinds of coaches and, and, and all kinds of people. But my conversation with you is, has been completely genuine.

[00:57:43] So I want to just encourage the listener to,~ uh,~ to connect with you and,~ um,~ take you up on, on maybe that, that worksheet and maybe some other help that you can give to

[00:57:51] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Thank

[00:57:52] Chaz Wolfe: tell that you're real, so that's cool.

[00:57:54] Dominic Rubino: Thanks man.

[00:57:55] Chaz Wolfe: ~Um, ~appreciate you being here, brother. Blessings to you, your family,~ uh,~ just taking out the time and helping the audience.

[00:57:59] ~Uh, ~we appreciate you [00:58:00] being here, man. Thanks.

[00:58:00] Dominic Rubino: you.

[00:58:01] Thank you for listening to driven to win. I hope that you were able to pull out a few nuggets to go apply into your business right away. More importantly, though, I hope that you're realizing that it takes more to be successful than just being by yourself, doing it all on your own, carrying the weight all by yourself.

[00:58:18] What I have realized, not only in my own journey from multiple businesses and multiple different industries, and now interviewing over two or 300. Other very successful seven, eight and nine figure business owners is that it's tough to do it alone. And so gathering the Kings exists to bring together successful entrepreneurs.

[00:58:36] In fact, we are putting together 1000 Kings specifically who are grateful, but not done. We're intentionally assembling Kings who fight tooth and nail for their business, family, and communities. And here's what we believe that in the pursuit of excellence in those areas. That it ignites within us, the responsibility to govern power and forge a lasting [00:59:00] legacy.

[00:59:00] So if that relates and resonates with you, and you know, that you need people around you, sharp, qualified, other very successful business owners. I want you to go to gatheringthekings. com. I want you to take a look at what we're doing and see if it makes sense for you to be part of our pursuit to 1000 Kings talk soon.