Contractor Tip of the Month
Surviving Hard Times | September Contractor Tip of the Month
At dinner a couple of weeks ago, my three daughters were expressing how much they had admired a person who had recently died by suicide. Their sadness and story have stuck with me. It also took me back a few years ago when I was helping a friend turn his business around. My friend asked for help on overcoming depression. I felt I gave him good advice that would help him through his situation. However, two weeks after my visit, he died by suicide. I always wished I could have done more. Therefore, I felt compelled to write a tip about what carried me through some hard times of my own. After coming off our three most profitable years in the history of our four companies, we were expanding greatly in 2007. I invested in construction office space, a new factory, high... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Fighting with Your Competition can Kill Your Business
Some contractor friends invited me to go ATV riding on the Hatfield and McCoy trails in Pocahontas, West Virginia. Intrigued by the history of the land we were riding on, I did some research on one of the greatest feuds of all time that was held between the Hatfield and McCoy families. Think about this before you “go to war” against your competitors. As told in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, the feud started in the Civil War when both William "Devil Anse" Hatfield and Randolph McCoy were Confederates who were both along on a raid that killed Union General Bill France in the fall of 1863. That raid sparked into action the Kentucky home guards, who were sent to take Devil Anse and his men. One of France's men, Asa Harmon McCoy (Randolph's brother), came after... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Health Issues Caused by Worrying | July Contractor Tip of the Month
When I asked my wife Rachelle what I should write my contractor tip about this month, she asked if the contractors I have been consulting with were concerned over the COVID-19 pandemic. I said, “Yes, they tell me they are worried about the future, their health, their payments, and the big worry right now is the current and long-term effects of the virus.” She replied, “Why don’t you write a tip about the effects of worrying?” So, I have to give credit to Rachelle for the topic of this article. According to Dr. Alexis Carrel, those who do not know how to fight worry, die young. This includes businessmen, managers, housewives, plant workers, truck drivers, and bricklayers. Since the biggest worry right now is COVID-19, I would like to put this in... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
You Don’t Get Results By Measuring Results. You Get Results By Measuring Activities that Lead to Results. | June Contractor Tip of the Month
You can learn a lot about running a business by trying to lose weight. I knew it was time to make healthier choices a few years ago when one of my buddies on the golf course asked, “Are you two going to putt?” as if I were pregnant. The rest of the players in our group got a big laugh out of it. I pretended to smile. But inside, it really wasn’t that funny to me. I had tried lots of different things to control my weight, including exercising most days of the week. If you have ever tried to slim down, you’ve probably figured out that getting on the scale every day and becoming obsessed with the number is not the best way to get results. When I weighed myself every day, the needle didn’t move much. Then, I discovered the secret about what it would take to... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
The Power of the Mind | May Contractor Tip of the Month
This is only the second time in nearly 20 years that I have had to write the Contractor Tip of the Month during a devastating situation. The last time was when I had a rare stroke and lost most of the sight in my dominant right eye. As I wrote that July 2016 article from a hospital bed at Ohio State University, uncertainty was looming about my health and ability to function properly in future activities. However, I wrote about how I would overcome the issue. In the first few weeks after returning home, I couldn’t even pour a glass of wine without most of it landing on the kitchen counter. But I am proud to say that over several months, my brain took over and trained my left eye so I could control my bodily movements properly. I can see fine, drive a car, read,... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Success is Defined as the Pursuit of a Worthy Goal | April Contractor Tip of the Month
The president of a local community college asked me to speak at the 2020 commencement. Thinking of what I will tell the approximately 300 students, their parents and guests has me wondering how these graduates will define success as they go out into the workforce. I hope sharing what success is to me will help them in their future endeavors. I am the majority owner of 13 companies that employ around 280 people. When people drive by our headquarters, they see brick pillars with a wrought iron fence between them lining the entrance to large buildings that house lots of offices and equipment. On weekdays, there are around 40 cars in the parking lot owned by people who are part of our management team. I wonder if people driving by think I am successful. When people... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
There Is Only One Way To Become Successful – Slowly | March 2020
There's a popular Chinese proverb that says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” My friend Steve’s son George learned this the hard way at six years old when his class was doing a scientific experiment on seed germination to grow trees. George took the experiment to heart, cut a two-liter plastic pop bottle in half and filled it with dirt. Then he cut an apple in half, took out the seeds, buried them in the dirt, and placed the container on the windowsill in the kitchen. A couple of days later while George was at school, Steve cut a small branch with green leaves on it off a tree and stuck it in the dirt. When George came home from school the next day, he saw it and said with excitement, “Dad, my tree... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Communicating with the New Generation of Employees
Back in the old days, you could just tell someone what to do and they did it. Employees knew construction was a rough and tough business. You could raise your voice or make harsh comments about an employee’s performance, and it was likely he would take what you threw at him and simply keep on working. But this way of communicating just doesn’t work anymore. We just finished a planning retreat with our foremen, superintendents and project managers. With 33 people from our management team present, the discussion turned to how to communicate with the new generation of employees. Most of these construction managers have been in the business for many, many years and still remember how things used to be done. After the meeting, one of our superintendents asked me... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Tell the Truth, so You Don’t Have to Lie Over and Over Again | January Contractor Tip of the Month
One of the best lessons I ever learned from my dad was about honesty. Growing up on a farm with nine children, part of our survival was raising livestock. We milked cows each morning, collected eggs, and butchered our own beef, pork and chickens to keep the family fed. One day after we were finished butchering a cow, Dad told me he left his favorite butchering knife at the barn and sent me to go get it. When I got to the barn and found his knife, I decided to have a little fun by throwing it end over end to stick the sharp end into the wood on the side of the barn. I made a good throw, but the butt end of the knife hit first, and the handle broke. I was only about 10 years old and was scared to death of what to do next. I thought of several possible ways to... Read More
Contractor Tip of the Month
Getting to Yes, by Not Saying Yes - or No | December Contractor Tip of the Month
Sometimes the best answer to a “yes or no” question is neither yes nor no. Once we had a customer who asked if we could start a project in five weeks instead of six. Instead of telling the customer we would see what we can do, our project manager told him, “No.” I was telling Heath Holdaway with IMS Masonry about how the customer was frustrated by our project manager’s answer when he gave me the solution to my situation. So, I must give credit to Heath for much of the content in this article. Heath, in his soft-spoken (but always convincing) voice, said, “You should not tell customers yes or no. Instead of saying yes, tell them you will do the best you can to meet the deadline they are asking you to meet. Instead of saying no, tell them the same thing... Read More
