Are you working towards building your business to spend less time on site/on the tools… yet every time you take that step, you feel that the job spirals out of control? You are not alone! Many trade business owners experience the exact same frustration and end up feeling trapped. Does this sound familiar? “If I’m not on site I’m not making as much money!” or “My staff lack the motivation to do the work the way I want it done!” If you truly want a business that can operate successfully whilst you are away from a site, then watch the slides.

1. How to Successfully Run Your
Trade Business Whilst You’re
Off Site

2. Welcome
• Hi…I’m Jon Mailer
• Relax
• Enjoy – eat, drink, connect,
• Be Open – take notes, ask how?
• Link to slides – slideshare.net/tradeinsights
• Phones, parking, toilets
• Participate – share
• Contribute & Win…

3. Who is PROTRADE United?
Australia’s #1 coaching & mentoring organisation
supporting trade & construction business owners…
To help business owners to:
• Stabilise & Streamline – creating CONSISTENCY with income, profit
& cash to give them freedom of CHOICE
• Scale – growing # projects, vans, teams, (with profit!)
• Step Out – off the tools, choose a role, sell/manage buy out

4. Who is this for?
In this session…
• Think differently about your business
• Understand how to prepare yourself to step off the
tools/site
• Avoid the biggest mistakes that trade owners make when
making this step
• Implement the key systems to support the new structure
• Discover simple ways to improve productivity and grow
profits whilst you are off site

5. Who is this NOT for?
• If you want to be stuck in the cycle of poor profits and
virtually non-existent cash flow
• You don’t want to grow profit or free cash flow
• You love spending most of your time working hard
• You are happy with the status quo

6. Imagine if you were like…

7. Quick hello…

8. What is the hardest for you?

9. Does it get any easier?
Don’t wish it was easier.
Wish you were better.
Jim Rohn…

10. Are you prepared to change?

11. Emotion vs. Tactics/Mechanics

12. Earning potential with your
hands?
$000’s

13. Earning potential with your
head?
$000,000’s

14. Adapt the ideas…
To suit your business and
target customer…

15. What is it really costing you?

16. What is it costing you?
1. Health – mental and physical
2. Physically can’t do the work
3. Making a bigger impact/difference
4. Potential profits – and financial benefits
5. Potential freedom – time to spend on other important areas
6. Personally growth
7. Leaving a legacy – training/coaching others
8. Sanity!

17. What is your ‘real’ reason?

18. Stuck on the tools =

19. A typical approach…
1. On the tools…loving being a business ‘owner’
2. Being good at what you do…work comes in ‘droves’
3. You get busier, things get left incomplete, get tired,
stressed, burnt out
4. You hire someone reactively/desperately
5. No training/systems – thrown in the deep end
6. Work quality drops – lose customers, frustrated
7. See! – you cant trust people. I may as well do it myself!
8. Back to square one! Slave to the business.

20. What is your current
approach?

21. Or?

22. #1 Mistake

23. What are the barriers…

24. What are the barriers…
1. Fear – failure, success, the unknown…
2. Fixed mindset
3. Understanding your NEW value/worth to the
business
4. No vision/plan
5. Not working on the ‘business/vehicle’
6. Lazy ‘CEO’ syndrome
7. Bad hiring
8. Poor profit/cash flow to support the changes

25. The Cost of Doing What
Everyone Else Does…

26. The clear benefits…
1. Scalability
2. Increase income and profits*
3. Improve productivity and efficiency*
4. More free time
5. Increased business value
6. Control?

27. Are you willing?

28. What a new approach?

29. 1. Mindset
1. Operator to owner
2. Your ‘new’ worth
3. Your new tools
4. Driver to Manager

30. 2. Leadership

31. 1. Vision
2. Core Values
3. Communication
2. Leadership

32. Jay & Krista – Fully Wired Electrical

33. Begin with end in mind...

34. 3. Game Plan

35. Team Structure
CEO/Own
er
Marketing
Online/Digital Business Development
Sales/Custo
mer
Acquisition
Estimator/Quoting
Production/
Operations
Team
Manager/Foreman
Tradesman/Technician Tradesman/Technician
Admin/HR/I
T
Office Manager
WH&S
IT Manager
Finance
Book keeper
Accounts
Receivable/Payable
Payroll
Accountant

36. 4. Your People

37. Aidan – Platinum Plastering

38. 4. Systems & Procedures

39. What is a system really?
1. What needs to be done?
2. Why it needs to be done?
3. When it needs to be done?
4. How it needs to be done?
5. Who needs to do it?

40. Same - Same?

41. What do I systemise?

42. Core Processes
• Lead generation
• Winning the job
• Delivering the job/doing the work
• Invoicing
• Hiring
• Communication
• Training
• Reporting

43. 5. Train & Develop

44. Train, Coach & Support
• Plan it out – up to 12 months ahead
• Give feedback
• Allow them to make mistakes*
• Be patient
• Use/empower others on the team

46. Michael – Livable Landscapes

47. 6. Profit/cash consistency

48. Project and time the change
• Do you know the real cost to employ?
• Are you charging enough for labour?
• You will shift from billable work to an overhead?

49. Glen – Stilus Design &
Constructions

50. 7. Prepare for challenges

51. Typical challenges
• Mistake will happen on site – coach don’t play!
• People will want to know ‘where you are’
• You will want to – jump back in

52. 8. Implementation &
Accountability x 2

53. 9. Work harder – on you
1. Business skills
2. Strategy
3. Leadership

54. Gio – Inspired Constructions

55. A planned approach…
1. On the tools…loving being a business ‘owner’
2. Being good at what you do…work comes in ‘droves’
3. You have a game plan to develop your business and know
the exact next steps to take
4. You manage your profit margin and know when you can
hire (the right person)
5. You hire proactively – saying NO to work that you cannot
commit to fully
6. You provide systems/ training and coaching (& feedback)
7. Profits drop initially, yet then grow again
8. Repeat Step #5 (until you have your sweet spot)
9. Gradually step back – and manage effectively

56. What has been valuable?

58. What ACTION will you take?

59. It’s interesting you know…
Most of business owners will…
• Hear what we say,
• Understand it intellectually,
• Agree with all the principles,
• Get excited about what’s possible
• KNOW that it is the thing they should
do, yet…

60. Do nothing!
What gets in the way…
LIFE
!

61. Which leads to?

62. Your opportunity to get clear
Complimentary - ‘Strategy’ Session
• Where you WANT TO BE
• Where are you NOW
• Create a ROAD MAP to get you there…

63. Participant or Spectator…?