What is the best bang for your buck to grow your contracting business? Do you know what that is? That one thing that you could be doing that will give you the biggest bang for your buck.
There are probably so many things that you could be doing in your business, and even more that you’ve seen other contractors doing.
I know you see them because most contractors have those car decals, you can identify a contractor, and you see them coming and going, coming and going all the time, especially if they live in your neighborhood.
You’re thinking, they have to be busy and they must be making a lot of money. Although, that might not be the case.
I’m curious, have you taken the time to learn how to actually market your contracting business and do business development? Do you even know what business development is? Food for thought.
Want to watch a video version of this post? I’ve got you covered!
Here’s the thing, all work and no play is not fun at all. What happens a lot of times is you’re busy working all the time, chasing the next dollar that you’re not having any fun in your business.
Who went into business for it not to be fun? I know I most certainly did not. I just truly believe that if you’re an entrepreneur, a small business owner, contractor, or whatever term you’re using it should be fun.
It takes a lot of time, effort and work to grow your business and if it’s not fun, you can go back and get a job and just work what 40 hours a week and have the rest of your time to yourself without all the stress of working for yourself.
In this video today, I’m going to be providing you with the ultimate tool for business development. Are you ready for this one? This is a buckle up type of content. You raise your right hand and you say, I’m ready! Then I want you to take that hand and put it across your waist, buckle up and get ready for the ride. Here we go.
I’m seeing a lot of you working from sun up to sun down. You’re busy going around from house to house trying to find that next contract. You’re probably thinking there has to be a better way.
A strategy is an ultimate tool to have.
There’s more to being a contractor than just doing residential work. There’s a lot of headaches involved in doing residential work. Know that there are bigger and better opportunities if you just expand your mindset and expand your vision so that you can see more and get out there and get it.
You don’t have to go from sun up to sun down. That’s the first thing I want you to stop doing. Stop going from sun up to sun down, working all the time on projects. You can’t do that and build your business at the same time if you’re always working that one project at a time. You feel me. You know what I’m talking about.
That’s what you’re doing and it’s okay, for now. What you don’t know, you don’t know. The questions you don’t know to ask, you don’t know to ask.
I give you the answers to the questions that you don’t know to ask. – Felicia Streeter
That’s what we’re doing here today. So, after today working one project at a time and then going to look for another project is not how you’ll be building your business moving forward.
Stop working from sun up to sun down. You have to get out there and start rubbing some elbows. Okay, not literally rubbing elbows, but you have to get out there, start connecting with people so that you can find more opportunities. That’s not going happen if you’re out there on that residential project all day from sun up to sun down.
When you go out networking and use this one strategy I’m getting ready to share with you, I promise you it’s a game changer. It has been fruitful for my clients, even the ones that are just starting out and it still works for me too.
Here’s what I want you to do. You’re going to go where the masses are handing out. This will save you a lot of time and you get the biggest bang for your buck if you have to pay to attend as well as your time.
Reach the masses in one place like conferences, trade shows, matchmaker events, industry day events, and pre-bid meetings.
I have clients all the time say, should I go to the pre-bid meeting if I’m not going to be bidding as a prime? And my answer is ah yeah!
I give my clients strategies and things to do while out networking.
Walkthroughs on projects is also a great place to be. If you’re part of the project and you’re invited to attend the walkthrough, definitely go.
Go places where people are gathering so that you can connect with multiple people at one time.
Going where the masses are hanging out is the one activity that you definitely want to do if you want to grow your business. Attend conferences and trade shows and while you’re there, definitely find the right people that you need to talk to.
If a list of the large companies that will be attending is provided before the event, take five to ten minutes and pick three companies you want to make sure you connect with while you’re at the event. Those three companies should have something you want like they’re doing the type of work you want to do and could possibly have subcontracting opportunities possibly.
Definitely seek out potential opportunities. Here’s the thing, nobody’s going to the event just to find you. I know you think you’re all that and a bag of chips, and you probably are, but you still have to get out and network, okay.
Another place you can look find possible opportunities, Linkedin. A lot of people are sleeping on Linkedin. Linkedin can be a game changer. You can do searches and find opportunities. You also can use Instagram and Facebook.
On Instagram, you can show your before and after pictures on projects to let people know who you are and what you do. Same thing with Facebook. You can also showcase case studies of projects you’re working on and share the start and what you did to get it to the end result.
You’re going to do this. You’re committing right here, right now. Get out and build relationships with key players. Be selective, connect with the right people, identify who they are and then follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Do you hear me? Follow-up is key!
I’m doing a live, in-person event here in Dallas, Texas next month, May 22nd and 23rd and we’re going to be doing a deep dive into finding opportunities.
I’m going to teach you how to find opportunities that are a good fit for you and your business, You’ll have my hands on your business helping you actually getting the work done. We’re getting work done during the workshop. You’re not going to go home and have to implement everything. No! We’re making it happen in the workshop.
If you want to find out more about the workshop, about finding the opportunities, learning how to bid contracts, you’re going to want to be in attendance at this live in-person workshop.
Go to http://feliciaStreeter.com/workshop. I’m only taking six people, so the first six that sign up, you’re in.
