The Site Shed | Systems, Strategy and Growth for Tradies and Contractors

Successful companies do not just earn tons of money, they also know how to keep their employees. In today’s workplace, employees coming in and going out seems like a norm when it should not. Your employees are a vital part of your company and contribute a lot to your success, if they are leaving you every now and then it’s high time to evaluate your practices and implement ways to make them stay. ...

When it comes to creating an amazing employee experience, do not undermine the power of purpose. There’s a lot of talk about this and yet there are still so many who neglect or put aside creating one for their companies that they’re missing out on a lot. Your purpose is vital as it provides direction and clarity not just for you but even for your employees. In today’s podcast episode, Erica and St...

Managing a trades business is not a one-person show. Different factors affect the growth of your company, and one of those factors are your employees. Since employees represent your business's branding, getting them engaged and motivated will reap better results and long-term benefits that you and the whole company will enjoy. So, how can you develop or nurture an amazing employee experience...

Businesses, no matter the type and purpose, need employees to complete certain tasks or activities. These workers are part of the process that keeps the business rolling. Hence, hiring someone fit for the position, not only because of the skill and competence, is very important for the business to grow.  In this third and last episode of the Creative Recruiting series, Ryan and I will conclude thi...

Have you ever experienced recruiting somebody only to fire them after three weeks? This is a great waste of resources on your part and downright frustrating and exhausting too. But, what if you can change that cycle and find efficient ways to bring people in who are willing to stay for the long haul, join you in your business journey and excited about the destination of your company? In this secon...

The recruitment space is always evolving and moving towards different goals. As a business owner, it is important to attract talented people to be part of your team. Hence, improving your recruitment, onboarding, and retaining processes is essential if you want to build a team that is going to help take your business to the next level.  In this first episode of a three-part series called Creative...

On average, everyone spends more than eight hours of their time doing work tasks and completing documents. Some even go beyond that time frame to get the job done. As entrepreneurs, a huge percentage of our day is given to our company. So, how can we manage it properly?  In this last episode of the Ownership Thinking series, Jeremy and I will be discussing the things you should and shouldn't...

The promises of more time, more income, being your own boss are most likely what attracted you to start your own business. And while all these things can come true, it doesn’t happen instantly. If you want to become a business owner, there’s a need to start thinking like one, which results in acting like one, otherwise you’ll end up burnt out juggling between different tasks like you’ve taken more...

Sports and business are alike in so many ways. A lot of analogies are formed between the two because of it. For instance, sports teams require a clear vision, mission, goals, and strategies among others if they want success and that is the same way with businesses that we build and manage. But even with all their similarities, they differ in the way they are hitting their goals as most businesses,...

Pictures indeed paint a thousand words. Photos are better proof of evidence for your work, alongside customer feedback and reviews. In today’s episode, photography and video specialist, Aaron McKay discuss the importance of having a website and a well-curated project gallery. Project galleries serve as touchpoints for promising clients and possibly be the final push they need to acquire your servi...

It is not too difficult to see what impact the coronavirus crisis has on businesses. Unemployment is at an all-time high now and it seems like everyone is just doing what they can to survive. But how are companies holding up as of the moment especially in the trades? Ever wondered how you are stacking up against other trade companies?  In today’s podcast episode, Michael Steckler, CEO of Tradify t...

Managing the financial aspect of the business always brings in headaches, especially among those who are not familiar with financial terms and processes. Usually, what most tradies and founders do is just leave these issues for accountants and bookkeepers to handle, avoiding it altogether. However, as a responsible business owner, there is a need to know and somehow grasp what is going on in the f...

We’ve all been there—the barrage of questions fired at you, the requests that go beyond what’s reasonable, the phone calls every now and then on project updates. One of the biggest problems we all face at the start and middle of a project is dealing with our client’s expectations. We just can’t seem to put their worries and queries to rest. However, since they are making the biggest investment in...

When you’ve spent so much time mastering and perfecting your craft, delegating your task to someone who may or may not be up to par with your standards would be the last thing you’d ever want to do. However, if growing your business is your goal, sometimes, you need to take the tradie hat off and put the trades business owner hat on. Making that sudden mind shift might sound easier said than done....

People always have an inherent fear of the unknown, new, and different. And so, systems and processes that seem alien to you and your team can breed myths and misconceptions. What if in adapting systems, I put myself out of work? Will this new system guarantee success? Or  failure? However, these myths won’t be anything but non beneficial to your trades business. The first step to clearing the fog...

Running a business and finally becoming our own boss is something that we all want as tradies. But as soon as we start our own business, we realise we know nothing about managing it at all. What’s even worse is that we end up counterintuitively doing all the leg work and not being able to get the free time that we want in the first place! While the entire business process itself may be the brainch...

With the internet changing people’s ideas about entrepreneurship over the years, millions saw opportunities in starting their own business—most notably in the small business sector. How many of them pulled through? And in between the height of their business and the brink of closing down, do they ever get to measure the ‘shoulda-woulda-couldas’ towards becoming better businessmen? Starting a busin...

What if there is a way for you to train your tradies on how to fix electrical wiring without running the risk of electrical shock? What if you get to learn how to install a solar panel without having to be on site? As sci-fi as they may sound, with the digital transformation taking place all around us, it’s no longer hard to imagine these changes occurring in the workspace. Virtual reality is slow...

Isn’t it just hard to motivate yourself when you’re not even sure what kind of metrics you have to meet to achieve a certain goal? We all want our businesses to achieve greater heights. But without setting clear steps that you and your team can commit to, the journey might take you forever, if not never! So what can you do to make sure everyone plays their part in the journey towards achieving tha...

One thing that tradies like us fear is the unpredictability of our business’ future. It’s like trying to cross the road with blindfolds on hoping you don’t get hit by a bus along the way. However, what if you have the ability to foretell your business’ financial future beforehand? That’s what we’re here to discuss in Part 2 of our “Measuring What You Manage: The Only Way to Run a Profitable Busine...

One of the main reasons most tradies get into business is to earn more money. Yet ironically, financial education is one of the things we were never taught at school. So when we dive into the profit and loss statement, we end up staring at it with a puzzled look, not really knowing whether business is good or bad. Well, there’s no need to get dizzy just by looking at those numbers anymore. In this...

Most of us believe that once you hit the ceiling with your skills, abilities, or even the service that you give for your business, there is no way you can get any further than that. But what if there is a way for you to push beyond your limitations? What if there is a way for you to make your business even better than what it was yesterday?  In this week’s podcast episode, Paul Dunn, a world-renow...

Do you sometimes wonder why no matter how good a name you’ve made for yourself, you end up either plateauing or losing clients? As frustrating as getting your customers stolen sounds, it is a reality that happens to most of us. But what if I tell you there is something else you can do other than scratch your head in dismay? In Part 5 of our ‘Protecting Your Trade Business From Legal Risk’ mini-ser...

With the emergence of technology, millions and millions of talent are now accessible at your fingertips. However, just when we thought things were getting easier, they actually got trickier. With a lot of contractors to choose from, it gets more and more challenging to find the perfect fit! But when you do find the right candidate and are now ready to start inking that legally-binding contract, yo...

When you set a goal for your company, most of the time, you’d like to charge into it right away without pause. Achieving it in the timeline that you’ve set only sounds natural. However, by charging into it without a real strategy, you’re only setting yourself up for failure. So how do you ensure that you and your team can efficiently work together to achieve those goals? In Part 3 of the ‘Strategi...