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

Series: Big Business Cohost: Ben Stainer Introduction. Welcome to the Big Business Series with Ben Stainer. Ben formerly ran on of Sydney's largest service business, 'Australian Five Star Trades', which later became 'General Trades'. At it's peak, Bens company was turning a million dollars a month, so it's fair to say that Ben is More than qualified to talk about...

Series: Big Business Cohost: Ben Stainer Introduction. Welcome to the Big Business Series with Ben Stainer. Ben formerly ran on of Sydney's largest service business, 'Australian Five Star Trades', which later became 'General Trades'. At it's peak, Bens company was turning a million dollars a month, so it's fair to say that Ben is More than qualified to talk about...

Series: Big Business Cohost: Ben Stainer Introduction. Welcome to the Big Business Series with Ben Stainer. Ben formerly ran on of Sydney's largest service business, 'Australian Five Star Trades', which later became 'General Trades'. At it's peak, Bens company was turning a million dollars a month, so it's fair to say that Ben is More than qualified to talk about...

Guest: Kenny Chapman There are few people on the planet that are more qualified to speak on the topics of building a lifestyle, service based business than today's guest, Kenny Chapman. Located in Colorado, Kenny built his plumbing business from a small scale drain cleaning operation, to a business now that operates without him. Kenny is the founder of BlueCollarCoach.com which is a company t...

Warning! If your website is NOT mobile friendly as of May, 2016, you're in BIG trouble. This has been a long time coming, however now it looks like we're about to see some serious action from our friends over at Google. 'Mobilegeddon' as it was named by the industry last year refers to the algorithm update that Google released last year, favouring websites that are mobile frien...

Trades come in many types and forms. It's common to associate a trade with industries like builders, plumbers, electricians and mechanics, however there are other trades that tend to fly under the banner somewhat, like butchers, hairdressers and in the case of today's guest, chefs. Chris Cranswick-Smith is a well known celebrity chef that has literally done it all. From working in Michel...

In this episode, we're talking about building a power remote team. Nothing of any significance has ever been done alone, which is why it's so important to build a power team around you. This might not only mean in the field, it could be in the office, it could be remotely, it could be a combination of all of the above. The old saying, "if you try to be everything to everyone, you&ap...

Having business processes in place allows you the freedom of being able to step away from certain tasks, knowing that they'll be done your way by someone else. By documenting processes you're creating intellectual property, that; Empowers your staff to carry out tasks the way you want then carried out. Builds an asset into your company, so that it can potentially be acquired down the tra...

Series: Outsoucing Cohosts: Warrick and Michaela from 'The Tradies Business Show' In this series of Toolbox talks, I'm joined by our friends Warrick and Michaela from The Tradies Business Show, where we're talking about Outsourcing. I asked them to join me on this series because they both formally ran a company called Tradies VA, which was a business that helped trade based org...

Ever dreamed about running a huge company? Everyone starts somewhere and in this episode of Toolbox Talks, I'm taking with Allan Furguson from Omega Group, who owns and runs one of Australia's largest plumbing, electrical and HVAC companies? This is a seriously successful business that turns tens of millions every year and has over 50 trucks on the road in Sydney. Allan shares his amazin...

There are a lot of unethical business owners out there. In this episode, I'm talking about an experience that I am currently going through with an IT company in Neutral Bay, Sydney, who have proven themselves to be not only unprofessional, but also straight up destructive to my business and some of my clients. The reason I share this story is so that I can hopefully help many of you NOT get i...

Series: Cubify Your Business Cohost: Matt Jones from Cube Consulting Episode 3: Brand Planning Back in episode 1, we spoke about Business Mindset and in Episode 2, we spoke about 'Pricing for Profit'. Now in Episode 3, which is the final episode of this amazing series with Matt jones from Cube Consulting, we're talking Brand Planning. Brand Planning is a critical part of business be...

Series: Cubify Your Business Cohost: Matt Jones from Cube Consulting Episode 2: Pricing for Profit Back in episode 1, we spoke about Business Mindset. You can check it out here. In this episode, we're talking 'Pricing for Profit', which basically means understanding your overheads. All too often I deal with tradespeople that don't have an understanding of what their true costs...

Series: Cubify Your Business Cohost: Matt Jones from Cube Consulting Episode 1: Business Mindset Mindset plays an extremely significant role in the success of any business. I know it can kind of sound like unicorns and rainbows, but if you can get the mindset of you and your team right, half of the battle is won.  In this episode, Matt from Cube dives into what business mindset really is and the e...

Back in episode TSS006 , when I interviewed Clinton from TradiePad, in the final question when I asked him who he'd like to see on the show, he said asked Matt Jones. The funny thing about that answer is that I am not the only Matt Jones that's located in Sydney and works with Tradespeople, so when I asked Clinton to clarify who he was referring tom he said "Both of you". So in...

As business owners, it's easy to fall into the trap of over complicating things. Sometimes we think that our customers want to hear what we want to hear, however it's often far from the truth. Websites are no different. Simplifying your website is often the first step in working towards improving your conversions. In this episode I dive a little deeper into how set about to making that j...

Women play such a vital part in the running of many trade based businesses. Often our wives and girlfriends are placed in a position where they are basically forced to run the entire business for their partners, regardless of their lack of experience in not only the trade, but also the tasks that they're being asked to perform. Bookkeeping Invoicing Quoting Inbound Marketing Outbound Marketin...

Series name: Business Essentials Co-host: Scott Gellatly from Bollo Empire Episode 3 of 3: Knowing your metrics Having a clear understanding of your metrics is paramount in any business and it stems much farther than simply knowing how much money you've made. In this episode, Scott and Matt discuss the importance of metric tracking and they also dive into different areas that need to be consi...

Series name: Business Essentials Co-host: Scott Gellatly from Bollo Empire Episode 2 of 3: Database To make your business acquirable, you typically need to have two things in place. Firstly, you need to have a systems and processes in place, so that your business can operate without you. And secondly, you need to have a database.  In this episode, Scott and Matt discuss the importance of building...

Series name: Business Essentials Co-host: Scott Gellatly from Bollo Empire Episode 1 of 3: Systems In this episode, Scott and Matt talk about the importance of implementing systems into your business. They talk about everything from using systems to train staff, right through to automation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Your Next Step: Join Tradie Academy , our free communit...

In this Q&A, Dave from David Ferrari Constructions sent in the following enquiry. "Matt, I wanted to ask you about the pros and cons of creating content on facebook vs my website." Background: Dave owns and operates a domestic building company on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, specialising in renovations and additions. He's looking into some content strategies and saw somewhere...

Back in episode TSS006 when Matt interviewed Clinton Cowin from TradiePad on Toolbox Talks, Matt asked him who he'd like to see on the show and Clinton replied Matt Jones. Now there is a twist there, because there's actually two Matt Jones', so when Matt asked Clinton which one, he replied "both".  Obviously if Matt himself was going to be interviewed on his show, someone...

Series name: Cloud Co-host: Clinton Cowin from TradiePad Episode 2 of 3: Project Management In this episode, Clinton and Matt talk about what Project Management is, how it's different to job management and how it applies to various types of businesses. They discuss features that Project Management programs can offer and how you can save time and money by implementing it into your organisation...

Series name: Cloud Co-host: Clinton Cowin from TradiePad Episode 2 of 3: Job Management In this episode, Clinton and Matt talk about what job management is and how it applies to various types of businesses. They discuss features that Job Management programs can offer and how you can save time and money by implementing it into your organisation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....

Series name: Cloud Co-host: Clinton Cowin from TradiePad Episode 1 of 3: An overview of 'The Cloud' In this episode, Clinton and Matt talk about what the cloud actually is and how it's changes the landscape for tradespeople and small business. They discuss the advantages and the features of cloud computing, along with how those features can practically add value to an organisation....