13. Why Your Systems Keep Breaking as a Contractor; and How To Fix Them

So if you ever felt like you are doing something wrong because you are back to the

day-to-days within your business, this episode is for you.

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Today, we are breaking down the truth about working in your business versus on your

business and why sometimes getting your hands dirty is necessary to take your business to

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the next level.

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Hey, I'm Shay Toya.

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I've spent more than 10 years in construction, working behind the scenes in marketing,

hiring, and I've seen how overwhelming it can be to grow a business.

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That's how we've learned to build a sustainable business using clear systems, strong

communication, and intentional recruiting.

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If you're ready for better hiring, smarter remarketing, and a business that doesn't fall

apart when you step away, welcome to building better contractor businesses.

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So a lot of contractors.

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may feel super embarrassed to talk about the things that I'm about to talk about.

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But this is why I started building better contractor businesses.

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Because I personally want a location where as contractors, business owners, or whatever

your role is, we have a location where we can be real.

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Let us know what you're going through.

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and vice versa, and also ask for help.

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This is why I invite you to join Building Better Contractor Businesses Facebook group.

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The link is in the show notes.

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So there's an idea out there, let me share with you guys, where especially from books such

as E-Myth and Buy Back Your Time, and these are actually one of my favorite books that

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I've ever read.

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but to have a full understanding where these books have taught us that if we are working

in our business, there is something wrong with us.

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But I want to challenge that real quick because that mindset can actually destroy a

business.

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know, sometimes there is different stages of a business where you must be working in your

business.

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There's no

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way around it.

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So today I just want to share a story with you and just share with you some things that

I've learned dealing with trying to work on my business instead of in it.

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So the month of April, it was honestly a very hard month.

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We had to let go two important roles of our organization.

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We made the tough decision because of searching.

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know, last week I talked about

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standards and expectations and different things that we're currently going through, you

know, and having a higher standard of our team.

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But because of this, because, you know, certain people may not have been used to having a

higher standard, unfortunately, we had to let that person go.

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Two different people, unfortunately, our admin and our estimator.

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And just like that, I was back in the

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data days, I was back in taking on the admin role and Kevin stepped into the estimating

role saying, I'm not going to lie.

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It felt like we are going backwards.

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And honestly, this is why it probably took me longer than what it should have of letting

these people go because I felt the word is felt like we already graduated from that stage.

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And I knew what was going to be

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part of my role if I had to do what I had to do.

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And we made that hard decision.

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And so because of that, we are currently wearing a lot of hats.

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And sometimes it can be very overwhelming.

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And I'll share with you guys in a few weeks on what are the things that I'm doing so I

don't get overwhelmed.

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But that being said, questioning if we're doing it right.

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Because right now, part of the journey that we are currently at

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we're having to go back a little bit and work in our business, which is also of course

causing us to not work on our business as much.

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But the truth is we are not going backwards.

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We are doing the things we must do to take our business to the next level.

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And this is what we needed at this moment.

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So I just wanna share with you guys some tips.

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I wanna share with you guys

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some things that I've learned through this journey.

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So tip number one is understanding that businesses have seasons.

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Your business unfortunately isn't a straight line.

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It's not black and white.

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If you do this, this, this, you're gonna have this.

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Like every business is different, you're a different leader, you have different

experiences.

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So for that reason, business isn't linear.

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Growth isn't linear.

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You know, it's not that you're going to hire that one person and you can just never look

back.

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We have hired hundreds of thousands of people throughout the 12 years of doing this.

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And you know, last week, the episode that I recorded was about how when it comes to

promotions, thinking that you have hired the person that you thought was gonna take your

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business to the right level,

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And then just slowing it down a little bit, but to understand that business is not a

linear business does not just go, you know, it's not just you got to understand that

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business is business and there's different seasons to that business.

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And sometimes it may be build, delegate, and then pull back.

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You know, sometimes we do have to pull back when we're seeing certain things aren't

working.

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Certain people that we put into place aren't doing the job that we need done.

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But with what we're currently working on.

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us rebuilding, we're going to build a stronger business because we know certain things

that are expected from our team.

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And because we've been through this, now we're not going to allow certain things to

happen.

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And so if you do not understand that, that is identity that you're going to have to find.

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So the number two is to understand that working in your business does not mean that you

failed.

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Stepping back isn't truly stepping

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is a step back.

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It's part of leadership and as a leader, sometimes you must take on certain roles because

that's what the business needs.

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That's what the business needs at this moment is for you to step back and do those things

where you are working in the business and maybe still continue working on the business,

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but because you are working in it, that's where the business needs right now.

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Number three, and this is big, egos.

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Egos is a real problem and I feel like

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We probably had certain people and did certain positions for longer than they should have

because of the ego, knowing that when we let those people go, I'm having to now step into

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those roles.

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And those are probably the hardest part.

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It isn't the work, but not letting our ego be the driver.

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It was letting go of the thoughts of, I thought we already moved past this.

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We shouldn't be at this point anymore.

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We've been doing this for 12 years.

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What will people think?

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Who cares what people think?

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Like they don't pay our bills.

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But of course, egos are something we have to go through of to lose that ego and be okay

with the punches.

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This business isn't a straight line.

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And number four, books.

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Books don't teach timing.

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Books teach principles.

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You know, last year I read

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buy back through your time.

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And so the philosophy of buying back your time, it's a great book, put to understand that

business have different timing, different phases where you may have to go back and work in

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your business.

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Timing is everything in your business.

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know, what works on a $1 million business may break you at a $300,000 business.

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So just for you to understand that.

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You know, what may have worked in another book may not work for your business.

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You know, you're a different person and you have different experiences.

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You may have not experienced what that person has experienced and you may have to learn

certain things.

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So working in your business is not the problem.

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Tip number five is to understand, do what the business needs from you right now.

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I personally understand this isn't forever.

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I personally understand I will not be doing admin stuff forever.

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You know, right now I went back to doing interviews, to doing onboarding, to doing admin

work, business licenses, things that I hadn't done in a long time that our admin was

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taking care of.

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But that person is no longer here and I'm the person that needs to up uh and take care of

things.

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Because if not, that's what our business needs right now.

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This is the season we are in.

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This is just the now.

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And strong business owners know that.

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We know that this is just a season and I know that when I do rehire an admin, because I

will rehire an admin, that admin's gonna be a person that's going to help us take the

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business to the next level.

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They're going to have the knowledge that I need.

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So you are not falling or you are not failing because you're back in the weeds, back in

the works of things.

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I don't think I'm failing.

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I think there are certain things that I've had to do.

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to make sure the business lasts for the long run.

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This is leading because when you are willing to go through certain things in business

where the business needs you, for one, that's leadership.

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Doing the certain things.

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Also, because I'm willing to do the certain things, when I do hire an admin, I can ask for

certain things, because I'm willing to do certain things.

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That's respect.

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So I personally want you to take a seat back.

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and think, what am I avoiding right now within my business?

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Maybe because of ego, but what is it that you're avoiding right now that you know that

needs done within your business?

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And I want to invite you to join our Facebook group and let us know.

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So if this episode has given you any clarity, please share it with another contractor who

feels like they are failing because they are working in their business.

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instead of on it.

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Every business has different seasons and the season you are in right now doesn't mean it's

the season that's is going to be here forever.

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And as always, let's keep building a better contractor business.

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If you believe that this episode brought you real clarity, be sure to share it with

another contractor who also needs it.

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And if you want to keep this conversation going, be sure to join our community of

contractors inside Building Better Contractor Businesses Facebook group.

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This is a community where we talk through the real problems.

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that you are having in your business.

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The link will be found in our show notes.

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And remember, we are not just completing projects.

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We are building better contractor businesses.

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I will see you next time.