17. Why Contractors Undervalue Themselves (And How It Impacts Their Business)

Have you ever wondered why some contractors charge twice as much as everyone else and

still stay super busy?

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It's not because they're better or because they're smarter.

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It's because they see more value and what they bring to the table.

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Today we are talking about perception of value and how it might be affecting your business

more than you realize.

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If you believe that this episode

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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.

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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, we are building better contractor

businesses.

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I will see you next time.

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Today, this topic that I'm going to be speaking about has been on my mind for a very long

time.

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I truly believe of the way our business is doing is by the perception.

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Of the value you see in yourself.

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Think about it.

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From the amount you charge, the jobs you bid, the jobs you won't bid, having, as I talked

about a couple weeks ago, having high standards, the opportunities you go after, and the

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people you spend your time around.

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A lot of that starts with how you view your own value.

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And I will be super honest with you, life has been lifing.

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A couple months ago, I had a death in the family around Christmas time.

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It was very, very hard timing.

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And there's also been other things going on on the family side of things.

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And then business.

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From everything from personal to a death in the family.

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And then business slowdown.

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I would also say we've made plenty of mistakes.

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Plenty.

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A lot of the things I feel like we may be currently going through in business being slow

is due to the mistakes that we made.

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The people, the standards that we allowed.

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But we've been in business long enough that

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When things don't seem to be going great, it can start messing with your confidence.

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It can start messing with the reason probably why things aren't going as fast as they once

were.

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But from everything we've just been going through the last few months, one of the things

that have not changed and will never change is the perception of my value.

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I personally still know what I bring to the table.

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I still know what our company brings to the table.

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I still know what we I still know what we are capable of.

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Because a slow season does not determine your value.

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One mistake that you make, one mistake that we make, does not determine my value.

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One bad customer does not determine your value.

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So when I first started this journey, I did not know was possible.

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I did not know that I would still be here in twelve years after being in this business for

twelve years.

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I remember looking at other successful business owners.

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And thought maybe they s had something that I did not.

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Maybe they came from a somewhere where I did not come from.

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Maybe they were smarter than I was.

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Maybe they had more money.

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And maybe they had better connections than I had.

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But over time, I realized something.

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Most successful people are not superheroes.

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They're people who decided to keep going no matter what.

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So one of the most important things that I think that I've

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Done since I've started is to invest in myself.

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I've read books.

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I've probably read thousands of books.

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I've listened to audiobooks from the time that I drive, from the time that I clean.

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That's my time where I'm listening to audios.

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I've listened to podcasts.

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I've attended so many networking events.

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I spend time around people who are doing the things that I want to do.

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Every time I get around people that have the things that I want.

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my views got bigger.

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What I thought was possible was even more.

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And I think this is super, super important because sometimes it isn't that we need another

strategy.

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Sometimes our we just need to open up our values, increase our values, increase what we're

the perception of what we're worth.

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And sometimes it's not that we need another strategy.

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We just have to continue doing the things that we're doing, but more.

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So, you know, and a lot of times I do see contractors every day.

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I've been doing this for now for twelve years, who are winning at their careers, at their

business, but then you see people who are not winning, other contractors who are not

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winning, who are probably more talented.

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And I would say the difference isn't always skills.

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The difference is confidence.

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They're confident.

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And then sometimes just believing in yourself is really all you need.

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Sometimes the difference is understanding

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That you to have is to charge more.

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Sometimes the difference is believing you are capable of something bigger.

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So when it comes to increasing your perception of value, your perception of how much you

should charge, your perception of what you are capable of doing in your business, I have

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some tips for you.

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So number one, huge.

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As I said, I've read hundreds of thousands of books.

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Number one,

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Invest in yourself.

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If you want to increase your value, it starts with yourself.

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Read books.

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I've read hundreds of books.

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As I said, thousands of books from sales, from finance, from mindset.

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I've listened to podcasts, listened to audios, attended events, learned new skills.

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I'm currently in a mastermind for podcasts.

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Well who's helping me with this podcast?

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So work on communication.

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Communication skills, Toastmasters, working on leadership.

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I just joined and interviewed for Henderson Leadership of Henderson.

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Work on sales.

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You know, we follow Tom Rever, a goke that he has every Friday for part of their coaching

program.

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He helps you with increasing your coat your sales skills.

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All of these things are going to help you grow.

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The more valuable you become, the more knowledge you gain, the more confidence you gain.

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Your business can only grow as much as you do.

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Number two, this is huge.

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Get around the people who think bigger.

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This has changed for me, changed everything for me.

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I'm very strategic about the people that I spend time with.

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I make sure that I hang out with, you know, being a woman, other positive women, being a

mom, hanging out with other moms as a contractor, hanging out with other successful

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contractors.

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Because if everybody around you thinks small.

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eventually you think small as well.

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If everyone around you complains, eventually you'll complain.

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If everyone is negative, eventually you'll be negative.

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But when people around you are thinking bigger, your perspective changes.

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You know, to me, this is why it's so important that I attend those networking events that

I attend.

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There's another event that I I know of someone who has a group of networking event for

women.

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Hanging out with those positive women is very, very important.

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I also attend Women in Construction, N-A-W-I-C, Nawick.

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And this is a wonderful location for me to meet other women who are also in the trades.

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This allows me to increase my perception of what's possible.

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Hanging out with people who are successful makes you understand that you can charge more.

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Maybe hiring the next person is possible.

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Maybe building a bigger company than where your company is currently at.

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You know, it gives you an outlook of what's possible, reaching certain goals.

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And, you know, sometimes, you know, someone who's possibly not came from owning a business

or seeing other people who are successful, I if I don't purposely change the people that I

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surround myself with, all I know is the people that I surround myself with.

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So for that reason, it's super important that I surround myself with people who are also

going for their dreams and who are also successful in their business, also doing better

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than I am.

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So number three, guide, raise your standards.

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The last few weeks I've been talking about standards.

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Raising your standards.

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This is going to give you the perception of value.

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You know, people pay attention to the people who show up.

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People realize how do you communicate?

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Also realize how

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How do you present yourself in your business?

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Whether we like it or not, those things matter.

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The way you dress, the way you answer your phone, the way you send proposals.

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And as I shared with you guys a couple weeks ago, we recently changed our proposals

because for one, they were they didn't look very pretty, but for another, they did not

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show us as professionals.

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You know, the way that you communicate with customers and those things tell you, tell a

business a lot of things about you or s your business.

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So number four, stop undervaluing yourself.

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A lot of contractors are better than what they give themselves for credit for.

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And over as they always say, we are our worst enemy for critics.

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We never see the good stuff.

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We always see the things we didn't do.

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That's just like, you know, a couple years ago I was listening to a podcast and she talked

about, you know, one of the things that really bothers her is that when someone gives her

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a compliment, or when someone gives you a compliment, they're like, I'll just say my hair.

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Someone says,

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Your hair looks nice.

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And I go, I it's messed up right here.

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So it's like you're undervaluing valuing that compliment.

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So that was one of the things ever since that I heard that from a podcast.

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I truly I really truly try not to undervalue people when they give me compliments.

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But as contractors, we're better than what we give ourselves credit for.

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From underpricing, from giving discounts.

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Stop giving discounts and just stop it.

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The jobs that we take that we probably shouldn't.

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If you notice a customer is difficult, why would you want to work with them?

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But also, I would say this, that is why it's so so so important that you've been focused

on getting a quantity as well as quality of work.

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Because if you've got a quantity of op opportunities, you don't have to take the loaf

hanging fruit.

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You don't have to work with that difficult customer.

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Because you have options.

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So when you increase your p perception of your value, you don't tolerate customers that

you shouldn't tolerate.

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You don't take on jobs just because you need to, just because you need the work.

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Even though you knew it was going to be a headache, you knew that it was going to be a

difficult customer to work with.

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And we've all been there, all of us.

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So sometimes increasing your value starts with saying no.

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Saying no, I can't do that.

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Not every customer is your customer.

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Not every project is a good project.

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So number five, as I said, take care of your mind.

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So number five, take care of your mind.

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We spend so much time taking care of our cars, our tools, our equipment, our job sites,

our kids, if you're married, your wives, your husbands.

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But one of the most important things that we can do is take care of our mind.

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What are you listening to every day?

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Who are you spending the time with?

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What are you feeding your mind?

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Because your mindset impacts.

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everything you do.

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Your leadership, your pricing, your sales, your relationships, it affects everything.

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And I'm not trying to say that positive thinking fixes everything because we still have

challenges.

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I'm still having challenges.

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But when you believe in yourself, when you feed your mind with positive things and believe

what you are building is worth it, you got this.

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Nobody is going to build it for you.

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So you have to believe in yourself.

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So this week I want to ask you a question.

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Where am I currently undervaluing myself?

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Is it my pricing?

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Is it the jobs that I'm accepting?

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Is it the people that I'm spending my time with?

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Maybe it's the fact that you have not yet invested in yourself in a while.

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Be sure to pick one this week to increase your value and take action in it.

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Until next time, let's continue building a better 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.

193

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

contractors inside Building Better Contractor Businesses.

194

Facebook group.

195

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

196

That you are having in your business.

197

The link will be found in our show notes.

198

And remember, we are not just completing projects, we are building better contractor

businesses.

199

I will see you next time.