138. Shifting Your Mindset With Adriana Cecere

Today's episode of Professional Builder Secrets is brought to you by buildurn Construction Management Software. Build Earn isn't just another software. It's a comprehensive, all in one solution designed to make every step of the construction process as smooth as possible. Whether you're estimating to win proposals, focusing on project management or tracking financials, Build Earn has you covered with Xero and QuickBooks, two way integrations, invoicing takeoff, client communication, and many other features. Build Earn ensures that every project runs efficiently. Learn more about Build earn@buildear.com that's B U-I-L-E-R-N.com.

Yeah, you can't pretend something's not like what it is. It is what it is. Yet you've got to deal with the reality of what's happening in that business. And if the bottom line's not looking so good, you know, got to be realistic with that. Build that backup asap. Asap.

Welcome to Professional Builder Secrets, the podcast for building company owners wanting to grow safely and securely. I'm your host, Will Blunt, and today I'm joined by one of our executive business coaches at apb, Adriana Chechede. AP I think I got that right, but maybe not. Adriana, welcome to the show.

Thanks, Will.

How did I go with the last name?

Oh, perfect.

So, really privileged to have you on the show today, Adriana. You're relatively new to apb, but you've got a wealth of experience and bringing a lot of value to the builders that you're working with. But could you just start with a little bit of a background about your career and what's brought you here today?

Yeah, sure. Thank you for asking. So I'm actually thrilled to be here. The people that I worked with so far, they've heard this story, but I started off as quite a young entrepreneur and over the years I've done quite a bit of study to build my toolkit knowledge and skills to help people in the business space, but also to develop my own businesses. So I did start off as a 17 year old entrepreneur and my first business I did develop into a franchise. And I guess part of why I'm here as well is, is that when I was 20 years old, I designed and put my hardhead on and constructed the premises to house that business and it was also part residence, so that was really cool. And my late father, he was in excavation, so we grew up with talk about building around the dinner table every night and that was really cool. So bringing it all together, I guess over the past nearly three Decades, which is scary to say. I've started, developed and flipped more than 10 enterprises that were self owned and I've also dabbled quite a bit in construction. So yeah, from when I was 20 designed and constructed that premises, a shop and yeah, over the time I've certainly had experience in building more places that have been self designed and also renovations that we've remodeled like lots of different apartments, houses over the years and that's given me experience to kind of position myself here to help builders. So I guess in summary that's a bit of history, but that is history. But bringing us here to say I'm super passionate about business and super passionate about building as well. When I think of a building site, it sincerely gives me a buzz.

Takes you back to those dinner table conversations, I guess.

Yeah, that's part of it. Yes.

It's interesting that you bring up the three decade thing because you were sharing something off air before that when you were working with a builder recently, they know, interpreted that maybe you were, you're 20 years old kind of thing, which you do obviously look very young but you do have that, that you know, a long time working in business as well.

Yeah, that's funny. The photo he saw was certainly taken before COVID So I think everyone's taken a hit through Covid so it tends to look a bit older. Yeah, but I'm actually nearly 50. I'm happy to share that. So yeah, it was quite a funny comment but in the end it landed and he was like, yeah, I get what you've done now. So it worked out fine.

Yeah, it's funny, it's all a psychological thing, isn't it? Like age doesn't really mean much but I guess to some people it demonstrates experience and life experience and things like that.

True.

You've also authored the Amazon bestselling book Simple Strategies to Success. What kind of brought you to writing a book in the first place?

So the first one I wrote I actually co, hosted, co wrote sorry with Gentleman Steve. And how it came about in all sincerity was I'm a mum, as you know and we had children later in life and I actually thought if I'm to ever have children and obviously have to have that pause period in between them being born to kind of settling them in and all, I'd take a step back and study law and then I guess I was a later mum. So when it came to that I sort of thought, you know what, I don't know what I'm going to study law, what's it going to Give me how's it going to help my business and how I going to help people with that so that I may as well put together a book to pull my experience together so I can help people that I work with and people globally with what I've learned and my methodologies in a very cost effective manner. Because sometimes coaching and consulting isn't affordable to everybody. So I primarily wanted to put a book together to help people in a more cost effective way. So I did that with Steve and then I. Yeah. Wrote another book and then. Yeah, simple strategies to success as well.

Nice. What's the essence of, I guess that book or both of the books that you've participated in? What's the primary purpose and content in the books?

The primary content is to help a business owner at any level to reflect and revise what's going on and to give them clarity around what they need to do to get from without to where they want to be and takes them on a 28 day journey to help them through that process.

Okay, nice. So it's a bit of a reflection process to then come up with a plan to move forward.

Correct.

Okay, you mentioned that this is again, this was off air, but you mentioned that you didn't go to university so you took, I guess, an untraditional path to business. Although there are a lot of very successful entrepreneurs that didn't go to university. What do you feel like prepared you for entrepreneurship and then eventually moving into coaching as well?

That's an interesting question. I don't think anything prepared me. What drove me to that was I'm brought up to Italian parents, I was brought up on a farm and it was an awesome upbringing, lots of love, community, all that saw the hard work, heard the stories of what they went through to get to Australia and to get on their feet and. And I just thought, you know, what if I have a family, want something different to that and I want to give them a different type of life to what I had growing up, but still incorporate the love and the community and the good food and the good wine and all of that. So I decided when I was 13 years old that I was going to have a business when I was 18. And I achieved that three months ahead of time. And that's what took me on the journey. And it's really about understanding what people need and delivering that to them consistently and then surpassing their expectations and doing that consistently, which is essential essentially. What a business does, it provides to its clients or to consumers what they need.

Yeah, to your point, you probably can't be prepared to be an entrepreneur. You can read every book under the sun and speak to everyone. But there's something about entrepreneurship that makes you want to make your own mistakes, I think.

Yeah. And it's all about mindset. You get knocked down and you keep going and keep going and keep going, and you don't take it personally. Keep going.

What kind of challenges did you run into after that first business when you were 17, and then moving on into beyond that, that has kind of set you up for where you are today.

One thing comes to mind because I've been on other podcasts and they always ask this question and I keep going back to the same answer. When I was about 24, I got to a point where I achieved a whole bunch of goals and I was in a good position. And I felt that thinking back, if I had a mentor or a coach at that period of time, I would certainly have maybe gotten through the next few years a bit easier. And it was all based on mindset at that point in time. So I actually feel that that's probably one thing I would have done differently if I would have known to get mentored or coached by somebody like very early on.

Talk to me about mindset. You've mentioned that a couple of times. What is your definition of mindset in that context?

I guess nobody knows what they don't know. And also with that, life happens, things happen to people and that then sets people up to present, potentially not get past things or move forward as easily and freely as what they can to achieve their goals. There's two parts to that cutting business. You can have the practical tools and the knowledge on adapting those tools to get the business that next stage and to be consistent with certain actions to get there. But if you've got a mindset block, it will be quite difficult to stay on track with that because of the blocks. So to be either coached or to get support in getting past those blocks and eliminating those blocks certainly will help anybody in life and business, person in particular, to feel a sense of freedom and achieve their goals with more ease.

So what's a mindset block?

Well, I've studied mindset, so I'm not going to go into the scientific part, but. But it's when someone feels that they can't get to something as easy as what they should, or an example of that would be everybody would have seen somebody else achieve something with ease or it appears at ease. Right. It could be a Persona that person's putting on and that like that you could be feeling oh my gosh, that person's achieving that so easily. Why can't I do that? There's so much to that answer. But a mindset block is essentially something in your subconscious mind which stops you from achieving with ease and moving forward with ease. And it's not a problem until you want to achieve something. And that's when you realize there's that block and you feel that sense of dissatisfaction and feel that everything's so hard and difficult. I could explain it, but that's kind of.

Yeah, you've got plenty of time. So.

Yeah. So essentially, when someone's born, they could be inherited a certain way of thinking, believe it or not, or in the first seven years of their life they have experience and life happens. And in that seven year, I guess, period, they develop their belief system. And in the subconscious mind there's something called a gestalt. And that's the first imprint of a belief. So say if you're a kid and someone looks at you a certain way or says something to a certain way, it could be like, gee, you're gorgeous, or Gee, you're really good at this, that forms a belief that you're really good. Or unfortunately, on the flip side, and it's not this adult's or person's fault, they might look at someone or a kid negatively or even suggest to that child that they're not doing something right, or they scold on them if that kid has never experienced that before, they will form a belief about themselves that relates to that experience. So that forms that gestalt. From that gestalt, a neuropathways formed and that becomes stronger and stronger every time that kid and then adult experiences something like that. And it's almost like it reinforces that belief. So to. And that creates blocks because say, if someone's told as a kid, for example, money doesn't grow on trees, why do you want another lolly? Or you can't have that bike because we've already spent enough money or other things like that that would form a belief in that child's mind. So, for example, fast forward 20 years down the track and they get into building, they become a carpenter, then they want to have a business. In this instance, they might have problems to ask for contract prices at the right value because they don't believe that they're worth it, or they don't believe that money's easy, or there's something that goes on in their mind to stop them from achieving freely in that way. So that's essentially a block, and that's formed from that first time that child experience that belief and that comment. So there's actually ways that we can get rid of that by tapping into that gestalt and reframing that belief to be more positive and aligned with what that person wants to achieve it, like 20 years down the track. And then in saying that if that person never wants to become a carpenter, never wants to have a business, and never wants to charge the right margins for a job, they may never experience that as an issue.

That's fascinating. I mean, it's kind of. It was almost going down the path of nature versus nurture in a way. And I felt like that could have been a long conversation.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Knowing that it really impacts the way that you even speak to your kids because you sort of know that, oh, really? I've had a big day work. I've really got to go easy on them and I can't scold on them because, you know, it can impact how they grow up.

Well, I mean, just from a personal perspective, I think instinctively I. I know that there's learned behaviors or beliefs that I have which influence the way I act now, but trying to. Some of them are obvious. Some of them are so hidden, I think I would never even know what they were. They're the frightening ones.

Yeah, yeah. 100%. Right. And it's interesting because from a business perspective, in a mindset perspective, the business will only grow based on that driver's mindset and how capped they are if they've got a growth mindset, a closed mindset, and where their blocks are. So the business will get capped based on their beliefs. Yeah. And the reason why I studied mindset is because quite a few years ago, I was working with larger organizations, and a business of that size has generally got the funds to afford a consultant or a coach. And they've got people in different departments that are doing stuff. So what happened was I was working with these guys in these companies and, you know, they were experts at, say, for example, operations, or I was generally working with the GM CEOs or the Ops people. So I was working with these people at the different departments and they were really good at what they did. So. So what I'd do is go in review a business and we'd say, yep, that's what you think is going on. This is what's really going on. Let's bring it together. This is a plan on how we can improve the business. The money was there in the business. There were different people in different parts of the business departments of the business to implement what was relevant to them. And they were all okay with that. And the business was already set up and growing because this is because of, I guess it's history where it was, and they had a collective group of schools to make it happen. So. So we put forward those, I guess, the plan forward, and I'd help with the implementation and it would work, it'd be fine. And then I started to work with smaller businesses and using the same tools, and they had a great product, great location, great service, they were great. Everything was great. They couldn't implement the same things or even at their level. I thought, what's going on here? And then I realized, thinking back to how I was as a kid when I started out, I. My determination, like, nothing stopped me. I thought I was so hungry to kind of just make it happen because I wanted a different life. That was my purpose. I wanted to support my family when I was young, like older, and give them a different life and all those sorts of things. So I thought it was my determination, my mindset that pushed me forward. These people that I'm working with now or thinking at that time have got mindset blocks. And I thought, I've got to study to help these guys to get rid of those blocks so they can get to their next best level, so that their business can get to the next level. And then magic started to happen. So that's why I studied mindset and I became a master practitioner and nlp and that was just magical and transformational. I felt totally blessed to be able to help people in that way because then they could start to feel better and free within themselves and have more satisfaction in their personal lives, but also more freely grow their business. I know it sounds off the planet, but it's just amazing. Magical.

Yeah, I mean, I guess there's probably some skepticism around mindset and NLP training and things like this, which are used in sales, like primarily. Right. And in coaching. How do you deal with that pessimism or skepticism around that?

Do you know what? That's a really, really, really good point. So first, it's all scientific. So what I'm talking about isn't stuff made up or people have just put into a textbook to teach people to do stuff and manipulate. It's not nothing to do with that. It's all scientific and it's based on how the brain works. And also, I guess, how do I deal with that? I'll tell you my story. When I was like 16, I started to listening to Anthony Robbins and he does NLP stuff. So for me, I always thought it was a safe thing and I never thought about it as negative at all. And it's probably because I my outlook in life, I'm trusting and I believe in optimism and I believe that people are good people. So what's interesting, I started to study nlp, bit into it, the teacher started to bring up how people see it as a way of manipulating.

Manipulation. Yeah, that's. That was where I was going.

Yeah, I was like, oh my gosh, that's horrible. I never thought about that. Here I am telling everybody I'm studying NLP from the goodness of my heart and they probably thinking it's different. Right. So to answer your question, I never came across that perception until I started to study nlp. And I guess to answer your question, now it's like anything. Anyone can take a piece of information and use it for the benefit of good or towards negative. Anyone can have skills and use them one way or another. So I really think, to answer your question, it's based on that person's intent. Like I said, for most of my life I never thought about it that way. And I was actually a bit taken back that the teacher told us that because I thought how people perceiving me now but. But it really depends on a person's and an organization's values as to, I guess, how they use that learning to help people.

Yeah, I mean I've got a very high level understanding of nlp. I haven't done the training or anything like that, but my understanding is that you are provided with a range of tools you can utilize in communication and things to influence and persuade people. That's a portion of it, it's like a little part. But I mean, as a coach, are you utilizing those tools yourself to engage with your clients or are you helping them with those tools so they can cut through the noise and start to understand how they can improve as well?

Yeah, that's interesting. I use the tools to help the clients benefit, to gain freedom, and to help them improve their business.

Okay, so can you talk to me about that process a little bit more? How do you help clients, for example, clarify these mindset blocks and issues they may have and then provide them the tools to, to make change.

I'll just give you a simple example. Say if I was in a session with a builder, for example, and they feel that they're in a position where things are going downhill, they don't know what to do next, they don't know how to. I guess they don't have clarity in the direction and they don't know how to get through what they're going through. And I'm going to be very general with this, just to give you more of an example of how it would help them. There's stuff going on, they don't have clarity and they don't know what to do. So they start to think negative. They start to think, oh, my gosh, business has gone downhill, we're going to go broke. What have I done? I don't know what to do. I don't know how to, you know, everything's like, I don't know. I'm unsure. Negative. Below the line. So what I'm getting at is there's a tool above the line and below the line. So we should really stay above the line. So what I do in that instance is help them come back to above the line. So negativity, self doubt, no resources, all below the line. So what I do is break it down and then we look at their weaknesses of the business. Weaknesses, their mindset, all that sort of stuff. And I then reset their way of thinking to bring them back above the line. Say, okay, what's going on? Okay, so you need this. Let's bring that resource into place that takes that above the line. Okay, so why are you feeling this? What's really going on? So, no, it's just your perception. It's not the reality. So that brings that above the line. So I break things down one by one to help them simply rethink what they're thinking into a more positive light. And it's not all about, yeah, this is positive. This is great with the pictures and the fairies and everything's got. It's got to be solid. It's got to be like, okay, you're thinking negative because you don't think. And that makes you believe that you don't have resources. You do have resources. Let's pull that in. We can get across this this way. Let's bring that in. Let's reintroduce that. Let's connect with that person so they can help you. Let's employ that person so they can help you. So that's just one technique. And it's not essentially a tool. That's nlp. That's a tool that we use, but it's reframing the way they think, which is nlp, to bring them back above the line and positive and to feel that they're empowered to take that next step with more confidence. That's just a simple example.

Okay, let's dive into another one. Then I'm a residential builder, build custom homes and I've got a job coming up. It's just fallen over. I don't, it's, it's like. So it's left a gap in my, in my construction slots and this is stressing me out. I'm staying, I'm up at night, I've got a family to feed, I've got a mortgage to pay and I don't really know where the next job is going to come from because I don't have good amount of lead flow at the moment with quality leads coming in and it's all just piling on top of me. I'm feeling like there's cash flow strains and I'm not sure what to do next.

So in a session, obviously we'd address all those concerns one by one and break them down. And then in reality, it is what it is like, you've gotta be very realistic. If there's a gap in their construction slot planner, we need to bring in work as soon as possible so we look at what we can do. Obviously APB has got awesome action plans on bringing working fast. Have they pretty much watched those action plans? Has that builder done everything they can to bring any potential clients forward to start asap? And the reality is there might be periods where there might still be a gap because the reality as well, some builders may have reserves and may not have reserves and we can't change that. That is what it is. But it's all about doing what we can do in this period to help the business for that moment in time and also future. So if there's a gap, that means the positive to that is that sure, the money might not be coming in as quickly. Do they need an overdraft in that period of time? Like that's worst case scenario because we don't want to borrow money to, to continue. But if they need that and they've got a solid list of clients coming in from a month's time or two months time, what can we do in that period to alleviate the financial pressure to keep trades working? Can the trades be maybe utilized in a different way? But what can we implement now to fill that gap to make sure this doesn't happen again? That's the point. So is all the marketing set up? Is the marketing working? Well, if the people in the building company have got that block, there's certainly things that can be set up, whereas when they're fully busy, they essentially would not have that time to do that. So marketing's A massive thing going back in my years, if I ever had a lull, I was always working on what can I do to bring in more clients. So it was never a downtime. I never had downtime and it was never like beat myself up. What's going on? It's identifying peaks and troughs in the revenue across the year. And then when there are peaks and troughs, it's about plugging those dips to with diversifying or to bring them back up so that there's a more consistent line of revenue rather than those peaks and drops. So in that period, certainly seeing what can be done with marketing to avoid that from happening again. But from a mindset perspective, it's really not rocket science. It's about breaking down essentially what's going on, what can we do to bring work forward and what can we do now that we do have this time? And it might not feel good, but it's all about trying to reframe it so it's positive and bringing positivity to that moment in time to benefit that gap rather than looking at it as a, as a negative. Really. And then in terms of NLP and mindset, if there is something that's come up where that business owner has somehow created that block because of self sabotage or that block in that construction slot planner, we'd look at that as well. That would have been in my previous life. So I'd look at hey, you know, we what's going on and if something's identified there, certainly clear that block so that they can avoid that self sabotaging dip in their revenue.

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess there's a lot of tactical advice there around how you would deal with that specific problem. And I imagine by providing confidence in a future state which looked better than it currently did, then that naturally shifts the mindset as well. Does it?

Yes, definitely. Definitely. Yeah, but it has to be realistic. It's not pie in the sky. It's gotta be very realistic because you can't pretend something's not like what it is. It is what it is yet. And you've got to deal with the reality of what's happening in that business. And if the bottom line's not looking so good, you know, gotta be realistic with that. Build that back up asap.

Yeah, to your point as well. Like getting things in place so that you don't reach that position again as well.

Exactly. And understanding why it's happened and plugging that hole to get to the core issue.

Cool. Well, it sounds like a fun journey for that builder, that imaginary builder that I came up with. What attributes do you think are crucial for builders to keep pushing through when they are experiencing tough times like that?

I think it's about understanding what's going on at that moment. So being present, keeping your finger on the pulse at all times with real numbers, that's important. Understanding marketing and the results generated from marketing, I think that's so important. And always looking ahead, like map out at least a year ahead. And this isn't something I've discovered at apb, but in my previous life, cause I've had businesses that have gone on for like 19 years or more. It's really cool to understand trends of the past so that you can understand what's coming up past that, say 12 month period or at least within that 12 month period. Yeah. So certainly keeping you great advice. Yeah, yeah.

And just making sure you are aware of everything that's going on in your building company. Basically knowing the numbers and looking to the future and making sure you've got a solid plan in place by the sounds of it.

Yes. And certainly setting it up so that that information is available to you and is updated so that you can track things in real time at any time.

Okay, bit of a different question here. What's the most impactful piece of advice you've ever received and how has it influenced the way you coach?

It's a tricky one. It came about in a roundabout way, but I think it's important to stay grounded. And then you read these books and they said about, they talk about staying humble and retaining that element of yourself and all that, but I think it's really important to, yeah, stay grounded and humble because if you lose that element of get your feet on the ground, that's when mistakes can happen and that's when things can go pear shaped because you kind of let go of things that you put in place to really get to that level of success that and that point that you're at. So I think that that's hugely important. Stay grounded and humble. And they talk about being stable now and it can come across a bit hard and I guess cold. But I think that's important too, to have that neutral ground and be realistic with where things are at and be grounded.

Leave the ego at the door. Well, Adriana, I've really enjoyed having you on Professional Builder Secrets today. I think there's been a ton of great advice out in there for builders looking to shift their mindset and overcome some of the challenges they may be facing in their building companies. But yeah, I've loved having a chat today. If anyone wants to find out more about Adriana, they can check out her coaching profile on our website. We also have an action plan called How Builders Create a Millionaire Mindset which might be interesting for our members. But Adriana, yeah, thanks so much for coming on. Is there any final advice you want to give to the listeners out there?

They've heard enough from me. Thank you.

Will never. There's some great, I mean all of your advice in there around mindset. I could tell you are super passionate about it. So I'm glad you came on.

Thank you.

Also, a big thank you to our listeners wherever you are in the world. If you like the show today, please subscribe to Professional Builder Secrets on your platform of choice. And if you're feeling generous, leave us a review. But until next time, have a great day. Today's episode of Professional Builder Secrets is brought to you by Bill Dern Construction Management Software Build Earn isn't just another software. It's a comprehensive, all in one solution designed to make every step of the construction process as smooth as possible. Whether you're estimating to win proposals, focusing on project management or tracking financials, Build Earn has you covered with Xero and QuickBooks, two way integrations, invoicing takeoff, client communication, and many other features. Build Earn ensures that every project runs efficiently. Learn more about build earn@buildearn.com that's b u I l d e r n dot com.