From Tradesman to Entrepreneur: Andrew Houston’s Business Journey Part 1

I realized I needed to become a business owner. I needed to systemize things the same as how I systemized building automation. I had to systemize my coaching business. And that actually was more difficult, I'll be straight up with you. Than for me, it was a lot more difficult to do that than it was to systemize my contracting business because I knew the trade so well that I could systemize something in a very short period of time. Most owners of contracting businesses, like 90% were the Gretzky in their realm. Okay. When they were working for somebody, they were given the most difficult jobs. They were ones that could solve problems that others couldn't solve, just like I described earlier. Isn't this funny? So that's what they value, and that's what they carry through to owning a business.

Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Bob Govreau. It is a pleasure to have you with us on this fine day. Listen, I've got a special guest. I know I say this all the time, but this individual has been someone that I've worked with for years. He's going to bring lots of insights, he's going to bring lots of expertise. He's going to bring lots of wisdom. And I know that he likes to share. So I can imagine that we're going to get pretty in depth. In fact, we're likely going to have to cut this episode into multiple episodes because I know we're going to go a little bit deep here. Excited to share who that is in just a second, but I want to remind you that this is the place where we dissect the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success, from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue and likely recruitment operations. Definitely cashflow and profitability today. Chatting about that. Today's episode is going to be with Andrew Houston. He's the founder and CEO of Profit for Contractors, a coaching business that works specifically with trade businesses. Now, if you're not a trade business, don't tune out. Everything that we're going to talk about is going to apply to every industry. And one of the things that I really love is that I like to join areas that, you know, it's not just accounting or tax experts or entrepreneurship experts. That's not all who I go to. I like to go to different areas, like tradies and learn about what they're doing because, you know, some of the challenges they have, I may also be having so I can learn from how they solve those problems. And in fact, maybe an industry does something so well that my industry doesn't do at all that I can learn from and implement. So don't go anywhere. There's lots of great insights that are going to be shared and yes, it is going to be tailored to the trades business, but I guarantee you the insights are going to be valuable for everyone around. So I mentioned Andrew is the CEO and founder of Profit for Contractors. He was also a tradie, started his own business. I'm going to let him share, but has grown. This coaching business has impacted almost 10,000 businesses along this journey in the trade space. So very impactful. And I know from experience working with this organization because I've worked with them over the last 10 years, that they're really extraordinary in helping trades businesses understand profits, right. Profitability numbers. As a CEO, not as an accountant, but as a CEO, giving them systems and operations for sales, marketing, recruitment, operations, how to price. There's so many systems and solutions that they have in their coaching space that is specific to helping trades businesses. It's very, very powerful. So excited to bring on my friend here, Andrew Houston, in just one second. But once again, for anybody who's listening today, this is going to be a very valuable, insightful way of looking at the journey of a business owner, but also in the trades business and in entrepreneurship in general, pinpointing some of the challenges that we see are being faced and providing solutions along the way. So without further ado, looking forward to welcoming my good friend Andrew Houston into the show. Before, Andrew, before I get you in, I just got to tell you, man, I've had the opportunity to work with you, I'm going to say, for the last 10 years, on and off. I remember connecting with you and maybe we'll. We'll chat about that story. But it's been a pleasure to watch the impact that you've had on the people you serve and, and I'm really excited to have you on here to share a little bit about your story and maybe give some advice to some of those contractors tradies. And you know what, to be honest, the same advice applies to all business owners. It just may not. You might not have a tool in your hand at the time, but welcome to the show, my friend. So good to have you here.

Thanks, brother. Thanks, man. I'm fucking super pumped. Oh, geez. I guess I gotta watch the old language here. I'm not sure.

You know what? I think we're good. I think we're good. It's a podcast, right? Yeah.

Okay.

We're good to go, right?

So. No, dude. Authentic hey, that's what it's all about, right? So no, I appreciate being on here and being, it's, it's an honor being invited to this podcast. So thanks, Bob, for having me, man.

Yeah, a hundred percent. So let's jump right into it because even just before jumping on here, learning a few things about you that I didn't even know. Would love to hear the Andrew Houston story, right, right from the beginning of how you got into where you are now. Give us the whole gamut and even, you know what, share some, some struggles and some successes along the way as you go through it.

For sure. So I know for those of you that are just meeting me, which is probably everybody for the first time. So, yeah, I'm Andrew Houston and founder of Proffer Contractors. And Proffer Contractors is a coaching business that specifically focuses in on helping contractors so that like tradies people that owning plumbing, electrical, you know, contracting companies. So I'm still a licensed industrial controls, licensed electrician. I haven't practiced it in a long time, actually helping my son who's becoming a first term apprentice and he's become an electrician. That's so weird. But anyways, yeah, so I got into the trades and ended up owning my own contracting business. My family, a lot of my family members are entrepreneurs in some form or fashion. And I think it was just in the blood. And I opened up my own contracting business and I'll be straight up, I was pretty good. So I would get thrown into building automation lines, troubleshooting systems in the industrial world, usually after other people had been sent to try and solve the problem. So what did that mean? Well, I thought, hey, you know what, I can open up my own business, you know, make lots of money. The company that I was working for, even the past, not just one company, but several companies were in chaos, disorganized. Christ, I'm not joking, Bob. We were just chatting prior to kicking this off. My dog was barking. Okay, the plumber shows up. Now my wife has already called the plumbing company to say, today's not a good day. Come back, you know, come in a week. So like the chaos exists, right? In, in contracting businesses like, and I just experienced it right now. So like, these guys need help. Well, I was good electrician. I was a really good electrician and I was good at building control systems. I was good at, you know, communicating with the guys, but that did not make me a good business owner. And I got to a point where I was working like, I'm not joking, 80 hours a week and we just had, you know, we had two young kids. Like, I mean, super young. Matt was only maybe two and a half. Mikey was newborn. And I come walking home and, you know, late again, and babysitter sitting on the couch looking at me like, hey, dude. Like, and this happens every time I babysit for you. You're always late. And my, you know, my wife looking at me going, like, okay, like, this is enough is enough. You know, she's embarrassed. And I'm like, okay, okay, I'll get going, I'll get ready, right? Because I'm late. I go run upstairs, jump in the shower, jump in. It's cold, it's. And it hit me. And I don't know why it was that moment. Maybe my brain had said, like, you need to either go work for somebody or figure this out. And what I realized was that I didn't know how to be a business owner. And building automation lines takes systemizing, like, to be a really good automation contractor. You cannot get away with building an automation line is really complex without having systems structure an order to something, okay? If you do it in the wrong order, it will not work, you know, and people's lives could be at risk and so much more. And I realized I needed to become a business owner. I needed to systemize things the same as how I systemized building automation lines. And the person that really helped me start giving that insight was my wife, who, thank God, was a chartered accountant and made me realize, like, one of. One of many areas that, like, I did know how to quote jobs. And I thought, fuck, of course I know how to quote jobs.

We mean, I get them all the time, I win them all the time, right?

Yeah. The hours are not, you know, I'm dialed in on the material. You know, I'm dialed in on, on the labor. I'm like, good to go. Yeah. I did not know how to run a business, so I didn't know about labor costs. You know, I didn't know about, you know, labor burden, overhead, how to factor in break even. I didn't even know what a profit loss statement was. So, yeah, man, I. I realized that, you know, working all these hours was not bringing us money and it was not bringing me time and freedom with my family. It was the complete opposite. And so I systemized the business, sold that business, and didn't know what the hell I was going to do. You know, I'm a. I used to be a goalie until my knees got burnt out. But, you know, sitting in the dressing room with my buddies, you know, Obviously, fellow contractors, okay? And I'm like. And I was helping them with their business. And this is back a long time ago. There was no coaching. It was consulting back then. So, like the B O Dunwoodies and stuff like that. Our lawyers would consult and stuff, but there wasn't specific coaching that I knew of. So then I build a. I was sitting in that dressing room, and I'm like, the guys are like, what are you gonna do? And I said, I don't know. I don't know what the fuck I'm gonna do. They're like, what are you talking about? What do you mean, what am I talking about? They're like, dude, there's like four or five of my buddies were tradies, and they own their own contracting companies. And they're like, andrew, you've helped us increase our profits and this and that. And I'm like, They're like, people would pay for this. I'm like, really? And they were actually my first. They were my first clients that I actually started working with. And the rest is history, man. So that's the story.

I love that. So walk me into. Okay, you've got to this point. You're having a beer with your buds. They're now signing up for contracts to go. Wow. We see the value of what you're bringing because you've experienced this. You've done this in your business.

How.

How did you start? You know, what was the next step? I guess for profit for contractors. Then from that moment, right, you've got a few clients, but now you've got this new idea, this new concept that also needs to be systemized, streamlined. Tell me a little bit more about that and that journey.

You mean as far as building profit for contractors or. Yeah, yeah. So what happened was, as anybody, you know, almost. I'd say in almost in any field, whether you're in accounting or you're a lawyer or. But especially tradies. My tradies hang with tradies. So the referrals that I started to get was crazy. Like, it was crazy because all these guys needed help. So he tells a friend. They tell a friend. And I started to realize, wait a second, it's happening again.

I work in 80 hours a week.

That's right. Like, what the fuck is right? How. How did this happen? Right? So then I had to systemize my coaching business, and that actually was more difficult. I'll be straight up with you then. For me, it was a lot more difficult to do that than it was to systemize my contracting business. Because I knew the trade so well that I could systemize something in a very short period of time. Once I had the knowledge, you know, say it's quoting. Once I had the insights from my beautiful wife of how to look at the financials, I knew how to apply that super quickly and then I knew how to systemize it. But on the coaching front I, I didn't and there was a lot more people skills required. Okay, and straight up with you, I'll just be straight up. No, right. If a guy's not working out on, on the job site, okay? Now this is definitely for a non union company, okay. If somebody's not working on the job site, it's get the fuck off the job site. Like by go home, like easy peasy, right? In the space of owning a coaching company, you can't, you can't behave that, okay. Like when you're on a job site, guys are cursing, squaring at each other. Whether it's a, a good fun joke or whether it's serious, it's just the environment sort of adheres to that and you know, I still enjoy it. Some people might find it offensive, but you're on a job site, got tons of different nationalities and you just, it's just part of that environment. Well, when you're dealing with a coaching environment, you can't talk to people the same way and deal with them, right? And Bob, like you, you've, you experience that, right? You can't talk to.

No. You've got to up level your, your professionalism to a certain extent, right? Because, because now those people are coming to you for guidance and they're looking to say, Andrew, you've gotta be better than, you've got to behave better than us because we're coming to you to make us better.

That's right. Which is, which was really difficult to change, okay. I still have some of that in my blood. Okay. Now people might disagree with this. You know, all humans have the ability to change, okay. That's why we're not whatever monkeys or apes or whatever you want to say, right? We have the ability, but there's some innate traits. My parents both from Ireland. My dad, he's not here anymore but I mean he was a hardcore Irishman with an Irish temper and you know, so going in the trades that was dealing with guys that are yapping, you know, yapping at me was like, this is easy. My, I grew up with this, right? Two older brothers. Yeah, so, so yeah, I had to systemize my coaching business and that took a lot of effort. And time, you know, that took engaging even with people like yourself. Right. You know, at one point you were our, you know, virtual cfo and having those next level insights, even getting insights from a legal perspective you like, it was a completely different level of acumen the. That I had to learn, not just for my own coaching business, but then to bring that to the clients.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because I was going to make that point for sure, was that you weren't just doing this for you, you were also doing this to relay this message and these teachings to everyone you were working with, which is so powerful. And that's, I think, the power of coaching, right?

A hundred percent. Yeah, a hundred percent. Coaching is one of the most powerful things. If you get the right coach. Okay. If you have somebody with the right mindset and, and how they approach things. So there's a lot of people out there, like, more than ever. You got to remember, when I first started this coaching business, like I said to you earlier, there, there wasn't anybody doing what I did. I was at. I was probably one of the beginning companies that did it. I'm sure I'm not the beginning. Okay. But there's a very. Like, you're.

You're an early adopter.

I was an early adopter. Right. An innovator. Yeah. 100% right. Now there's so many coaching companies out there. And it's funny, probably I'd say between 20 and 30% of BFC's clients actually come from other coaching companies because, no offense, they say they can coach, but they can't coach. Right. Like, and, And I don't. It's not that I think they're bad people. There's always going to be a percentage of that.

Sure.

Hey, man, you gotta have some good and evil, right? Let's be honest, right? Some people need to be, you know, kicked to the curb and something else. But. But they might have the right intention. But I really do believe this. And it doesn't. My beliefs and what I'm sharing here today, everybody is not like, this is the way it is. This is my opinion.

We're gonna put the sub clause on the bottom. Any opinions of Andrew Houston? Are Andrew Houston's alone? No. Just kidding.

That's it? Yeah. No, seriously, man, because look at a lot of coaching companies and people that say they're coaches, you know, it's not that they're not helping people. It's not that they haven't helped people, but there's a limitation, okay? Wisdom and experience has a lot to say about how far a coach can take a client and if they don't have that experience of what it was like to like, hey, I'm going to be a coach. I never owned a business before, okay? I'm going to go get this training from a franchise, okay. Doesn't mean that they can't help them, but they're, they, they have limitations because if they've never been in the trenches and experience what it's like, especially in a certain field, okay, To a certain degree, like you coach tradies, right? Like you guys help on the financials of, of contractors, right? You guys do their books, you guys do their accounting, right? You guys, I'm sure, I think you guys have an arm of legal, like you have experience in there, okay. But somebody that just says, I'm going to be a coach and I'm going to go help your hair salons or whatever. If you don't have that level of experience of what it's like to be, you know, an owner of a hair salon or have those insights specific to that area, you're going to be very limited with the guidance that you can give.

Yeah. And I would say I would make another additional distinction on there that just again, more, more credibility to you and what you bring to the table. I'll use myself as an example. Accountants like me, 20 plus years experience, although I don't look it, I know, but 20 plus years experience in the space work with thousands of tradies every year, right? There's other accountants who have that same level of experience. The difference that I feel is that I am an owner of a business. I know the stresses that go through, the cash flow constraints, the reinvestment, the challenges that nobody knows about, the hiring, the firing, the performance reviews. Right? Like there's accountants who have the same industry knowledge but don't have the same owner knowledge. And I think, you know, kudos to you. And I think there's coaches there that have never been their own business owner. And just putting a coach hat on and saying, I'm a coach now, that's not a business, you know, that's being an independent contractor. But like, you start building out, you've got coaches, you've got marketing teams, you've got finance people, you know, like it. That's just different. I got a little bit of chills just even thinking about it. But, you know, there's so much more value that people bring even just being an owner and experiencing the shittiness of those hard days. Right. It's just different.

Well, it, you can't. And I'm sure some people are going to give some flak on this, so, you know, you're more than welcome to reach out to me or whatever. I, I, I don't, I don't give a. Okay. No, it's, it's a fact. And like, I know how much you want to talk about this, but I'll, I'll say this.

Well, I think, I think the key, the key factor of this is the importance of coaching. And, and I'm sure we'll tie in the fact, hey, we both get coached right to this as well and like, the importance of it. But I don't want to take away from your, your point. I know you had something important to say.

Yeah, I was just gonna say that, like, if somebody's teaching you, coaching you and how to systemize a business and they've never systemized a business before, that'd be like the J's right now going for the World Series and say they wanted the pitcher to get some guidance on something. Right. Or one of the players and having hired a coaching company or a coach to help them that's never played baseball. Huh. That's, I wonder how that's going to work out. Right? Like, who's going to actually be the teacher, Right. So, you know, you got to be there, you know, done that. And one of the things that you guys have done, I know you've acquired some businesses and things of that nature. So if a contracting company is looking at acquiring another contracting business, like, do they get coached by somebody that doesn't know what, acquiring a business, like.

Yeah. Who's never done it.

Yeah. Oh, but I have, I've read a book, though. Like, it's, you know. Okay, yeah, me too.

Yeah.

Right, right.

But, but then reality is different than the, than the framework, than the book. Right?

So last thing on the coaching is this coaching is actually imperative to people. Okay. You could call a psychologist a bit of a coach. Okay. You know, I've gotten help by psychologists throughout my whole life. Okay. My wife and I as a couple, and we're freaking great couple. And people go, you know, well, how is it that you guys have been together for like 30 some years? I was like, yeah. Like, was everything just been, like, smooth? No, man. Everybody's going to go through challenges. It's. How do you go through them? And who do you ask for help? Okay, so getting help, whether it's a coach, a psychologist or somebody, you need to get help. You can't see. You know, you hear the Old adage, right? Like, you can't. If you're a golfer, you can't see yourself swinging in the moment, yes, you could do a video recording, but in the moment, you can't. Okay? That's the same with business. So, number one, getting help, whether it's a coach or. Or other avenues in life, is absolutely key. Number two is you. You want to make sure that you're getting somebody that you know can help you, that has the experience beyond just some sort of process. Okay. That can actually relate to you and beyond where you currently are as far as where you're currently at and where you want to go. And number three is that it doesn't end. Getting help in whatever fashion that is, should be something that's part of life forever if you really want to make the most out of life. Right. So I was just listening to, you know, podcasts. I'm sure a lot of people have heard about Mel Robbins and Jen's like, here's. There's this breathing technique, and I. And I try it. I'm like, man, it worked. But there's some things I tried. It didn't work. But constantly looking to improve yourself through others is huge because you're going to leapfrog decades of the days because they're bringing so much experience to the years of experience, like yourself and your team, Bob, that can help people that you just hear that. You hear the saying, eh, where people are proud to go. Yeah, man, you know, you got to learn it the hard way. Why do you want to learn. Learn it the hard way? I mean, if you want to feel pain, I can just take a stick and beat you with it if that's what you want, you know, like. Yeah, like the hard way.

I can call you names, too, if you want the emotional part of it, you know?

Yeah. We can sit over beer all day and you can just sit and complain about how it hurts and what the.

Pain is, or you did mention, you know, you were a fiery Irishman, so, you know, I'm sure that you could really do some damage if people wanted to feel pain.

No, I liked it, man. I used to train with Hoist Gracie back way back in the day, so. Yeah, of course. Yeah, but, yeah, good times, man. Good times.

But it's. And I'll just maybe just say this for everybody listening, because I, you know, I think it's one thing to. For us to sit here and talk about the value of coaches, and. And for me, I'll throw one more thing in, you know, and Andrew alluded to it here you want to find somebody who's done or accomplished something that you want to accomplish and go and work with them to help you accomplish the same thing. And that's when he's talking about the elimination of pain. It's like, yeah, you know, you probably can get here. It might take you 2, 3 years, 10 years, but why not work with somebody who got there and could help you get there in six months and know the path. Right. And I think that's a really key, powerful component of it. Andrew and I actually met, I know earlier on I mentioned like 10 years, we actually met being coached by our coach. We met at a coaching event where we were being coached. Right. And so, yeah, so not, not even are we just preaching, hey, we, we believe in the value that coaching brings. And, and I'll say I am a. More of a consultant than a coach, I would say, when you were referencing that earlier on. So like I, I can dabble in both, but I'm definitely not a full time coach. But the value of knowing that we believe in it so much that we're constantly being coached. Andrew referenced family life and emotional life and, and there's business life and there's physical life. Like, I have a personal trainer that I go to because I wanted to make sure that my son was never stronger than me partially. But, but it's like, hey, you know.

It'S true though, isn't it?

I don't know. I have not been, you know, the God's gift to a physical specimen or a bodybuilder in any way. I don't know how to do that. Like, I can read everything, but I go to the gym and it's a very focused time. I've put on 25 pounds of muscle in the last two years and I am in the best shape of my life. Why not? Because I was reading a magazine or a book on how to do it. I went to a coach, he put the frameworks in, he held my hand. Not literally, but he walked me through everything on how to get there. And I'm not even close to being done, but I can see the progress and I know that he's gonna be the person to help me get to my end result. And that's the power of coaching guys. It's. It's so very important.

Yep.

Andrew, let's turn to some tradies here. And obviously you've spent a good portion of your career being one, but mostly coaching them and helping them elevate their business, their life. I know we've got A ton of people that we've worked with together that even yesterday. And I won't even reference who they were. Even yesterday, we were talking about you and the impact that even our collaborative efforts. But coaching that you've brought to changing their lives, and it's. It's super powerful. Give me, you know, your top three takeaways for a tradie today. To say these are things that tradies are doing that they could improve upon, or these are the number. The three biggest challenges that they would have.

Sure. Awesome. Three. Let's see the three.

Um, I'm just throwing three out. It could be four, it could be two.

No, no, dude, no. It's all. It's all good. It's all good. Uh, I like. I like being on the fly here. I like the. All right. I like that here's the question, right?

Let's do it.

And. And I. Psychologically, I believe that in a lot of cases, the answer that people give, the first response that they give tends to be like, from the heart response. Okay, so I'll just let her rip. So the first thing is how you see yourself. Okay? And let me be more explicit. How you see your value. So tradies and any entrepreneur, they tend to see. But let's focus on tradies here. Okay? And people might be thinking here. I mean, you're thinking about, oh, man, these guys have been talking about coaching for so long. Stuff like that. Well, how. I'll tell you what, by the time I'm done, these three principles, you guys are going to see some value, I hope, of coaching, because you're going to. I want you to have a bit of a paradigm shift. And a paradigm shift is seeing something differently. Once the human brain sees something differently, it tends to. It doesn't forget that unless there's some brain damage or something that happens later in life or what have you. Okay. Or some sort of disease, what have you. So the first thing and think about this, guys, is how do you look at the value of yourself as an owner? Because I looked at my value as being an amazing electrician. Because we tend to value what it is that we're really good at. Why? Because people say you're really good at it and it feels good. The problem with that is that's not what's needed. That. That's a feel good. All right. Hey, man, I can do that Frickin. I can do that job as a tradie. I can roof that. I can do that roof in half the time. Way better quality. I can frame A house. I can man. I know the angles. I know how to do the math, you know, Electrician, I can program this. Program a logic controller or robot or better than anybody bending pipe. All you guys listening? Yeah. Whatever the trade you're in, I'm a plumber. I can. I can do the best plumbing job. I understand valves. I understand, like, guys, okay? And if you're driving in your truck or you're at the office and you're listening to this, you're like, yeah. So think about it. You're probably the Gretzky of your trade. Most owners of contracting businesses, like 90% were the Gretzky in their realm, okay? They were. When they were working for somebody, they were given the most difficult jobs. They were ones that. That could solve problems that others couldn't solve. Just like I described earlier. Isn't this funny? So that's what they value, and that's what they carry through to owning a business. Hey, if I know how to do that, then I can do a better job than this guy I'm working for. So I'm going to open up my own contracting business. There's the problem. The problem is that that skill set is only a fraction of the skill set that you need to know to be a great business owner. At pfc, we call it a champion CEO. Why? It's not just a CEO, it's a champion. Champion means, like, as contractors, we're at the fucking win. We are very competitive. Most entrepreneurs are very competitive, but tradies I know for a fact are very competitive. Okay? There's a certain sort of bubble, right? Usually they're in the sports or they're in the hunting or they're. Why? Because that's part of the nature. Okay? But that's not going to make you a great business owner. It's actually going to hold you back. Because the fact is you have to let the thing that you are great at go and run a business. Running a business is not being mean. Been on the tools. And if you tell me, well, I'm just going to be myself in the truck. But then you don't have a business. You just have a job. You know, you've probably heard this acronym. Some of you are not just over broke. Why? Because the minute you stop fucking doing work is the minute you stop getting paid is the minute you're broke. And that is not a business. That's a job.

And truthfully, to add on to that as well, right, those are the tradies as well, who are thinking, my payday is really going to be when I sell my business. And unfortunately, if it's all relying on you doing that work, there is no business to sell. And Andrew, I. I don't mean to interrupt your three because I think you're on a roll. And that was awesome. I had to go through that myself. So relating this to non tradies as well, being the artist, being the best accountant, tax guy, you know, like the Gretzky. I love that sort of analogy. And then I had to give that up to empower my team to do that so we could do it at scale. You know, it had to be. It was tough. It was not easy. It was a hard thing to do. Probably the hardest thing I've had to do professionally was know that I had to give that up to get. To get better. And super powerful. So love that. Okay, number two.

Yeah. All good. All good. And remember this, guys. Remember this, okay? It's not about being the best chardinium ever, you know, moving forward. That's not what it's about. The game changes. If you're going to be an owner of a contracting business or any business, your goal has got to be the best leader of owning a business. To the point that it can run without you. Yes, without you. Because if you want to sell your business, it's not as Bob is not worth shit. All you're going to get is what's the value of the trucks, the fricking material, the tools. And guess what? If I'm buying your business, I'm not out to screw you, but I'm going to get a good deal, okay? Because your business is not worth jack from a value perspective of regenerating revenue without you. Because it can't run without you. Okay? So make their profits now, guys. The end game. Great. Sell your business. But you guys, any trading listening to this, I'm going to tell you right now is the greatest demand of all time in the history of man and person kind, okay? Being politically correct here because it's true, right? There's amazing women running contracting businesses.

God love.

Yes. It is the greatest time in the history of mankind of especially for contractors to make a shit ton of money before you even think of selling it. Why? It's the greatest exit of small businesses in history in the next five to ten years. Okay? And guess which is at one of the top ones that's exiting trades companies. Why? Because they're hanging up the keys and walking away. And yet the demand for trades is going up. And the guys that own contracting businesses that are too old, they're just hanging it up and selling the trucks. So talk about supply and demand, guys. It is gold. So if you're not making a shit ton of profits right now, you need to talk to Bob, talk to PFC or something because you should be making a shit ton of profits guys, right now before you even think of selling. So that's number one. Number two is you need to know this. Back to skill sets, okay? Skill set of being an owner. But I want to be very specific. And Bob, I'm not picking this just because we're on your podcast. It's because it's from the bottom of my heart, profit for contractors. It's not sales for contractors, not marketing for contractors, not hiring for contractors. It's profit. Now do we teach all those things? A thousand percent. Do we have systems for them? A thousand percent. But why profits? Because that's why you get into business is to have profits in our world at pfc, to pay for your freedom. If you're not profitable, you won't have the money to hire an admin. You won't have the money to pay your guys what they're worth. You won't have the money to pay for your kids education or your vacations to delegate and offload these things. So you need to make profits, not sales. So what's the, what's the second one? You need to understand your financials, guys. If you're listening to this podcast and you do not know these two things, and there's a lot more than these two, I'm just going to say these two. If you are pricing a job right now, especially if it's a medium to large size job, but any job. But let's just go with those two, you need to pause right now and either give Bob a call or his team or pfc. If you do not know what your overhead is, your overhead guys, and from your profit and loss statement, if you do not know what your labor burden is, I can tell you right now, if you're putting 30, 40 points on a job, you are not making 30, 40 points, you are quoting it blindly. Your overheads guys, is what you got to pay whether you get a job or not. The, you know, for electricians, for everybody. But whether it's the hydro bill, whether it's your rent, whether it's your leases with the salary guys, if you don't include that in your quoting, then you're not including to make a profit to pay for those expenses. And that means you are quoting in most cases, not profitably. Okay, so you need to know your financials, you need to know your numbers. Because every decision you make in your business should make a profit. Cost you profits, Bob. What do you got to say to that? Being the financial man, Andrew, I don't.

Have much to add to that. That's. You know, I preach that all day, every day. If you don't know the score of what's happening in your game, how do you know if you're winning? And it's so powerful, you don't need to be an accountant. Right? We're not, we're not suggesting. You need to be able to manipulate data and create all kinds of sophisticated forecasts. You need to understand at a CEO level what your profit margins are, what your overheads are, and how to price your projects so that you have long term success. Right? It's, it's not. We're not asking you to go back to school. This is a, this is a fairly straightforward component of being a business owner. You can't ignore it. And you have to have the right people on your team who can help you interpret it 100%.

Look, guys, whether you go to Bob or whether you go to PFC or whatever place, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say this and I'm gonna say this big time. Accountants were my arch nemesis.

And I married one and I get it. I married one. Yeah, that's true.

Do you wanna know why, Bob?

Yes, actually I do.

I'll tell you why. Yeah, I'll tell you why. If you're an owner of a contracting business and your accountant has not brought these things up. You see me getting pissed off here because I get pissed at this kind of stuff. Why? They are hired professionals that if they haven't even at minimum level told you here's what your break even number is. Do not quote below this level. If they have not had that discussion with you. You guys think I'm joking, You should fire them. Okay, Again, Andrew Houston's opinion. Why? Because they're not doing their job. Okay, I would say 95%. And I'm being conservative. At PFC, we've helped over 9,000 contractors. 95 guys. You think I'm bullshitting? Okay, when they, when those contractors come to us, do you think that they know what break even is? Do you think that they've even had it discussed? I'm sorry, I get pissed off. That's the same as an electrician, guys, as a fellow attorney, coming into a place and not knowing what the electrical code is for, what safety is when it comes to wiring a House that people's lives are actually being put at risk. And he's a licensed electrician. That's on. You think I'm joking? No. Because businesses that fail cost the life of people. The stress level, the divorces, the ulcers, the sickness of being stressed when it shouldn't be that way. Because people are not giving the right advice and they're paying for it. So yeah, they are my. They were and a bit of my still are. Because every time a client comes in, I go, show me your financials. And they, I look at this and either from a bookkeeping or accounting perspective, it's a fucking Gong Show. And they don't even look at them on a monthly basis. And the accountant doesn't give any guidance on. Or the bookkeeper. I'm like, what are you paying them for? So that's. Number two is financial. Okay, Bob, that's. That, that, that one's. You're good. Big time for you. Okay.

Yeah, cool. I hear you.

The last one is this, guys. Okay, how many of you guys are so driven by sales and notice that every one of these points I'm talking about carries to the next point, right? First one was how to look at yourself as a leader, okay? Not as a trading, as an actual champion. See, over owning a business.

Right.

Number two was knowing your numbers.

Right.

Number three, it's not about working harder. You guys hear this all the time. It's about working smarter. Okay, Andrew, I know that already, but do you. Well, let's test it all you listeners, no matter what business, type of business you're in, if I asked you what your sales, I bet you all of you guys would know what your sales are. If I asked you what your net profit is, I bet you there'd be a small percentage or you'd be like, I gotta go take a look at that. But you know your sales, right? You're driven by the wrong thing. We talked about profits before, guys. How many companies are working so hard, like, honestly, would you rather have a $3 million? This is a serious question, everybody. Okay? And no matter if you're at this level or not, but think of it, think about the answer. Would you rather have a $3 million business at 10 points, a 2 million at 15 or 1 million at 30? Which one? I'll take the 1 million at 30 all day long. A lot less work, lot, lot less hassle, better clients because they're going to pay for the value, not for you being the lowest price. And you're going to have people that work for you that are going to value your business. Why? Because you're going to treat them properly. You've got the profits to support them, you know, to give them some sort of like plan, financial plan, support, benefits. I'll take the 1 million. Guys, it's not about working so hard. It literally is about working and your business, like a true champion CEO. Okay, where are you putting your time? If last week you look at your calendar or the week before and I ask you, how much time have you been spent becoming a champion CEO? And you go, I don't know how much time. I don't even have any time on this. And your time is spent cleaning the fucking shop, stacking the shelves, taking out the garbage. Guys, you're not behaving as a champion CEO. You're not valuing your time and you're, you're, you're working way too hard, guys. So work less on the, but more on the right things so that you can get your profits and your business to pay for freedom.

So I wanted to, I want to just jump in on that too. And I completely agree with everything you just said, but I want to make a, like a sub clause to say, but this doesn't mean this, okay? Because this pisses me off, Andrew, is the whole idea of having like passive income and creating a lifestyle business. Okay? So this is, this is my challenge. And I love your take on it too, but there's a lot online that everybody's like, oh, no, you just, you just invest in. This is just a lifestyle business. You don't even have to work hard. You don't even have to try. You just, you get this, you jump into this business and you just make all this money and it's, it's bullshit. And what Andrew is saying, that sort of intercepts. What I'm saying is that it's not going to be easy, right? It's not going to be easy to become a champion CEO. It's about focusing and prioritizing on the right things so that you're not being overworked. But just imagine the combination of. Everyone says work smarter, not harder. But just imagine working hard and smart and the power of what that can, can come into. It's not working. Working hard doesn't mean working 80 hours a week, but being focused and driven on driving and building a business as a champion CEO like Andrew references. That's the power of it. It's not to say, hey, this is, we're just going to create a cakewalk for you and you get to walk away.

No, that's right. That's right. Well said.

You know, the power of this is combining your commitment, passion and dedication for owning this business and driving its success. That is really, you know, put the power behind that. And that's where we just, we kick ass.

I 100 agree. You know, this whole, oh, I don't know, I probably shouldn't name it, so I won't. But there's, there was, I never forget this book that came out. Okay. It's like a top secret book, right? Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. And I never forget reading this chapter and it's, you know, they're talking about, I'm not saying this, what the whole book implied, but there's this one chapter, you know, the person's like, yeah, if I sit on top of the mountain and I think good thoughts all day, then good things are going to come to me. Yeah. Okay. Hard work is a given. Okay? Hard work is a given. You got to put in the time. But is where you're putting the time actually giving you what you want out of the business and what the business needs? And let's just say something else that hasn't been brought up today. Okay, let's take business and just put it over here for a sec. Okay? What's the most important thing that you need to protect? Well, I'm going to give you my opinion. The most important thing you need to protect is your family, is your health. Those things you cannot put a frickin price tag on. So this whole profits pay for freedom. What Bob's saying you've got to work hard guys to make shit happen. But guess what? We haven't talked about this today, but you've got to work hard, period. A champion CEO, which I didn't finish the definition of be clear. It's a champion CEO of your life and your business. Let me say it again. Champion CEO of your life and your business. If it's just your business, I don't even want to talk to you. What do you mean? Oh, there's lots of wealthy guys out there, lots of wealthy owners that are the most unhealthy people, been the worst fathers or worst partners. Well, guess what? That's not part of the playbook, okay? Working hard is working on becoming a champion CEO. That means we're talking about your calendar. I asked that question about how much time did you work on being a champion CEO? How much time did you spend and default in your calendar? Not just for the champion CEO stuff, for the business to spend time with your kids to go and take Your wife to go on a nice trip to surprise somebody to put a sticky note on the wind on the mirror of your partner and go, hey, good morning, I love you. How much time that take? Oh, no, I didn't have time to think about that. Yeah, because you're in unbalanced. If champion CEO, working hard is working hard as it goes up and down. But you need to have some form of balance. And I hear these top speakers go. You know, if you want to be the best entrepreneur in the world, just face it. You know, you just have to accept there's going to be lots of times and months when you don't have balance. Yeah. You know what? I say that bullshit. Then you're not prioritizing things. Something happens to your, to your family, okay, and you're not there for them. Man, I coach all my kids. I coach my kids. Soccer, hockey, you name it. Best memories I've had. I've had great memories with the business, but these are the best of the best, okay? Going to Utah, down to fucking rapids and jumping off a boat and like sleeping on the side of a fricking in the, in the desert like, or going out camping in the backyard. Like guys, you've got to. Life is too short, okay? So make sure working hard is working hard on the whole picture, not just the business. Be the champion CEO, Be balanced, okay? And it's going to be fucking hard. And there's going to be nights when you don't sleep that much. I take pride that I get up every morning at 4 o'. Clock. Now, I grew up on a farm, but I get up at 4am A lot of my buddies go, you're fucking crazy, Andrew. Am I? Am I really? What do you mean? Well, I went to the gym at 5. What? Yeah, I was back home at 6. Okay. Yeah. Then made breakfast for the family, like. And I'm not saying I'm a perfect dad, okay? I've got issues I had to get, you know, I got counseling and lots of other things to grow. But guys don't sacrifice that. Nothing is worth that. I will tell you that. In my personal opinion, that's again, that's my opinion. And that heavily gets reinforced with the thousands of contractors that we talk to that come to us in regret because they weren't there for the kids. Because they're on their second marriage, they've had two fricking heart attacks. And now that they got their free time, they can't go climb the mountain. Why? Body can't handle it. They can't go Travel, why they got diabetes, they can't go like, you know, and a lot of these things were things that they could have had a very high chance of preventing. So there's my little rant on that.

I love it. No, I couldn't agree more. I'm there for 99% of all my kids stuff. Again, not perfect, but you know what, it's, I'm definitely, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a great dad, you know, and a great husband. And that means a lot. And maybe it doesn't mean a lot to some people and that's, that's okay. You know, you got to choose, choose your own adventure here. It comes with side effects, but that's definitely been something I've never wanted to compromise and, and it comes with running a good business. Right. Andrew, that was, that was awesome. I want to. Just one last thing I want to ask you and then I'll, I'll let you go. But, and this is something I ask everybody because I think it's really important. So if you put yourself back to the 20 year old version of you, back to before your entrepreneurial journey started with both your electrical company and with pfc, what advice would you give yourself from who you are today back to being 20. What advice would you give yourself at 20?

Wow. Wow. That's a powerful question. Instantly what came to mind was pride. Yeah, I haven't, and I haven't really thought about today's world too much, but let's just deal with your question. You know, related to me, I grew up first generation Canadian. Both my parents from Ireland and they left because, you know, there's some really bad things going on over there. Okay. Not to, we're not going to get into that. But they grew up, you know, when they first came to Canada. It's hard for people to believe this, but yeah, they didn't want to know. There were signs on windows saying don't hire, hire Irish people. Okay. And we hear about a lot of other nationalities and things of that nature, but I'm just telling you, that's the fact. Okay, so they had some really tough times. Now what's this got to do with pride? Well, they grew up learning not to complain. They grew up learning to just deal with whatever crumbs were given to them. And there's a lot to be said about that as far as strength, but there's a lot to be said about that. Back to balance. That's a weakness. It's part of pride. Okay. My parents could have been like, there's many moments, my mom tells me now after the fact, she's 84 years old, where they were almost, but the house was built to be foreclosed on or we had to move into my grandparents place. And I didn't know what the reason was because they were going through some freaking hard times. But they didn't share that with anybody, okay? Because of pride. Well, that was given to me. That's something that I learned. And so what's the one thing? Ask for help. I went too long and too much of a risk of my marriage. And there was those moments of not being there. You know, thank God I caught it early. But there was too many times where I. There was answers to the problems I was dealing with that I didn't raise my hand for help. And there was many times where people were, hey, Andrew, you okay? Hey Andrew, is there anything I can do to help? No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. You know, and a lot of us are like that, okay? From my generation and your generation, Bob. Now today's world, I don't know, let's not get into that. But people that are listening to this, how many of us as business owners that we have so much pride that we think we can figure it out ourselves? Back to that. Remember this right at the beginning of a combo, people being proud of, you know, I'm going to learn it the hard way. Don't be proud of that. That's a weakness, okay? Now back when my parents came over, that was valid. You had to tell yourself that because that's the way it was. There wasn't work for them, there wasn't food, there wasn't this ability to, you know, easily succeed. It was hell. And so you had to tell yourself, hey man, we're going to learn the hard way. We're going to, we're going to survive the hard way. Because it was a hard way. You don't have to do that today. So, you know, there's. That's something that I would tell myself because I went literally almost a decade with my contracting business where I was learning the hard way. And I took pride in that. And I didn't tell anybody when I sat with my buddy contractors and had breakfast. Hey, Andrew, how's it going? Oh, good, man. How about you? Hey, Bob, how's it going? Oh, really good. Meanwhile, we can't pay our fucking bills, we can't make payroll. It's not going good. Guys, like people are there to help you if you let them help you, okay? And it doesn't mean, you need to be a whiner all the time. That's not what we're talking about. But ask for help doing it and figuring out it on your own. The hard way is not the right way. It's the wrong way. Okay, so that's what I would say.