189. How to Get Rich From Your Home Improvement Business | Brian Kaskavalciyan

Remember, your thinking is going to create your beliefs. Your beliefs are going to create your actions. Your actions are going to create your habits, and your habits will create your results.

This is the Wealthy Contractor Podcast brought to you by G4 Marketing. Interviews with today's top home improvement entrepreneurs about marketing, sales, money, mindset, and lifestyle. Now here's your host, Brian Kaskavalciyan.

Hey everybody, Brian here. So I've got a special episode for you here, kind of in honor of our Profit Workshop coming up. You know, one of the things that I think— it's like I said this the other day— I think that aside from our mastermind group meetings, I think the Profit Workshop is probably the most important thing that I do all year, and I thought that it would be good to talk about wealth attraction or how to get rich from your home improvement business. Because one of the things that came up when we were designing the Profit Workshop was, yeah, we can give people the mechanics of profitability, you know, how to make a profit, But, and you've heard me say this before, I think so much of it is mindset. And nobody really talks about that. Nobody talks about how to attract wealth, how to get rich from your home improvement business. And so I thought I would take a stab at it. All right, so let's talk about getting rich from your home improvement business. Henry David Thoreau said, wealth is the ability to fully experience life. I love that quote. Wealth is really about getting to live life on your own terms. Do you want to be rich? So ever since I was a kid, I remember thinking about and wanting to be rich. What's funny is that at different times in my life, rich meant something different. For example, in my 20s, I wanted to be a millionaire by the time I was 30. And then I wanted to be worth $100 million by the time I was 40. In my 20s and 30s, I wanted my own plane, a Gulfstream IV. By the way, for those of you that are interested where the name G4 marketing came from, there you go. I wanted a Gulfstream IV. I wanted a yacht. I wanted houses around the world. Yeah, I wanted it all. When I was 40, I was completely broke. So being rich just meant being able to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Now today, at 55, rich again has a different meaning. For me, rich is getting to live where I want, drive what I want, go and travel where I want, do what I want with who I want. And I've pretty much accomplished all of this. I don't want to own a private jet anymore, not that I may not do charter or fractional at some point. I definitely don't want a yacht. I don't even want to own a boat. Yet me and Addie go back and forth on that one. In fact, we're members, or we were members of a boat club. Anyway, I definitely don't want multiple houses around the world. At this stage, that's too much to think about and manage. By the way, the beauty of being an entrepreneur is that this is all subject to change. Who knows, Maybe in my 60s, I'll want all that stuff again and be willing to do what it takes to make it happen. However, I still need to be rich in order to live my life on my terms. In our case, this will take millions of dollars, but not anywhere near $100 million. I'm proud of the fact that I know what rich looks like for me. Trust me, it took me a long time not only to figure it out, but also be comfortable with the answers. I've come to realize that it takes a certain level of emotional maturity to arrive there, an emotional maturity I didn't possess until just a few years ago. Now, as an aside, do you know what rich looks like for you? This is one of the questions I ask people in my mastermind groups or anyone just seeking out my advice. Because without knowing where you're going, how could someone possibly dispense advice? Or the right actions needed for you to get there. So this begs the question, how do you get rich from your home improvement business? There are two main ways. One, have your business deliver to you the profits you need to grow your wealth outside of your business. This looks like taking your excess profits and investing wisely until your passive income from your capital funds your ideal lifestyle. Number 2: Grow your business to the point that someone is willing to write you a big check. Now fortunately, to accomplish either or both of these outcomes requires two things of you. One, profitability. You must have a business that is not just ordinary or randomly profitable, but one is permanently and extremely profitable. This requires you to develop your people and your processes so you'll get the quote-unquote right level of profit, which, you know, around here is 15 to 20% of installed revenue. The second thing that you need is a wealth mindset. You must understand how to use your mindset to create the wealth in your mind first. To be successful and become rich, you are required to think, believe, and act like a multi-millionaire business investor, not like a typical business owner. It's important for me to be very clear here. From my experience, you can't accomplish one without the other. Let's first talk about profitability. Too many people in this business accept low profits and just getting by. They accept some good years and some not so good years. Now, there are many strategic and tactical reasons for this. I don't have the time here to go into all of them, but I think you know what I mean. Not understanding what I call your profit model, not understanding how to properly price jobs, sell jobs, make leads, and develop your people to run the day-to-day of your business so you can focus on being the multi-millionaire millionaire investor rather than salesperson, installer, scheduler, fireman, whatever. This is not to say that you can't get rich on lower profits, but it's harder and riskier. Think about this. Which business would you rather have? A, $20 million in installed revenue, call it 2,000 jobs a year at a 5% profit, a million bucks, or B, A $5 million business, $5 million in installed sales, about 450 jobs at a 20% net. Now both businesses get $1 million to the bottom line, but the $20 million business requires much more work, more people, more overhead, more moving parts, and significantly more risk. I don't know about you, but I take option B all day long. So let's say you have a goal of having a business like Option B that makes $1 million a year in profit, or whatever your number is. Aside from understanding the mechanics of creating that business, you need another critically important thing, and that is the right mindset. See, I believe you have to convince yourself, for lack of a better word, that you deserve that level of profit and riches, wealth. You're worth that level of profit, you can accomplish it, and so on. I've been saying it for years, this is the real work of the entrepreneur. Make no mistake, progress and transformation in your business always must be preceded by a change or upgrade in your thinking. Putting the Law of Attraction to work. Now, whether we're doing it knowingly, consciously, or unknowingly, unconsciously, in every second of our existence, we are sending out our thoughts and emotions and attracting back more of what we have put out. We are magnets. Simply put, what you focus on, think about, read about, and talk about is what you will attract into your life. Going deeper, what you believe at your core about money, happiness, freedom, the world around you is what will manifest itself into your life. For example, if you currently make $120,000 a year, live in a modest middle-class neighborhood, take 1 or 2 vacations a year, chances are good this is where you're comfortable. At least this is where your subconscious mind thinks you are comfortable. Your life at this level is what you know. It's what's familiar. You know how to navigate this level, and likely this is the level of your thinking and your beliefs and your actions and your habits. But what happens when you introduce a new goal or desired outcome, like making, say, "$500,000 a year." What comes up is resistance. This resistance comes from deep inside of you. It is likely subconscious, meaning it's automatic, on autopilot. Your subconscious mind will immediately get to work doing its job keeping you safe. I'll put safe in quotes. So it actually goes to work opposing your goal. It will throw obstacle after obstacle at you. Just to keep you where you are most comfortable. I talk a lot about financial set points. Everyone has one. For some people, it's $15 an hour. For some people, it's $1 million a month. Your financial set point is basically the number you feel comfortable with earning or possessing. Think of it like a thermostat. Set it at 72 degrees. What happens if the temperature in the room goes up to 74? Yup, the AC kicks in and brings it back to the set point. This is how it works with money, wealth, and riches too. Think about it. You have a goal of making, say, $250,000 this year. By the way, numbers don't matter. None of the numbers— the strategies are all the same. Everybody's number is different. Your number is different than everybody around you. Okay, so you have a goal of making, say again, $250,000 this year, but inside, deep in your core, you believe you are worth only $150,000. Try, try, try to get to the $250,000, but it is elusive. Why? Because you haven't done the most important work of changing your mindset. The person at $15 an hour thinks different from someone that makes $100 an hour. And the person that makes $1,000 an hour passively thinks different. And on and on. The focus is different. The way they talk is different. What they believe about themselves and the world around them is different. Now, something really important here, okay? I don't want you to take what I'm saying the wrong way because there is no right or wrong here. Just different. Okay, they'll look at that beautiful house in the upscale neighborhood and think, someday. Or they might think, ah, that's for them, not for us. It's not possible for me. They get on an airplane and pass by everyone in the front of the plane and think, one day. Or, oh, they're so lucky. But the beauty of the whole law of attraction thing is You can think different, and by thinking different, you can change your results. This is what the culmination of Napoleon Hill's work teaches us. You can think and grow rich. Maybe more accurately though is think to grow rich. Up until 2016, I was banging my head against the wall because of my set point. I didn't like it. For years, I had an income number I wanted to achieve. But it was elusive. It was 4 times the reality. Even though I quote unquote knew what I had to do and I believed every self-help book that I read and studied, it wasn't happening for me. In fact, along the way to my millions, I lost everything. Now, according to everything I've studied, I knew I had to change what I believed about myself. I had to change my thinking, but this proved to be much easier said than done. This reminds me of the great lessons that Jim Rohn tried to teach me. He said, become a millionaire not for the million dollars, but for what it will make of you to achieve it. He also said success is not to be pursued, it is to be attracted by the person we become. Finally, success is not so much what we have as it is what we are. So in 2016, at 48 years old, I decided once and for all I was going to make it happen. I was going to break through my financial set point and finally achieve the number that had been so elusive. So I went to work on myself. I adjusted my set point to the new number. I committed to it and then I did the work of changing what I believed were my limits. I did the work of changing the thoughts that dominated my financial thinking. That then led to my believing the new level was possible for me, and less than 18 months later, I not only had started making the new number, but I had successfully and permanently changed my set point to the 4x number. See, your belief about whether you can achieve something is the absolute ingredient for success, because if you don't believe it, it will be unlikely that you'll take the sustained action to make your thoughts or dreams a reality. However, the quicker you take action, the faster you'll see results, and your results will strengthen your belief in the strategies and the techniques you employed, and more importantly, in yourself. My set point changed because I truly believed I was not only deserving of the higher income but also capable of achieving it. I had finally figured it out. I finally would have understood what Napoleon Hill and Jim Rohn and Earl Nightingale and Bob Proctor and Dan Kennedy were trying to teach me all those years before. I had to become a millionaire so I understood the thinking of a millionaire, not for the money, not for the million dollars. Success came to me because of the person I finally became. Now, some interesting things start to happen when you change your mindset, change your beliefs about yourself, and become more than you were before. For me, my business took an unexpected turn. I started to notice things around me that would help us achieve our goals. For example, in that year, I was given a spreadsheet that changed everything for us. Yes, just a lowly Excel spreadsheet. It was basically a sales tracking tool. But it caused us to focus hard on our goals. You know what? We started hitting our sales targets. Our business doubled in that period, and we began attracting the talent we needed to take our business to new heights. It was also around this time that we were introduced to EOS, and because our thinking was at a new level, we were able to quickly decide to take it on and implement it in our company, even though, even though we just had a few people in our organization. Now, knowing what to do and actually doing it are very different things. I knew that I had to change my thinking, my beliefs, and my actions. I just wasn't confident enough yet in myself. Say that again. I just wasn't confident enough yet in myself. If I'm really being honest with myself, I probably didn't entirely believe Napoleon Hill. At least I didn't believe it for myself. Thank goodness I didn't give up, and I proved to myself that all of what I had read and studied all of these years was absolutely 100% True. Hey, let's pause here for a quick break. I've got an exclusive opportunity just for home improvement business owners who want to achieve permanent profitability once and for all. You see, in our business, too many contractors are working way too hard and taking home way too little. It happens to a lot of people. Too many. It happened to me. It may be where you are now, and it's okay because none of us were taught how to make money in this business. Sure, we know how to sell jobs. We know how to get those jobs installed, but we were never taught how to properly set up our books, our profit model, our pricing model, and our wealth model. And as a result, too many owners are stuck on the hamster wheel of inconsistent and erratic profitability. This is why I'd like to invite you to our exclusive profit workshop happening September 12th 13th, right here in Miami, Florida. Over 2 days, you can join a select group of other business owners and transform your relationship with profitability and wealth attraction by getting a deep understanding of the mechanics of profitability and the mindsets behind wealth. To reserve your seat, go to www.thewealthycontractor.com profit. thewealthycontractor.com/profit. And for a limited time, you can use code PODCAST23— again, PODCAST23— to get $300 off your ticket. So go to thewealthycontractor.com/profit. When you're there, you'll get all the information about the event, plus you'll learn about our better than risk-free guarantee. Seating is extremely limited, so don't delay. Secure your spot at the Profit Workshop now, and let's get back to this week's episode. So what do you do to get rich from your home improvement business? Go to work on yourself. Sit quietly and listen to the thoughts that occupy your mind. It may seem unbelievable, but it is true that most of the thoughts we think every day are the same ones from yesterday, last week, last year, even from 20 years ago. Unless and until you consciously uncover the thinking that is holding you back and work to replace that thinking with more constructive thinking focused on what you really want, you will continue to remain firmly where you are right now. Make no mistake, you will become what you think about most of the time. Now, that thinking will create and has created who you are, and based on who you are, you will bring into your life the situations, people, challenges, and opportunities that you're Dominant thinking attracts. In fact, Napoleon Hill said it like this: Our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts which we hold in our minds, and by means with which no man is familiar, these magnets attract to us the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts. Notice at the end he says dominating thoughts we hold in our minds. In another text he said every man is what he is, and every woman, because of the dominating thoughts which he permits to occupy his or her mind. I like the use of the words permits to occupy. This implies choice. You have a choice in the dominating thoughts, so why not make them thoughts of having a super profitable, successful business that funds your ideal lifestyle, whatever that means for you. Finally, my favorite line there is, and by means with which no man is familiar. These 9 words level the playing field. It makes all you want in life available to you because you don't have to know the means or how to make it all happen. You just have to be disciplined in what you allow your dominant thoughts to be. Because at the end of the day, you and me have the business, the income, the wealth or lack thereof which harmonize with the nature of your dominant thoughts. So go to work on yourself. Think about your thinking. Think about your beliefs at your core. Remember, most of this is done subconsciously, and your subconscious mind is there to keep you safe. And I say safe in quotes because it doesn't know any better. It only knows what's comfortable. Going out of your comfort zone rattles your subconscious mind, and that's why you have to understand what it believes. And when you understand what it believes, you can go to work transforming those beliefs. Again, if your subconscious mind at the end of the day says, well, we're comfortable here, we've got a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank, our business does fairly well, we're able to make our mortgage payment, why do you want to be a millionaire? Why do you need to have a million dollars? Again, it's because its job is to keep you where you are keep you in your comfort zone. So if you're sick and tired of where you're at, or you just want to change where you're at, and you want to go to another level, I hope this message helps. Remember, your thinking is going to create your beliefs. Your beliefs are going to create your actions. Your actions are going to create your habits, and your habits will create your results. And so if you don't like your results, Just go backwards. Look at the habits that have formed those results. Look at the actions that led to those habits. Look at the belief that led to these actions, and look at the dominant thoughts that created those beliefs. I believe in you. You don't believe in yourself yet. I believe in you. You have to build your muscle of confidence in yourself, and in the world around you. That's what I had to do. My confidence was at a shockingly low level most of my life, actually, if I really think about it. But one day I decided enough is enough. I'm ready. I'm ready to go to the next level. And again, what Napoleon Hill says here levels the playing field for all of us. Doesn't matter where you come from, doesn't matter where you grew up, doesn't matter what color you are, doesn't matter how much money you had or didn't have growing up. What Napoleon Hill said is, and by means with which no man is familiar. This is the metaphysical side of this, if you will, the spiritual side of this. Whatever, I'm not going to tell you what to believe, but there are forces out there that we don't understand. They're powerful. And we can use them to our benefit. We just have to know how. I hope this message was valuable for you. I hope it was impactful. I've learned a lot over the years about this topic, and that's why I'm so excited to— for the third time, we're doing our profit workshop. We go into this stuff really, really deep. Again, we go into the mechanics of profitability, and we'll show you how to become permanently profitable so that you can get rich from your business. Look, you could get rich from your business on a 5% net, but it's too much risk. Better get to 15 or 20%. Understand how you get there, how you make that happen in your business. Then how do you take that money, whether it's investing back into the business because you think that's the best place to invest it, or by taking it out of the business and building your wealth outside of the business as well. Either way, or a combination of both actually, that's how you're gonna get rich, whatever that means for you. And let's be clear, rich is not only money. Wealthy is not only money. It's also about how we spend our time and who we spend our time with. With. So until next time, this is Brian Kaskavalciyan with G4 Marketing Group, and this is the Wealthy Contractor Podcast. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the Wealthy Contractor Podcast. Let me ask you, did it help you look at your business in a different way? Did it spark an idea or ideas that you hadn't thought of before? Do you have a list of action items that you can take and implement into your business or your life today? I really hope so. If it did, I'd like to ask you a favor. Would you leave a 5-star review of the podcast? By doing so, you'll help other contractors find the podcast more easily so that we can help them achieve more success, wealth, and freedom. And before you go, make sure you subscribe to the Wealthy Contractor Podcast so you get access to the latest episodes as soon as they're available. We're always striving to provide you with great content, so you don't want to miss what's coming up. In fact, if you haven't already, make sure you go to thewealthycontractor.com and get your free copy of my latest book, The 7 Secrets to Becoming a Wealthy Contractor. Just pay shipping and handling, and I'll take care of the cost of the book. And finally, a big thanks to G4 Marketing for sponsoring The Wealthy Contractor Podcast. For over 12 years now, G4 Marketing has been the secret back office relationship marketing team for hundreds of home improvement and home service businesses just like yours. You get the customer, and our proven system turns that customer into 5-star reviews and profitable repeat and referral business. If your home improvement or home services company completes at least 10 jobs per month, they have a solution that will work for you. To find out more, sign up for your free, no obligation 10-minute discovery call at www.gfourmarketing.com/strategy. That's gfourmarketing.com/strategy. Set your discovery call up today and they'll help you set your business up for long-term profits and success. So until next time, this is Brian Kaskavalciyan.