Navigating Through Uncertainty Ep. 8 with Candy Caboverde

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. Hello and welcome to the Wealthy Contractor Podcast. This is Brian Kaskavalciyan with G4 Marketing Group. If you're one of our regular listeners, you know, I typically interview home improvement entrepreneurs and ask them about specific strategies they've used to become a wealthy contractor. In fact, we have quite a few killer episodes we've recently recorded with amazing strategies to implement in your business, but I've decided to put those aside right now because of the unique environment we find ourselves in. Instead, what I'll be doing over the next couple of weeks is sharing conversations I'm having with some of these same people to find what they're thinking, feeling, and doing right now. My hope is that by sharing these conversations, you'll hear how others are overcoming some of the challenges you might be facing right now. I also sincerely hope to inspire you and build your confidence. One thing you will notice in all of these conversations is the underlying expectation that what we are experiencing right now is a temporary setback. It will pass, and there will be even greater opportunity on the other side. So enjoy these conversations. We're all in this together. Stay the course. Do not give up. Keep moving forward. And always believe in yourself. All right, everybody, I am here with Candy Cabo Verde from City Roofing. It is March 22nd. It is about quarter after 10 in the morning. We just had a meeting about a new service that they're going to be offering. And I asked her to join me for one of our quick conversations. That is going to go being released on the podcast and on Facebook. I told, I told Candy about, about SADA, right? Stay Active Through April. Candy, you are taking this to a whole nother level. So tell us this. I'm gonna ask you the same question I ask everybody else. What are you thinking? What are you feeling? What are you doing?

Okay, well, I'm not feeling fear. That's for sure. I'm thinking of repurposing, finding opportunities, pivoting strategies, and, you know, producing what we have. And I know the rain is going to come in our industry, you know, if there's no need, then people are not going to be buying. But interestingly enough, we have gotten calls. Last week we got a lot of calls. This week has been a little bit slower, but people are just kind of waiting. So we're just coming alongside of them and helping them. Of course, we've had to change our sales presentation. We had a one-legger and now, I mean, a one-stop, and now we're doing a two-stop. So it's more of a nurturing process. But staying calm, and I think when you're calm, your people see you calm, there's just confidence within the company that it's going to be fine.

Yeah, and, and we could stop there because that was awesome. But let's talk a little bit more. You have 5 kids at home with you. You're running the business from home. How are you? What are some things that you are doing? And by the way, her partner is also her husband, Mario. They're like me and Addie, you know, husband and wife team. They're awesome. We've been, you know, clients for 4 years, been clients for at least 4 years, maybe even a little bit longer. How are you guys, how are you guys, let's ask this, how are you guys holding up together as a team?

Option B, option B. It's been interesting, it really has. I mean, we have our ups and downs just like anybody else. I'm more of the optimist. He likes to listen to a lot of the news, and, but I think at the end of it, we're just strategizing of, okay, let's stay the course. The train is moving. We have stuff in production. Let's repurpose our people. Let's create every opportunity to be able to sell. So as long as they're income-producing activities and people are doing those activities and they're willing to work with us, then we can make things happen. So if phones are slow and, you know, we need to send somebody to hand out flyers, then we're going to do that. But it takes the right people in your team to be willing to say, well, well, that's not my job. No, we're working as a team and we just have to pull together and just do what needs to get done. So I think having the right people at this time is essential. And we love our team. We have a great team. They're They're willing to kind of do whatever it takes, and that's what you need.

Yeah, and you guys are like us and like a lot of us is, as of 3 weeks ago, we had spent all of this time building up our teams. And I just, I got a message, it was, you know, some of the messages I hear are just, You know, people are like, they're almost like heartbroken. And it was out of our industry. It wasn't in the construction industry, but there's somebody I know who's got a business who's— that's basically come to a standstill. And he was— he said in his email to us that I just got to the point where my team— how did he say it? Basically, he had the team that he's been working for years to build this team and he was so proud that he's got this team. And now he's like, now what am I going to do? Now do I have to lay everybody off? Do I then, when this comes back, as it will, we all know it will, do I then have to like now go— not only do I have to try and replace the revenue, but now do I have to go rebuild that whole team? And, and that's a real concern and a real worry for a lot of people. And I think what you guys are doing is what we're trying to do is How do we repurpose people? How do we make sure that we can keep our teams together during this time, right? Is that kind of what you're working on?

Absolutely. I think all the plans that we had for 2020 of who was going where, personal growth development for this department, for this person, there was just going to be a lot of shifts. Those dreams kind of just have to be placed on hold and It's saddening to, to a business owner and to them because, you know, everybody's expecting to hit that next level and they were ready and they were committed and that's a whole other conversation to begin with. But yeah, pulling together and making sure you keep that, that team because I think that the power is in the team. Whatever you guys decide to do, it's going to happen as long as the team has the same focus and vision. And with so much fear out there, you can kind of get your flock scattered. And so I think more than ever it's important to pull in— we just did evaluations with people last week. We're just continuing protocol as, as is normal, you know, to maintain the nucleus, the strength, the vision that we're going to get through this. It's just a season, and we're going to come out more victorious. And the business that's going to come after this is going to be no joke. So be prepared. Create the system so it doesn't take you by surprise and then we're just reactive instead of proactive. So we want to take advantage of the time to build our people. Wow.

Candy, you're awesome. I appreciate you so much. I appreciate you so much. And I appreciate you doing this. And I think that, I hope that your words are encouraging to some. That's the point of these conversations, people. It's we all have to keep our heads in the game, keep moving forward. That's why we're starting this movement, SADA, Stay Active Through April. Candy's not giving up. She's not, she's not going to let this thing beat her. And I hope that whoever's listening will heed that advice and, and do the same thing. Again, Candy, thank you so much. I appreciate you. Say hi to Mario. Take care of those beautiful children of yours, and, uh, I will talk to you very soon.

Thank you, Brian. Wishing you guys all the best.

Thanks. Thank you for listening to this special edition of the Wealthy Contractor Podcast. I hope it gave you the confidence to know that there are other successful contractors out there just like you who are not letting circumstances get in the way of providing excellent service to their customers, serving their communities, and achieving their goals. This will pass, and your attitude and the messages you take in right now will determine your mindset and where you end up. I'd encourage you to listen to the other podcasts in this series that we're releasing regularly, as well as going back to prior episodes of the Wealthy Contractor Podcast to hear from like-minded contractors in the industry so you can pick up on strategies, tactics, and tools that will help you overcome the circumstances around you. We'll be back to regularly scheduled podcasts soon. So until next time, this is Brian Kaskavalciyan with G4 Marketing Group and The Wealthy Contractor.