Construction Genius

Are you overwhelmed and stressed out with how your life is currently running? Kevin Dahlstrom's story is going to present you with some interesting questions and perspectives that might challenge the way you're doing things and improve your life. Kevin is the CEO of Swell Money. He joins Eric Anderton in this episode to talk about how his journey of walking away from $20 million led him to consider a different approach to his career. Listen in and learn more as Kevin shares how you can balance your career with your choices outside of your business life.

Passing on a business from one generation to the next can be a challenge. So what makes a successful family business? Eric Anderton introduces George Cullen, a 5th generation family business owner and the Co-President of JP Cullen, a construction company out of Wisconsin that has been in business since 1892. What's their secret? Tune in to find out. You will also hear about the importance of gaining outside experience with different companies before coming into the business itself, the challenges and opportunities of siblings working together, managing time, and separating family from business.

When was the last time a software salesperson hit you up, promising to solve all of your issues?  The truth is, there is no easy solution to the technology challenges you face in your business. SPARK Business Works CEO Bob Armbrister does not trumpet one single answer to his problems. He believes that each challenge is unique and calls for no specific, standard formula. In this episode, he sits with Eric Anderton and brings a refreshing approach to the implementation of technology in a company. Listen in as they dive deep into practical, straightforward solutions you can use to increase your profitability and productivity.

How do you build genuine credibility? Eric Anderton presents Christine Miles M.S. Ed., the author of What Is It Costing You Not to Listen? and the founder and CEO of EQuipt. Christine talks about how listening is about hearing what's not said, not just what is said. You build credibility because of what you understand about others, not what you tell them. And the more you learn how to listen, the more emphatic you become. Join the conversation to discover six questions that can sharpen your listening skills. Tune in!

Are you struggling in your relationship with the owners that your company is building for? If your answer is yes, then this episode is for you. Sitting down with Eric Anderton is Antonia Botero, the owner of MADDPROJECT, a project management and business consulting firm. Antonia talks about the owner's perspective and why it matters in every project. She enjoins contractors to put themselves in the owner's shoes to see what things look like from the perspective of the project's biggest stakeholder. She also shares three insights that every construction company needs to lay hold of in order to build successfully. If you'd like to get some insights into the owner's perspective, this episode of Construction Genius is going to be super helpful. Tune in!

As the sole owner of your business, you should be the one supervising and monitoring everything. If you are still busy with the day-to-day tasks other people should be doing for you, there is something wrong. Learn how to escape the mundane and focus on more pressing business matters with digital strategist and advisor, James Camp. Together with Eric Anderton, he sheds light on why most CEOs struggle to remove themselves from business grounds and start delegating work. James explains why most founders deal with identity crisis and how to build a lasting business legacy they can be proud of. He also presents various exit strategies that could lead to high returns and tremendous scale opportunities.

For a family business to thrive, the family itself must have strong teamwork and harmonious relationships. Eric Anderton seeks how this can be done with award-winning family business strategist, speaker, and author, Nike Anani. She discusses how first-generation owners can smoothly pass down a growing business to the next generation while preserving harmony among members. Nike emphasizes how the younger generation should approach business innovation and the right way to build an efficient sibling dynamic. She also talks about her own experiences as part of their family business, particularly insights about working with her father.   I've published a short report which describes seven qualities successful emerging leaders have in common. After you've read it, you'll have a precise idea of exactly what to look for when hiring or promoting people in your company.   To get your FREE copy of the report, click this link: https://www.constructiongenius.com/emergingleaders

Websites exist for the sole reason of attracting people to your business and converting them into loyal customers. But despite creating an engaging website, it still doesn't act as the client magnet it should be. Wayne Mullins, the Founder and CEO of Ugly Mug Marketing, has the perfect solution to this problem. Joining Eric Anderton, he shares his 3:53 P.M. Formula in building an informative and eye-catching website that attracts potential customers. Wayne dissects everything you need to consider in the website-building process, from the right content to produce, the proper designing method, and the best way to align yourself with your target market.

When you try to get over an addiction, it's not always a good idea to go "cold turkey" all of a sudden. How do I know? Well, all credit goes to my friend who was so determined to quit smoking, and the only way that worked for him was going the incremental route.   Sometimes, we get so addicted to the position of leadership we're in that we tend to forget. If we want growth for our companies, we need to delegate tasks and roles incrementally until we're finally able to hand over responsibilities.   In today's episode, we shed light on the process of development and how you can apply it to areas of your construction business. Grab a pen and paper as you don't want to miss this informative episode. Let's go inside!   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 A little backstory for today's episode   • 3:07 Two areas of development   • 3:24 Technical development   • 4:23 Relational skills development   • 6:54 The process of development: "the drive-around process"   • 9:10 The don'ts in the drive-around process   • 10:53 The out

Peloton, a well-known provider of interactive fitness products, has recently experienced a massive plunge in their revenue. But as Barry McCarthy steps into the CEO role during this time of crisis, he starts by sending an email about their plans for a comeback and how it'll be possible as long as the whole company works together as a team.Every business faces bad times. Overcoming them relies on the vision and courage of the company's leadership.    In this episode, I analyze Barry's email, and discuss how it applies to your leadership.  The purpose of this episode is to showcase how a strong leader responds to a crisis. Regardless if your company is new or well-established, this episode will hit you right in the gut, so tune in and let's dive right into it.   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 A little backstory for today's episode   • 2:57 Barry, the incoming CEO gives a hat tip to the real key to Peloton's success   • 4:21 Barry establishing his credibility as a new leader   • 5:09 Visionary vs implementer   • 6:

Success boils down to one thing: making good decisions. Easy to say, but what do you do when you are faced with terrible options, anxiety, and fear of failure? Learning the right frameworks now can make all the difference later.   Today, we are joined by the CEO of Meetup, David Siegel, who is also the author of Decide & Conquer: 44 Decisions that Make or Break All Leaders. He addresses common issues that result in poor decisions, and how you can overcome these problems.   Join me and David in this informative episode and get tips on how to become better at decision-making immediately.   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction   • 2:18 David's worst decision in business   • 4:51 Distinguishing short term and long term consequences in decision-making   • 6:08 What's a trapdoor decision?   • 7:08 David's advice to ensure you're not belaboring your decisions and missing out on opportunities   • 9:01 Learning to make tough decisions through painful circumstances   • 11:24 David's perspective on sunk cost fal

In every sport, the players have a set of rules they need to play by. This is also true for every single business out there, including construction companies. And what better way to play than to set up your own rules and pick out the players you want to play with?   In this episode, join me as I talk about the essence of making the rules of your game in order for you to get freedom, wealth, and time back for yourself.    Follow the three step process that I explain and reap the rewards of winning the game.   Let's get started!   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction   • 2:20 Your job as a construction company owner   • 3:57 Step # 1: You need to make the rules of the game (your construction company)   • 5:38 Step # 2: Invite people to play the game   • • 6:31 Customers   • • 8:29 Employees   • • 10:07 Project partners    • 11:23 Step # 3: Enforcing the rules of the game   • 11:53 Two types of pain you experience when the rules of the game are not strictly enforced   • 14:31 Take control, have freedom and l

Leaders get stuck inside a box of their own perceptions. They struggle to see things from other people's point of view and this hinders them from improving and growing their business.   In today's Construction Genius episode, Michael Girdley — an investor and entrepreneur who has built, incubated and sold several businesses — joins us to give his insights about leadership and how great leaders impact their business.   Some of the highlights we deep dive into are the following:   • Why leaders fail when hiring people and how to make the hiring process more effective,   • Balancing the need for sympathy and empathy in leadership,   • Plus many more…   Join me and Michael and discover how great leaders benefit greatly from learning to look at things from other people's perspectives!   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction   • 5:00 Building a following? Why you should and shouldn't consider Twitter   • 8:07 What do most leaders get wrong about people?   • 9:54 Sympathy, empathy, and leadership   • 14:11 Common

Basic sales knowledge tells us:  "You cannot control productivity but you can control activity. Focus on quality activity, and the productivity will follow."    Productive business development for a construction company focuses on landing the right projects, with great clients, in the right locations.    In this short episode of Construction Genius I explain why the productivity of your business development is linked to the quality of your business development activity, and how you can improve that activity and increase your backlog.    If you'd need to get more projects on the books in 2022, this episode is for you.    Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction   • 1:57 Tip # 1 to having quality activity: Select your target (right project type, right location, right client, right point of contact)   • 2:25 Focusing on quality activity involves three things:   •• 2:40 Research   •• 3:45 Safe space   •• 4:35 Time blocking   • 5:49 Focus on accountability   Does your construction company need to get better at sal

What if there was a way to manage and control risk effectively all while lowering your insurance costs?    Today, we have Wesley Sierk with us, President and Lead Strategist at Risk Management Advisors — who joins us to talk all about captive insurance. Learn the types of captive insurance you can set up, the obstacles to getting started, and why you should or should not set up one in the first place. This episode is especially for established and growing construction companies. And those who are looking to manage risk, save on costs, and boost personal wealth.   Go ahead and listen to this episode to get a better understanding of captive insurance!   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction   • 3:08 How long Wesley Sierk has been working in the insurance industry   • 3:58 What's wrong with the insurance industry?   • 10:07 What is a captive insurance company?   • 11:16 Reasons why a construction company owner should get involved with captive insurance companies     • 12:47 How not being able to control premi

Mark Twain says, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks and starting with the first one." Making massive improvements in your business is difficult and can be overwhelming. However, if you understand how to make incremental improvement, you can take on even the biggest projects with tremendous success. In this episode of Construction Genius Podcast, I share very helpful method you can use to make incremental improvement in your business.  Listen in and you'll learn how to stop being overwhelmed, and start making progress, right away. Discussion Points: • 0:00 Introduction   • 1:44 Four Parts of the simple path to Incremental Improvement   • 2:34 Think for a moment! When do you start to get overwhelmed? • 4:18 Step #1: Describe the issue • 6:13 Step #2: Generating a list of ideas and identifying the best one     • 8:42 Step #3: The drill down question that allows you to explore the best idea you ch

Why do employees perform poorly? 80% of the time, it's just because they're in the wrong position, and unable to leverage their strengths.    Our returning guest today, John K. Coyle — is one of the world's leading experts in Design Thinking, and an Olympic silver medalist. At a young age, John was able to identify his strengths and use those strengths to his advantage.   I've invited John to join us today to talk about the following topics:   • Why we're so obsessed with our weaknesses,   • How should we separate our ego from reality in defining our own strengths,   • How to define our strengths, and   • How we should be building our activities around our strengths.   Stop trying to fix your weaknesses, and start designing on the strengths you already possess in today's episode.   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction     • 2:25 Why it's crucial for leaders to stop fixing weaknesses and start designing for strengths   • 4:06 Identifying your strengths and communicating it to other people   • 6:43 Maximizi

Construction companies often struggle to adopt new technology. It takes work, time, costs money, and entails risk.  Our guest, Yaron Dycian — Chief Product and Strategy Officer at WINT-Water Intelligence brings an outsider's perspective to the table today on how construction companies can benefit from adopting new technology and using it effectively. We discuss the following essential highlights: • The importance of getting into a rhythm of technology adoption in your organization,   • The importance of consistent communication between the people on the ground and senior executives to ensure good technology adoption,   • How to be more effective at adopting technology in your construction company, and many more.   There's so much to learn today. So keep the beat and dance to the rhythm of adopting new technologies in your construction companies, starting with tuning in to this episode!   Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction     • 3:03 The biggest challenge in terms of construction companies adopting new t

I'm shopping for a new car. I make these types of decisions slowly, and do lots of research. Recently, I was driving by a dealership and popped in to see if they had the car I'm looking for. They didn't. What got my attention was after I was finished chatting with the employees at the front desk, they didn't ask me for my name and email to keep in touch. They just let me walk out the door, despite me being their perfect target customer. This got me wondering about the processes they had in place and whether their employees were trained on how to handle walk-in customers. Processes that work are essential to your business success. How do you build new processes and fix the broken ones you already have in place? Tune into this short Construction Genius episode and find out! Discussion Points:   • 0:00 Introduction     • 4:52 What is a process and why are processes important?   • 6:46 3 reasons why processes fail   • 8:06 Tips to improve your processes   • 12:29 How to plan out a process   • 13:35 Steps to impro

This week's podcast takes a detour from our usual leadership topics.  A catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction. For example, Pepsin is an enzyme that acts as a digestive catalyst, speeding up the digestion of meat. We are also familiar with the use of catalyst to refer to a person that causes change or action. In this episode we will think about such a person. That catalyst is Jesus Christ.  Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, I explore how the birth of Christ impacted the lives of the Magi, King Herod and Joseph, the husband of Mary.  Here are the highlights: 0:00 Introduction     1:13 What is a catalyst?   2:14 The threefold nature of the catalyst   3:35 The response to the catalyst   3:53 The response of the wise men   5:58 The response of King Herod   9:37 The response of Joseph   13:13 How will you respond to this catalyst?   Resources:   Passage to Read: Matthew 1:18 - Matthew 2:23   YouVersion Bible App: https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/   Have a terrific Holiday Season wit