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R
enovation Contractor Monthly Newsletter | January 2019
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I hope you had a nice relaxing holiday with your family. But it's hard to believe another year has come and gone. This time of year, of course, is often a time for reflection. How did the last year go? What can we do to improve things next year? As mentioned in my Editor's Note in the December/January issue, there seem to be signs that 2019 could be a tough one for the economy. Part of our mission here at Renovation Contractor is to share information and advice that can help our readers better ride out whatever the job throws at you.
Later this month, our managing editor Allan Britnell is heading out to Colorado to sit in on Breakthrough Academy's annual Winter Summit (the guy really likes to travel!). While there he'll take notes on how BTA's mix of coaching, mentoring, and organized processes had helped participants grow their businesses. See below for more thoughts on business coaching from the CHBA's Gary Sharp.
Allan's also writing a piece for the same issue on apps and software that can help get the job done more efficiently.
Let us know if you have any thoughts or insights on how the economy will shape up this year, or programs that you've been using to streamline your workflow. Send you comments to Allan:
allan@renocontractor.ca.
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New Contest: The Wow!?! Factor
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There are hacks, and then there are hacks! All too often when we're called in to renovate a house, we discover some scary stuff hidden behind the walls: speaker wire used to connect light fixtures, joists and studs sliced in half, and so on by incompetent "contractors" and DIYers. Take, for example, this plumbing leak "fix" found by Don Vloet of Dun For You Contracting in Welland, Ont. Our guess is that eventually that seal was going to break...
After a good run with "Work Smart, Work Hard," we've decided to change up our back page contest and call it "The Wow!?! Factor."
What's the worst thing you've ever stumbled upon? And how did you fix
it? Send us some photos and share your story and you could win a great prize, like this DeWalt 20V cordless jigsaw, worth $389.
Our intent, though, isn't just to revel in someone else's shoddy work. Often, the mistakes made are honest ones. Ideally, we'll be able to share some head scratchers, and some lessons for others to learn from.
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ENTER TODAY!
Send us your photos and share your story for your chance to win a great prize, like this DeWalt 20V cordless jigsaw, worth $389!
Email your entry to:
Good Luck!
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We have a winner!
Actually, make that four winners!
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In our December/January issue we ran
Renovation Contractor's first-ever jobsite playlist filled with construction-related songs submitted by readers. If you haven't seen it,
it's here. And congratulations to our three winners: Mark Hofstee, James Laidlaw, and Hal Woolley.
Shortly after we compiled our list and picked the winners, Dean Markovic sent in a very thorough list of his own. We're going to run that one in our
February/March 2019 issue. All four readers received a
DeWalt jobsite radio/charger!
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Coaches' Corner: How business coaching can help your company soar
By Gary Sharp, CHBA
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Business coaching is the process of using an outside expert "business coach" to help you build your business from where it is now to where you want it to be. A business coach assists you in this process by helping you clarify your vision of the business and how it fits with your personal goals. In so doing, it is important to ensure there is "alignment" between business goals with the owner's personal goals. Once the link between the business goals and personal goals is clear, achieving business goals can contribute, rather than interfere, with achieving the lifestyle that you want.
But setting the goals is only the first part. In the next step the business coach helps strategize and set priorities in order to move the business along. Meeting with the business owners regularly helps to track progress and allows the business coach to keep the owner(s) focused on the commitments they made during the previous coaching session.
It is important that you realize a business coach is not a consultant. The business coach does not do the work for you, but is there to keep you focused on your goals and keep you accountable for the commitments you made to yourself to reach them.
Business Coaching for Renovators
Is our industry changing? Sure it is - it always has been and we need it to change. We need young people looking at the trades and seeing opportunity. But the young people coming into the industry today are not satisfied by simply having a job. They want more. They want to be professionals and they want to be self-employed in the trades. They may have university or college degrees. Many may have seen their parents work in the trades and live a life of high stress, long hours, and working weekends. This is not the way they want to work. They are considering the trades as a business opportunity and as such they are looking at business coaching as a way to help achieve concrete goals - both for their work and the rest of their lives. Just as these young people are using electronics to communicate faster, they are researching new products and new building techniques online to stay ahead of the competition. It only makes sense that they will look to professionals who can help them develop skill sets and use proven systems to run their business more successfully and profitably. Family time and having a life outside of the business is frequently an important criteria for these young people.
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This long-read ran in the
Globe and Mail back in October. It tells the story of a woman who hired a company to rebuild her back patio.
When the
excavator dug up a human skull, it sent her down a nearly two-long journey that cost her tens of thousands of dollars.
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New Home Hotline: 1.800.363.4663
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