Next Level Tradie

27/08/2024

Congrats Lara and Aaron at Plumb FX, winners of the 2024 Emerging Business Award with South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Exceptional! 🤩

🤩 We’re thrilled to let you know Plumb FX won the Independent Emerging Business award at the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce Business and Community Excellence Awards last night.

🥰 What an absolute honour to be recognised amongst an amazing line up of worthy businesses.

🙌 We’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our amazing customers and wonderful community for the support over this past year, as well as the Chamber, award judges, event sponsors and everyone else who made the awards possible.

27/06/2023

When did it all get so serious?

I think about it sometimes, usually when I’m thinking about mortgage payments, juggling kid’s footy games & that weird pain in my shoulder that won’t go away.

Life came on pretty fast, didn’t it?

And that’s before you think about everything going on in the business, too.

Fires to put out.
People to manage.
Stuff to buy.
Bills to pay.
Deals to close…

You know the list. You’re running it in your head constantly.

It’s human, to be this way.

… But at a certain point, you’ve got to ask:

If nothing changes, do I like where I’m headed?

Bottom line, you don’t exist to solve problems.

Life’s there to be lived.

And your business, for the most part, should be helping you do exactly that.

It’s a great time to book a chat with me if you’ve been wondering “what’s it all for?” lately.

Or… if you want to be assured that what you’re doing is actually gonna get you to where you want to be going.

Or… you’ve found yourself drifting away from the reasons why you went into business for yourself — and you’re ready to recalibrate.

Or… (last one) you’ve changed, your needs have changed… and it’s time your business evolved with you too.

Whatever you want it to look like, it’s up to you.

If you need some space from all the problems… to see some new possibilities… and a bit of help to make sure you’re on the right track?

The next step is a straightforward one:

Book a time with me here — and let’s chat.

👍
Daniel

13/06/2023

It started out so well:

You decided to strike out on your own…

Grabbed your tools…
Picked up the phone…
Got the jobs…
And got to work.

👆 Simpler times, weren’t they?

Back then, you didn’t need a plan.

(And if you had one, it definitely wasn’t fancy.)

Problem is—

As the world, business and life keep getting more complex…

The “it’s all in my head” approach probably isn’t gonna cut it.

Look - I know you’re not winging it in your business. (You wouldn’t have made it this far if you were.)

But if you’re like any of my clients, there’s way more in your head than there should be.

For most tradies (heck, most humans) planning — and planning consistently — is a bit of an “acquired taste”.

The key to loving it?

✅Is making sure you’ve got a plan that really serves you.

✅It’s the kind of plan that can flex and bend with you as the world keeps on changing.

✅The kind of plan that is straightforward and clear.

✅The kind of plan that helps you eliminate surprises before they happen — and respond well to the stuff you can’t avoid.

This means next time you’re up against:

✌️ Team members leaving for greener pastures
🤬 Supplies you can’t get your hands on in time
🥴An always-changing schedule and back-to-back delays…

It won’t be the cracker of a headache it’s always been.

Because it’s already built into the plan. ✅

Sound like something you could use a little support with?

Pick your time to chat with me (won’t cost you a thing):

https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

Lay it all on me, and I’ll happily wager that in 45min or less…

You’ll see what’s possible this year — and the headaches you can avoid — with a plan that works for you.

👍
Daniel

30/05/2023

Call me a minimalist, but there’s not much I need more than “one” of.

👟 One good pair of runners.
☕️ One good cuppa in the morning.
🥃 And just one glass of whisky in the evenings.

But in business?

“One” is the most dangerous number of all.

Case in point 👇

Got one big customer who’s responsible for most of your cash right now?
One employee who carries most of the work?
Relying on yourself to keep everything above water?
Relying on one big quote to fill the gap in your schedule?
Or on one supplier to get essential supplies?

That’s not simplicity…

That’s risk.

And it’s a risk that’s only going to get bigger.

Costs will continue to grow.
Banks will continue to tighten their lending criteria.
The Govt. will keep on changing the rules.
And clients — well, they’ll keep on changing their minds like they always do.

If you’re reading this and realising that maybe you’ve got too many of your 🥚’s in one basket…

It’s not too late.

Spread the risk.
Expand your options.

And put yourself back in control.

Not sure where to start?

The answer is simple: let’s chat:

https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

There’s always a few smart moves you can make to ensure you’re not left in a tight position in the coming months.

I can help you see them… prioritise them… and take action in a way that works for you.

After all, the tradie who creates options is the one who comes out on top.

Book your time to chat with me and let’s find out what yours are:

https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

👍
Daniel

16/05/2022

When did it all get so serious?

I think about it sometimes, usually when I’m thinking about household expenses, juggling kid’s footy games & that weird pain in my shoulder that won’t go away.

Life came on pretty fast, didn’t it?

And that’s before you think about everything going on in the business, too.

Fires to put out.
People to manage.
Stuff to buy.
Bills to pay.
Deals to close…

You know the list. You’re running it in your head constantly.

It’s human, to be this way.

… But at a certain point, you’ve got to ask:

If nothing changes, do I like where I’m headed? 🤔

Bottom line, you don’t exist to solve problems.

Life’s there to be lived.

And your business, for the most part, should be helping you do exactly that.

👉 It’s a great time to book a chat with me if you’ve been wondering “what’s it all for?” lately.

👉 Or… if you want to be assured that what you’re doing is actually gonna get you to where you want to be going.

👉 Or… you’ve found yourself drifting away from the reasons why you went into business for yourself — and you’re ready to recalibrate.

👉 Or… (last one) you’ve changed, your needs have changed… and it’s time your business evolved with you too.

Whatever you want it to look like, it’s up to you.

If you need some space from all the problems… to see some new possibilities… and a bit of help to make sure you’re on the right track?

The next step is a straightforward one.

Book a time with me — and let’s chat:
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

-Daniel

08/03/2022

So there’s some really interesting stories about people who survived the Great Depression… and what they did to get by.

Decades later, many struggled to let go of the habits they formed during tough times.

Stuff like:

🔩Collecting random (mostly useless) items in case they need them “some day”...

🎁Or refusing to let anyone tear the wrapping paper at Christmas… because they’ll be collecting it back up to use again next year.

Not that I’m accusing you of being a paper-hoarder...

But I often notice similar “survival” habits in the tradies I work with.

They've come through some hard times…

Things are looking brighter now…

But they're still waiting for the rainy day. 🌧

Even though they're out of survival mode, their head (and their habits) haven't caught up yet.

So they still do all the things that were smart when they were struggling. But now, it holds them back.

👉 Like saying yes to work they shouldn't be doing anymore "just in case" the good times stop rolling.

👉 Or holding onto money in the business, tighter than you need to feel safe, instead of investing in ways that get your money working harder for you.

👉 Or doing it all yourself and not asking for help, because it’s what you’ve always done.

It's just clutter… from a different era in your business.

You're in a better place now.

Don't keep the survival mentality if you don't need it anymore.

Instead of keeping you alive, it's probably keeping you stuck.

So if things are starting to look brighter in your business...

But you're struggling to let go of what doesn't work anymore… I can help.

You probably already know what's still in your business that shouldn't be there:

💸Clients that don't fit with where you want to go (or the $$$ you want to make).
🏋️Team members that aren't pulling their weight.
🥴Habits that create more stress than they should.
👎Or systems that don't work for you like they used to.

Why don't we clear it out and replace it with something better?

As someone wiser than me probably once said:

You can learn from the past, but don't hold onto it.

Here's to letting go of what's been holding you down in 2022.

If you want help getting rid of the clutter this year, let's chat.
Book a time with me here:

https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

-Daniel

31/01/2022

Everyone’s feeling it lately:

The sheer frustration of just how much is out of your control right now.

Costs are going up, the govt. is shifting the goalposts daily, supplies are almost impossible to get in the time you need them… it feels like your hands are tied.

I won’t sugar coat that.

But here is what I’m telling my clients right now:

Make sure you’re controlling the controllable.

By focusing on what you can’t control right now, you risk losing sight of the stuff you can control — the kind that’ll put you in a better position.

After all:

The best antidote to feeling out of control is decisiveness.

… And a commitment to making the right moves with the stuff that is under your influence.

I like that alternative 👆much better — don’t you?

Surrounding yourself with the right people is key to making sure you have the right mindset when stuff is hard.

So do you…

👉Have people in your circle who are committed to making moves, instead of complaining about what they can’t do?

👉 Have someone you trust in your corner who can help you make sure the moves you make are the right ones for you?

If not, it might be time for us to chat:
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

Every week, I sit down with tradie business owners to help them re-focus on what they can control.

We talk about what to do when it feels like you’re facing roadblocks and bottlenecks everywhere you go — and how to maneuver around them, so you can stay on track.

Because feeling in control is a direct result of the choices you make.

So here’s a choice you’ll be glad you made…

Grab a time on my calendar to talk thru what you’re up against:
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/
..and we’ll brainstorm some new moves you can start making now to get back in control.

Maybe it’ll turn out that it makes sense to keep me in your corner while you navigate those moves — or maybe we’ll decide you’re better off going your own way.

But neither of us will know until we chat.

14/01/2022

Growing… or eroding? 👀

After all, all good things in life require maintenance.

Your margins are one of them.

But most tradies get this part wrong.

Because hitting your goal margin — and protecting it — aren’t a “set and forget” sort of thing.

Over time, most tradies find that their margin starts eroding:

💸You pick up a few extra expenses.
📈The costs of your supplies go up.
😬As your team grows, so do your overheads.
🥴The business gets a little more complex.

All the while... your margin is shrinking.

This kind of “erosion” in your margin might be natural, but if you don’t get a handle on it, it can be deadly.

Now more than ever, keeping a close eye on your margins is your best way to hedge against the unexpected.

It means you’ll be able to hear rumblings when stuff isn’t right — and respond to it — before it turns into a landslide. ⛰

Otherwise, building your business without a stable margin is like building on quicksand.

(Have I nailed the metaphor yet?)

Either way, make sure you’re paying attention:

Is your margin growing, or eroding?

If you don’t like your answer or you’re not quite sure, let’s tackle it before it becomes a bigger problem.

Book a time in my calendar to chat with me about how to protect your margin and get it back where it belongs.

(After all, if your margin is slipping, it’s only a matter of time until your cash flow does too.)

Grab your time to chat here:
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

30/11/2021

How are those supply headaches going?

… Not so great?

Like many tradies, you’ve likely found that the promises you made to your customers — are getting blown out big time by supply delays.

👉 Don’t let something you can’t control affect your reputation.

You can’t change what’s happened, but supply shortages aren’t going away for a while.

Here’s what you can do to get on top of it:

FOR A START...

▶️ Assume nothing. If a supplier says your order will be there next week, dig deeper, ask: what day/time, where is it coming from? How many others are waiting? Is there anything that might delay this? Then the day before, check again to see if it's on schedule. It's extra work but way better than having the whole team with nothing to do because you don't have the materials.

▶️ Be up front (and don’t overpromise). Have those conversations with your customers now. Educate them around their expectations, and how they might need to adjust their timeline, choices and budget to accommodate delays and possible price increases.

▶️ Have a Plan B. Don’t put all your eggs in one supplier basket. Do you have accounts at secondary suppliers? Are you able to source locally? A little bit of time getting this sorted now will save you weeks or months of headaches down the line.

Most importantly...

▶️ Make sure you’ve got time blocked out for both work and rest. This year will be over before we know it — and you’ll be better positioned to take on whatever next year has to bring if you’re recharged and rested.

One last thing.

The way we do business has changed — and it’s here to stay.

If you need help getting on top of things, creating a plan B, and making sure you’re able to take some time off amongst it all, let’s chat.

Give me 45 minutes and we’ll build your gameplan together.
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/
-Daniel

17/10/2021

There comes a point in every tradie business where things go a little… off the rails.

Not because you did the wrong thing…

But because you did the right thing.

It’s what happens when your reputation for being a good person who does great work starts getting around:

And you’re in demand — big time.

It’d be flattering…

If you weren’t so bloody exhausted.

If things weren’t starting to fall through the cracks.

If the quality of your work — the exact thing that got you where you are — starts slipping just a little bit… because you can’t do it all yourself (and you can’t find people to help who’ll take the work as seriously as you do).

So… what’s a hard working tradie to do?

Saying yes is what got you here —

But it won’t get to the next place you want to go.

So don’t just put your foot on the pedal and keep hitting the gas.

It won’t end well.

If you’re so flat-out that you can barely catch your breath — and it feels like it’s only a matter of time until the wheels fall off…

Try this out instead:

💪 Be clear — with yourself and your customers. Get real about what you can do, what you can’t do, and most importantly: what you shouldn’t be doing anymore, if you want to keep growing (I have a hunch you already know the answer to that last one).

You might be thinking: “Sounds nice. But how do I do it, Dan?”

Well…

🔍Part of it is perspective: do you have a clear handle on your work and what it’ll take to execute on it? Do you know how much of your time you really have available before you sell it, or are you winging it?

😩Part of it is about the fear: even if you don’t want to admit it, most of us say “yes” because we’re afraid of what’s on the other end of “no”. Rather than being afraid of losing work, you should be afraid of what happens if you say yes to a bad-fit job you shouldn’t be doing in the first place. Make sure you know the consequences.

⏰And the final part is about you: have you got the time and headspace you need to steer the business, and make strategic decisions, instead of reactive ones?

You need all three.

I can help.

If you don’t want to spend the rest of the year saying yes at all costs, let’s figure out a different plan.

Book a 45-minute strategy call with me to map out a plan to get you from “busy” to “on top of it”:
https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

14/09/2021

For the past few years, it’s been trendy to reject being “busy”.

… I’m not sure how I feel about it.

If you’re not busy — with clients, inquiries, referrals, repeat business — you probably won’t be in business for long.

“Busy” is a sign that things are working.

The real problem is when you’re so busy fulfilling on the work that you haven’t got time to do anything else.

I call this “bad busy”.

It’s when you’re running around, doing all the things, dashing from site to site, trying to keep everyone happy.

It looks like hard work, because it is.

When you’re ONLY this kind of busy, you’re in for a bad time:

Carrying it all in your head…

Chasing the next client…

Fixing everyone’s mistakes…

💣 It’s not long ‘til this kind of busy blows up in your face.

The solution?

It’s time for a different kind of busy.

The kind of busy where...

You’re not running around like mad.

You’re not saying yes to all the things.

You’re not stressed to the extreme.

👉 Instead, you get busy focusing your time and attention on anything that creates long term improvement in your business...

And less reliance on you over time.

It looks like building better systems for consistent performance.

A smoother process for staying on top of your team.

Implementing simple, effective methods for checking your numbers and putting them to work.

This is the kind of busy that really gets your business working hard for you — which means you’ll be less of the bad kind of busy, down the line.

If you’re so busy that you haven’t been able to put any of this in place, let’s chat:

👉 https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/

We’ll take 45 minutes to identify what to change first, so you can start to shift your business in your favour.

“Bad busy” is a trap — all it does is get you more of the same.

But when you make a little space to get the good kind of busy… well, that space only multiplies over time.

Here’s to getting the right kind of busy.

Cheers -
Daniel

26/08/2021

🔬Put any trades business under a microscope and you’ll notice an interesting pattern…

There’s always a few bad cells wrecking havoc on the system.

⚖️ It’s the 80/20 rule in full effect.

Show me a tradie with a team of 10, and I'll bet he's got 2 guys that are causing problems or at least not performing at the standard of the others.

No matter how good the other 8 are, the 2 will be dragging down the performance of the whole team.

Their bad attitude, reluctance to follow rules, low standards… it spreads through the team and brings everyone down.

It doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong. It’s just how things tend to evolve as you grow.

⚖️ The 80/20 rule plays itself out, over and over again.

👉 And it’s your job to keep on top of it and prune out the 20% that isn’t working.

💸 It’s in your profit — the 2 jobs that blew out end up eating all the margin you got from the 8 jobs before.

💻 It’s in your processes — the stack of quotes you’re always dealing with means the other 80% of staying organized, like chasing invoices and checking up on clients, doesn’t get done.

👋 It’s in your leads — the 2 out of 10 clients you shouldn’t have touched with a 10 foot pole, but you missed the reg flags… and now you’re stuck with a client that takes up 80% of your time (mostly complaining).

There’s always going to be that 20% of your business that needs to be improved, simplified, or replaced.

I’m curious…

What’s your 20% that needs work right now — so you can get back the profit, sanity and time it’s been costing you?

Book a time to chat with me so we can take a look together 🔬 and find out:

👉 https://nextleveltradie.co.nz/nextstep/