Working on your ideal project and finding your ideal clients comes with the right mindset.
Amelia and Duayne from Live Life Build discuss factors to think about before starting a project. Learn about finding your ideal custom residential projects, and how you can say NO to projects that aren’t right for you.
Watch the video now, or read the transcript below.
Duayne
Finding clients that I feel comfortable working with that my gut is telling me they are going to be a great client, they are going to turn into friends.
Amelia
So Duayne, one of the things that we talk to builders about a lot is the importance of actually defining your ideal project. The kinds of projects that you are good at, that you enjoy doing. A lot of builders actually struggle with the idea that you can be working on your ideal projects all the time.
What steps do you recommend builders take in order to actually work out what their ideal project is?
Duayne
Well, probably the first one is to get out of that mindset. The thing is, you actually do have a choice. But, I really focus on what I enjoy, and what I love doing. In the early days of focusing on that, you try to knuckle down on one type of job in particular. But for me, my favorite jobs now and the jobs that I aim for, are the ones that I connect with the clients the most. So, I have sort of done this full circle of where I have come to.
At the end of the day, everybody has a choice on the jobs they take on.
Amelia
I think it’s actually just realising that, that is what you are in control of. Because I know lots of builders will go, “I’ve just got to take whatever’s coming my way, I don’t have the luxury of – you know, it’s alright for you”, that kind of stuff. But it’s again, one of those things that I think a lot of people feel that they can’t get to choose the jobs that they want, until they have enough jobs happening to then be able to say “no” to other jobs.
Whatever you’re saying “yes” to means that you’re saying “no” to something else that might come your way.
Amelia
Getting that mindset first of actually knowing that you can say no to the jobs that you’re not good at. And you know, that means that you’re creating more space for those jobs to come your way that you do want to do is a really big difference.
Duayne
Exactly. And saying “no” to the ones, your gut will generally tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing. And, it is hard. We get caught in that cycle, and most builders have to take on jobs, because they’re low on cash, their cash flow is not coming in and they’ve got bills to pay and all those types of things.
Duayne
To get started and be able to be in a position to pick the jobs you want to do. Start with jobs that you feel comfortable with doing. Start with jobs, go back through your data. Building businesses have so much data.
Go back and review past projects, and look at the types of jobs that were profitable for you, and that’s generally a good starting point.
Duayne
If you can be choosing jobs that are going to be profitable, obviously, that’s going to give you a better mindset. It’s going to help you with your confidence, and then you can start sort of tidying it up from there, because there’s so many things that you can select your jobs from, rather than just what clients are telling you.
Amelia
Location is another one too, isn’t it? Because I mean, that can really impact the profitability in the performance of your business as well. If you’re having to travel long distances all the time, that’s also going to have an impact on your lifestyle, the actual time that you have, the time that jobs take.
Amelia
So, looking at profitability, looking at location, and what you’re good at can be a really awesome way of starting to nut out those ideal projects. And like you say, even just looking back at what projects, what was the ‘secret sauce’of those projects that you really enjoyed doing in the past can make a big difference. If you’re just starting out as a builder, it might even be that you worked on a project for another builder, but there were particular things that you liked about that project, starting to sort of list out those things can really help with understanding that. What else is there?
Duayne
I think a big one is your team. At the end of the day, it takes a lot more than one person to build, and so figuring out, and that also ties into what you just discussed, “Where does your team live?”, “Where are they located?”, because, you can end up losing team members if they are having to drive all over the countryside and those types of things.
Duayne
I have regular conversations with my team about this. We’ll do a review at the end of the jobs, and if we are using new products, and all those types of things that we’ll have a chat about, like “Did they enjoy it?”, “Do they want to do more of it?”. It is a team effort.
Duayne
At the end of the day, every single builder has a choice on the jobs that they take on. Ultimately, you want to get into a position where you find your niche and a lot of coaches and things and that out there, they will tell you to find your red, your green, your blue house, but like I said, for me, it’s gone full circle.
The most important thing for me now is finding clients that I feel comfortable working with, that my gut is telling me they are going to be a great client, they’re going to turn into friends. The job is going to be profitable. And probably the most important one is jobs that I guess suit me. “Are they sustainable?” “Are they energy efficient?” “Are they jobs that are going to take my beliefs and my thoughts in the direction that I want to go?”. So, that’s really important.