Prioritizing profitability: How to achieve your financial goals in 2024

Charley Burtwistle:

What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of “The Building Code.” I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Courtney Mattern:

And I’m Courtney Mattern.

Charley Burtwistle:

Courtney is back in the studio. We are very excited. A little insider info for you guys. We actually have not left the studio. This is our back-to-back recording here. Courtney continues to kill it, and we have another very exciting guest today. Courtney, who do we have?

Courtney Mattern:

Susanne Mariga. She is an author and a fractional CFO. She knows numbers, she knows profitability, and it’s perfect timing because this episode drops just a few weeks before the Builders’ Show in February in Las Vegas, and we’re talking all about profitability at that conference.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yes, profit, profit, profit. That is the name of the game for this episode and name of the game for 2024. So, very exciting. Courtney and I, we were talking a little bit about before this personal finances may need a little bit of work, so we brought in the expert, not a expert, the expert in profitability.

Courtney Mattern:

Here she is.

Charley Burtwistle:

Without further ado, let’s get her in here. Susanne, welcome to “The Building Code.” We are so excited to have you today. Really appreciate you making the time to hang out with us on “The Building Code.” We always like to start off with just a brief introduction about you and how you ended up where you are now.

Susanne Mariga:

Sure. Well, I’m excited to be here on “The Building Code.” I am a CPA. I’ve been practicing for over 20 years. I think there’s a point that you stop counting, and it was interesting because when I first got out of school I went straight to Chicago, straight to Arthur Anderson, to their headquarters and joined that world of accounting and tax and later on went to one of our competitors after you guys probably heard of that Enron case that happened in Houston. That really pivoted everybody’s lives all around the world at the firm, went to one of their competitors.

About 16 years ago I found myself having a little girl. At the time I was responsible for the Toronto operations with the company that I was with and was flying. I was probably about seven months pregnant, and I realized that I had a hard time putting that armrest down because I was so pregnant and realized that my life was about to change, and wouldn’t be able to fly every week the way that I had been flying in order to raise my daughter.

So, hence I started our firm, our accounting firm, and as soon as she was born, and it grew tremendously. We had government contracts, we had a big small business practice, we ended up being a Goldman Sachs 10,000. We were listed in the Houston Business Journal, and we were off to the races. And so now I’m a CPA fractional CFO is what I do. So, I help companies really grow profitably, understand our numbers and scale their accounting systems to be able to make sure they’re on track and identify when things go wrong.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s awesome. I think that this is going to be such a great interview. We typically, and I don’t want to just lump everyone into one category, but a lot of contractors that we talked to on here have been in the construction industry for a very, very long time. Maybe family businesses. They’re coming up, they’re trying to make it more efficient and develop processes and things like that and are just incredible builders but are trying to figure out the business side of things.

I don’t know if we’ve ever had someone on the business side of things trying to relate back to the construction world. So, I think it’s going to be a really interesting point of view that we haven’t specifically had before. The other thing that I just want to call out because if people are watching on video, they probably see the book behind you. You’re the author of Profit First for Minority Business Enterprises. I would love to just hear a little bit more about that and how it could be beneficial for our listeners. I’m sure they’re intrigued by your beautiful background behind you.

Susanne Mariga:

Thank you. So, this was one of my life projects, and it’s actually part of the Profit First family. And Profit First is a book that was written by Mike Michalowicz. And this one, even though it’s for minority businesses, I’ve had people that are not minorities that say, “Oh my gosh, this is a great book.” Especially in the tax section. They love this book. And really what Profit First is, it’s a system about creating intentional profitability. I think too many of us, we start businesses because we absolutely love them. We love building those houses and really helping people walk into their home of their dream is what our audience likes.

But the reality is, we need to have something that we’re working for. We need to be able to show the fruits of our labor. And as a tax accountant, I remember some of my first clients, they would come in with their shoe boxes, and you could see the anxiety on their face, and they were like, “So how much do I owe?” And it was like this point of anxiety, and I would look at them like even operating this business all year and you don’t know how much you owe, you don’t know how much he made. I’m like, “How do you run a business like that?”

Courtney Mattern:

If their eye is covered like this, probably when they’re looking at it.

Susanne Mariga:

It was. I mean, they were making me nervous presenting a tax return because they just didn’t know. What Profit First does is it creates intentional profitability. So, it’s a cash management system, it’s not an accounting system. So, guys, please don’t go back to your account and be like, “I want to do that new accounting system called Profit First.” It is not a accounting system that will make your CPAs here go gray and maybe fall out. And it’s literally a cash management system. How it works is that it works with your natural human tendencies.

I think as people, there’s something called Parkinson’s Law. The more there is of something, the more we’re going to use of it. For example, if you take me to a buffet, we’re going to say, if you take me to Golden Corral and you show me all these plates, I’m going to go in there kind of hungry, but I’m not going to leave Golden Corral proud of myself. I’m going to see the salad bar, the dessert bar, the main courses and all the sides, and I am not going to leave Golden Corral proud of myself, but if you take me to an order of dinner where the plates are really small, I’m going to eat a lot less, and I’m doing that simply because of the plate size, what’s available.

The more there is, the more I’m going to consume. And that’s the same way it is with money. As a construction company, as soon as you’re getting those checks in, those deposits in, it feels like, “Oh my gosh, today is a good day. Maybe I can go ahead and buy those computers. Maybe I can go ahead and upgrade my office space into something nice or get another truck for my jobs.”

It’s interesting because when that account is not so great, and maybe we’ve got some late payments on those progressive billings that are coming through, I’m going to have anxiety. How am I going to make payroll? I hope those subs don’t come knocking on the door at the job site. Those are the things I’m going to be thinking about. So, what Profit First does is it creates a cash management system that works with your natural human tendencies. So, what happens is we are going to use bank accounts. And like Dave Ramsey’s envelope system, we’re going to have a bank account based upon each designated purpose.

So, one of the things that’s going to happen is I’m going to have one account that’s going to collect all of my deposits. So, as soon as someone sends me a check, I’m going to deposit it in this one bank account. And then what happens is on the 10th and 25th of the month, I’m going to put together a cadence of transfers. And what that’s going to look like is I’m going to transfer a percentage of my collections to my profit account. I’m going to transfer a percentage of my collections to my materials and subs because I got to make sure that my contractors get paid because they’re doing my jobs, and I want to work with them again.

I’m going to transfer percentage to my owner’s pay because as an owner, when I ask my entrepreneurs who is my most valued player, they quickly go, “Oh, it’s Jake, it’s Susie, it’s Courtney.” But they never say themselves. And I’m like, “What happens to today that you step out of the business? When you step out of the business, it probably won’t be able to run without you. And so you are the MVP and we need to compensate you as such.”

And then there’s the other side. If you’re successful, you’re obviously getting profit because you’re making these transfers. You’re obviously getting owners pay. If you’re driving that Bugatti, you’re going to have a tax obligation, right? No matter how great your accountant is, you’re going to have some tax obligation. Now, we’re going to use some great strategy, but you’re going to have a tax obligation. So, what’s going to happen is we’re going to fund this tax account.

We’re going to fund this tax account, so that at the end of the year when it’s time to file taxes, you’re not guessing how am I going to pay last year’s taxes with this year’s money. That money’s already set aside for taxes. And if we use great tax strategy, what that means is we’re going to get an extra profit distribution or bonus at the end of the year once we’ve done our taxes. And then the last account we’re going to fund is our operating expenses.

So, this is the account that I’m going to have to make decisions from. Can I really upgrade my office space? Can I get another subscription? Can I buy another truck? Those are my operating expenses. So, whatever’s left after I funded my materials and subcontractor’s account after I funded my profit account, after I funded my owner’s pay account, after I funded my tax account, whatever is left is going to go to operating expenses. And so, I’m going to make decisions based upon what’s in that bank account. I’m going to be using really that Parkinson’s law to make those decisions from that account.

Courtney Mattern:

I love what you just described because I’ve heard the term just for individuals of lifestyle creep, and it sounds like you’ve worked with businesses that have lifestyle creep where they start making more money and they just keep spending it before they’ve designated where it should go for the future of their company. Is that what you see that they just make irresponsible decisions and just they upgrade, upgrade, upgrade?

Susanne Mariga:

It’s very easy to get into a new habit, new level, new devil, new opportunities, more spend. And the one thing that I like about Profit First is you can have profitability and no matter what’s happening in the economy. So, an economy that’s booming, you’re going to have profitability and economy that things are tighter where you have to make different decisions. You can still be profitable, right? Because we are transferring a percentage of our collections into our profit account, into our owner’s pay account, into our tax account.

So, no matter what’s happening, we can still be profitable no matter what’s going on in the economy. But what’s different is a lot of times when I ask business owners how do they make decisions? They don’t want to answer the question, and they don’t want to answer the question because they know that they’re checking their bank account every single day to see what that balance is. When it comes to hiring somebody, do we have money to hire somebody? Do we have money to buy new equipment? They’re looking at that bank account and if it’s a big balance day, it’s a good day. If it’s a low balance day, I’m thinking about how am I going to make payroll next week?

So, really they’re working with their natural tendency from that standpoint, and they’re working with that system to create that intentional profitability and stay within that budget of what cash is available.

Charley Burtwistle:

Gosh, I mean I’m personally getting fired up. I’m like, I’m going to go home. I’m going to sit down.

Courtney Mattern:

I’m going to own eight bank accounts.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, exactly. I’m pull out my Excel, get my personal budget going again here and set the tax account up. So, thank you for five minutes into the interview here and I’m already just like, “This is a great one.”

Courtney Mattern:

Well, I think what you said too that sticks out is that no matter what’s happening with the economy in the next two years, looking out ahead, this episode drops around. We’ll be just leading into the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas. It’s a new year. Everybody is excited about what they can do with their business, but there is uncertainty in the next couple of years. There’s elections, what’s happening with the economy, with materials, with shortages, but what you’re saying is there’s a system to ensure that you’re profitable no matter what is happening outside the walls of your business.

Susanne Mariga:

Exactly. It’s interesting because you can really monitor those ratios. So, when I’m looking at allocating to that bank account, my materials and subcontractors account, which is what I’m using to pay my contractors or buy materials for the projects that I’m building. If I’m seeing that that percentage is going up, like we had during the 2020 year when lumber was short, I’m looking at, “Okay, I see that my mats and subs account is requiring more than what I’m putting in it, and now I’m able to detect inflation that’s happening. So, although I have a great accounting system, if I get a little bit behind, I can still see where that tightness is happening and really be able to monitor what’s happening in my finances.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that’s awesome. A question I’m curious about before we get too much further, are you working with, you clearly know yourself when talking about the construction industry. Are you working with a lot of contractors specifically or do you have a wide range of industries you work with?

Susanne Mariga:

I’ve never been one that could want to niche in any particular area, but I do work with a lot of contractors. I’ve actually taught for the New York Economic Development Council, their construction companies that are part of that. So, I know construction pretty well.

Charley Burtwistle:

That’s awesome. I think that’s specifically interesting in this space just because construction is so cash heavy. You constantly hear cash is king in the construction world. So, I’d have to imagine that there’s maybe a different set of challenges or maybe the same challenges may be presented a slightly different way when working with a construction company. What are some of the common financial challenges that industry specifically faces?

Susanne Mariga:

So, I think one of the biggest things that the construction industry faces, Charley, is first of all, and I don’t want to repeat what I said, but it’s just not having a system in place to create that intentional profitability. So, not having a cash management system in place. It’s like when there’s a lot, they spend a lot. When there’s little, they’re in panic, right?

Charley Burtwistle:

Right.

Susanne Mariga:

Or they’re in a lot of debt in order to keep up with their spending cycles that they bet in. So, really first of all, having a system that creates intentional profitability. The next thing that I see with construction companies is there’s really no way … A lot of times they don’t have the infrastructure in place to monitor when they’re being successful and when they’re not being successful on their projects. So, they’re not finding a way to how do I course create?

And that’s where a software Buildertrend really helps because now you can do job costing. Now you can go, “Okay, I had really great gross margins on this project here, but really bad gross margins on this other project.” Who was doing that bad project? Which set of contractors were working on that?” If I’m a GC.” And which ones were working on the one that had really great gross margins? How do we learn what we did well so we can not repeat the ones that do bad?” And again, it’s having that infrastructure in place that you can recognize, “Hey, where am I successful? Where am I not being successful?” And looking at it from a job-by-job standpoint and really allocating not just your construction costs and your subcontractor costs, but your payroll costs.

If you have your own people working on it, where are you profitable? Where are you not profitable? Those are probably the big keys that I see there. Then the other one that I see is when they are successful is, again, it goes back to the cash management side, putting aside money for taxes because if you’re having a great year, which all of you are going to be having a great year because you guys are using Buildertrend, making sure that you’re reserving for that responsibility.

And like I said, you’re going to use great tax strategy. You’re going to have a great accountant that’s going to tell you, “Hey, these are some things that you can do to strategically lower your taxes without increasing expenses.” I think that’s another thing that I want to stress. Too many tax accountants tell people, “Oh, go out and buy that truck, get that Section 179, buy that big gas guzzler out there.” And it kind of scares me because I feel like we’re going to see a whole bunch of electric vehicle, heavy vehicles out there, which is going to be really expensive and put a lot of people in debt.

But there are other ways to build wealth through taxation. Maybe what I want to do if I’m a closely held company is I’m going to fund my Keogh plan. I’m going to fund my self-employed 401k. I’m going to put away about $66,000 a year in my retirement. I’m going to get a tax deduction because I’m putting it away, but instead of actually expensing it and giving it to somebody else, I’m just passing the money to my future self, one day, through my retirement accounts.

So, really using sound tax strategy to go, “How do I get a tax write up at the same time building my wealth?” There are some electric vehicles that if you guys do really need a vehicle out there that you can get a $40,000 credit for, if you buy that under your company. And so, again, looking at what are the needs of my company and how do I match tax strategy with that?

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. That’s great advice there. I think it’s something you hit on that really touched home to me is diving into … I’m a data scientist by trade, so diving into the data and understanding what were my margins on these different projects and why. And that’s shameless plug. The great thing about Buildertrend is you can go into your Budget view, you can go through all your historical jobs, see exactly what your actuals to expected were, see exactly what your margins were and then dive into, “Okay. Well, what went good or what didn’t go good.” And having that system of records to really be closely tied to your financial situation and understand how that money is moving and why it’s moving that way. I think the tracking and the accountability of that is something that’s often overlooked.

Courtney Mattern:

What do you think it is when you’re working with businesses that’s holding them back from putting in place these systems that ensure that they’re going to remain profitable? What are some of the hurdles that you have to work them through before it clicks?

Susanne Mariga:

I think the first thing is that businesses have different needs depending on the stage of their business. If you’re just starting out and you don’t have a lot of different jobs that are going on, your needs are going to be very different. You can maybe outsource that accounting. But as you grow in your scaling, you’ve got multiple projects going on, you’ve got millions of dollars in contracts, you’re going to have to have the systems in place to really bring that data to you, so that you can analyze and see what’s going on because you’re not going to be at every job site, you’re not going to be ordering every lumber order, right? You’re going to really be needing to look at it holistically and be able to report pretty quickly.

So, it’s a matter of having the appropriate process for the place that you’re at. I’m a fractional CFO. I usually come in when companies are above seven figures, anywhere from about $1.5 million to $50 million is typically where I come in. We’re helping them put in those systems in place. At that point, you’re probably too big to have an outsource accounting firm at that point. It’s time to start building that internal structure. It’s time to bring in that in-house bookkeeper, maybe that accountant and train and put in those systems in place so that you can actually be able to do progress billing, see where you’re at on different jobs, look at job profitability, that type of thing, versus waiting on pins and needles to the end of the month to the end of next month to get your financials, so that you can see how you did.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I think this is already just an incredible podcast interview. I’m loving it so far. A question that I have that I’m curious to hear your thoughts on is construction specifically is typically really competitive from a pricing standpoint. What advice do you have for contractors to weigh the balance of being highly profitable but also being competitive with pricing as well as, I guess, customer satisfaction on top of that and finding that sweet spot?

Susanne Mariga:

That’s an interesting question, Charley, because every industry is highly competitive. You could even say that accountants are highly competitive. Grocery stores are highly competitive, and I’ll tell you this, you are in a highly competitive field until you’re not. And really, I always tell my clients that your pricing is no more than your own self-evaluation of your work. It’s up to you to create that blue ocean. I always tell people, take that you don’t have to get sophisticated. Take that iPhone or that Google Android phone and walk around your house that you just built and go, “This is what I did and this is the couple that’s going to be moving into this. I’m so excited about this project because this is how this house is going to change my client’s life.”

Really, really match what you’re doing with your personality so that people, their consumers can really match who you are, give them a reason to buy specifically from you. If you’re the person that does the best of this, the crown molding or whatever your specialty is, you need to show that this is why you are the best, how you do it. And so really it’s about differentiation and really giving your market a reason to buy from you because like I said, you’re in a red ocean until you’re not.

Courtney Mattern:

I know you mentioned at the top of the interview, your book is specifically advice for minority owned businesses, and though you coach all types of business, I don’t want to discount that aspect of your career because digging into your website, you are just amazing. You’re the first in your family to go to college, the first to write a book, the first to work at a Top Four firm. Why is this topic important? Because minority owned businesses are quickly growing and especially in the construction zone, what skills did they need to set them apart on an unlevel playing field?

Susanne Mariga:

This is a great question, and I was really passionate about this book because I feel like as a first generation entrepreneur and as many minority businesses are, we just don’t know. We don’t know. And so, this book was really created to equip them with the things that they don’t know. In this book, I talk about government contracting, for example. Everybody goes, I want a government contract. And they see the millions and they go, this must be a whole lot of money.

But they don’t realize that even on a $50 million job, you can still run a million dollar loss. If your pricing isn’t right, if you don’t know, if you’re hit by inflation, you can easily run a million dollar loss. So, it’s not about just throwing out a number, it’s about really tracking and accurately being able to analyze your historical cost to figure out, is this a project I should even entertain? Should I stay up all night writing this RFP, or should I just say no bet, right is really important.

I talk about tax strategy. Again, a lot of people you don’t know what you don’t know. They’re going out and buying trucks when they should be putting away and funding their 401k. Even creating a pension plan, if you’re a closely held company. Again, you don’t know what you don’t know. So, this book is really designed to really empower and really even that playing field from a knowledge perspective.

Charley Burtwistle:

Gosh, I love that. I think that a lot of the things that you’re saying are going to hit home really close to our listeners in the industry and outside of the industry as well too, because everything that you said, it is applicable no matter what. So, as Courtney said, this is going to get released around February. Q1, still time to get your planning in for the year. So, for people maybe brand new to this flying by the seat of their pants for a long time have been successful, they’re listening to this is hitting home, they’re like, “Okay, I need to get a process in place,” what are ABC steps that they should take to start developing and start thinking in this manner other than obviously go out and buy your Profit First book. That’s step one. After that.

Susanne Mariga:

Definitely. I love your step one. Definitely go out and buy the book, Profit First for Minority Business Enterprises, no matter who you are, buy the book. But I think that every journey starts with understanding your why. I know that that’s the Simon Sinek book, but you have to know what you are working for at the end of the day. Because if you allow life to create your path, life will create your path, right? Somebody else will set your agenda and create where you go.

So, I think as business owners, “Okay, I love my business, but where do I want to be in 10 years from now. When I retire, how do I want to live? Do I want to live rent-free because I paid off my house? Do I want to be able to retire one day?” And I think most of us would say, “Yes, we do.” And so knowing those things where I want to end up, that’s how you really create that journey to get where you’re going. We start with X and then we create that way to get to X. And the next thing is from a Profit First standpoint, I have some recommended percentages that a healthy company should be at based upon a study that was done by Profit First professionals. And you can get that by going to profitmap.co and downloading that, but you don’t have to start off there.

It’s the small shifts that will guarantee your success. So, start with 1%, start with 1% allocation for profit. If that’s where you’re starting, that’s where you start. How do you get to a million dollars? $1 at a time. And so, start with a 1% allocation and just build it from there, and the next quarter, go to two. The next quarter after that, go to three and just keep building your percentages until you reach those goals of what a healthy company looks like.

So, that’s the next thing that I would say with that. And three, look at where you’re at for your state of business and get the right help that you need from an accounting standpoint, a tax standpoint, to make sure that you don’t pay more than you have to pay, and that you have the right system in place that’s going to take you to that next level.

Courtney Mattern:

What I’m hearing is a message too of think about your future self. I thought it was interesting. So many examples you say, fund your 401k, pay yourself a salary. These things with these business owners, those seem so simple, but they might not be thinking about their future self and what they want for their self or have empathy for who they’re going to be in 10 years. It seems so simple, but if they think about where they want to be, that could be just a mindset shift that leads to profits.

Susanne Mariga:

Absolutely. It starts with the end. It starts with the end, and then everything else is just creating the path to get there.

Charley Burtwistle:

I know off that point, Courtney, we had … I can’t remember who specifically it was. It may have been Russ Stevens. We talked similar sort of conversation, but he said that a lot of times people almost don’t want to believe that they can do that. They can be more profitable, they can plan ahead because they’ve gone at it for so long without doing that, that it almost seems like they wasted time. So, they wanted to say that, “No, this is the only way that we can do it. There’s no better way.” And it’s like a mindset switch to be like, “There is a better way. You can improve. You haven’t wasted time. You’ve built a very successful business.” But just because you’ve gotten to this point doesn’t mean that you can’t go to your next point with the same mindset.

Courtney Mattern:

Nothing changes if nothing changes. So, what worked for you to get here isn’t what’s necessarily going to work to get there. So, if you’ve been covering your eyes, looking at your Excel sheets and just hoping, I’m going to be able to fund my next project, hopefully the cash flow is positive. That might not get you to where you need to be in 2024. You can bring your hands down and take a hard look at your finances for your business.

Charley Burtwistle:

Cool. Well, we are getting close on time. Thank you so much for joining us today. We’ll definitely link … What’d you say one more time? It was profitmap.co. What was the …

Susanne Mariga:

You got it, profitmap.co. and that’ll give you the percentages, common size percentages of a healthy company, how much from a percentage of your revenue goes to profit, what percentage goes to owners pay, what percentage goes to tax and then what percentage should be going operating expenses.

Courtney Mattern:

Yeah, what a great resource. And we’ll make sure we link some of the books because I love some of the literature that you dropped. We’ll link those in the show notes for all of our listeners and make sure you check there.

Charley Burtwistle:

Otherwise, thank you so much for joining us today. Really appreciate the conversation. I learned a lot. Hopefully our listeners did, too.

Courtney Mattern:

I know. I’m going to go home and actually look at my… I have a doc called Bills That Kills. I need to redo my own personal finances for 2024. But I think this message is perfect for right before IBS, and it’s never too late. You don’t have to start on January 1st. You can start on February 1st the day this episode drops. Thanks for being here, Susanne.

Susanne Mariga:

Thank you for having me.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, another fantastic episode. I think this is one of the first times that I’ve just exclaimed in the middle of recording that this is one of my favorite episodes ever. So a little embarrassing, but it was great. Courtney, what did you think?

Courtney Mattern:

Well, is anybody surprised that your favorite episode is the one about numbers?

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that’s a good point. No, they shouldn’t be. They should not be. That was very on brand.

Courtney Mattern:

Yeah. I think that the timing of this episode is perfect because profitability is top of mind for a lot of the customers that we work with. A lot of the ones that I hear from. I think people are nervous about what’s ahead because we have an election coming up. What’s the economy been like? How is inflation affecting the market? But what Susanne offers is a method, a light at the end of the tunnel to say that if you think about and plan for your future, you can remain a profitable business, no matter those outside factors that you can’t control as a business owner. And I think that’s a really comforting message heading into this year.

I know a lot of builders are bullish on it, but those businesses that set themselves apart are going to be the ones who are making sure that they’re investing in their future and that they’re here for the long run.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I mean, calming message for sure. And also, maybe this is just me personally, but also a little scary because it’s like, “Oh wait, I am accountable for my finances, my profitability, even personally outside of a business.” It’s like, “I can control this.” I think a lot of times, and again, speaking solely for myself, it’s nice to have that built-in excuse of like, “Oh, well, I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Susanne was saying, “No, you can plan for it and you can make sure that you continue to be profitable during uncertain times.” So, it’s definitely a bit of a mindset switch, I think. But if done right can be quite literally life-changing.

Courtney Mattern:

Yeah. I think about the comparison. We did a data report after the pandemic, after 2020 here, a Buildertrend and What we found is that a lot of builders were forced to adopt technology and to adopt processes and systems to adapt to the totally unforeseen circumstance, and it made them more successful. And right now, there isn’t a climate that’s forcing anyone to be proactive about their business, but they’re going to reap the rewards if they take this almost lull or calm before a storm to plan ahead for the future. Don’t be caught off guard. Don’t make an emergency situation or an election or an inflation hike again to say, “Whoa, I need to plan ahead.” You always have the power to make some moves for your future.

I like how she said that, “If you don’t set your agenda, someone else is going to set it for you.” And so, write your story. Where do you want your business to be in 10 years?

Charley Burtwistle:

Yes, Courtney. Yes, absolutely. Snaps are all the way around. Again, this is releasing early February. There’s still plenty of time to go out, set down, nail those goals, build that forecast, upgrade your Buildertrend package. And most importantly, when this releases, we’ll be two days away from Courtney’s birthday. So, everyone go out and leave a comment wishing Courtney a happy birthday while you’re at it, like review, subscribe. I guess your review will just be, “Happy birthday, Courtney.” And if you want …

Courtney Mattern:

That’d be such a great birthday gift.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, that would be a fantastic birthday gift. All you could ever ask for sure.

Courtney Mattern:

Is a podcast review. And if you are getting ready to come out to Las Vegas for the Builders’ Show at the end of the month, make sure you come visit us at our booth. It’s hard to miss, but we’d love to see our customers in person. We’d love to talk to you about profitability. We’ll be having a lot of events, a lot of talks all around the topic. So, make sure you come say, “Hi.”

Charley Burtwistle:

Are we doing happy hour again this year?

Courtney Mattern:

Oh, yeah. So, first two days there’ll be happy hours, two to five. First day is our supplier connect. You can meet some of our purchasing partners, and the second day is meet the pros. So, we’re inviting out …

Charley Burtwistle:

Ooh.

Courtney Mattern:

Yeah. This is probably the first time people will hear about it, but we’re inviting out all of our favorite influencers, people like Brad Leavitt, Joe Christensen, Meg Billings, who I mentioned.

Charley Burtwistle:

Zach Wojtowicz.

Courtney Mattern:

Yeah, Zach Wojtowicz will be there. You can get an autograph. But come connect. Come meet the people behind the software. We’d love to see you.

Charley Burtwistle:

See, this is why you always have to listen until the very end of the episode is because you never know what nuggets Courtney might drop right before we sign off.

Courtney Mattern:

We’ll give you some surprises and some sneak peeks.

Charley Burtwistle:

I love it. Well, thank you as always for tuning in. Until next time, I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Courtney Mattern:

I’m Courtney Mattern.

Charley Burtwistle:

And we’ll see you soon.