Speaker 1 (00:00): Stay for the show General Contractors Baton Rouge!
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Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey, you found the K-Cup again, welcome everybody. This is the official podcast of the Kelly Construction Group. I’m Joe Nor Tripp, your host, and I’m here today with the CEO and founder John Kelly. Today we’re gonna talk about three key elements that you wanna consider if you’re gonna start a business. And welcome back, John. Good to see you again. Yes, sir.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:36): Let’s get into it General Contractors Baton Rouge.
You know, we, we said we were gonna come back with some, you know, valuable content where folks can use it if they want to apply it to their business, if they’re thinking about starting a business, or maybe you’ve already started a business, but feel like they need a little direction. So we’re gonna talk about three key points that they would want to consider if they’re going to you know, be running a business. And the three points are understanding your why. Point number two is knowing what your vision is or having a vision. And then the third one is considering the old culture, what we talked about. You know, in our first episode you touched on a little bit. So we’re gonna talk on those three points. Hopefully you’re gonna share some of your wisdom with us today about those three items and how they affect a business and why they’re so important to consider. So let’s dive in and let’s go ahead and get into point number one, the why. What, what do you think is important about understanding your why for having a business?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Okay. Yeah. To, to jump right into that. First of all, I don’t know if I have a lot of wisdom to impart <laugh>, but I can definitely share my story and we’ll
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Take what we
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Can get <laugh> kind of put what’s out there. But as far as the why goes, I mean, I think the why is very important. I think for myself you know, I started, I, I know, I know why I wanted to start a business. I, I remember why I wanted to do it, but it really, it really wasn’t front of focus. Like, once I started having a business, or once I started getting work and doing that kind of stuff, I kind of lost focus of that. Sure. And you know, for a long time it was just trying to grow the business and turn into quite a bit of a little grind and mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, the ups and downs that come with all of that. And then I hired a few people, but really, really just got pretty burned out there for a while mm-hmm <affirmative>.
Speaker 3 (02:24): Remember your ‘why’ General Contractors Baton Rouge?
And it wasn’t really till I really stopped and, and thought at some point, you know, like, why am I doing this? I kind of made a real decision at one point in my mind, like, either things gotta change or I’m gonna do something different. Yeah. And when I kind of really started to have that evaluation process, I began to think about why I was doing it. And, and it kind of brought me back to why I wanted to start the company in the first place. And once I remembered that, and once I brought that why back into focus it really kinda re-energized me. It really kind of gave me the fuel I needed to take things to the next level. Yeah. And and really I think that’s why it’s important because it’s going to be tough. There’s, there’s times and some businesses take it right off and hit the top and you never have a real climb, but mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, I think for a lot of entrepreneurs, you, you find the up and downs and the, you know, the good times and the bad times. And I think that why gives you the energy and the focus to, to continue to, to move on and to reach your goal. Without that why you’re just out there kind of grinding away with with, you know, no purpose except for making money and that, that, that don’t always, that’s not enough drive usually. So I think that that’s why the why is important.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah. No, I think those are some great points I could see where, like you said, if you don’t know your why, then when things get difficult, you can find yourself questioning why you’re even, you know, fooling around with this. Why not just go find a, a job somewhere and let someone else have all the headache, you know? So Right. Having that why that purpose is what drives you, gives you the motivation and it kind of gives you that resilience to keep going. Because, you know, like you brought out, there’s a lot of ups and downs when you first start a business and, and if you don’t know the why, it’s really hard to just keep motivated and keep moving forward, forward. So that’s great. Anything else you want to add to the why? Again, General Contractors Baton Rouge you must clarify your ‘why.’
Speaker 3 (04:18):
No, I, I think that pretty much covers it. Just, just know that it’s important, you know, I mean, for some people listening you might, well, why’s not important, but it really does give you that extra gear when you know why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah. It’s kind of, it’s kind of like the rocket engine strap to your back kind of keeps you going, <laugh>. Right. That’s pretty good. Alright, well let’s get into point number two and we’ll see how this, you know, how you tie the Y into point number two. And that point is talking about having a vision. Why is having a vision so important?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Well, I think, I think vision does a couple of things for you. I think as the owner, it keeps you on track, it gives you something to measure against mm-hmm <affirmative>. But then also, you know, vision also gives your employees a destination, if you will. Yeah. I mean, without a vision, the employees are kind of just on a train ride to who knows where. <Laugh> Yeah. But if, if you have a vision and it’s, and it’s spelled out and it’s understood, then employees know where this train’s headed. Yeah. And when you know where the train’s headed, everybody’s working in the same direction. Everybody’s pulling, everybody’s trying to get to the same place. Yeah. without that vision you don’t have that. You have a lot of people working and, and not really knowing what the end goal is. And I just think the vision really brings it to perspective, you know, what we’re trying to do.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Just like the why, it kind of gives, it kind of gives everybody another gear to, to understand where we going and what we’re trying to get towards, rather than just sitting idle kind of wondering what, what we’re doing and where we’re headed. Yeah. you know, the vision for, for me gives me an opportunity to stop and take a, take a look and just say, man, are we on path to get to where we’re trying to get? And, and just kind of an evaluation process for the owner for myself to just try to keep everything headed in the right direction. Yeah. so I think that that’s why, you know, vision’s important.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah. Those are all good points. Again, and one thing that you had mentioned before when we were discussing it, and and I thought it was also a good point, is that the vision can change from, you know, who knows month to month, year to year, depending on, you know, what your, your ultimate vision is. So Right. How do you feel about that? Did you get these points General Contractors Baton Rouge?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, no, vision can definitely change. And I, I think in most cases, vision probably does change. Yeah. I think your why probably don’t change mm-hmm <affirmative>. Your why kind of stays the same. Yeah. But the more you answer your why, I think your vision kind of broadens. And so I think it’s perfectly okay for vision to change. And I would say in most cases it probably does.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah. Yeah. And so when it changes a, as you mentioned earlier, it’s you have to inform the team, so to speak, whatever that, you know, however that looks. You have to make sure that the team understands, Hey, we, we’ve shifted gears in our vision or whatever, because that’s how, you know, vision allows for team alignment. But if the vision changes, obviously we need to be able to communicate that to the team in a way that makes sense to them so they understand that, look, we we’re headed this direction, but we’re really gonna focus right here on the way there, you know? Right. So we need to get in line
Speaker 3 (07:36): Let’s continue General Contractors Baton Rouge.
<Laugh>. Yeah. I mean, I think vision changes typically when you reach certain potential or, or you know, when you reach a certain level Yeah. Of your original vision,
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Kind of benchmarks along the way. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And I think at some point you probably become satisfied and your vision probably sustains mm-hmm <affirmative>. But I think for most people, the vision certainly changes a few times.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah. And I, I’ve definitely seen that in my time here, that the vision has, to me it’s gotten even though it’s broader, because the company’s definitely grown, it almost seems more in focus. Yeah. At the same time, if that’s possible to get, it can get bigger, but yet more clear to the team where you’re headed. So, yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
No, I think so. I agree with that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
So, so we got the why, which is your engine, your motivation, what keeps you driving, and then secondly, we got the vision, the roadmap kind of tells us where we’re going. So third, let’s talk about culture. How, I know that you have very strong feelings about culture, but you know, we have all got to experience because of those strong feelings that you’ve had about culture and how you develop it. As your team, we’ve been able to actually experience the difference that, that focus on culture makes. So maybe you can share with, you know, those listening why it, it is a difference maker and, and how you go about finding that culture.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah. Well, I mean, you, you just referenced you know, vision similar to a roadmap and you know, the why is kind of why are you willing to take that trip? And to me, culture is the automobile that allows you to make that trick trip successfully. Mm-Hmm. So I think culture’s very important. I mean, you gotta have one, you gotta have a good environment. You gotta have, you gotta have a good workplace. And, and what I mean by that is just in a place that’s appealing to work at a place that’s fun to come to then you gotta have the right people people’s key, I mean, people is, is the biggest part of business, right? Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. So you just gotta be really selective about getting the right people for the culture that you have and making sure those pieces fit together.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Ultimately cul culture is how we’re going to achieve our goals. It’s how we’re gonna make the customer happy, it’s how we’re gonna be happy internally. Yeah. so culture is very important. And if not, you know, one of the biggest, biggest things in, in a company that I think can be overlooked. Yeah. You know, a lot of people think that you could just get four or five people together, put out a bunch of tasks, and everybody get their tasks done, and yeah. The, the company does well, but that’re just really not how it works. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. Maybe in some cases, but I find that once you have a good culture of people that can work together, willing to do anything, we all started here, we all were able to wear, or we were able, but willing is the better word Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
To wear multiple hats. Yeah. we, we’ve developed to wear, you know, most of our people only wear one hat. Yeah. But there was a time where we had certain people estimating project managing mm-hmm <affirmative>. And maybe even running some jobs. But but now we have developed those positions, but to me that’s a, that’s a testament of our culture that you were kind of willing to do any and everything Yeah. Until we could develop those positions like we have. Yeah. So that’s just one example of a way culture really can work. Yeah. you know, the other thing is just to have client satisfaction. Yes. we, we all talk about our process and everybody’s bought into the way we wanna do business, and the everybody being bought in, we see the results with our customers. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. We have a very high satisfaction rate Yes. From our customers, and not that we’re perfect, but we try really hard and everybody believes the same way because of our culture. Yeah. so for those type of reasons, that’s the reasons that culture’s important. And if you’re not focusing on culture, it should be a, it should be a big focus.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah. If you’re not focused on it, it, it will come back and bite you. And so what you’re saying, what it sounds like to me you’re saying is that a good culture really facilitates a company’s ability to grow because you’re getting all these folks, not only are they willing to, to get aligned to pursue the vision, but they’re pulling in the same direction and not just one or two people outta your team, but the whole team’s generally pulling in the same direction, which is amazing because that’s how things really get done, and that’s how true growth can happen. We also, you know, are aware that like companies that have good culture, they tend to have, you know, innovation is part of their DNA, you know, like they’ll have team members that’ll come up with, you know, problem solving solutions for different things that come up.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
We see that in our leadership meetings. Like, you know, there’ll be certain problems you’ll bring up and, and, you know, the members of the leadership team will come up with ideas to, you know, for solutions and Right. And then we, you know, we go ahead and you know, execute those solutions and they seem to work out. So that’s a sign of good culture and, and a sign of you know, everybody pulling in the same direction towards the same goal. So culture is very important and we’re glad that we got a good one here, <laugh>. Yeah,
Speaker 3 (13:08):
For sure. I mean, I know in the beginning of that, we kind of alluded to culture being like the automobile to, to get to that vision, to get to that destination. And I mean, we had you, you can get really bad cars, you can get really good cars, and it’s, it’s a lot more a lot more comfortable traveling in a really good car. That’s right. It’s kind of the easy way to look at it, like Yeah. Just go build the best culture you can get Yeah. To make sure you have the best ride to get to that destination <laugh>. Yep. So yeah, culture’s super important.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
That’s a good analogy. You can be driving an old jalopy down the road, <laugh> with a bent frame, or you can build you a good culture and be driving that, that sweet SUV or
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Whatever. Right. Plenty of room,
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Plenty of room and comfortable ride. So all right. Well, that’s great, man. Those are three great you know, key elements. You, apparently you put a lot of weight on those three items being a, you know, a business owner yourself.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, definitely. Just because if you don’t, if you get too caught up in just wanting to have a business, your air conditioning business or plumbing business or whatever it is mm-hmm <affirmative>. If it’s just, if it’s just business without any of these things, it, it just becomes a, a just a mundane, just really I don’t know. I’m not <laugh> not exactly sure what I’m trying to say here, but without these, without these three, you’re just kind of working in the dark. Yeah. Once you, once you get, develop these three things Yeah. The business side takes care of itself. The plumbing side takes care of itself. Yeah. That’s, that’s stuff that you have to know and you have to, you know, you have to understand how to do that. Yeah. But you need these items to grow a business. Yeah. And to grow a good, successful business. Specifically if, if you’re willing to, to build a team and you know, to build a business that kind of operates without you as the owner doing everything Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
<Laugh>. So, which is definitely not what you want. So, all right. Well that’s awesome. Great tips, John. We appreciate that. So remember these three key elements, you really need to consider what your why is, have that vision thought out, so at least you have a direction in the way you want to go. And then when it comes time to, to higher up, make sure that you’re considering what kind of culture that you want to have. And like John brought out culture’s, really everything. If you got a bad culture, you can even have a good, a good why and a good vision, but you might have a hard time executing those with a, with a bad culture. So great tips. We look forward to getting some more business advice from John. He’s got many years of experience and it’s been good to discuss all these things today. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us here at the K-Cup. We hope you come back. You can catch us at on YouTube at the K-Cup our podcast. And you can follow us on LinkedIn at Kelly Construction Group. So thanks again for hanging out and we’ll see you again soon.