Contractors Summit 2023
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Contractor-Summit-Road-Sign-Welcome-Message-2-scaled.jpg)
Contractors Summit – Fantastic Day 1
Brian Audia…
I think my favorite session was Brian Audia’s talk on the purpose of business. His thesis on the purpose of business is to promote human flourishing was incredible. (not profit, make a living, blah blah… no. Human flourishing)
His one slide talked about how the hierarchy in business commonly gets messed up. Most of the world puts the owner’s profit at the top of the list, then “the customer is always right” next, and taking care of your team last.
His argument was that if you put…
- Employees/team members first
- Customers next
- Owner profit last
Then it all falls into place. Everything takes care of itself. Owner profits actually go up, even though that’s not where the focus is.
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Brian-Audia-1024x576.jpg)
Subscribe on our Youtube channel to see his live talk when the video comes out in a few days. You won’t want to miss it.
Frank Bourque…
After Brian’s keynote, Frank Bourque did 2 sessions. One on “Signs that you’re not in control of your business”, and one on “The 5 stages of business.”
It was really practical and helpful advice to help you identify what stage you were in, and what you need to have in place to graduate to the next stage.
Sequencing is so important. It’s easy for a Stage 2 business to be out there, looking at all the things a Stage 4 or 5 business is doing, and feel FOMO, like they also have to have the same things in place.
What they didn’t see though, was the struggles that the Stage 4 or 5 business had in Stage 2. And what they implemented in Stage 2.
You definitely don’t want peer pressure. It’s not just about making the right decision. It’s about making the right decision at the right time.
Sequencing.
If you try to implement Stage 4 and 5 stuff at Stages 1 and 2, you’ll be in for a lot of pain and frustration, as you deal with the gaps in all the Stage 2 and 3 stuff that isn’t done yet.
I’m part of a software founders mentorship group, and that’s one key lesson I remember from them. They have hundreds of principles and tactics they teach, it can all feel very overwhelming.
…until you put everything in its place, saying “Yes, that’s a great strategy, and I need to do that when I become a Stage 4 business.” Right now when I’m in Stage 2, it’s just a distraction. I need to focus on completing the stage I’m at.
Q&A Panel
After Brian’s talk, we had a social media Q&A panel discussion with Richard Carroll, Josh Sutton, Craig Sheller, Jeremy Swihart, and Andy Mulder.
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/qanda-panel-1024x684.jpg)
We had this football mic that we threw around the room, and asked them questions on anything from business, to equipment, to social media.
So fun!!
We’ll have the video recording of that session going out on our YouTube as well. (In fact, all is these sessions will be posted on our YouTube eventually)
Tussey Landscaping Home Tour
We then left the Contractors Summit venue and went out to visit a $850k pool and backyard makeover project that Tussey Landscaping had just completed. Derek, the designer, had bid the job at 2,190 man-hours, and they completed it within 2,142.87 man-hours.
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/house-tour-1024x768.jpg)
Incredible.
Tussey Landscaping Shop Tour
After the job site visit, we went to Tussey Landscaping’s shop, did a shop tour, and had some incredible pork roast dinner, axe throwing games, campfires, and conversations.
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/tussey-tour-1024x338.jpg)
CONTRACTORS SUMMIT – FABULOUS DAY 2
Cycle CPA
Friday we kicked it off with Joe and Carla Policastro from Cycle CPA, and they did a session on “The 5 stages of business in accounting.” Kind of feeding off of the theme from Frank’s talk earlier.
Steve and Matt Martin
Then Steve and Matt Martin, the two owners of Tussey Landscaping, who co-founded SynkedUP with me, took the stage to speak on culture and leadership.
It’s no secret that they’ve managed to build an incredible team over the years, not to mention an awesome shop operation. Which everyone had just gotten to see the night before.
Now we were ready to hear from them on the principles they lead with, which leads to this mature team and operation.
Derek Matthews
Derek Matthews, Tussey’s lead designer and sales person joined them on stage and talked about his sales process. He had sold $5.5m just last year. Definitely a master of his craft.
Tussey Formen
Finally, all the Tussey foremen joined them up on stage, and we then opened it up for Q&A. (Another chance to throw the football mic around 😅)
Before they ended their talk, I asked the foreman to answer “What does it take to want to stay at your job for 10+ years?” Each one took their turn to answer that question.
Watch out for the video of their talk getting dropped on our YouTube.
Also, I just wrote a pretty in-depth article last month on what it takes to keep employees for 10+ years, which covered a lot of the same things the Tussey foreman talked about. I actually had some of the Tussey foremen help contribute to that article.
Next – My Turn at the Contractors Summit
I had a talk titled The SynkedUP Mission.
I kicked it off with a quick review of what we had delivered as updates in the past year. Then I went deep.
We’ve been on this SynkedUP journey since 2016 and launched in 2020. This summer, after being on the market for 3 years now, I have done a lot of reflection and work on answering the question of “What are we trying to do?” And “What is our mission and vision?”
I shared my story, and how and why I started this SynkedUP thing, with the Tussey team.
As I had been preparing for this talk, certain things kept bubbling to the surface for me.
When a lot of our customers came to us, they were
- Not paying themselves
- Working hard all year, with no profit to show for it
- Burning hours on building quotes
- Missing dinners with family
And more.
But now…
they were experiencing a true 180.
Actually making money, getting to have a pizza with their family, etc.
So I shared some of our customers’ stories, regarding those exact points.
And…. That’s why we do what we do.
Our vision at SynkedUP is to end entrepreneurial poverty for blue-collar contractors and their teams.
We’ll do that through our mission of making contractors profitable, by helping them know their numbers and make data-driven decisions.
Helping them understand their business and what to base decisions on better than even their CPA does.
The irony of this all is that I myself am in the same struggle, with running SynkedUP. It’s not like I am somehow exempt from the same challenges.
I shared a photo of a pizza on our dinner table in my slides and asked if anyone knew why I put it in there.
There were a few guesses. None were right.
I finally said, “It’s a dinner I missed. That pizza is cold”
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/pizza-1024x683.jpg)
Man… I was choking up.
But I felt like I had to be in full integrity with everyone looking on, everyone out there seeing us preach all this “thrive not survive” stuff, and everyone thinking we had it all together.
I had to share. To be vulnerable.
I fight the same battle.
I know what it’s like.
And as a team and company, we’re here to level everyone up, together.
Awards
I then took this moment to share our very first Thrive not Survive award. A first for the Contractors Summit.
I explained what the award was about. It was given to someone who embodied the transition from surviving to thriving. Not only financially, but also in their team, their mindset, and quality of life.
We announced the winners: Travis and Dani Friesen from Lincoln NE. 🎉
![](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/awards-1024x684.jpg)
They had undergone an incredible transformation in the last 2 years. Had doubled their net profit, and now were buying their dream homestead. Not to mention a tremendous mindset shift also happened in the same 2 years.
Etienne de Bruin
Next Etienne de Bruin, our CTO at SynkedUP, gave a talk on closing the gap, and the DK effect, where you go through the process of thinking you have it all together, then you realize you don’t, and then you finally actually start getting it together. His wit and humor kept everyone engaged. 😂
Fred Pape, Chris Cooper, and Kyle Nichols
Finally, we wrapped it up with sessions from Fred Pape, our CXO, Chris Cooper, our Financial Coach, and Kyle Nichols, our Account Rep. They covered practical teaching on using SynkedUP for budgeting, estimating, and leveraging the mobile app fully. It was a great session, with great engagement from the audience, asking questions and poking holes in theories and practices.
More Awards
During these sessions, we gave away two more awards.
The Closer – an award for the person who had the best proposal close rate score in SynkedUP
Goes to… Jeremy Cable from Dayton, OH
And The Tracker – an award for a crew member who had the best most consistent track record with tracking time and materials in the mobile app.
Goes to Ben Esh, a foreman for Elmer Fisher in Mechanicsburg PA
Congrats to all three winners! Your hard work deserves to be recognized!
Wrap Up
After that, it was wrap-up time!
We all went to my backyard for an awesome time to chill and relax. BBQ, great good, campfires…. The conversation was buzzing all night. Great friendships were being formed. Craig Sheller even played some songs for us on my almost-never-used guitar!
I just want to say, THANK YOU to all of you for coming to the Contractors Summit 2024!
The energy in the room was electric. It truly is an honor and a privilege to serve you all in this way.
I can’t wait for the next one….
Weston
![Weston-Zimmerman-SynkedUP Weston-Zimmerman-SynkedUP](https://synkedup.com/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/Weston-Zimmerman-SynkedUP-pmtj8czh4k1mscdxry0v61q5mru2qfjual7md4e6y8.png)
Weston Zimmerman
CEO and co-founder
See SynkedUP in action
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2 Responses
Thank you Weston. I have so many notes and “to-do’s” that I have scheduled to review. Really enjoyed it and look forward to next year’s gathering.
Most importantly, I am going to try to reserve more time to learn the system and utilize it much more than I am currently.
You’re welcome Scott! Was really happy to have you here, and I’m glad that you went home loaded with inspiration 🤩
Get on a call with our awesome Customer Support team any time, just hit up the chat in the app and book one. We’re happy to talk shop, explore best practices, and make sure you feel like you’re getting the most ROI possible out of the app. We’re not successful unless you are!
Cheers!
Weston