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The Build a Vibrant Culture Podcast brings together amazing leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts to share the successes, challenges, and secrets to living and leading as a VIBRANT Leader.
Tune-in each week as Nicole Greer interviews a new Vibrant Leader.
Email her at nicole@vibrantculture.com
[00:00:00] Announcer: This is the build a vibrant culture podcast, your source for the strategies, systems, and insights you need to turn your dreams into your destiny. Every week we dive into dynamic conversations as our host, Nicole Greer interviews, leadership, and business experts. They're here to shed light on practical solutions to the challenges of personal and professional development.
[00:00:21] Now here's your host, a professional speaker, coach, and consultant, Nicole Greer.
[00:00:29] Nicole: Welcome everybody to the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. My name is Nicole Greer and they call me the Vibrant Coach and I have yet another amazing guest today. And guess what? He's got secrets, everybody. We're going to tell secrets. I'm all excited about Dominic. I get to call him Dom. We're on a nickname basis now. Rubino. Did I say your last name right?
[00:00:51] Dominic Rubino: Good enough.
[00:00:51] Nicole: Or is it Rubino?
[00:00:52] Dominic Rubino: Rubino
[00:00:53] Nicole: Rubino. Okay. See, I got the nickname. I got to get the last name. Dom Rubino. Is that right? He's a construction business coach who has also built and sold two of his own multi-million dollar companies. He knows what he's doing and his message is simple: the truth is you don't need a lot of time or a business degree to build a multi-million dollar construction business. You just need simple systems. Normally everyone else is keeping those a secret. So that's why Dom hosts two construction industry podcasts and publishes in major magazines and has recently written a book called _Construction Millionaire Secrets_. And it's in my hot little hands. Look, and all the little notes.
[00:01:34] Dominic Rubino: You got sticky notes.
[00:01:36] Nicole: I do, I got stuff underlined. It's fantastic. All right. So he's here to show us how to build a million dollar construction business with confidence and clarity by using simple steps that no one shares. Through his coaching and courses, he gives contractors real world, no nonsense ideas they can put in place so they can stop feeling scattered, broke, and overworked. Hallelujah. And when he's not coaching, he's doing what he loves most, being a husband and a dad and failing terribly at fly fishing. I need to introduce you to my future son in law.
[00:02:09] Dominic Rubino: Is he bad at fly fishing too?
[00:02:11] Nicole: No, he's fantastic at it. I got to introduce you to my Avery. He will just fix your life. Yeah. Yeah. So that's good. So welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here.
[00:02:22] Dominic Rubino: Thank you, I've listened to a couple of your episodes and I like it. I like, it's a very bright and uplifting show.
[00:02:27] Nicole: Oh, well, we try to be vibrant around here.
[00:02:30] Dominic Rubino: You know, I should have used the word right in the title, right? Yeah.
[00:02:36] Nicole: I'm so glad you're here. And you know, in your bio that I just read, it talked about construction, construction, construction. But when I read the book, I'm like, It doesn't matter what you're doing. It'll work.
[00:02:46] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, it could be any business. I mean you really could hand that to your sister who's a dentist or your brother who's a chiropractor or a baker and whatever business they're running It's the business principles, but we always feel like we're reinventing it and so do construction companies. Everybody tries to keep secrets like nobody else can know what we're doing. Yeah Well, we know what you're doing. You take big pieces of wood and you cut them into little pieces of wood, then you put them back together into pretty pieces of wood Or brick, you know, it's
[00:03:12] Nicole: Yeah. And my husband David Greer, he sold bricks for many, many years
[00:03:16] Dominic Rubino: Oh he did!
[00:03:18] Nicole: Yeah, oh yeah, he's been in construction supplies for a long time. And before that, he owned a little lumber yard in Mooresville, North Carolina. And there's a big lake here, Dom, called Lake Norman. And everybody was building a dock. And David Greer sold all that treated lumber to all those folks and the Trex and the... name them all. We sold it all. Yeah. So I get it. I do.
[00:03:42] Dominic Rubino: And such great people, you know, they go out there and they know what they're doing, like technically nothing scares them. But they're living the American dream, building their own company, but at some point you just get tired. You're like I got to do something different. Sorry. Let me put it in your hands. I'm here to answer questions.
[00:03:58] Nicole: Yeah. No problem. Well, I just thought, we'll just kind of go through the book because he says he'll tell us all the secrets in the book. And again, we're talking with Dominic Rubino, Construction Millionaire Secrets. That's the book that I got in my hot little hands. And you say in here on page three, the secrets shared in this book, aren't restricted to any type of contractor or type of construction work. This book is just about building business people, not trades people. So I underlined that, I thought that was so good. So again, give it sister, the dentist. I like that. Okay. So, what is a construction millionaire or just a millionaire? What, what makes somebody a millionaire on page seven? You talk about what it takes.
[00:04:35] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. So you know what, it's a great place to start because some people will say, well, is that a million in revenue or a million in profits?
[00:04:44] Nicole: Okay.
[00:04:45] Dominic Rubino: And those are two different things, but you also have to balance that off with what do you want for your life? Because, you know, we always talk about being a millionaire, but that's not for everybody necessarily. If you just want to be the greatest mom or dad in the world and have enough that you know, whatever your definition of success is for a lot of people, they just want to take their family to whatever restaurant they want and never look at the price on the menu. That might be their... and everybody's got a different definition of success. Do you need a million or what do you want to be? So we really have to find out what the person wants, but to be a million dollar contractor, you've got to start thinking like a million dollar contractor. And that means you need to probably change your actions.
[00:05:23] Nicole: Okay. Yep. And, you say in here that he or she wants more, he or she knows he can do more. They do great work that they're proud of. I love that one. And he and their partners have different ideas on what growth looks like and they've gotten as big as they can and they feel stuck. So a lot of times people get to the point where they're like super hard working, but then it's just they're running the hamster wheel, right?
[00:05:48] Dominic Rubino: Actually you said it right there. Working hard has stopped working. You know, there's, do you want, are you a big fan of awkward images and visuals?
[00:05:57] Nicole: Well, let's try it and see what
[00:05:59] Dominic Rubino: Let's try one. Okay. So, you know, every four years, you have to think of the Olympics, the summer Olympics, right? And so it comes every four years and there's this guy from whatever country, Bratislava, right? And he comes out and he's, he shouldn't be wearing a singlet, but he is, right? He's wearing that very tight red... you know, uniform, let's call it. There's too much information showing through. And he walks up to this weight bar and it's got a ridiculous amount of weights on it. And he walks up to it. He kind of grunts, puts his hands on it, drops his butt down. And before you know it, he lifts that thing above his head. And you're like, that is circus weights. How the heck did he do that? But that is a business owner with their own sheer will and determination and grit and tenacity, they're standing there with this business they've built and it's above their head. I don't know if you can, people can see us on video, but
[00:06:51] Nicole: Yeah, they can.
[00:06:52] Dominic Rubino: Okay, well, it's up here. What do I do now? Right? Because you can only hold it for so long. Working hard has stopped. You need a new system, right? And so that's what we talk about for a lot of contractors. They built this business to a great place, but they're just trying to hold it up.
[00:07:07] Nicole: Yeah. And you say to them in the book that the first thing in your brain you need to switch to is you want to be a better business person who just happens to be a contractor, dentist, coach, whatever.
[00:07:19] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, yeah, It's a mindset shift. And that's leadership, you know. That's really, we're obviously, we're a little bit about culture today, but building a team of people around you who, they don't have to share your same vision, but we don't want people who are going to get in the way of my vision, right? We want people who are, yeah. Like help me get where I'm going to get. And if you're in the way, then join me or don't join me. I'm trying to be polite here.
[00:07:46] Nicole: Yeah. Well, you know what I say right there, Dom first of all, when you hire people, you have to tell them where you're going, what's the vision, how we're going to behave while we're going there, which is the mission. And then what do we value at our core?
[00:07:58] Dominic Rubino: Oh, I love it.
[00:07:59] Nicole: So I have a, I have a client up in Detroit and his name is Nouveau and he puts, you might know him, but he puts very, very fancy electronics in very, very expensive homes in Detroit. So, you press a button or you say disco ball and the ceiling opens up and the disco ball comes down.
[00:08:17] Dominic Rubino: So he builds homes for single men. Okay.
[00:08:20] Nicole: Yes!
[00:08:21] Dominic Rubino: Wealthy single guys.
[00:08:22] Nicole: Right. Yeah. Apparently. With boats in the backyard on Lake Michigan or something. I don't know. But he's got core values. And one of them is get S H, you know, asterisks exclamation point T exclamation point done! And I think that when you're asking people to come on with you, you got to tell them upfront, that's my motto. That's how we roll.
[00:08:42] Dominic Rubino: That's our values. It's incredible that, I mean, this is the first time you and I have met.
[00:08:46] Nicole: Yeah.
[00:08:46] Dominic Rubino: Never a conversation like this before. And yet, on that point, we both have triangulated. We're both at the same place. If I don't, if, here's something I learned from my ranching buddies years ago. I know they say it with a cool drawl and an accent. I can't do it. But if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.
[00:09:04] Nicole: Okay. Explain that. Tell the listeners what that means.
[00:09:07] Dominic Rubino: So if I don't have values, then I can be pushed around by the world. If I don't stand for something. So in my world, contractors, right? So they're doing renovations or new home building, or they might be cabinet makers, or they might be landscapers. And usually the people that I talk to want to be the best at what they're doing in their local market, right? So they want to be the best landscaper in Detroit, or the best cabinet maker in Michigan, or the best renovator in Duluth. It doesn't matter, right, wherever they are. And so you have to tell the people coming on the team, these are our values, this is what we stand for. And when people understand that, they also know what you don't stand for. So let's take somebody that's really strong in their faith. Just whatever faith it is. Well, you shouldn't hire somebody that's gonna come in swearing like a sailor. And if they do, you should have, you know, take personal responsibility as the owner. That should have been weeded out before we got them hired. And if we can't fix them after they're hired, they're just not gonna fit on the team. It's just, I can dance around it all you want, but if our values are that we don't cuss, curse, we don't say things that are colourful. A little bit of spice is okay, trust me, I'm really good at it, but, you gotta hold it back. But if that's not the values of my company, that's not gonna work. And I owe that person now a duty of care to say, we don't swear here. Like every once in a while when you smash your thumb with a hammer, I get it. But not every second word, like you're Tony Soprano. It's not gonna work. And if they don't follow with that, then another team's for them.
[00:10:34] Nicole: And what I call that is, coach them in, coach them out. Really, I mean that with all my heart. Cause my heart is, I want to help you do better. So I'm going to coach you to a higher level of performance. If you don't want to go to that higher level of performance, then it's not going to be a fit because we perform around here because it all goes back to how do you make a million dollars, whether it's, a million dollars in revenue or a million dollars in profit is we have to give really amazing service and maintain these core values and standards. That's just how it works. Yeah, and so you talk about the blueprints for success -so don't miss that, construction blueprints- He's a clever one, Dom. So on page 18 you talk about Mindset and how important mindset is and your secret is the "who am I secret." Talk about that
[00:11:18] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Well, it's funny because the who am I really comes back down to if I stand for nothing, I'll fall for anything. But what do I really stand for? Now, you might not want to be the highest quality renovator in, what did I say, Duluth? You might say I'm really good at medium kind of homes, doing medium kind of renovations. That's okay, but I have to understand who I am. And who I hire and who I market to and the kinds of homes that I'm doing because if I'm not aligned with that with the customer, they're not gonna buy from me. I'm not gonna be able to serve them and it's all gonna fall apart. So I really have -it's like everything, you have to start with who you are first.
[00:11:57] I think the challenge here goes back to kitchen tables when people grew up. Right? And the reason I say that, it shines so bright for me is I didn't grow up at a business kitchen table. I did grow up at a business, uh, what would you call it- party table? Like, Thanksgiving and holidays. A lot of my uncles were business owners. My mom and dad weren't. So I craved that conversation when I'd get to hear my uncles talk about this thing called a business. But if you didn't have that in your life, then you don't know, or you haven't gone to seek what it means to be a business owner.
[00:12:32] And so when you finally figure that out and you start to go down that path, you realize who you are. And you have to build your business around that.
[00:12:38] Nicole: Yeah, I love it. And the thing I love about this book too, and don't miss, we're talking to Dominic Rubino Construction Millionaire Secrets, and he's got like little exercises and I love nothing more than a little time to reflect. And so on page 23, he says, so if you want to figure out what you stand for, list three things that have made you proud. List three things other people do that make you disappointed, like identify what takes you up the feeling scale and what crashes you. I love that. And then based on these two lists, how would you describe yourself? So that people know what kind of leader they're going to be following and that's what builds a vibrant culture, is I've got a great leader, he's got his head together, her head together, and they're taking us down a path where everybody's going to be successful. I think that's the foundation of a vibrant culture.
[00:13:28] Dominic Rubino: That's right. Can I give you an example? Because
[00:13:31] Nicole: Please!
[00:13:32] Dominic Rubino: We've all had this with contractors. What are the things that disappoint people about contractors? And I won't even I'm not in the room with anybody, except virtually. But the first thing that I'll bet people are thinking is, how come you can't show up on time? Why did you promise to show up Tuesday? I didn't get a phone call, you just sort of floated in on Friday. So if that frustrates me, as another contractor, recognizing that people, they'll put us in the same bucket. Oh, you guys, you always overcharge. You're always late. You never show up. You never do what you say you're going to do. Okay. Well, those are actually power points that I can turn to my favor by saying in our culture, we show up on time or we call, right? We do what we say we're going to do. We price as promised. Oh my God. You are the most professional contractor in... Texas, Michigan, Duluth, we're going to, we're going to make Duluth shine on the map today, right? But isn't that amazing? All you have to do is just be a little bit different, but recognize the pain that everybody else is causing in the industry and go fix that. That's where culture comes from.
[00:14:35] Now you have to believe it and you've got to do it. But as soon as you do, man, the bar in business is set so low, you're going to crush it. You really will.
[00:14:44] Nicole: That's exactly right. Oh, I love that. I love that. Okay. And so that's the first secret. So let's move on to the next thing. What you have in here is, "What is your why?"
[00:14:55] Dominic Rubino: Yeah.
[00:14:56] Nicole: So I, whenever I hear why I always think of personal mission. So when I work with leaders and they're building a vibrant culture before they even get to the mission of the whole place. I'm like, what's your personal mission? Why are you doing this? Is that what you're talking about here for the personal leader?
[00:15:12] Dominic Rubino: And do you find it hard? Do you find it hard for people to express what's my why? They're like, I don't know. I just want to start a business or.
[00:15:20] Nicole: Right. Well, I think it's challenging at first because I think we don't think as deep as we need to, so we need to go Deming on this or something and go five whys deep. You know, why do you like that? Why? Yeah, yeah, so I think we need to go five whys deep, but I will tell you, Dom, I've read both the books, I think, that do the best job on mission statements, now I have three, I have Dom's book.
[00:15:43] But Stephen Covey has a whole thing, he's popped off the planet now, but he's the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People book. And then also there's a woman named Lori Beth Jones and she wrote a book called The Path and I say this on the podcast all the time. That book changed my life because it was how to figure out your talents, your gifts, your competencies, and really get clear about what you bring to the party. I mean, anybody looking for a job or wanting to start a business should definitely do that. And of course, get Dom's book.
[00:16:11] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. So you just made me think of a why that I got from somebody once.
[00:16:17] Nicole: Okay.
[00:16:18] Dominic Rubino: It's kind of funny, but it's not very technical. I'm like, tell me about why, he was a drywaller. Why'd you get into the business? And he goes, "Well you see Dom, when you're a teenager and you get a girl pregnant, you got to start working right away."
[00:16:31] Nicole: Hey...
[00:16:32] Dominic Rubino: That's your why? He goes, I've just been a drywaller ever since. But there's a lot of people there who don't...
[00:16:38] Nicole: That's an art form, by the way.
[00:16:40] Dominic Rubino: Which part?
[00:16:42] Nicole: Drywalling.
[00:16:43] Dominic Rubino: Okay.
[00:16:45] Nicole: Well, the other's an art form too, but drywalling takes true talent.
[00:16:49] Dominic Rubino: That's right. Yeah. Doing it right. But so there's a lot of people though that are in their businesses because that's what they know how to do. I'm just a landscape guy. I it's me. And that becomes a problem later when we're talking
[00:17:01] Nicole: yes, it does,
[00:17:02] Dominic Rubino: about selling the business. Right.
[00:17:04] Nicole: Oh 100%,
[00:17:04] Dominic Rubino: Cause how do you, in your business with culture, how do you transfer that culture to a new buyer or make it big enough to allow somebody else in?
[00:17:11] But there's a lot of people out there that are running an HVAC business or a roofing business or plumbing, cabinetry business. And they're just like, I don't know, I'm just a cabinet maker. I didn't want to work for the last guy. So I started my own shop. So now I'm a cabinet maker, Dom. It's almost, I don't mean it in a bad way, but it's too much for some people to think about.
[00:17:29] And then on the other side, I've had a really incredible why that was shared with me, and I don't share names when it comes to this one, but, there was a gentleman that said to me cause I did the Deming, the five whys, right? And we didn't even have to get there. His mom was in a home. And she was in a quad, in a room with four, or three other ladies, right?
[00:17:48] So
[00:17:48] Nicole: Oh, that's too many.
[00:17:50] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, and he goes, There's a lady in there with dementia and she's up yelling all night and talking and my mom can't sleep and he goes, "She was a single mom. She raised me. She deserves better My job is to get her into a single room." Okay, like even now I Have goosebumps like you cannot replace that why, that drive That's a why for somebody and we all have our own, right?
[00:18:15] Nicole: Yeah. And I think a little bit of what you're talking about too is you can have a mission, you can have a purpose, but then there's also kind of like, I want to leave a legacy. Like I was a good son. You know? To me, that's the real stuff of life. And the reality is we all need to work. Not many of us don't need, I mean, there are several that don't need to work, but, most of us have to have a JOB or run a business or something. And, if you can continually connect that dot between getting up, doing a really excellent job, doing what you say you're going to do, figuring out the pain points, and then putting a strategy in place that fixes everybody's pain points, like you're talking about then you're doing really good life work. It's just not business. Mm hmm.
[00:18:56] Dominic Rubino: You're making a difference, and we all can make a difference in our own way,
[00:19:00] Nicole: Yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. And I just do want to say to all you drywallers, thank you because I mean, the walls need to be smooth without nail pops. It's a whole thing. Okay. Page 35. You talk about secret number two. All right. If you want to be a construction millionaire or a millionaire you have to start thinking, acting, planning, and goal setting, and you give a formula.
[00:19:23] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, the revenue responsibility per hour.
[00:19:26] Nicole: Okay, let's talk about that.
[00:19:28] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, so for people out there listening who like academic references and economic terms, it's called Ricardo's Law of Comparative Advantage. But that's boring. Yeah, so we call it Revenue Responsibility Per Hour. And you know what it means? It's a simple formula. Just take your sales last year. And for the sake of it, let's say it's a million bucks. And then, this is the funny part of the story. Let's say you work 40 hours a week. And let's say you
[00:19:55] Nicole: That is funny. Ha ha.
[00:19:56] Dominic Rubino: funny, I know, right? Because business owners are usually, strapped for time and they're overworking for their returns.
[00:20:03] But you know, you do the calculation. Everybody's calculation will be different based on your own number, but it's four or five hundred bucks an hour. Now that doesn't mean that if I come to do your roof or build your kitchen cabinets, as soon as I show up on site, the red carpet rolls out. I've got a big purple hat on and I charge 500 bucks an hour.
[00:20:21] That's not what it means. But what it does mean is that as the owner, it's my responsibility to make sure that the company is breathing, is moving 500 bucks an hour in and out. Now that might mean I've got you know, five people working for me that make X dollars an hour or 10 people doing this, or I'm doing better deals with my vendors or taking care of my customers or finding new great jobs, whatever it is, I have to be operating at the highest level of my potential. This is why I need to hire an administrator or a bookkeeper. Just use a bookkeeper as an example, like a good bookkeeper. I'll just say 30 bucks an hour. That's wrong in a thousand different places around us. But I can't do $30 an hour work if I'm responsible for $500 an hour work. So I have to find somebody to do that. And ultimately the world will pay for everything a business owner needs as long as they build their business right so that it happens.
[00:21:16] Nicole: Yeah. And I love that you're talking about money because I think one of the biggest mistakes inside of a non vibrant culture is we're not talking about money and profit and loss statements and analyzing with different formulas what's going on and teaching the people that work for us.
[00:21:34] I'm a huge believer, Dom, what do you think about open book management? Like, I don't have to reveal what every dollar everybody's making, but I need to say, look, this is how much we renovated and then here's the cost and we screwed up Mrs. Smith's house, so that dug into our profit. People need to see how that works because like you said they didn't grow up around the business dinner table.
[00:21:56] Dominic Rubino: No, and we have this conversation quite often where people say I don't really want to share my numbers with my guys -and I'm just gonna say guys right- and because they won't understand, you know We just did that job and it was 300 grand and the crew thinks the owner took $300,000.
[00:22:12] Nicole: That's exactly right.
[00:22:14] Dominic Rubino: And he went to Vegas for the weekend, but that's not what happens So we do need to have that conversation about how, what money means and what expenses are and overheads. And the other thing that I hear is the feedback that owners get from their crew and the feedback quite often is, and it comes across in many different terms, but all you think about is money. Ooh, you're the owner. All you think about is money. I don't know how you phrase it, but go to those people and say, okay, well next week, I'm not going to cut you your check. Oh,
[00:22:49] Nicole: Wait, don't really do that
[00:22:51] Dominic Rubino: no, don't do that. That's what I said. I don't know how you're going to phrase this.
[00:22:56] Nicole: Wait, let me think about it. Keep going
[00:22:57] Dominic Rubino: Things I learned by watching 30 Rock, right? No, no, no, but don't do that. But imagine for a moment how they would feel if they didn't get their check. Why is there a disconnect now that I'm a business owner when I need to get paid, we need to be profitable and you know we don't need to be profitable so that I can buy a big house in the Hamptons, we need to be profitable so I can maintain the truck that you drive to the job site, so that the forklift is safe, so that you've got great tools that you can be proud of. So I can buy you great t shirts and hats and pay for lunches where you know, bring your kids to the bouncy castle. Yeah, we need profits. We need profits to run the business.
[00:23:31] Announcer: Are you ready to build your vibrant culture? Bring Nicole Greer to speak to your leadership team, conference, or organization to help them with their strategies, systems, and smarts to increase clarity, accountability, energy, and results. Your organization will "get lit" from within! Email her at Nicole at VibrantCulture.com And be sure to check out Nicole's TEDxTalk at VibrantCulture.com
[00:23:57] Nicole: Yeah, and again I'll just say I mean I can't even say how much I believe in all that and again, I had a person in my life, Nancy Freeman, who sat down, a little leasing agent who was working in an apartment community, Class A apartment communities. And she sat me down and she was like look here are the line items of revenue, this is why you have to charge a pet fee You can't waive all the pet fees.
[00:24:22] Dominic Rubino: yeah.
[00:24:23] Nicole: We're counting on that money because down here is payroll and your little salary is right inside that number right there. And I didn't get it until she showed me.
[00:24:34] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. You know, if somebody out there is really good with their numbers, there's an exercise I learned from Jack Stack, The Great Game of Business.
[00:24:41] Nicole: Oh, such a good book.
[00:24:42] Dominic Rubino: Isn't it great.
[00:24:43] Nicole: Oh my gosh. Say it again. Say it again so everybody will get it.
[00:24:45] Dominic Rubino: Jack Stack is the author and the book is called The Great Game of Business. And it gets pretty deep towards the end when he starts talking about variable compensation and bonuses. And I'll be honest, I kind of stop at about that point because it's too heavy. But one of the things that he talks about, that's really interesting, and I think as soon as I talk about it, people can recreate it themselves. It's the dollar exercise. You just take a dollar. Okay. Draw a dollar on the page and then how much of that is cost of goods? How much of that is overheads out of $1? And, obviously we're playing with percentages. What you're going to find at the end is that there's pennies left over, maybe four or three pennies. If you could find a way to bring that visual to your team and say, look at the end of that dollar, we've got three pennies left. Two of those pennies are going to go to buy the new Sprinter van. I'm going to stay in construction mindset because that's where my head is, right? Or we need a new scissor lift. You guys want a new scissor lift? Yeah, we want it. Okay. That's going to take one of the pennies. We're left with two in order for us to stay open.
[00:25:44] We got to continue to pay benefits, right? Yeah. Okay. There's another one. I only get that last penny after everything else goes right. And so, we have to find ways to have that conversation respectfully, within our values with our team, but that's a great, it's a great game. It's a great way to show people that there's actual costs here. You didn't just walk away with $300 grand when we charged the customer $300 grand. The materials alone were probably 160, 180. That's
[00:26:10] Nicole: hmm. That's right. That's right. And, when you don't measure twice and cut once, you're cutting into that, right? And that's a whole thing. That's another reason why construction people are amazing is because they measure twice. Everybody measure twice.
[00:26:23] They do! They do, Okay. Secret number three is "Keep it simple," And you say in the book on page 39, when I say, keep it simple, I'm talking about the wise insight you get from your favorite uncle or a successful friend.
[00:26:36] So we've got our successful friend Dom here. Tell us all about success. Secret three.
[00:26:41] Dominic Rubino: You know, it's easy to overcomplicate things. It's much harder to simplify them. It's much, much harder. But keeping it simple comes down to really, it's just going to sound like I'm just made for your show, but it comes down to my values. What's expressed to me in really simple terms, how our values come to life in our work.
[00:26:59] One of them about keeping it simple. I don't need a rule for everything, but if I have a simple statement we are proud craftsmen. That answers, oh my God, that answers a thousand different questions. If we have a quality control issue, well, we're proud craftsmen. What would we do? We need to go fix that. Since we're proud craftsmen, we should probably figure out the root cause, the source of that problem and not have it happen again. Right? Or we got sometimes you get warped product from the suppliers, but we got to hit that deadline. So let's just run the warped product. Hmm. No, we're proud craftsmen. That's not the quality. I'm not getting raw materials to that point where I can build quality. And so when you start to have that as part of your culture,
[00:27:38] Nicole: Yeah. Talk
[00:27:39] Dominic Rubino: that?
[00:27:40] Nicole: Go Dom.
[00:27:41] Dominic Rubino: But that's part of our culture. It's our values. If I tell our team and I show, and I build a company around the fact that we are proud craftsmen, then that's what happens.
[00:27:50] Nicole: Yeah. And, I'm sitting here, your little example, I think it's so important too, that in the midst of that is that we do storytelling. So I'm going to go off the board for 20 points here. So I think that people who run the business, if they're going to say we're proud craftsmen, then the leader has to say, let me tell you a story where I made the choice to be a proud craftsman and I made profit, I won a customer, they built three more houses with me over the term of
[00:28:19] Dominic Rubino: Right
[00:28:19] Nicole: You know, 20 years or whatever. So what's your take on storytelling?
[00:28:23] Dominic Rubino: Well, I love it, I don't think I'm very good at it, and I know a lot of people struggle with it, so I wish it was better. But
[00:28:30] I, but I will say, if I can sniff where you're going with this, when we're trying to build culture and our values, Let's say that one of our values is that we are proud craftsmen. The story can't always be about me. I have to start telling stories about Nicole, who works for us.
[00:28:47] Like, do you guys remember the time that Nicole was running the finishing booth? And she's an incredible finisher, and she caught a mistake that none of us saw. And it turned out that that mistake, if we had let it go forward, would have done da da da da. But Nicole did such a great job on this, this, and that.
[00:29:02] And so now we just tell a great story about Nicole, Nicole feels great, you know, brr brr brr. In the back of everybody's mind, they're like, Oh, we gotta do more of what Nicole did, right? Or Nick, or Nancy, or Ned, whoever it is, but we tell the stories internally. I've run out of
[00:29:19] Nicole: this team, the N team.
[00:29:21] Dominic Rubino: the N team. But you've gotta, you, if, whenever possible, put the stories, this has worked for me, and you do a lot of this stuff, so I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna flip the question to you next,
[00:29:31] Nicole: Okay.
[00:29:32] Dominic Rubino: possible, tell the stories about the team succeeding that supports the values, and do a shout out to them.
[00:29:38] Nicole: Yeah. And I agree with that. You should highlight the team. Here's the other thing, though. I found, Dom, the thing about the leader sharing his or her stories. I don't know what, how you, came all the way up in your career, but as I was coming up, I was always in on the ground level, and I had to work, to get to the manager role, to get to the bigger, higher paying roles, but every time I met the leader in my little entrepreneurial brain, and I know you have a little entrepreneurial brain too, I was like, how did they do what they, how'd they do that? Yeah.
[00:30:09] And so to me, I wanted to know the leader story because I wanted to know, how the heck do you go from being the leasing agent in the apartment community? Because that was my second business. The first business I was in was restaurant. Everybody should be in the restaurant business, construction business, apartment business.
[00:30:24] Dominic Rubino: Those are our businesses.
[00:30:25] Nicole: I know, but you know, like when John Gray, the CEO came, I wanted to know, John, how did you do this? Because I wanted John's job, to be honest, and we all, if you're in construction, you want to be Dom Rubino. I mean, so how did Dom do it? And guess what, everybody? He wrote a book, so can how he did it. I think it's both and. The team's stories, but the leader's stories as well.
[00:31:01] Dominic Rubino: Obviously we need the leader's stories, but... so stories are an important part of things. Like when we're disconnected from the end result, it's hard for us to take pride in it. You spoke about restaurants for a second. There's a restaurant pass through where the cook can usually see into the eating area, right? The dining area.
[00:31:11] Nicole: Yeah,
[00:31:12] Dominic Rubino: That's what, what a great feedback when you see somebody enjoying your meal and not like throwing the hamburger down or the steak down and walking out. Right. Or getting sick with your sushi. The visuals are getting worse as my analogy goes on, but in construction, maybe you don't hear the final story about, hey, look, this is where we installed it. You know, kitchen cabinets are, I love kitchen cabinets. One of my specialties is the kitchen cabinetry trade, believe it or not.
[00:31:35] Nicole: If you could come to the house I'd appreciate it. ha
[00:31:39] Dominic Rubino: Well, here's what's interesting that we don't think about. Kitchen cabinets and cabinetry is the last thing you see before you go to bed, and the first thing you see when you wake up.
[00:31:48] Nicole: Oh, that is so true.
[00:31:49] Dominic Rubino: But if I make cabinets and I work in a shop, I never actually see the install site. I'm just making, rectangles and squares and rectangles and squares and maybe some curved stuff and it's going out.
[00:31:58] But if I was the owner and I said, Hey guys, you guys know, you just built a museum. Most likely your kids are going to go there for a field trip. So you get to tell them, Daddy made that whole front reception. Mommy painted this thing, right? It's incredible, but you have to, that's how you reinforce to your team "we are proud craftsmen." When they go, yeah, my niece and nephew just went on a field trip there last week. I forgot to tell them, but that's the pride they get. Otherwise to them, rectangle, square, rectangle, square, four squares, little rectangle, you know, just, it zooms by in their life.
[00:32:34] Nicole: Yeah. I'm just touched by that because I think that's so important. Because one of my bigger customers here in North Carolina is Blum. And do you know Blum Hinges and
[00:32:43] Dominic Rubino: Never heard of them. Yeah. I actually saw that on your website. I saw Blum was there. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's a very high end. Very
[00:32:51] Nicole: my gosh. And those people at Blum, I am madly in love with all those people at Blum, all those people that make, and we have a joke, we call, I call them the hinges and the slideys. And and so they make amazing hinges and slideys. And I was just thinking, that's what they need that too. They need to go to some of these bougie houses that I know this stuff ends up in.
[00:33:10] Dominic Rubino: And see the application. Yeah. And they do, cabinetry is split into kitchen cabinets that we all recognize, but then there's this other world called architectural millwork. That is this incredible level of art applied to wood. And obviously I could go off on that, but yeah, I could geek out.
[00:33:26] But listen, these guys have hardware that makes that hidden door, that secret passageway secret. That's the that Blum makes. It's incredible. Not just the lazy Susan and the garbage pullout and the, you
[00:33:37] Nicole: Oh, no,
[00:33:38] Dominic Rubino: they do some crazy stuff.
[00:33:39] Nicole: Yeah,
[00:33:39] they have this new thing, Ravego. Do you know about the Ravego? That it's a whole wall system. It's out of control. And when you go into Blum, in their lobby, they have this image of this couch where you press a button and up comes your Cabernet Sauvignon and your glasses. And I'm just like, I got to get one of
[00:33:56] Dominic Rubino: You get a visit on Fridays.
[00:33:58] Nicole: Right at five o'clock. Exactly. All right. We are off track, back to secret number four. Okay. This one I love because I do a lot of strategic planning with organizations and most people don't know how to do it and they don't know how to maintain it. So, secret number four, make a strategic plan, stick to it and follow it. I love this.
[00:34:17] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. For me, it was a turnaround. You mentioned that book that really changed your life. One of the books that really changed my business life was the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.
[00:34:26] Nicole: Get it, people.
[00:34:27] Dominic Rubino: Such a good book. Crazy good. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. And then the other book that's really changed my business life. Actually, you can see them behind me here.
[00:34:36] Nicole: I love your bookshelf. I have all those.
[00:34:38] Dominic Rubino: Oh, do you? I do. Yeah, they're all
[00:34:41] Nicole: Except maybe the one, the two, the one on the far left, 100 million. Is that yours?
[00:34:46] Dominic Rubino: Oh, geez, I wish. Hundred Million Dollar Offers. That's from Alex Hormozi. Actually, he owns a company called Acquisition.com. I was just there talking about the acquisition and disposition of businesses. Because I'm a party. I'm a fun guy. But Traction, this book Traction, is how you build a strategic, is that what you do, well you've had, I saw you had EOS implementers as guests
[00:35:10] Nicole: Yeah. Oh, you gotta get it. I've got all the books. I've got them right here. What the heck is EOS? Process, EOS Life, all that. You gotta read all that. Gino's a genius. Yeah.
[00:35:21] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, Gino really is, and EOS, by the way, stands for -people who aren't familiar with- Entrepreneurial Operating System. And one of my coaches explained it back to me really, really well. He goes, it's a communication method for our company. He's one of my coaches. He has his own $50 million business. And he coaches on my team. It's incredible. So he uses that particular model so that he can put on paper what his wishes are for the goal of, you know, in 10 years, I want the company to do this; in three years, that; et cetera. But then when he cascades that down to the company, it's pretty clear. Everybody can see, well, this is the path. Here's how we follow the path. Getting everything out of my head and onto paper was really a game changer for me to build businesses.
[00:36:01] Nicole: Yeah. And guess what, everybody, if you're the leader and you write it down, nobody has to guess what you're thinking anymore.
[00:36:07] Dominic Rubino: Nobody needs to guess.
[00:36:08] Nicole: Yeah. And people aren't good guessers. Have you ever been to the fair? They, nobody ever wins.
[00:36:14] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. No. Well, they might try their best, but they can't guess what's in my head. And that's always the hard part is there's so much rolling around in my head. There's so many what-ifs and ands and if-thens, but you're right. Once I put it down in that system, it's a lot easier to stick to it.
[00:36:29] Nicole: Yeah. And he talks about it on page 45, you're going to have your one year goals and then your three month goals or your 90 days. And then what are you going to do this week? And then that will determine what you do today. Instead of going. Oh my gosh, another day.
[00:36:43] Dominic Rubino: Chicken with my head cut off. Yeah, No.
[00:36:46] Nicole: yeah, we gotta
[00:36:47] Dominic Rubino: Life's too hard that way. You know, if I pre plan it, and if I make the schedule first and then work myself to get into it, then I get done what I want done. I don't get pushed around by the world.
[00:36:58] Nicole: Yeah, I agree. And I bet you you're just nerdy enough to like Jim Rohn, too.
[00:37:02] Dominic Rubino: Oh my god, don't wish life was easier, wish you were better. Jim Rohn was, I'm so sad he's gone.
[00:37:10] Nicole: Me, too. I would have loved to have met him.
[00:37:13] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, are you familiar with Brian Tracy?
[00:37:16] Nicole: Oh my gosh yeah. I see your Eat That Frog back there, gotta get that. That's your time management book right there.
[00:37:21] Dominic Rubino: That's the time management book. So my last company, I was partners with Brian.
[00:37:25] Nicole: Okay.
[00:37:26] Dominic Rubino: And I built that, he's the same offstage as he is on stage, except offstage, he has no problem ripping me a new one.
[00:37:35] Nicole: He's like, work harder Dom,
[00:37:37] Dominic Rubino: He's lot more polite on stage, but no, he was incredible to work with. I was with him for 13 years and what I did is, he had started a business coaching franchise company and I had a background in both franchising and business coaching. So I bought that from him and I built it from six underperforming units to 237 before I sold it.
[00:37:56] Nicole: Oh congrats!
[00:37:58] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, but he was just such a great mentor, such a great mentor. But when you talk about Jim Rohn and you talk about Zig Ziglar and you talk about Brian Tracy and by the way when you talk about Gino Wickman from Traction, here's what people don't know. His dad was a real estate entrepreneur Guru, Floyd Wickman. And I don't know if anybody out there was in real estate at the time, but I took, years ago, Floyd Wickman's course called Sweathogs.
[00:38:27] Nicole: Oh my gosh, that's fantastic,
[00:38:28] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Yeah. So that's twice now I've been with the Wickman family IP, using it to grow my business. It's pretty cool.
[00:38:35] Nicole: Yeah. And so oh my gosh, that just hit my heart. Cause here's the thing, growing your business. Just think, Gino would not be Gino without daddy, without Floyd, you know what I mean? And maybe Brian Tracy, isn't your daddy, but you need somebody off stage to straighten you out. You know what I mean? Like dad would straighten you out. You know what I mean? Dad, you know, Daddy'll straighten you out, momma will straighten you out. So if you build your business, you want to build something, you want to get a hold of Dom's book. And let me tell you it again, Construction Millionaire Secrets by, Dominic Rubino. You want to get your act together because you want to give a legacy. Again, it's bigger than the numbers. You want to give a legacy to your kids, a real business that's running right.
[00:39:17] Dominic Rubino: Yeah. Can I give you an analogy for that?
[00:39:19] Nicole: I love that. I would love that. Go ahead
[00:39:21] Dominic Rubino: So my daughter just started driving. My son's about to start driving. So I don't know
[00:39:25] Nicole: Okay.. It's going to be wonderful. I'm telling you, it'll change your life. Ha
[00:39:29] Dominic Rubino: Well I'll tell you what it changes, is the quality of vehicle they're going to be driving. And so the analogy of a business, you know, passing a business onto my kids, let's my daughter's the eldest. So let's say I want to pass my business onto her first. Right. Do I want to give her a broken down heap of a car?
[00:39:46] Nicole: No. A Volvo.
[00:39:48] Dominic Rubino: Yeah, you, right. You want the most solid, stable car. I want the whole thing to be one big airbag and I want it to be made of the black box on an airplane. Cause that's the only thing that ever survives. Like this is my daughter. She's driving a tank. Right?
[00:40:01] Nicole: Good.
[00:40:01] Dominic Rubino: So why wouldn't I give her a business that was running properly, predictably, with good systems so that I know she can provide the life for her eventual family that would make sense. And so that's a real legacy builder there. You're building this business. If you want to pass it on to your kids, don't give them a hunk of junk. Give them something good.
[00:40:20] Nicole: That's exactly right. Oh my goodness. I can't believe our hour is almost up.
[00:40:25] Dominic Rubino: We only made it through four secrets.
[00:40:27] Nicole: I know. Well, maybe you'll come back and tell more secrets. I mean, I just think this is a great book and I think we gave them some great content. I don't think anybody's going to be mad at us. And here's what you could do. You can go to the Amazon and get this. Where else can everybody find you, Dom? If they want to get a hold of you, what do they do?
[00:40:44] Dominic Rubino: Well, if you can't find me, you're not looking it's because of the, but,
[00:40:49] Nicole: Just type in Dom and there he is.
[00:40:50] Dominic Rubino: yeah, uh, you have to put the, yeah, Dominic Rubino. And but I, I'm on LinkedIn and Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. We've got significant YouTube channel. There's almost 500 episodes between my two podcasts. So there's lots to find there. And then I write for Forbes magazine and you'll find what you need. And I'm happy to help anybody that needs... I really do love what I do and what we do here. So any way that I can help people, let me know.
[00:41:17] Nicole: Okay. All right. And just pray for him and the children. They're going to start driving. Okay. All right. So it's been so good to have you on the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast. Everybody look down in the show notes and get all the links, go visit, go be friends with him on LinkedIn, buy the book and then give us a little review and click that like button.
[00:41:34] It only takes a second, and here's what your review could say: "Nice!!" Just put that with two exclamation points. You're done. We would really appreciate it. Thanks so much, Dom, for being on the Build a Vibrant Culture podcast.
[00:41:45] Dominic Rubino: Thank you.
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