27 Things You Can Do For Your Business Instead of Bookkeeping We’ve had many clients come to Apparatus asking for bookkeeping help. At minimum, these guys are spending at least four hours a week on their books. Even if you’re spending just an hour a week on your books, it’s not a good use of…
How Delegators Save Time, Gain Focus, and See Success The 4 Business Roles How is your business running? More importantly, what role do you play to keep it running? Are you a Laborer, Contributor, Supervisor, or Delegator? I’m willing to bet 80% of our readers fall into one or more of the first three categories. The…
What They Are and Why They’re Important CRMs, or Customer Relationship Management tools, are becoming more popular than ever in the construction and contracting industries. This trend is due to the wide accessibility of digital technology and smart phones. It’s also a result of the number of contractors getting serious about refining their back-office and…
How Referrals Can Boost Your Business A great referral program can end up delivering a huge portion of your overall sales. Even better, once set up, this lucrative marketing engine runs almost entirely on its own. This frees up your precious time for other activities and initiatives. Unfortunately, many small contracting companies get lost when…
The Basics of Contract Writing Successful contractors recognize when the time comes to operate using written contracts instead of simple handshakes. Contract writing is not for everyone, and even those who do it well don’t necessarily enjoy it! Nevertheless, contracts are a crucial part of your contracting business. Contracts legally protect your work performed. They…
Platforms for Gaining Visibility Every small business should incorporate social media in to their marketing strategy. Contracting businesses are no exception. Social media shines visibility on your business through digital platforms, for little to no cost. There are more than a few social media platforms out there, but we think the three giants below are…
Outsource Bookkeeping: The Contractor’s Secret to Success The Problem If you’re like most of the contractors we talk to you’re running your own business, hitting successes along the way, and wearing many hats. You’re in the field all day either working or managing workers, checking on projects, and running supply errands. At the end…
Minimizing Damage and Improving Productivity Every contractor knows that you just can’t win every customer. Customers and clients always enter each situation with their own perspectives, experiences, and expectations. It’s nearly impossible to ensure that each client has the perfect experience that you strive to provide. Nonetheless, it’s also important to take steps…
Using Branding to Establish Credibility As a contractor and small business owner you’re probably familiar with the word “branding”. Branding is a marketing term that refers to the efforts a business makes to establish its voice, message, and mission in everything they do. A business’s identity is spoken and showcased through its brand. The most…
How to Reclassify Your Workers to Stay in Compliance As a general contractor, you’re familiar with and successful at running jobs and completing projects. This is in part due to the great team you’ve assembled. Your crew might consist of employees, subcontractors, independent contractors, or some combination of the three. For the most part,…
A Step-By-Step Guide to Increasing Visibility There comes a time in every business’s life when old school marketing and word of mouth efforts just aren’t enough. The time to take your business digital is now. We like to start with social media, specifically Facebook. Even if you don’t yet have a webpage, a Facebook business…
Planting Marketing Seeds for Sustainable Growth The holidays are just around the corner. And, yes, this season is already so jam-packed it’s hard to imagine trying to fit anything else into your schedule. So, we won’t ask you to. Instead, we’ve strategized for you and compiled a list of initiatives you can take to help…
Understanding the Roles within Your Financial Team You’ve seen the words CPA and bookkeeper used a lot, sometimes interchangeably. Maybe it’s been a source of confusion for you in your hunt for back office support for your contracting company. We want to clear up the definitions of each so you can look for the help…
Working Intentionally for Long-Term Results Writing down your goals increases the likelihood of achieving them Today let’s talk a little bit about goal-setting. It’s a highly-regarded and fairly well-understood concept , yet it is not practiced often enough. We’re big believers in goal-setting here at Apparatus. Creating a goal inspires a mental picture of growth,…
Classifying workers appropriately is important for your financials. Is Your Worker an Independent Contractor or an Employee? Most general contractors and subcontractors will run into this situation at some point in their careers – is your new worker an independent contractor or an employee? Well, luckily for those who find themselves in this situation, the…
Pre-client meeting preparation is important. Impress Clients and Land Jobs As the representative of your own business, your goal is to consistently impress clients. You’ve probably had to answer your fair share of questions from potential clients when trying to land a new job. For many clients, giving up control is a hard thing to…
Create Your Best Contracting Business Contractor Habit 1: Get in the Habit of Goal Setting Do yourself a huge favor and get into the habit of running your contracting business with intention. Go out of the way to write down the goals you have for your company and its future. Studies show that making this…
Understand Your Rights and Protect Your Jobs – A Guide for General Contractors Notice of Right to a Lien As a contractor, you know there are several steps involved in starting a new job. From initial assessments, defining the scope of work, securing subcontractor estimates, hiring subcontractors, finding suppliers, signing contracts and more: there’s a…
A Contractor’s Guide Breaking Down Bookkeeping Bookkeeping – the word itself is a little intimidating. To be the keeper of books, what does it even mean? In the world of bookkeeping, records and attention to detail are everything. Recording your revenue and expenses will put you on track to understanding profit and loss. These are…
What Should You Write Off? The Basics Ah, business expenses. The allure, the luxury, the… confusion? Often when thinking of a standard business expense, the same image comes to everyone’s mind… charging a lunch on the company card. Hey, who doesn’t love free lunch? I know I do. But, business expenses are much more involved…
An Expensive Shortcut for Contracting Businesses If you’re like most contractors, you’ve been guilty of it at one time or another: taking personal draws from your business checking account. It’s tempting, it’s easy, it’s your money, right? Unfortunately, it’s also one of the worst habits you can develop as a business owner – one that…
