008 - Mo' Money, Mo' Problems with Sergio Garcia

In this episode, Sergio Garcia is sharing his transformation story. He began his business, Alpha Surfaces, as someone who was really passionate about his craft but, frankly, knew nothing about running a healthy business. See where he came from and how he’s taken charge of his business and his time to make mo’ money, but without mo’ problems.

Show Notes

  • Who is Sergio Garcia? (0:55)

  • Then something really crazy happened. (9:10)

  • What’s his business? (13:20)

  • Why your business name matters. (15:50)

  • What’s a typical day at Alpha Surfaces? (16:40)

  • That’s when things started going bad... (19:20)

  • “We started getting behind on a lot of payments.” (22:30)

  • “That’s when I got that gut check.” (22:50)

  • “I was bleeding cash everywhere.” (25:00)

  • Even people with no business sense can tell that this isn’t right... (27:10)

  • Margins? Bidding? How did they determine pricing? (28:70)

  • “That $5,000 is not all for you.” (29:50)

  • You’re busy, but you’re on credit lock — it’s like quicksand. (31:10)

  • They decided that we needed help. It was divine intervention. That’s when everything changed. (34:20)

  • “We think we’re saving money by doing it ourselves, but it costs us opportunities.” (43:00)

  • How Sergio reacted to competitors then and now. (49:00)

  • What was the most impactful change that he made in his business? (54:00)

  • One danger of increasing your capacity before you’re ready. (1:00:30)

  • What’s the hardest part of getting your pricing right? (1:06:20)

  • How did he tell his customers that he was going to have to start charging more? (1:09:45)

  • A common marketing mistake that contractors make. (1:18:00)

  • How a CRM transformed Alpha’s business. (1:22:20)

  • Mount Rushmore — Sergio’s biggest improvements (1:27:17)

  • Quote of the day — “Sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn.” — Sergio’s daughter (1:35:10)

  • Intern Insights with Ethan — There’s a ton to cover, so let’s see if Ethan can get it all in! (1:36:30)

Quotable Moments

  • “When it comes to the numbers and the business side, it’s a whole different story.” — Sergio

  • “If you don’t know what you’re doing and don’t have something that you want, it’s pretty hard to do it.” — M

  • “It’s not just about working harder, it’s about working smarter.” — K

  • “Keeping track of your business is just as hard as doing it.” — M

  • “When you do a good job, customers are happy to pay you.” — Sergio

  • “When you’re small, you don’t see the big issue with not having the margins or the systems... As you get bigger, it becomes a magnifying glass on all of the problems you have.” — K


Mount Rushmore

  • Courage

  • Getting the books right

  • Creating a vision for the company — Sergio’s George Washington

  • Improving operational efficiency

  • Delegation

  • Price increase

  • Getting the books right (so important, we had to mention it twice!)

  • Grit 

Resources


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009 - Bid Like You Mean Business

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007 - Where to Start With Your Marketing