Charlie Genin has been building in Lafayette, Louisiana for twelve years, and the hardest lesson had nothing to do with construction: being a good contractor is not the same thing as being a good business owner. He and Bobby get into the hats nobody warns you about when you start a company.

Charlie founded The Gen Group Construction in 2014 with his father in law, and today runs residential and commercial, spec and custom. This conversation is the honest version of the first twelve years: the commitment nobody mentions when they tell you to go work for yourself, the day you accept you cannot be the best contractor and the best owner and the best dad all in the same afternoon, and the unglamorous systems that made the difference.

Along the way: why you should start writing processes while you are still an army of one instead of waiting until you have a team of ten, why the first thing you hand off should be whatever you like doing least, how to keep your standard without micromanaging the person you just handed it to, why a rainy day fund is a construction issue and not a personal finance one, and the change order habit that prevents most disputes before they start.

"The balance is really hard. To be the best contractor and the best business owner and the best employer and the best dad and the best husband. And the answer is you cannot do all of it at the same time."

Chapters:

0:00 Cold open

0:28 Welcome

0:59 Meet Charlie Genin

1:50 Founding The Gen Group in 2014

3:57 A good contractor is not a good business owner

4:50 The commitment nobody warns you about

6:31 You cannot be all of it at the same time

7:11 Siloing the parts of your life

9:59 Let the calendar be the driver

11:05 Competing without tearing anyone down

14:01 What you say about a competitor

15:42 Working with integrity

16:32 Surround yourself with better people

17:50 Goals you can actually reach

21:07 Sharing the goals with your team

22:40 Celebrating wins, yours and theirs

25:09 Advice for a new owner: the mindset

26:01 Know your numbers

26:54 Start processes as an army of one

27:26 Do not get over leveraged

29:11 All the hats you did not know about

30:12 Delegate what you like doing least

31:26 Consistency without micromanaging

34:25 Checklists are built from mistakes

37:17 Find a mentor, join your HBA

41:10 Buy time instead of paying for mistakes

43:36 First generation owners have no playbook

48:10 Get it in writing

49:30 Change orders are where people get burned

51:08 If it is too good to be true

52:27 Documentation ends disputes

55:46 Do not compare yourself to highlight reels

56:38 Work on the business, not in it

57:45 What success actually means

58:42 Clients are emotional beings

1:00:34 Give yourself grace

Guest: Charlie Genin, owner and general contractor at The Gen Group Construction, L.L.C. in Lafayette, Louisiana. gengrouphomes.com

Learn more at ChoiceConsultingMan.com/Podcast

Bobby's books, Choices and Clarity, are at ChoiceConsultingMan.com/books

A video version of this episode is on YouTube. Search Choices Create Change.