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Discover ideas, tactics, news, and information that matters to your contracting business and you. Increase productivity, profitability, customer and employee satisfaction.
Episodes
6 hours ago
6 hours ago
Grow by designing marketing campaigns where every piece amplifies the
others – a philosophy that is called 2 + 2 = 5 by my guest, Crystal Williams,
the founder and CEO of Lemon Seed Marketing.
Crystal gives you questions you should answer and the marketing
percentages that you can implement for a successful marketing program in
2026.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
7 days ago
7 days ago
Are you sitting on a pile of expensive, underused software that is supposed
to make business easier but it doesn’t. Pam Duffy, COO and co-founder of
Powerhouse Consulting Group helps you take stock of all of the technology
platforms you are using and the one simple question you must ask of each
platform.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Oct 27, 2025
Monday Oct 27, 2025
In this two part series Roger Daviston gives you the background for a
successful maintenance process and the three areas that technicians need to
focus on. In this second podcast Roger discusses the final two areas for a
successful maintenance process.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Oct 20, 2025
Monday Oct 20, 2025
In this two part series Roger Daviston gives you the background for a
successful maintenance process and the three areas that technicians need to
focus on. In this first podcast Roger discusses the responsibilities of the
owner or service manager as well as the first area for a successful
maintenance process.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Oct 13, 2025
Monday Oct 13, 2025
The 5 D’s of business that you need to be aware of and protect yourself
from. A few podcasts ago, Justin Maxwell gave us the ways to identify and
predictably reduce taxes. He mentioned the 5 D’s and we didn’t have time
to cover them. This episode covers the 5 D’s: Death, Divorce, Disability,
Disruption, and Disagreements.
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Ruth King
Monday Oct 06, 2025
Monday Oct 06, 2025
Without good books you never know if you are earning a profit and you have a great chance of sleepless nights worrying about cash. Join Erin Andrews, owner of Level Accounting, as she explains why your bookkeeping is the roadmap of your business – not just a deduction tracker or afterthought. She’ll break down why hiring the wrong person to do your books is like hiring a Walmart greeter to draft your contracts…and yes, she actually said that.
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Ruth King
Monday Sep 29, 2025
Monday Sep 29, 2025
How do you know your marketing and advertising is paying for itself? Or are
you throwing money down a black hole and not seeing any returns?
Parker Ruiz, the CEO of Signature Media, gives you ways you can discover
whether your marketing and advertising is producing the returns you
want…and what to do if it isn’t.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Sep 22, 2025
Monday Sep 22, 2025
Discipline. Direction. Done. My guest on this podcast, Beau Parenteau, lives
by these three words. He discusses ways you can grow through better
systems, marketing, and operations strategy.
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Ruth King
Monday Sep 15, 2025
Monday Sep 15, 2025
Imagine leaving your field people alone feeling confident that you don’t have
to micromanage them – you’re confident that when you check up on the job
you know it will be right.
How do you make this happen? My guest today, Traci Austin, is the owner of
Elevated Talent Consulting. Traci has a proven track record teaching
contractors how to inspire their crews to work harder without
micromanaging. To schedule time with Traci: https://elevatedtalentconsulting.com/the-tough-talk-blueprint/
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Ruth King
Monday Sep 08, 2025
Monday Sep 08, 2025
How many of you REALLY like your answering service? If you do, I’d love an
introduction. In my experience, most contractors put up with bad answering
services because they can’t find a good one.
What if AI could take over your after hours calls? And, where do you find
this AI after hours agent? My guest, Stephen Price, the owner of Price
Telecom, gives you the answers and how to do this. In terms of full
disclosure, Stephen is my IT and phone guy…he has taken care of our IT and
phone needs for more than 15 years…through all the tech updates and
progressions…and done a phenomenal job with them!
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Ruth King
Monday Sep 01, 2025
Monday Sep 01, 2025
Happy Labor Day! This two part series revolves around your labor force
which generates your billable hours. Today I discuss different ways to
increase labor productivity.
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Ruth King
Monday Aug 25, 2025
Monday Aug 25, 2025
Happy Labor Day! This two part series revolves around your labor force
which generates your billable hours. Today I discuss billable hours and the
productivity ratio. Email me (rking@ontheribbon.com) if you would like a
copy of my billable hours template.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Aug 18, 2025
Monday Aug 18, 2025
Are you looking at your business as an income source or an asset?
Hopefully you said an asset.
And, what if you could identify and predictably reduce taxes?
Sound impossible? My guest, Justin D. Maxwell will tell you how to make
this a reality. He’ll also give you the 5D’s that can kill your business. Justin
is a partner at Big Life Financial who transforms high-performing business
owners into true owner-investors, guiding them to integrate taxes, investing,
protection, and exit planning for generational impact.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Monday Aug 11, 2025
Do you know other tradespeople outside your trade? And, why is this
important? Referrals, of course!
My guest, Ted Speers, is the President of The Patch Boys. He’ll explain why
it is good for plumbers, HVAC technicians, drywall personnel, electricians,
and more. And, how to build your referral base.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Aug 04, 2025
Monday Aug 04, 2025
Productivity. What if you could reinvent productivity in your contracting
business? The top line may not increase…then again it might. Improving
productivity, or reinventing productivity will definitely improve your bottom
line.
How do you do it? My guest, James Hatfield, answers this question. James
started out as the owner of a painting and power washing company and
became passionate about helping contracting professionals save time and
make more money. James is now the CRO at LiveSwitch, a global technology
company that serves the trades and other small businesses.
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Ruth King
Monday Jul 28, 2025
Monday Jul 28, 2025
This is the last of three episodes that demystifies your CSR, dispatch, and
inside sales roles. My guests are Lynn Wise, CEO of Contractor in Charge,
and Danielle Bartus who leads sales and marketing for Contractor in Charge.
In this episode, Lynn and Danielle discuss the inside sales role.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Jul 21, 2025
Monday Jul 21, 2025
This is the second of three episodes that demystifies your CSR, dispatch, and
inside sales roles. My guests are Lynn Wise, CEO of Contractor in Charge,
and Danielle Bartus who leads sales and marketing for Contractor in Charge.
In this episode, Lynn and Danielle discuss the dispatch role – and how AI can
play a role in dispatch.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Jul 14, 2025
Monday Jul 14, 2025
This is the first of three episodes that demystifies your CSR, dispatch, and
inside sales roles. My guests are Lynn Wise, CEO of Contractor in Charge,
and Danielle Bartus who leads sales and marketing for Contractor in Charge.
In this episode, Lynn and Danielle discuss the true CSR roles (there are more
than one) and how AI can play a CSR role.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King
Monday Jul 07, 2025
Monday Jul 07, 2025
So you think you want to sell your business?
And no, the likelihood of you deciding to sell and actually closing on the sale
in a month is unrealistic. What should you prepare for? What should you
expect? When should you begin?
Join Ruth Mannschrek, who was shocked by the entire sales process, who
gives you the answers to these questions and more…so you don’t have the
same misconceptions and make the mistakes she did.
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Ruth King
Monday Jun 30, 2025
Monday Jun 30, 2025
July 1st is Canadian independence day…so those of you in Canada, Happy
July 1st .
For those of us in the United States, a few days later we will celebrate our
independence day, July 4th .
My wishes for happy independence days.
Free P&L Statement and Balance Sheet
Ruth King