Turnaround of the year: Going from struggle to success with consulting and tech

Charley Burtwistle (00:08):

What is up everybody, welcome back to another episode of “The Building Code.” I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Carly Ward (00:12):

I’m Carly Ward.

Charley Burtwistle (00:13):

Carly Ward, got the invite back. How are we feeling?

Carly Ward (00:16):

Oh, I’m going to be back every time.

Charley Burtwistle (00:18):

I know. That’s what I was getting ready to say. If you’re not careful, you’re going to be taking my job.

Carly Ward (00:23):

Carly and Charley, I mean the branding works.

Charley Burtwistle (00:25):

Yeah, it’s an easy swap out to make. Just remove a couple Hs from all the things that we have posted anywhere. Charley becomes Carly pretty easy.

Carly Ward (00:32):

Yeah, easy switch.

Charley Burtwistle (00:34):

Easy switch. Last time you were on, we had Carla, which was even harder. Charley, Carly, Carla. Today we have an Eric Stenger and a Preston Reed, so should make things a little bit easier from a communication standpoint. Eric Stenger and Preston Reed, we met down at the Breakthrough Academy Winter Summit, and I know you’ve stayed in pretty close contact with them. Wanted to tell us just a little bit about them and their business?

Carly Ward (00:53):

Yeah, Eric Stenger and Preston Reed from SEED Development + Design, we met like you said, we met him down at the Breakthrough Academy Summit in the Dominican Republic. Great meeting spot, but they are out of Georgia, and they won a really incredible award with Breakthrough Academy. Turnaround of the Year. At the end of 2023, they were in a really bad financial spot looking at closing their doors, and within a year’s time, they were able to completely reverse things with the help of their Breakthrough Academy coach, some help with Buildertrend and a really great mindset and some hard work. So pumped to have them on today. I know that their story is really going to resonate with a lot of our listeners and just talking through the general struggles and trials and tribulations that entrepreneurs go through.

Charley Burtwistle (01:44):

Absolutely, and I know it’s cool to have them on the podcast because the first I had heard from them or heard of them before we went down to the summit, you did a ton of research. You’re like, “Here’s everyone that’s going to be there, which customers are Buildertrend users.” Let’s make sure we talk to them all and then we’re sitting there at the awards night and they’re like, “Oh, SEED Development + Design.” We’re like, “Oh, they’re Buildertrend customers. F yeah.” We’re super excited, and they turned in to just a name on a page that you and I wanted to make sure we talked to, two just incredible friends and customers and now they’re on the podcast. We’re doing case studies with them.

(02:19):

They’re going to speak with us in a few different locations throughout the year, so hopefully, fingers crossed. So, yeah, it’s awesome. I’m excited to have them on. We won’t prolong it any longer. Let’s get them in here.

Eric Stenger and Preston Reed, thank you guys so much for joining us today, really appreciate you making the time and it’s fantastic to see you again. It’s been a few months since I’ve last connected with you all. Last time I connected with you guys, we were down at the Dominican Republic, which was a fantastic time for the Breakthrough Academy Summit, but for those people that weren’t down there and haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you, we always like to start these interviews with just quick little intro, kind of who you are, where you came from, and where you got to where you’re at today.

Preston Reed (02:56):

Yeah, Eric, go ahead, man.

Eric Stenger (02:59):

Yeah, so Preston and I, we’ve been best friends for almost 30 something years, so what’s better than doing life and being able to create an amazing company with your best friend or even your brother at this point? It’s something where it’s been an enjoyable rollercoaster, but also we’ve had our ups and our downs with the company, but at the end of the day, it is to know that the support is there and somebody you can trust has been amazing for us, and we started this company, SEED Development + Design, we started, geez, back in 2019, and it is had its ups and downs, but I can tell you right now, it’s like as long as you keep pushing forward, I mean where we are now compared to where we were two years ago, I would’ve never have seen it.

Preston Reed (03:46):

Absolutely. Actually not too long ago, Eric, we were looking at our, when we first started this company in 2019, we wrote down the crazy big audacious goals that you’re going to set out. One of them was sitting on a beach sipping cocktails five years in, and here we are, Dominican Republic sipping cocktails on a beach. Crazy to look back and think about that, but rollercoaster is an understatement for sure.

Charley Burtwistle (04:12):

Well, we love that and that’s a good goal to have. I need to start incorporating some location and drink goals into my annual goals that I set.

Carly Ward (04:26):

Next time they’re on the podcast, maybe we’ll do it back in the DR.

Charley Burtwistle (04:30):

I know, exactly. That would’ve been a lot better than the stuffy office.

Preston Reed (04:33):

We expect an invite for sure.

Charley Burtwistle (04:35):

Oh, absolutely.

Carly Ward (04:36):

First on the list.

Charley Burtwistle (04:38):

Well, I think that’s actually a good topic because that’s the theme of today is talking a little bit more about Breakthrough Academy and some of your experiences that you guys have had with us or with them and with us. What we keep referring to is their annual summit, which they always do a fantastic job at having some really cool locations and where Carly and I were lucky enough to meet you guys, but maybe for our listeners that haven’t heard a Breakthrough Academy, maybe that’d be a good kind of segue if you guys want to give just a quick kind of overview of what Breakthrough Academy does and maybe your experience with them.

Preston Reed (05:08):

Yeah, for sure. So, we actually found out about them through a podcast funny enough, it was Benji talking about project management, feeling like you’re the firefighter doing all this, running around with your chicken with your head cut off type of thing, and we felt like that he was speaking to us and so we did a little research, reached out to him and we kind of found out they’re essentially a company that has a very large group of other builders and contractors and people in the similar field, and they go about coaching them and building systems and guidance on how to grow your company to be profitable and efficient and get you to achieve those goals that you’re after and so, we heard about them on the podcast, did some research and then reached out to want to work with them, and they have a really great onboarding process.

(06:03):

It’s multiple kind of interviews back and forth, and we got on board with them. I guess that was late 2022, I believe, and we didn’t know how bad we needed them, let’s put it that way, but yeah, there’s a great company. Love them to death.

Eric Stenger (06:18):

Yeah, I think the biggest thing was for us is we got into this thinking oh, it’s cool. We strived in our careers beforehand and we were great at what we were already doing, but oh, we thought we could handle this just fine not knowing how much we didn’t know. I think that’s kind of where it was a pump your brakes moment where it’s like, “Okay, you’re right. We need guidance and we need the insight to be able to pick these things up.” Because half the stuff, you’re not taught how to be an entrepreneur in school, right? So, it’s like what are we supposed to be doing financial wise? And other thing is just having that guidance and having to really Breakthrough Academy is cost-effective in a lot of manners in regard to instead of you bringing on a VP or another C-Level suite person, the cost is there and what you’re provided for that cost is just astronomical.

Preston Reed (07:13):

Yeah.

Carly Ward (07:14):

You guys have a pretty impactful story that you shared at the summit, and you guys actually won a pretty incredible award, turnaround to the year award. Would you mind sharing with our listeners your story?

Preston Reed (07:14):

Yeah, absolutely. Eric, do you want me to start?

Eric Stenger (07:30):

Yeah, I’ll actually do that one, buddy.

Preston Reed (07:33):

So, like Eric mentioned, we started in 2019. We had a couple really solid years and it was really just me and Eric and in 2022, we decided to bring our first real employee on, and that first employee turned into four employees by the end of 2022, and we had just started growing exponentially and didn’t know how to grow effectively, and that was one of the major reasons, A, for BTA, a Breakthrough Academy, and then also Buildertrend, which we started with in 2022. It was just trying to systemize this stuff, and 2022, we ended on a good note, and we had just hired two people at the end of that year, and we thought we were set, and I remember at the beginning of 2023, myself and my family went on a vacation with Ericand his family for the first time in years. We were like, “We made it.”

(08:28):

We felt so good going on that vacation and out of that, we gained back to just fires everywhere, and it felt like everything was crumbling and so, it was like panic mode, “Okay, what’s going on? Why did this happen?” And where we thought we had left our team in good hands, we had really kind thrown them to the wolves naively and kind of left it in kind of a weird spot and so, when we came back, things were a little chaotic, and I remember trying to get things back in order for the next couple months. It didn’t feel like we were financially hurting. It just felt like things were a mess, disorganized, and in May of 2023, I remember so vividly sitting at my desk in the middle of the night on the phone with Eric, and we were just like, “We’re out of money. What do we do?” And it was a really hard time.

(09:26):

It’s emotional to talk about to be honest because it brings back some ugly moments, and we had a fantastic coach through BTA, and he helped a lot just being an ear to talk to that wasn’t me or Eric, and I do have to say that although that award, we won and we’re super proud of coming out of it on the other end, it was a hard award to win, and I have to recognize the other people that were nominated for that because I know that they had to have gone through it, too. And to struggle, I think all entrepreneurs go through to some degree at some point in that journey, but yeah, it hit us pretty hard, and we had a few months of really not knowing if we were going to make payroll, really a few months of like, “Are we going to put food on the table this month? Are we closing doors this month?” And it was almost week to week to be honest.

(10:23):

And during that time, our coach recommended this book, and it changed everything for us. And it’s called “Profit First for Contractors,” and it was like a paradigm shift in our brain and how we viewed our financials as a company and that book along with the tools y’all have at Buildertrend allowed us to really dive deep into our financials and break them down and really understand the difference between markup and margin, and really understand where our projects were landing and our overall project profitability. And so, in Buildertrend, we were tracking our projects for the first time to a level that we knew each project was profitable, right? And this book gave us a guideline of how to accurately bid on a project to make it profitable for us.

(11:15):

And it gave us the confidence that we understood our numbers. I think one of the things that a lot of contractors misunderstand and maybe other crews as well, but firsthand from contractors is that you don’t really know what money is your money versus what money is owed to another project or owed to a client, or there’s a lot of confusion around that, and where it may seem simple, it can be very misleading with how much money can come in and out at any given time and being able to really understand and allocate money in proper locations and be able to see every month like, “Hey, we made this much money. This is what we have in savings for the first time. Wow, we know that money’s ours.” And be able to give yourself a path and a clear direction out of that hole was enlightening.

(12:05):

And I have to say, I think 2023, we ended terrible. We ended with a negative 12% net profit. We had just dug so deep, and we had essentially lost all the money we had made for the years prior leading up to that and so, we went from a negative 12% net, which was like a negative 300 something thousand dollars loss to a positive 12% net at the end of 2024. We made all that money back and then some. So, it was fantastic. It was a huge turnaround for us, and we have some big dreams ahead. We’re back in that mindset of being able to dream and plan for the future, and it was a roller coaster of a year and a half, two years, but we’re here.

Carly Ward (12:52):

I really appreciate you sharing it and I remember when Charley and I were at the summit listening to this, and admittedly, you’re right, it was emotional for both of us just to hear it and I know there’s tons of other listeners out there that are going through the same stuff. So, hearing from somebody like you guys that there is light on the other side and that you can get out of it is just incredible.

Eric Stenger (13:17):

Yeah, I think really our biggest thing behind it was, I know Prestonreally believed in the technology and learning from others as well. I was dull to it at first. I didn’t believe in it, and no, we will figure this out, and I always kept casting the Buildertrend to the side or Breakthrough Academy to the side, and then really once we came together as a team and really started looking at the bigger picture of we need the help and the guidance, that’s when the ducks started lining up, and it allowed for us to really start seeing the insight on how we can grow and grow smart because I was doing all the estimating, but I had no way of really knowing if what I was estimating was actually truly accurate, right?

Preston Reed (14:00):

It’s profitable at the end of the day.

Eric Stenger (14:01):

Yeah, completely profitable. So, I could throw in numbers all day and put a markup on it, but I had no idea what it was really doing for us, and then once Buildertrend came along, and I really started holding ourselves accountable to job tracking, right? That’s when our eyes started opening up and realizing that listen, we have to change this, or we’re going to get right back to where we were. So, I think that was a really eyeopening experience also for us that helped guide us to being as profitable as we are today.

Charley Burtwistle (14:27):

And what I really enjoy listening to you guys talk is a lot of people get to that “oh shit moment.” Not a lot of people get through it, and a lot of what I believe the reason to be is they immediately cut costs in the wrong places, right? You easily could have gotten rid of Buildertrend, you easily could have gotten rid of Breakthrough Academy or expenses, but you guys recognize the value and double down and said, “If we’re going to get out of this, this is the tools and the coaches that we need.” So, I’m interested to hear about the first, I don’t know, two, three, four months after that late night oh shit call that you guys had. Where did you guys start specifically with your Breakthrough Academy coach? Was it all visibility into this is where the money’s going, or was it more coaching on this is how you should be doing these things differently or what did that look like?

Preston Reed (15:17):

Yeah, I feel like right out of the gate it was like obviously we need a plan. We need a plan right now and so, we had sat down with the coach, talked to him about the situation we were in, and he gave great advice, and it was more of talking us down off the cliff type of a thing. We were just mentally like, “What do we do?”

Eric Stenger (15:39):

Sorry to interrupt, but this is the point that Ryan reminded me during Dominion Republic, I had told Preston that we had no money to continue to use Breakthrough Academy and that we needed to step away from Breakthrough Academy, and if we did not stick with Breakthrough Academy and Ryan didn’t talk us off the ledge, we would not be where we are today because we would’ve no idea about the book that guided us in the path to fix what was broken.

Preston Reed (16:04):

Yeah, it was a wild couple months there, and I feel like a couple of those like oh shit moments late at night. It wasn’t just the one time, it was just that one that was the impactful one that I will never forget because it was like, “How did we get here?” We went from hey, we got 300 grand in the bank. We made it. We’re great, to why do we have $10,000 sitting there? We can’t buy anything. We can’t pay the credit card and so, it was like a drastic drop, and it was so sudden and so fast, and I think that book gave us a path to understand the financials and the hard part was with the changes out of that book, it really affected and impacted our sales process, our estimating process.

(16:52):

It allowed us to accurately bid on projects, which we knew was great, but those projects don’t start now. They start months from now when they’re ready for construction, and our current projects finish up. So, we had made that change, and over the next two months, we were literally bouncing off that bottom line, and we realized that that change wasn’t fast enough and so, we took it a step further, and we essentially decided to go all in house, and it was a hard few months after that, but what that essentially meant was we no longer used subs and our team, our direct employees were now our laborers and Eric was running sales site visits most of the day, and then he’d come to the job sites in the afternoon, and I would be lead hand on the job site swinging the hammer building the projects and so, it was a hard transition to make.

(17:55):

And we did that for almost six months I think through the end of the year, essentially, and started out 2024, like okay, we’re hands off the tools again. We have our subs lined up again, and we felt at that point, we had started those projects that we had started to estimate correctly back in June, July, and it just rolled through, and we had set lofty goals for 2024. We sat down with our coach, put together a really nice strategic plan for the year, a yearly budget for the year, and they were lofty, and I’m pleased to say we knocked them out of the park. We exceeded our goals from day one of 2024, which honestly, we didn’t think we were going to do. So, it was a great year. It was a great turnaround. It was extremely hard, but it turned out all right.

Carly Ward (18:44):

You guys talked about having to make some really hard decisions throughout this process, and like Eric said, it would’ve been much easier. “Hey, let’s get rid of Breakthrough Academy.” And I’m sure Buildertrend was probably in the conversation. How did you guys determine, “Hey, we’re going to stick with these even though it’s costing us money right now.” And I know that book and your coach were a big impact in that, but curious if there were any specific other thought changes throughout that?

Eric Stenger (19:17):

I think we had the inclinations on Buildertrend and Breakthrough Academy and using Magicplan and other resources. We knew that having a tech stack was something that we had to do. We knew from reading books and listening to their podcasts that if you didn’t have a tech stack, then you’re pretty much starting with nothing, and keeping the momentum of BTA was allowing us to see what we couldn’t see because it’s the outside looking into you drowning, and it’s like, “Okay, well, let’s see what someone from the outside can tell us on what we should shift.”

(19:53):

So, I think from May 2023 through the end of 2023, we saw how much it meant to us and by holding onto it that we had to keep pushing through it. To this day, we’re growing our tech stack like it’s no other because we realized that it’s cutting out the time that we were stuck behind a computer for hours doing pointless stuff, where there’s these companies out there just like Buildertrend, and there’s so many of them where it has allowed for us to be able to try to shift our gears into looking into the bigger picture of the administrative side and be able to use our time to grow the company instead of being stuck in the middle of it.

Preston Reed (20:39):

I feel like Buildertrend for a long time, well before we started using Buildertrend, we Excel, right? I feel like every contractor at some point goes through pen and paper and then they level up to an Excel spreadsheet and so, we went through that whole phase, that process and Buildertrend is where we ended and landed, and that has been fundamental for us in understanding our financial tracking, not just from the project costs, which was key in this turnaround, but also capturing things like change orders and capturing our selections, our materials, things like that, that beforehand had gotten overlooked or just missed altogether, right? And it could have been something as simple as they upgraded from tile A to tile B. Well, that was $2 a square foot. This is $8 a square foot. We just ate that cost.

(21:28):

It was not documented anywhere in what they were choosing beforehand and stuff. So, now that we have these processes in place, and we have a clear direction for a client to move through a project, we know that we’re capturing these additional costs that beforehand we were eating, and that was part of that heavy loss in 2023 and I think you had mentioned Carly doubling down on these programs is really what helped us utilize them to their full capacity. We knew Buildertrend had way more to offer, and we knew it was good. We just hadn’t dove into it to that point, and after we kind of read that book and went through that initial shock of we’re in a bad spot, we really are like, “Okay, what else can we get out of this?” We’re already paying for it, we need to get as much as we can. Let’s really dive in and I think that’s what we did and continue to do, and it’s really paid off for sure.

Charley Burtwistle (22:22):

I love hearing that mindset, the constant growth mindset of what’s next? Where can we find additional value? And that’s what I love about Breakthrough Academy so much. It’s not like okay, you went from negative 13% to positive, 13% we’re done now, you guys are good to go. They continue to provide value and coach you guys up. So, I’m curious to hear once you got through that tipping point, and you’re out on the other side, feeling more comfortable about where you’re at in your business, what was next, or even today, were you guys continuing to focus? Where are they continuing to provide value?

Preston Reed (22:53):

Yeah, well Eric, you can speak to that.

Eric Stenger (22:56):

No, yeah. I think for us, I mean Breakthrough Academy has now allowed us to see the bigger picture when it comes to hiring now, right? So, now we’re back on this track of the exponential growth and being able to support it in the correct manner where we’re not growing too fast, but we’re also growing at that smart pace, right? So, we’re not just hiring just to hire bodies. We’re hiring people that count and believe the beliefs that we have in regard to creating an impact in this world and changing the name of the game when it comes to contractors and letting people know that contractors can be friends, and they can be family, and they can respect your home.

(23:33):

That is what we’re standing behind and not just grasping for the straws to find that next person that can fill a spot, right? So, I feel like now it’s allowing us with Breakthrough Academy, with Buildertrend is the support system that is needed for us to keep going where we’re going with us comping 30% to 40% every year. It’s been the biggest blessing, and it’s allowed us to step back and be able to see what is that roadmap for these next steps for this year, and really know what we can afford and what we can’t afford, and not to pull the straws too fast.

Preston Reed (24:09):

I feel like it’s given us some breathing room, right? Out of all that you finally were able to sit back and just take a breath, which I feel like up until that point was kind of hard to do. It always felt like there was something to do, and there is, there’s always stuff to do, but it allows us room to breathe and plan, which has been huge.

Carly Ward (24:31):

You guys mentioned the support aspect of Breakthrough Academy and we’ve talked about their amazing coaches, the resources they provide and just general advice. We haven’t really talked much about the community environment, and I know that is a real sticking point for Breakthrough Academy members sticking with Breakthrough because they have such this huge overwhelming support. Can you talk a little bit about your experience and maybe some of the relationships that you’ve gained from that community?

Preston Reed (25:02):

Yeah, I think Eric, and I have two different stories to this actually because again, I was very gung-ho out of the gate with it. I was like, “Man, we need this. We need to bring this on board. We need this guidance, this coaching, this program, this whole thing.” And Eric, as he mentioned earlier was a little like, “Maybe, maybe not.” I dove into that out of the gate a little bit heavier, but their group conversation they have every couple of weeks, you get put into maybe different pools of contractors depending on what you specifically do, and the amount of knowledge in those conversations is mind-blowing. I mean just with the years of experience collectively through everybody that you can communicate to in that program is just everybody, whatever problem you’re having, somebody there has been through it to some level, right?

(26:00):

And so, everybody has some sort of guidance or input or advice to give, and it’s all relevant and it’s all good stuff, and some of it’s contradicting to each other, and there’s a reason for that and good conversations come out of it, and even if it’s something that you didn’t ask the question to, there’s always stuff to learn out of it. The group chats that we do every couple of weeks, but they also have an online community board that you can always post questions to and all that stuff, and they have just an amazing library of information, PDFs and of SOPs or hiring guides or marketing strategies or any of that stuff is just relatable tools that you need to grow a profitable company. It’s all right there, and it’s all been really well-thought-out and vetted, and it’s fantastic. Yeah, we love it.

Eric Stenger (26:49):

Yeah, I think the really cool thing behind that is Breakthrough Academy, they have the accountability. They hold you accountable to get the things done that you need to get done, even if you get sidetracked in your day-to-days and so, they have the master business plan, which it’s what helps you and guided us to really setting up our roadmap and seeing that one year, that five year. It is part of their initial intro series when you come onto the team, it’s like they show you how to look at your money and be able to break things out, and like I said, when Preston talks about the resources. The resources are never ending and how much they provide to you.

Carly Ward (27:27):

And they’re also free on their website.

Preston Reed (27:29):

That’s right, and that’s, honestly I think what’s free on their website as a fraction of what you get as a member with them, it’s impressive and its continually evolving, right? They’re always adding.

Charley Burtwistle (27:41):

I know I follow them and dive into all their stuff constantly. Yeah, I actually get be on there. They’re doing a project management round table thing that I get to co-host here in a few months, so super excited. We’re running up on time here. I’d say the last place that I really wanted to just double click before we let you guys go is, I think your story really resonates with Carly and I and the rest of the Buildertrend team so much because we hear it so often. I know that’s what you guys, why you’re passionate about telling it is there’s other people out there you want to make sure they’re not alone. What advice would you give or kind of note to leave off on if someone’s in this space where they’re feeling stuck, they feel like they’re drowning, what’s the right mindset? What’s the right advice that you guys would have on how to stick with it, how to get through it and how to know that there’s people out there that want to help you?

Eric Stenger (28:33):

Preston, I’ll start. I think for me, I was blind. I was stuck in a tunnel, and I believe that we would be able to figure it out. I would say to recommend to people is don’t get in your own way. Look to others to help you and be able to guide you and give you the insight that you need because we don’t all know everything, and you need the help of others to help you and guide you along the way.

Preston Reed (29:04):

Yep, I remember this past Winter Summit, one of the owners, BTA kind of spoke about being an entrepreneur, and he said specifically that there’s two times that you choose to be an entrepreneur, right? It’s the first time when you’re like, “All right, I’m going to do this.” You open your company, and you start your thing, and then some point along your journey, there’s a second time you have that realization and for me and Eric, it was May 2023 that, oh shit moment late at night, and we decided we’re going to do this. We’re not going to toss in the towel. We’re going to head down and get to work.

(29:43):

And I think you have to have that conversation with yourself. What are you willing to put into this? And I think like Eric said, finding a mentor or finding a group, finding somebody that can be an ear to listen to or give some advice is crucial. I’m very thankful I had Eric through that journey to do hand in hand with, and I wasn’t solo, but it’s a hard place to be, but I feel like finding a good support group and knowing that you’re capable, give yourself some reassurance. Pat yourself on the back.

Preston Reed (00:00):

I think you have to have that conversation with yourself. What are you willing to put into this? I think, like Eric Stenger said, finding a mentor or finding a group, finding somebody that can be a ear to listen to or give some advice is crucial. I’m very thankful I had Eric Stenger through that journey to do hand in hand with, and I wasn’t solo. It’s a hard place to be. But I feel like finding a good support group and knowing that you’re capable, give yourself some reassurance. Pat yourself in the back. You’ve made it this far. Put in the time, put in the effort. You can get through it.

Carly Ward (00:40):

I want to close out with something that you guys said during your award speech, and it was a conversation that you guys had had previously, probably in May of ’23, but one of you had said, “Well, if we close our doors, that means we let our customers down and we’re not willing to do that.” I think that is such a huge testament to both of your characters and the company that you’re running. So, we really, really appreciate having you on today. It’s been incredible getting to hear your story, and I know that this is going to impact so many listeners.

Preston Reed (01:15):

It was great talking to y’all. We appreciate it. For sure.

Eric Stenger (01:17):

Carly, Charley, y’all are great. Like I said, we look forward to continuing our friendship with you guys and seeing where this all takes us.

Charley Burtwistle (01:24):

Well, the next Breakthrough Summit is in Mexico, right?

Eric Stenger (01:28):

Yep.

Preston Reed (01:29):

Yeah, we already signed up.

Charley Burtwistle (01:31):

If anyone’s on the fence on becoming a BTA member, you want to get in now, so you can go to the summit in Mexico in January.

Eric Stenger (01:37):

That’s right.

Preston Reed (01:37):

That’s very true.

Charley Burtwistle (01:38):

Sweet. Thank you guys so much for joining us today. I’m sure we’ll talk soon.

Eric Stenger (01:42):

That was good. Thanks guys.

Preston Reed (01:42):

Absolutely. Thank you.

Carly Ward (01:43):

Thanks.

Charley Burtwistle (01:43):

Bye.

(01:44):

Well, we just heard from Eric Stenger and Preston Reed, co-founders of Seed Development and Design. Carly, your second podcast interview at this point, seasoned pro. What’d you think?

Carly Ward (01:54):

I was pumped to have Eric Stenger and Preston Reed on. They’ve been really great, great clients to connect with since the Summit, and they’ve been a huge resource to me and talking to other builders that are kind of on the fence about Breakthrough Academy and admittedly just a great group of guys to stay connected with. So, getting to hear their story and get it out to a wider audience has been really amazing. And again, I think it helps just kind of level set with all of our builders that if you’re going through entrepreneurial struggles, you’re not the only one and that there is a light on the other side.

Charley Burtwistle (02:29):

For sure. And I think that’s what Breakthrough does so well is when we went down to their conference, I think it was the first day I was talking to someone, just asking him about his experience. He’s like, you go to a lot of conferences in Builder 20 groups and all these different things, and everyone talks about how great everything is doing. The Breakthrough Academy, the culture that they’ve cultivated is, let’s talk about the worst things that we’re doing right now, let’s be open and transparent about it because I guarantee everyone else in the room is dealing with something similar. And Prestonand Eric are fantastic examples of that, of if they wouldn’t have talked about it, if they wouldn’t have been open about it, who knows how many other customers that are going through that same thing would’ve gave up. But they’re a testament that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, you can double down on what you’re doing, completely change and revamp the way you’re going about things and come out the other side.

(03:22):

I mean, the numbers speak for itself, right? Negative 13% to positive 13% in one year’s time is just awesome to see. So, love what they’re doing, love what everyone over there at Breakthrough is doing, and super excited that we had them on today.

Carly Ward (03:34):

So cool that they have the vulnerability to share their story with such a wide crowd. And again, it’s just amazing being able to resonate with our other builders and some of the struggles that they go through.

Charley Burtwistle (03:50):

For sure. Well, like I teased an intro we have lots of other really cool stuff coming with Ericand Preston, so make sure to be on the lookout for that. If you are interested in Breakthrough Academy or Buildertrend if you’re not already a customer, we’ll make sure to link resources for you to go and learn more in the show notes. As always, you can join The Building Code Crew on Facebook, follow us on TikTok and Instagram and like, review, subscribe. I think I hit all the main points there. Carlygot anything else?

Carly Ward (04:16):

Stay classy.

Charley Burtwistle (04:17):

Stay classy. Until next time.