In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by CCN VP Gary Cohen for a discussion on the importance of building a community or network of peers in the home improvement industry.

Being a business owner can feel like a lonely existence. Gary and Drew talk about ways in which Certified Contractors Network fosters community and collaboration among business owners who are experiencing many of the same issues and obstacles.

Gary highlights CCN’s three annual conferences as steppingstones to business success and growing one’s network. Drew concludes the episode with a special offer for guest contractors to attend the CCN INNOVATE 2025 Winter Conference from January 9-12, 2025. 

In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Ken Kelly.

Ken took over his family business—Kelly Roofing—in 1993 and grew it to $50 million in annual revenue and 300+ employees. He sold the business in 2020 and retired at the age of 47.

Ken shares his expert insight on how to properly grow a contracting business, including tips on what businesses at different revenue levels need to focus on most, five rules for growth he learned from Elon Musk, the importance of discipline, five keys to growing your people, and much more. 

This episode features takeaways for home improvement contractors with revenue at $1 million, $5 million, $10 million, or $20+ million.

As of January 2025, new FCC lead generation laws will require contractors to have explicit 1:1 consent to call or text leads, impacting how companies can engage with their potential customers.

Home improvement companies have until the end of 2024 to freely contact existing leads, making it crucial to ramp up outreach efforts before the laws take effect and then to comply with the rules after that. 

In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Structurely Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer Nate Joens. Nate has led Structurely to 10x growth in conversations processed and has developed a proprietary conversational AI that users perceive as human.

He offers expert insight on how contractors can best prepare for these new laws, how the lead gen landscape may change in 2025, and how AI can help companies navigate these changes.

In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto is joined by Opal Enterprises Co-Owner and long-time CCN member Tara Dawn.

Tara shares how she’s doing more with what she has and how she uses a mix of traditional and modern marketing vehicles with an ever-growing tech stack to improve sales processes and increase lead flow. Drew and Tara discuss what’s working today and which types of offers and promotions are making the phones ring at a higher rate.

This episode is a must-listen for any home improvement contractor looking for marketing and technology takeaways that they can implement immediately.

In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with MicroMeshGutterGuards.com (MMGG) President & CEO Karen Sager.

Karen unveils the benefits of adding low-ticket, high-margin product lines that can be installed quickly to inject consistent cash into any contractor’s business. You’ll learn details of her fast-to-cash concept and how to take advantage of this approach, indications of positive cash flow that you can track, how to become more efficient with labor costs as a percentage of your business, and much more.

This episode is ideal for home improvement contractors—especially roofing companies—that have considered adding new product lines to their business but have been afraid to take the leap. 

In this episode, CCN Director of Member & Partner Experience Drew Barto talks with Renoworks Contractor Channel Partner Manager Jenni McMorran.

The discussion is centered around employing effective email campaigns that result in booking more appointments and closing more sales. You will learn best practices for capturing email addresses, creating unique email messages for leads at different stages of the buying cycle, which types of emails are most likely to generate responses from homeowners, and how busy contractors can automate their email marketing process to ensure it gets done regularly.

This episode is perfect for contractors who are looking for ways to generate low-cost leads.

Contact Renoworks here!

In this episode, Gary talks with CCN’s new Director of Member and Partner Experience.

The discussion will address many of the new initiatives at CCN, including some changes to our Contractors Toolbox podcast. Other topics will be strategic partnerships, The new L&D branding of CCN University, and changes coming to our financing program, all of which will continuously improve our member experience at CCN.

This episode is perfect for members of CCN as well as contractors who would like to learn more about all that CCN has to offer.

In this episode, Gary talks with Neal Christensen, Assistant Vice President and Relationship Manager at Enerbank.

Neal discusses the benefits of financing and various payment options.  He talks about the impact it has on cash flow, the financing process, how it increases viable leads for contractors, the positive impact on close rates, and more.  He also explains the PreQualify and application process, and considerations when choosing a lender. 

The vast majority of your jobs should be financed because of all of the benefits Neal discusses, so this podcast is one every contractor should listen to and gain benefits for their business.

In this episode, Gary talks with Brad Finck, Senior Vice President at Renoworks Software.

Renoworks is a market leader in providing various visualization tools for a more professional and sophisticated demo in the customer’s home. Brad talks about how these visualization tools can also be utilized on your website, in social media marketing, home shows, and in other marketing and sales activities.

This is a great episode to learn how to raise the bar in your sales and marketing with visualization tools.

In this episode, Gary talks with Isaac Barlow, the Founder of BusyBusy. 

BusyBusy is a technology solution that raises the bar on field labor management and job costing.  Isaac talks about how he created the BusyBusy solution for his own contracting company and the results were so strong after 4 years that they began offering the solution to the industry.

Isaac also talks about the positive impact the software has on field labor management and job costing, enabling the team to focus on revenue and profits.  He also discussed joining forces with another great tech solution company, ToolWatch, and is on the Board of Directors of the combined company.

There will be a joint webinar between BusyBusy and CCN on February 15, 2024 that is focused on job costing and here is the link to register.  This is a great episode for any contractor who wants to improve efficiency and accuracy in the field.