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Jason Bowen

@bluecollarbowen

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Father | Builder ✝️Construction • Utilities • Leadership Real work. Real lessons. Nothing fancy.
@weareimpactlegacy

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We’re in a hold pattern right now on a few things Contracts that haven’t signed yet…
funding that’s moving slower than anybody wants…I talked about this in regards to room for Gods movement…
 And a lot of that is just out of our hands
But a hold produces a pause And a pause produces an opportunity… if you use it

So for us, this has become a season of stacking cash Because anytime you have a big growth push… new area, new state, new territory… there’s a massive capital outlay that comes with it, right?
 New shop, new yard New trucks, new equipment New employees And all of that lands before the new revenue ever shows up
A lot of guys get stuck just sitting in the hold
 Frustrated that nothing’s moving And I get it… I want to run too Sometimes to my own detriment

But for me, the pause is where you get ready We stack now, so when stuff finally moves… we just go Because the middle of the growth is a bad time to be figuring out what the growth costs by @bluecollarbowen

Banks have tightened up lending
Private investors have tightened up funding
A lot of people I’m talking to are feeling it right now…

So here’s how that changed our year
The massive scale plays… the big new launches… we’re largely not forcing those right now
It’s not because the opportunities dried up
More of it is because the money behind them got slower and more expensive

So the focus went to the businesses we already have
Clarity of direction, right people in the right seats, finishing what we started

There’s a time to swing big
There’s a time to strengthen what’s already in your hands

And honestly, reading which season you’re in…
That might be most of the job…
 Don’t get caught up in pushing into something costly and unreasonable because it looks good out loud by @bluecollarbowen

Washing a rental car…would you?

Usually… we are driving it, using it, and handing it back dirty Because it’s not ours, right?

I think about that a lot with our companies People treat stuff they own completely different than stuff they’re borrowing 
Sometimes a job can feel like borrowing You show up, you do the work, you hand it back at five
And so for me, when somebody’s proven they’re worth building with, I’d rather give them a real piece of it than keep the whole thing myself
 The day it becomes theirs too, stuff just changes They start catching the little things They start thinking about the money like it’s their money Because now it is

I’m not saying hand out equity to everybody Most seats don’t need it But you’ve probably got a guy right now who’s already acting like an owner… and he’s not one
 That’s the guy to check out…
People take care of what’s theirs So if you’re looking for some growth… consider letting some of your best people own some of it

#bluecollar #trades #growth by @bluecollarbowen

Occasionally, after I speak somewhere…a guy finds me afterward Usually an owner… somewhere in that messy middle
 In a spot where they’re big enough that everything is heavy on them… And not big enough that it runs without them…

And we will chat for 20 min and I can usually see it Where the next hire should have already happened What lane he needs to let go of What season he’s actually in…

I do a little consulting with guys like that Not a program… no course… nothing with my name in lights Just an owner a few seasons ahead, walking alongside for a stretch

I don’t push it… I don’t need or want to fill a calendar
But if you’re the guy in the messy middle… and you want another set of eyes on what you’re building…
 Reach out Worst case, you walk away with one good question you didn’t have before

#bluecollar #impact #businessowner #leadership by @bluecollarbowen

Flew out to San Francisco this weekend and spoke to a room I don’t usually stand in

The group’s called Financial Journey A room full of investors… they’ve got a board that vets different investments and presents them, and then they bring in speakers to talk through different things

They didn’t ask me to pitch anything They asked me to share my story So that’s what I did… the business side, the life side, the faith side, all of it

A good friend of mine spoke right after me, which made the whole trip better

What I keep learning about rooms like that There’s usually somebody who finds you afterward wanting to go deeper Not about the deals… about the story
 That’s always the best part Not the stage… the conversations after by @bluecollarbowen

One of my mentors says something I’ve had to lean on a lot this year

Hold it loosely

We’ve got businesses right now that are running and crushing And we’ve got businesses that are built, ready, and just… waiting
 Waiting on contracts… waiting on funding… waiting on timing we don’t control

Once upon a time I would white knuckle all of it and just push
But what I’ve come to understand… 
These businesses were given to us by God Something He handed us to chase after and steward
And anytime I hold one of them too tight There’s not much opportunity for Him to move me in a different direction

So we plan, we build, we push… we do everything that’s ours to do And then we open our hands
His pivots have been better than my plans
The waiting seasons are still hard I want to run… that’s just how I’m built
 But I’ve seen enough years now to know how this goes
So we stay patient We hold it loosely And we let God’s timing work out

#impact #kingdom #business #building by @bluecollarbowen

25 years ago, a handful of us planted a church
We were young No real idea what we were doing
 Just a group of people who believed God was in it
Last weekend I stood in that church for its 25th anniversary Saw the faces… heard the stories
 A quarter century of lives touched by something that started with almost nothing
And that’s how these things start Not with a big plan or big backing A seed, a handful of faithful people…
and God doing what only God can do

25 years from now, nobody remembers this year’s tax bill Or the margins that ran thin, or the numbers that ran big I can barely remember the ones that kept me up at night back then

The money, the things, the milestones… they usually get forgotten The impact doesn’t

What lasts is what you planted years ago… still showing up in people’s lives long after you’ve moved on
That’s the same heart behind what we’re doing now with the kids and the songs
 Plant something small Put faithful people around it And trust God with what it becomes

Because 25 years from now, somebody’s going to stand in a room
 Looking at something that started with almost nothing And catch the vision to go plant their own
That’s legacy

#impact #legacy #purpose by @bluecollarbowen

Every now and then I get asked to speak… rooms of investors, business owners, guys building things
I know what those rooms usually want to talk about
 Returns… deals… exits
So here’s where my heart actually is when I get up there

Blue collar The guys out there hustling… building real companies with real trucks and real crews The guys who maybe don’t know as much on the business side yet as they need to Those are my people… and they’re building some of the best businesses in America 💯💯

Exits Everybody wants to talk about the day you sell But the exit isn’t the finish line What you do after the money… most don’t get to this thought before the exit

And purpose beyond profit Because the money is never the entire goal… it’s what you can do with it after the fact!

I’m not a polished speaker, and I don’t have a course to sell I just have a story… and usually a room with a few guys walking a road I’ve already been down

If one of them leaves thinking different about why he’s building For me, that’s the win

#bluecollar #trades #impact #purpose by @bluecollarbowen

For years, my tax plan was one meeting in December
I’d get with my tax guy at the end of the year and he’d say…

hey, you’re going to make money, you should maybe buy a truck And that was the extent of it
Nothing against him… I just didn’t know there was more
 There’s a big difference between somebody who files your taxes and somebody who actually helps you plan

Cost segregation on properties… accelerated depreciation on equipment Stuff that’s been sitting in the tax code the whole time, and I’m still learning about it every year

What I really found was that a lot of it has to be set up before year end
 Start in December and most of the doors are already closed

Start asking questions earlier….not the week of Christmas

#trades #bluecollar #taxes #strategy #businessowner by @bluecollarbowen

We did a fundraiser this summer for the kids
 Dinner… testimony… the kids releasing songs they wrote that week

Our people showed up and they gave Honestly, it was powerful

But here’s what I’m learning as we plan the next one Those are largely the same people And they’ll be the same people at the one after that

Your own network can only hear the ask so many times You can’t keep going back to the same well every quarter
So the real work right now isn’t the next event
 It’s new rooms Other networks…
Other circles…
People who haven’t heard the story yet

And honestly, that’s my challenge to the guys building companies
 We talk about profit all day… margins, growth, deals…
 Purpose barely comes up
If more of us talked about the purpose side the way we talk about the profit side
 The change wouldn’t ride on a handful of guys doing it It would just be how business gets done

Purpose beyond profit That’s the whole point

@weareimpactlegacy

#purpose #impact #legacy #bluecollar #business by @bluecollarbowen

Sooner or later the phone rings Somebody wants to buy your business
I’ve watched that call go two very different ways

The first guy… his books are a mess, everything runs through him, and honestly, he’s tired So when a big number comes across, he’s not really negotiating He just needs out And buyers can smell that

The second guy has clean books A team that largely runs the day to day without him He knows his numbers cold… what he earns, what he’d be worth, and why That guy can listen to the same number and go… no thanks, we’re good

Same phone call Two totally different conversations
So with all the private equity attention on blue collar right now, for me it’s pretty simple
 Quit worrying about the money guys Run your shop like it’s for sale… even if you never sell

Clean books, handled by somebody whose gift is actually the books Systems that run without you Leaders hired before you need them

Because the guy who has to sell never gets the best deal

#business #bluecollar #trades by @bluecollarbowen

Build the business
Create the opportunity
Develop the people
Invest in the next generation
Use success to make more success possible for someone else
Impact Legacy exists to keep that work visible and moving forward
This is the foundation

Share this post if your definition of success goes beyond profit
#PurposeBeyondProfit #ImpactLegacy #BusinessWithPurpose #YouthImpact #LegacyBuilding by @bluecollarbowen