Q & A Episode 64 - Closing Out the Year With a Bang: The Builder’s Playbook for Success, Strategy, & Sanity
Episode #64 | Q&A with Mark D. Williams | The Builder’s Playbook for Success, Strategy, & Sanity
Mark’s back with a solo Q&A episode that hits all the good stuff—business strategy, team communication, self-leadership, and building wealth like you build a house: with a plan. He shares a behind-the-scenes look at the live Mysa Hus event, how he’s using Fridays for deep work, and why the “losers are winners” mindset still fuels everything. A short but mighty episode to kick your end-of-year planning into gear.
About The Curious Builder
The host of the Curious Builder Posdast is Mark D. Williams, the founder of Mark D. Williams Custom Homes Inc. They are an award-winning Twin Cities-based home builder, creating quality custom homes and remodels — one-of-a-kind dream homes of all styles and scopes. Whether you’re looking to reimagine your current space or start fresh with a new construction, we build homes that reflect how you live your everyday life.
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Mark D. Williams 00:00
If you're listening to this podcast, you're likely in the construction world, you follow a plan to a successful conclusion, and how well you do that dictates how efficient and how enjoyable the process is for yourself, your team and your client. But I don't know why I have not spent more time thinking about tax, architecture or building wealth.
Mark D. Williams 00:33
Welcome to curious third Podcast. I'm Mark Williams. Your host today is our Thursday Q and A, and I don't have a guest today for our losers are winners series that we've been doing, and we did a couple episodes where we brought on some alumni of the contractor coalition Summit, which is just two weeks away. There's still a handful of spots remaining. If anyone wants to attend, all the details will be on the contractor coalition Summit website, and we hope to have you there. I wanted to talk about just a couple days ago, I did a live podcast that'll air here in a week or two at Misa, who's so for those who've been following the show and are aware of our Instagram handle, Misa, who's it is a concept home that we're doing. Whole brand has been around it, and it was really fun to do a podcast in one of my actual homes, versus like a live event or, you know, on stage of a big conference. And so the idea behind this was, I wanted to sort of change how we come to market with a spec home, and I won't go into the whole story right now on me, so as we've teased a little bit about it in the past, and we'll talk more about it in the future, but I wanted to do a kind of reward all of our partners. So we have, I think at this point, maybe 30 or 40 partners on Misa, who's I wanted to do a live podcast in the home before we enclose it with sheetrock. So right now, sheet rock happens next week. And so what we did, we did a closed event. Originally I was going to do a public event, but it was just going to get too chaotic. And also, because at some point we, you know, want to sell the home. And sometimes your first impression, you know, people that aren't in industry don't really know what to make of this kind of home, especially the sophistication that we're putting into it without proper education. And so I really just did it to people that are already a part of the home. It was really great. We had about 27 people. I interviewed Mark Cabrera and Mark, Brandon Hoffman, Pella Northland, who's one of our partners. We had Alex from Huber zip and Huber, and then we also had Chris Jessen from Rockwell. And it was really great. So I really talked to them, like, why did they want to partner on this house? And one of the things that came out in the episode that was just really rewarding is, you know, I can speak from my point of view as a builder, why I chose them, their existing partners that I had. They're people that I wanted to involve and but I wanted to sort of change how builders think about leveraging the partnerships that they already have. Sometimes, you know, people will look on or ask, Oh, how did you work with this brand or that brand? And, you know, I think a lot of it is loyalty begets loyalty. I talk about it all the time, like, I think we all already have enough relationships that if we just ask each other how we can help each other, like that might be enough right there to, you know, to take your business and their business to another level. And so it was just really rewarding to have everyone together. And just to speak about our collaboration, thus far, we're going to have two more. We'll have it one in May and one in June. One will be closed, again to just sponsors, but then one, the last one, will probably be open. We'll probably do a big event when the house is completely done, and might even do it outside in the backyard, around the pool, just because I expect we'll have a fair amount of people. And it would probably be, you know, interviewing all the partners as well as maybe the designer and architect on the project as well, just to kind of say at this point, like, what has their experience been over the last year and a half? And so anyway that that just happened, it was fresh in my mind. It was really exciting. Was a great day. We had coffee and lunch for everyone that attended, as well as kind of a home tour. And, you know, one of the things that goes into, you know, these homes is, you know, having a tour of a home before it's done is really cool, especially for industry professionals too, because once it all gets covered up, you don't know about all the cool sophistication behind the walls. And so I really wanted to highlight our partners that really have been their quote, pun intended, foundation up. And so we really highlighted, you know, some of those things. So stay tuned for the episode is coming up. What's on my mind here is, really, we're only that's crazy. We're only two and a half months away from the end of the year. And I was a graphic came up on my Instagram the other day of just how we look at, you know, what has already happened and what's ahead of us, and like, how can we close out the year? And you know, I talked last year in January and February, about Maya misogi, which is this Japanese principle of, like, one thing. And so personally, my one thing personally, was to train and run 100 mile race that happened in August. And I know if I talked about on the podcast, but I actually got to mile six. Four, and they actually canceled the race at 1030 at night because of wildfires. So that was kind of a bummer, obviously, to train seven, eight months and then, you know, make it. I was on pace to, you know, do what I wanted to do and and then have it canceled. So I was mainly bummed thinking that, Oh man, I gotta spend another eight months next year training for our list in order to cross it off the the old bucket list. But anyway, my other professional misogi was Misa Hoos, and it'll carry forward into next year as well. And the whole point is that one thing that sort of gives clarity to all the other things in your ecosystem. And I chose two, one personally and one professionally. And if you go back to the episode, you know, the earlier the year, the definition of a misogyny is something that you have a 50, 5050, chance of failure at. Like it shouldn't be a layup. Be should be something difficult. The other part of it, it can be private or it can be public. Obviously, I have a podcast, so I wanted to share it publicly. And also there's a part of accountability, and doing that when you set out a goal that other people know about, sometimes when you're in the in the trenches of training, or you're in the the not fun part of, let's say, a business decision, it kind of just another layer of added motivation, and then, and then something that obviously really challenges it you have to say no to certain things in order to accomplish it. So that was what, how I defined my musogi. And the reason I'm bringing it up is, I'm trying to think about what mine are going to be for next year. You know, every time at this point of the year, you know, we've got our awards coming up. So we've got the builder show awards here for Minnesota coming up this Friday, actually. And so it'd be great to see, you know, Builder of the Year announced remodel of the year, social media, Person of the Year, or Company of the Year, and all these different amazing awards, and it's just awesome to see, you know, the whole industry celebrate each other. We also have the Midwest awards coming up, and then, of course, we have a number of live events coming up. So we've got the contractor coalition coming up here in a couple of weeks, actually flying out to Boston to visit nicker, because I want to see 45 white oak. There's a lot of similarities between, you know what he's been doing over the last couple of years to what I'm doing at misah, who so I really want to, you know, pick his brain, see and plus, see the house. I saw it a year ago when contractor coalition was in Boston. I got to see it at the framing state. And so I haven't seen it since, obviously. And so I'm really curious to see, you know what it's like. And Nick's been great. He's one of my business partners at contract coalition. So he and I talk fairly often, and just really excited for him to, you know, show off this home and kind of show me all the detail behind it, and kind of geek out at the level of execution that he's accomplished and and then, you know, pick each other's brains. How can we, you know, what's next for both of us? And so I'm really excited for that. And then, more importantly, is setting time aside to plan. And that's really what I wanted to talk about here for the next 13 minutes, is, you know, I really enjoy the Christmas time, and we'll set aside the personal time, because I think it's really important to, you know, shut down. We shut our company down for two weeks over Christmas, so the week of Christmas and the week after, I remember, a couple of years ago, I made this decision because, you know, I usually travel on a family vacation the week after, and I always felt like, well, if my team's round, I always felt like that was bad for morale. But also, it's like, when you're emailing people or doing something, and it's like out of office, out of office, like, how much work you actually get done over the holidays once you'd be better off just taking the time off, like spending it with time with family. Read a book, you know, think about personal development, think about your next year, but like, just really recharge, like, spend that time really evaluating the last year, and, you know, look forward to next year. And so I have found that time to be so helpful. And you know, like most entrepreneurs, we do spend a lot of time, you know, during those down days working, working more on the business or than the job or personal business. And so I have, I'd say, about three weeks ago, I went to this Aspire tour here locally. They travel all over the country, and it left a huge impression on me. There was Andrew Cordell shout out to him. He's a tax architect, and he's had a one day seminar, and it turned into a three day, really focused workshop in those three days sort of really jump started my mind on what I need to be focused on financially, not only in for the rest of this year into next year, but really for the next 2020, years, well, really until death. And so it's really changed my perspective on setting up trusts and setting up, you know, different saving accounts for the kids and how to budget for that.
Mark D. Williams 09:28
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One of the things that really stuck with me was that, you know, wealth is not created, it's engineered. And so really, this deliberate process and I and I think it's something that I have not given enough focus to, and it's a little surprising, because, like when I train for a race, I am very methodical on, you know, how many miles I'm running, like, what I'm eating, how I'm sleeping, like I have a very like if I want a successful outcome, I know how to backfill the training in order to accomplish it. You know, if you're listening to this podcast, you're likely in the construction world. I know how to build a house. You follow a plan. You get the specs from the architect, you get the design selections from the interior designer, and you follow the plan to a successful conclusion, and and how well you do that dictates how efficient and how enjoyable the process is for yourself, your team and your client, and how good you execute on it is your your talent level, but it there's a clear path on how to build a home. And so I don't know why I have not spent more time you really thinking about tax, architecture or building wealth? And I think wealth means something different to every person. I saw this great thing the other day, like, you know, in many ways, I'm extremely wealthy in terms of, like, friendship, in terms of interest and things like that. And so I don't think wealth is always for me. Anyway, it's not always about money. I think my own personal relationship with money is a very positive one. I i look at money as sort of a means to an end as a lot of business owners do. We like talking about money, but in a positive way. I think sometimes in our culture, you know, depending on how you grew up and if your parents were open to it as well, like some people are uncomfortable talking about how much money they make, or how much money they didn't make, or how they save. But yet, if we don't talk about it, how do we increase our, you know, our financial literacy. And one thing that was really brought out in this three day event was your social or sorry, your financial IQ is directly responsible to how much you know wealth you'll create or architect in your lifetime. And you know, if you are the only thing that could relate to is like health and wellness in sports. I mean, a lot of people that are really interested in sports, or, let's say football or whatever, like they talk about it with their friends. They're constantly talking about it, so therefore they understand it. And I think if you talk to most business owners, are happy to talk finances and happy to talk profitability and happy to talk about margins and things like that, because it's the language that they understand. It's also what they want to get better at, and it's where their interest lies. And so I just think that culturally, there's sort of this underlying taboo that we don't talk about it. And, you know, that's definitely something that we try to change here on the podcast. I mean, I've asked many clients. It's hard for me sometimes, because not every person I interview, you know, it's obviously a public channel, so I have to be careful, to be sensitive to what they're what they want to talk about. But if we're honest, like the people that are very open and very authentic, like those are the people that we're attracted to, because the it helps us. We're all humans striving to find connections with other humans and other businesses. Like, I hope that people listening to this show like find the guests that we have on, you know, not only entertaining but educational. I try to do both. I hope that we're doing a good job of both educating and entertaining. And because I think that's a powerful combination. If you learn something, if you learn the goal has always been for me that that myself and the audience, therefore, would learn two to three things per episode and be able to apply it to their life and to their business. And then, if you can have a good time and laugh while you're doing it like, so much the better. And so that has always been sort of like a founding principle of like, what I want out of every interview. I often think about that in terms of like, as I'm preparing questions or interviewing people like, what are people getting out of this? And then just real talk, just be authentic. I think the most interesting interviews I've had and most interesting conversations I've had this year have been ones where people are just really vulnerable. I think that's what gave birth to the you know, losers are winners. Series is that, you know, I'm happy to hear successful stories. I think they're great, they're motivating. But I find so much more value in how people have failed, how they've picked themselves up, and how they've overcome that to achieve the next, you know, the next thing that's on in their journey. And I think that is very human, and it's very relatable. And so thinking about the next two and a half months is I've decided that I've been talking a lot about AI, and I feel like, specifically, like Nick schifer and Morgan Molitor just leaps and bounds ahead of not only using it, but talking about it. And so I, about three weeks ago, I set on my schedule on Friday afternoons, like a four hour block to work on two things for the rest of the year. Every Friday it's going to be. AI and finances, and I gave myself some flexibility there, because for me personally, if I don't time block it, it doesn't happen. If I just let it like, hey, work on this organically. Work on it at night, work on it on the weekend, but don't actually plan it. It's a little bit like trying to build a house for me without a blueprint, like, it's just not going to happen. I need that structured time to sort of focus on and say, I understand, this is my time. And I think, like a lot of entrepreneurs, we think, Well, we have so many fires to attend to. You know, we have to answer these emails. We have to reach out to so and so we have to solve this problem. You don't, it can wait, because if, if we, as the business owners, are not working on the business. If we are not sort of making our companies and our lives more systematic and just better more automated, then we're always going to be the bottleneck in our in our lives and in our company. And I know that's been true for me for sure. I know I've been a bottleneck for a long period of time, and I will probably still be that way, I think I need to, I need basically people on my team that can help me remove the stumbling block from myself, because it seems like every time I start a new business or a new idea, I'm basically making myself the bottleneck all over again. And so, you know, having people that I feel like are really good at building businesses, you know, like a brad Robinson, who I admire greatly. You know, I think Brad Levitt does a great job of building his business. And even in my local community, I look around and I see, you know, Rick and Amy hendle, I think they have a marvelous business. And you know, people that are really good business operators, like it's really fun to watch them, to interact with them, and to talk with them, and then to take, you know, sort of that inspiration and some of the things that you see and apply it to your own business. And so for me, going forward here, for the next two and a half months, having those Fridays to really devote and my hope is that I will discover something in that time that will make me a business better person, a better business operator, and also better my team. You know? I think, I think I want to model some of this behavior, obviously, for my team as well, and check in with them. You know, I think one of the issues that most owners have is not expectations, but maybe it is the right word, like, what do we expect from our team? And I don't think it's fair to hold your team to the same level of accountability as as an owner. And what I mean by that is like an owner is always going to feel like they're, they have more ownership in their company. That's true. You do look at your shares, unless you're an ESOP and your employees actually own part of the company. Of course, you care more about your company. It doesn't mean that they don't. It just means that it's sort of like it's your child. You know, they're they're daycare providers, they're helping, but, you know, it's not their kid. And I'm not saying that they don't care for their kid or helping, because they certainly do it. Can never have that. You know, the companies I have without amazing people that love what they do, but I think there's just another level of it, and so I need to tease this out in my brain. Is, how do I inspire people on my team to be the best versions of themselves, and the only way I really know how to do it is to try to be the best version of myself and then really demonstrate and show them like what I'm doing I heard today. I was listening to the modern craftsman podcast, and there was a great line there. Nick was just talking about how
Mark D. Williams 18:19
doing a better job of communicating to your team what it is that you know that he does. And so when I heard that, I just got thinking, like my team can see my calendar and it is chock full, like I have no breathing space, which isn't a good thing. I need to work on that too. But where I was going with this is, I think I'm going to do a monthly memo to my team of like, this is what I did this month. This is what I'm working on, and this is what I'm working on next month. I'm not sure what I'm I guess it'll kind of evolve like, is it? It's mostly meant so that they can see, like, Hey, I'm meeting with three, four new prospects, two of them signed as design retainer, or design retainers. And moving forward, you know, we worked on whatever it might be. I'm iterating out loud here because I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I should do it per week, but I think maybe per month might be my cadence, because we do this all the time with our clients, and it's super helpful. And it's not that we don't do this often verbally, and it's not that they can't see what we're doing too, but I think just having a kind of a formalized way, I think it might be helpful for us will be for me to actually write down, like, what did you accomplish this month? And what are you working on next month? What are your objectives? And just kind of give them, give them an idea of what you're working on. And, you know, we start every one of our our Monday ops meetings. We do a two hour ops meetings on Monday, and we start with the Rosebud Thorn. You know, mentioned this before. We do that every night at dinner with my kids, and they love it. I don't think my wife likes it as much as I do, but the kids just, you know, they fight to see who gets to go first. And so, you know, I think we get so trapped in, you know, kind of like being efficient. And it's hard for me because I sit down, it's like, Hey, this is two hours. I need to, you know, we need to crush these two hours or an hour and a. Half however long it ends up taking. But we always start with, hey, what was your Rosebud Thorn over the weekend? And I think this is a good way to connect. And I think as an owner, I need to do a better job of that in a different way. So I think I'm going to structure it, both from a business standpoint, like, these are the things I'm working on, and then, personally, almost like a little report card, and maybe it'll just be bullet points with, like, almost like kind of almost like a KPI kind of thing, key points of interest, or just like, you know, hey, this is, this is my report card for myself, just letting you know what I'm up to, letting you know what I'm looking forward to. And anyway, so I think after this podcast, actually, I'm going to go ahead and do it right away, just so it gets off my plate and I kind of see how it goes. So have a great Thursday, and we'll see you next Monday, if you've been listening to the podcast for a while now, or even if this is your first episode, I talk about the contractor coalition summit all the time. Our next one is happening November 7 through November 10 in Chicago, and all the details can be found at the contractor coalition summit.com You've got Brad Levitt, Nick Schiffer, Tyler, Grace, Morgan, Molitor and myself will all be there. We've got great content over three days. You've got builders from all over the country try to get it to about that 30 people number. And we'll have sponsors as well that add a lot of value to each one of these dedicated days where you're talking about contracts and spreadsheets and margin and whether you're doing fixed bid or cost, plus your pre construction agreements. I mean, the list goes on and on and on. If you haven't been following it yet, you should. The contractor coalition summit Instagram page is giving you a steady diet of the conversations that are being had, a lot of promo reels, a lot of the interviews that I've done personally at Omaha, which was my first contractor coalition, where I'm part of the leadership, interviewed all 36 people that attended, and we're going to be unveiling each one of their interviews over the next couple of months, so people that were not able to attend and would like to can kind of get a better idea of the value that builders are getting. So if you're going to sign up and come to Chicago, you can type in the promo code curious builder and get $2,500 off, and we'll see you in Chicago. Thanks for tuning in the curious builder podcast. If you like this episode, do us a favor. Share it with three other business owners. The best way that we can spread what we're doing is by word of mouth, and with your help, we can continue to help other curious builders expand their business. Please share it with your friends, like and review online and thanks again for tuning in.
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