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References of Our Annual Boot Camp
Matt,
I wanted to write to express my appreciation for the Business Management Boot Camp seminar you put on through the Southeastern Pennsylvania Associated Builders and Contractors from 4-23-07 through 4-27-07
My personal experience in our industry has been one of coming up through the ranks of a carpentry company, from Apprentice, to Carpenter, to Superintendent and now into management. This is not an uncommon path for many managers in the construction business; however the shift in paradigms from the field to a management position was a struggle for me as I am sure it continues to be for many others.
Your course was excellent in bringing to light many of the issues I have had to struggle through as well as several of the necessary points of focus for new managers in the industry. Your passion for your topic is evident in your delivery of the course as well as in the text and tools you provide to the participants.
I found the course to be very informative and valuable, not only for small business owners, but new Project Managers, and Superintendents looking to take the next step as well. I anticipate sending others from our firm to attend your next offering of the course in October.
Thanks Again and I hope all is well,
Christian Kalbach
Manager of Field Personnel, Safety and Training
E. Allen Reeves Inc.
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Matt: Thanks for sending the information. I just got time to get to go over
what I may have not completed due to other scheduled events Friday PM and
Saturday. Your Boot Camp was well worth the time we had to dedicate to it and I
know we will get a great deal out of it. Your presentation was
professional, personable and encouraging. I am sure glad I made the
decision to attend. I look forward putting to use the tools you taught.
Hope to see and hear from you in the future.
Regards,
Joe McColgan, Vice President
Wescott Electric Company
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Hi Matt,
Hope you have recovered from a long week of teaching the Boot Camp!
Thanks for the info, found the entire week to be tailor made for me. Found many areas in which my business can improve in, and I am looking forward to implementing the new ideas and moving beyond average. I am one of those guys who have a tendency to focus on growth, so I think I received a wakeup call on watching cost last week.
I was hoping you could send me a copy of the overly complete check list that you mentioned in class, and the list of best practices.
Thanks again for all your effort; I look forward to going to one of your classes in the future!
Curtis Wray
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Matt,
The boot camp format was excellent by taking repeated breaks on time I found myself paying very much attention while in the class. Being able to have a break every hour put me at ease. I was able to put my cell on vibrate and if a call did come up decide weather to leave the room to deal with it or wait for a timely break. I also was appreciative that you realized everyone there had business to take care and you did not take affront to anyone having to leave the class to take care of it. Maybe there could be some way you could communicate to potential clients although they will be away from work they will not be out of touch. It was the best format for a teaching situation that I ever attended. I was alert, interested and wanted to participate. I thought you had a very friendly and engaging personality. You clearly had a grasp of your subject matter. I felt you made the class at ease. We were a class and not a group of individuals sitting back and getting lectured all week and listening to old war stories. Sometimes when I go to these types of classes the moderator stands up on a soapbox bragging about there accomplishments. I felt you were very flexible to listen to others opinions and your comment about starting points for conversations for all you analytic info was great.
My favorite part of the seminar was the exercise with the critical path method. It taught me a great tool and it helped foster camaraderie with some of my class mates. Drawing on others experiences and expertise was a tremendous benefit. I love networking with people. My rule of thumb is that if I attend a class I have a goal to hopefully bring back one or two ideas that may help me in my own work situation. There were more than ten off the chart suggestions that I am going to try and introduce. If one or two actually take hold in my organization I will be thrilled.
Interacting with the others in the class gave me some insights that I may take home. For example one of my classmates suggested that doing a credit check on an individual could give you an idea about someone's character. His comment was that if you pay your bills usually you are a conscientious, serious candidate for employment. Feedback like this you just can't measure and is a tremendous side benefit of the class. I think because you set the tone of the class everyone contributed. I could go on and on with positive comments but I do have to get back to work sometime.
I want to mention that the setting at our association was great and John Judge's effort and hospitality was appreciated.
Tom Collinson
Collinson, Inc.
Uwchland, Pennsylvania
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Matt,
I was telling our estimator that we as project managers must take off the job a second time immediately after we are given it. In this way we can confirm the accuracy and know the quantities before we begin. This is well worth the effort and it will give us more time to address any mistakes and to develop a schedule that will allow us to beat the estimate. I have already used a number of your lessons learned to the benefit of our company!
Thanks for the training
Russ Reithmeyer
Project Manager
Blair Concrete Services
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Matt,
I wanted to let you know that my brother Victor and I have been using
several of the techniques for negotiating contracts that you spoke of both
in your book and at the class I attended last year. Over the course of that
time we have had several customers take us up on the offer of a discount for
not holding retainage and likewise a discount for paying net 10 days. Last
week we had a customer take advantage of both the net 10 discount and the
retainage discount as a result this job has completely funded itself
increasing our net profit margins and likewise our ability to accept
additional work for that work period. The most important part is that our
customers our looking at our company much differently, we are no longer just
a group of carpenters but instead we are savy business professionals.
Thank you for your insight and knoweledge your book and class work have
helped us to develop our strategies and techniques to further our success in
the construction industry.
Tammi Talese
Vice President
V-Talese Inc.
Posted by Matt Stevens at November 20, 2007 1:29 PM