Ken Longshaw lost his capital during the 2008 financial crisis. After rebuilding his building company in the Southern Highlands, he found himself trapped quoting flat ten percent margins and surviving on a brutal two percent net profit.
In this episode, Ken details the exact operational shifts he used to break the local pricing trap and push his net margin to 19.5 percent. He explains how reviewing real financial data with transparent peers gave him the confidence to raise his rates. Ken also breaks down how paying a virtual assistant 12 dollars an hour stopped his midnight invoicing, allowing him to buy back 45 hours a week and take a 20-day holiday to Japan without a single phone call from the site.
Programs Mentioned:
🕒 Timestamped Key Points
00:00 Buying back 45 hours a week
02:00 Losing capital on a massive build during the 2008 financial crisis
05:00 Pivoting to a new market in the Southern Highlands
07:00 Building client trust to secure profitable contracts
10:00 Using your website to pre-qualify profitable leads
13:00 The danger of taking pricing advice from local competitors
14:00 Surviving on a two percent net profit margin
15:00 Using a virtual assistant to stop late night invoicing
19:00 Taking a 20 day holiday without a single site emergency
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