Master the Art of Connection: Best Kept Secrets Reveal w/ Janell Roedl

Contractor Freedom - Break out of Contractor Prison

Jason Phillips: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Contractor Freedom Podcast. I'm your host, Jason Phillips. This show exists to help small business owners like you escape the tyranny of Contractor Freedom and enter the bliss of Contractor Freedom so you can have the Time, Money, and Freedom to Live Your Life With Purpose Beyond Your Business.

As a certified human behavior consultant in DISC personality styles and motivators, I'll be sharing with you skills for life, love, leadership, and business. I'll also be connecting you with experts that can help you scale your business and your life. So if you want to build the business and life of your dreams, then you are in the right place.

Let's go.

Jason Phillips: Hello, contractors. I ignored these resources. For so many years, and I kept hearing about all the amazing resources that the PCA had available for its members. And even though I've been a member for a long time, I had been a member for a long time, I never really took the time to check these things out because I was always busy running my [00:01:00] business.

Well today, I've got great news. We're opening the closet turning on the light in today's episode We're diving in with the PCA's own Janelle Roedl the PCA member advocate I want you to stick around till the end because I guarantee you're gonna discover one or more multiple resources that you can use To solve your business challenges, stand on the shoulders of the giants that have gone before you, save you time, money, and headaches.

Janelle, welcome to the show.

Janell Roedl: Thank you, Jason. I am honored and it's a pleasure to be here.

Jason Phillips: Well, I am so glad that we connected. Janelle, would you, would you take a moment to share with everybody, you know, what's your role? What, what is, what is the member coordinator at the PCA?

Janell Roedl: Absolutely, I'd love to. So my title now is Member Advocate and I kind of gravitate more towards that title because it really shows that my role is on the side of the painting contractor. Not [00:02:00] PCA, but I'm here to create a premier experience for PCA members. , we do that in a variety of ways by providing resources and connecting our contractors with those resources.

We have so many that it's often a challenge. One of the biggest challenges is, Finding those resources. So it's my role to help do that. , to answer questions, troubleshoot just problems, issues, connect with you. Take feedback. I would love any feedback on, the PCA, the resources we offer, the member experience, because I just want to make it better.

My heart is service. I love people. I love connecting with

Jason Phillips: Well, you know, I, I love, I love that. And I appreciate you sharing that. One of the things that's frustrating is when you're working within as a business owner, or let's just say as a consumer at all, you're working with an organization or you're working with, with a, with a company and. You're like, who do I call for this?

Who do I call for that? I mean, just recently my company, we had been working with another company that was going to deliver some [00:03:00] stuff to us and, some digital goods to us. And they had so many departments and people, we didn't really have a single point of contact. And so hearing you just say, look, that's my job. So I think that is,

Janell Roedl: Yeah. I'm your girl.

Jason Phillips: so before the end of this episode, you guys are going to learn how to get in touch with Janelle so she can answer, any questions, that you have. So let's, you know, the, the, the PCA, the Painting Contractors Association, for those of you that aren't familiar, significant anniversary this year?

Janell Roedl: There is, this year marks our 140th anniversary and that just blows my mind. We have a hard time thinking in generations like that. So, yeah, been around a long time, as you mentioned, standing on the shoulders of the giants that have come before us, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We just grow over 140 years and that's like one of, the big benefits of aligning with the PCA is aligning painting contractors with an organization that has 140 years of legacy behind

Jason Phillips: that is, that

Janell Roedl: we're excited.

Jason Phillips: So, you know, let's, let's talk about the vision. Like, , if so [00:04:00] many contractors, I still meet contractors who don't even know, painting contractors who don't even know who the PCA is

Janell Roedl: Right. We still say it's the best kept secret

Jason Phillips: would, I would agree with that. Why does the PCA exist?

Janell Roedl: great question. it exists very similar to what you told me your mission is, to elevate the painting industry, to bring professionalization to the painting industry. In the very early days, it was more designed to advocate for, painting contractors, as we have evolved and grown. And more recently, the PCA is here to discover the challenges and the pain points of our painting contractors.

and meet those needs and we do that through educational resources painter training and i'm sure we're going to get into our resources today, but meeting the needs of our painting contractors in the world today

Jason Phillips: you got me thinking, . you've been doing this for a while with the

Janell Roedl: A little bit

i'm still learning i'm eight

Jason Phillips: that's, a significant amount of time. In your mind, [00:05:00] what do you think is the, I don't want to say best kept secret, but if there's one thing about the PCA and you're like, I run into so many contractors who don't know about X, Y, Z, and they need to know about X, Y, Z.

What, is there something that sticks out in your mind?

Janell Roedl: I have a handful of like my favorite resources or benefits with the PCA and the first one is one that I've just mentioned. It's aligning with that mission and that legacy. I think that's one of the best kept secrets. With your PCA membership, you gain access to the PCA logo and marketing materials. so Aligning in where you invest your money, your time, and using those resources like the logo package where people recognize you as a PCA member and, associate you with that legacy and that professionalization, craftsmanship and integrity.

So that's one of the best. resources and reasons I think a painting contractor would want to align with the PCA. Some of my other top favorites are, [00:06:00] painter training. Painter training is

Jason Phillips: Can we elaborate on that for a moment what what is entailed there

Janell Roedl: So painter training, was designed to, for the painting contractor to be able to train their crew.

It's seven courses. They complete the courses on their own time, video courses. They take a quiz and earn a certificate. it's standardized so that you as the painting contractor have confidence that your crew has been trained well. The painters have feel this endearment towards you as a painting contractor because you've invested in their professionalization.

And that helps with employee retention, which everyone is concerned about in these times. And that all comes free with your membership, which is why it's at the top of my list because it's one of those things you get for free just by being

Jason Phillips: So what if you know, what if what if the painters are spanish speakers?

Janell Roedl: Great question. So, four, I believe four of those seven courses have been translated into Spanish because we do have, we want [00:07:00] to get into some of those realms like women and the Spanish speaking community. We have a Spanish initiative that we're launching in the next two years with PPG, to bring more Spanish resources.

So, right now they haven't all been translated into Spanish, but they will be within the next two years, in order to meet that need, because it's definitely a

Jason Phillips: So if i'm a business owner, i'm a member I can train all I can put all of my painters through this training for no additional charge.

Janell Roedl: Right? I know. It's crazy. If you were a non member and purchasing those courses, they would be 99 per course per crew person. so right

Jason Phillips: Yeah, it's just

Janell Roedl: well

Jason Phillips: for sure for sure okay, so I I know that you know, I i'm a fan of hiring for character and training for skill and hiring, let's just say hiring for fit. And, but you've got to have a training program. The reason that so many people, especially when they're newer in business, they're like, I need someone with experience.

I need someone with experience. Well then you get someone with experience, might be bad experience, [00:08:00] but there's a pretty high likelihood they have bad habits or at least habits and ways of ingrained habits that don't, mesh with the way you need to run your business. And so, I love this that you, so now you can focus more on finding the right person, put them through a training program.

How long does it take to go through that training program?

Janell Roedl: that's a great question. It is like, go at your own pace. Seven courses, I don't know what the average, I need to look that up. What's the average time that it takes someone to complete a course? I'm thinking it's like an hour and a half to two hours per course.

Jason Phillips: So something they could do within a week's time or so, or do, do a course a day for a while for a week or so. Okay. Wow. That is.

Janell Roedl: It's a great tool for onboarding, but it really has a lot of depth that even experienced painters can still

Jason Phillips: So, I mean, it's not like you guys just one day said, Hey, let's make a training program. And. mean, you guys, I'm assuming, I'm gonna, I guess I'm asking, created this program with using the depth of knowledge that, that the PCA has for all of these years has developed [00:09:00] about best practices and the way to do things?

Janell Roedl: Yes. So, yeah, we have an education committee. and prior to me coming on board here, they created this, with the education committee. like you said, building off, they used painting contractors to develop this. It's professional, professionally done. yeah. So, high quality, And you can track their progress

Jason Phillips: would this program, Be applicable. Let's just say that someone's hiring a project manager or a salesperson. That's not exactly hands on. Would it be beneficial for someone like that to

Janell Roedl: I do believe it would be. so the seven courses are trade best practices, interiors level one, two, and three, and interior level one, or exterior one, two, and three. so I feel like it could be great for also project managers, sales people, because they'll be involved in all of the aspects of project management.

training the crew, checking the status of the project, they cover, well, some of our other resources cover cost and estimating, but [00:10:00] I think for them having a good insight on what their crew is able to do, what they've been trained on, what they can expect, would only add value to the whole team.

Sure,

Jason Phillips: me everything that overdrive includes. no,

Janell Roedl: first off, I noticed it doesn't include you, Jason. Yeah. Yeah. I did not see your podcast on there. Why is

Jason Phillips: that a while back and we just never reconnected. So he reached out to me

Janell Roedl: Yeah. Well, maybe we should

Jason Phillips: I, I, that sounds like a great plan.

Janell Roedl: So, Overdrive is our, it's like the Netflix of the painting industry is like what we like to call it. It's our education and entertainment platform. We have, I think now we're at like 700 hours, and growing of content, that comes and this is why it's another one of my favorites is because it's also free with your membership.

so you get to on your own time. explore things ranging from, cost and estimating, sales and marketing, [00:11:00] building a team, hiring, as well as, content from previous expos and other events you can watch on there. we bring in our, industry partner podcasts, so some of those are, On the trade itself, and some of those are on business building, so it's just a great place to go and binge worthwhile content,

Jason Phillips: know, podcasts and content. So it's so popular. And to hear you say it's the Netflix for the painting industry. I haven't heard that before. So I know there's a lot of guys.

Janell Roedl: Like, it just clarifies exactly what it is and why you'd want to go there.

Jason Phillips: So, hey, contractors, if you're not, you know, if you're not partaking of these resources and, you know, like Janelle said, there's, things about the trade on, on, on overdrive as well as about business stuff on overdrive as business

Janell Roedl: Mm hmm.

Jason Phillips: So anything, if, you are, growth minded.

And you are a forever student, like you should be, then, this is a great place, a great place. So, you know, one of the other things I, I [00:12:00] think something that I still, you know, appreciate more, I don't want to say more. Okay. I'm going to say that I appreciate, well, maybe it is more because in the past I didn't really partake of

Janell Roedl: hmm.

Jason Phillips: talk about the networking. What, what are the networking opportunities for the PCA?

Janell Roedl: So, I'm glad you asked that because this year the PCA, the board, they're kind of going into a year of really focusing on events. So events is one of the best places. And I don't know when this podcast will be released, but we're moving into our biggest event of the year, Expo, to be held in Orlando, Florida, at The Dolphin.

We're super excited, so at events is the best place. to do this networking. We're one of the best places. It's like the top one to two percent of the painting contracting, painting contracting world is The cream of the crop is at these [00:13:00] events and opportunities galore.

So evening events hosted by the sponsors, PPG, Bayer, Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore. And then throughout the day we're doing mind melds and breakout sessions and having breakfast and lunch together. we really feel that as a community we grow together. So. It's the old mindset that we're competing and we can't be friends and we can't share and we're an island.

I think pretty much across the board, most people see that value in the networking opportunities. yeah.

Jason Phillips: You know, once they've been,

Janell Roedl: go

Jason Phillips: okay, so I invite every painter that I run into to the expo. And, and when you get to the expo and you run into all these people and all of a sudden they're like, their eyes are like huge open and they're like, oh my gosh. I can't believe I've missed out on this all these years and what it is is, you know, it's there, there's this thing called the immersion effect and it's, and it's, it's the, the reason why, learning is [00:14:00] more impactful when you're there in person.

I mean as, as great as overdrive is. you know, it's a different, let's just say the, well, the Super Bowl was recently, there's a different experience watching the Super Bowl on TV than there is being there with the crowd. And it's the same thing with online church or going to church in person, but there's this an immersion effect and it's, there is a

Janell Roedl: a synergy.

Jason Phillips: and.

That whole time you're not thinking about, while you're there, you're not thinking about the leads, you're not thinking about the payroll, or any of that, you are enveloped in how can I Make my business and my life better and you're collaborating with people that are maybe, in so many ways, they've been in, maybe their company's the same size or they've been in business the same amount of time.

But then there's going to be people that are ahead of you, people that are behind you and you're going to, you are going to learn. And I promise if you go to the expo, you will come back changed. And, my. The the bell I'm tolling is there's two events that you ought not to miss every year if you were in the painting, if you're in the painting business, one is the expo and two is our very own contractor freedom summit.

Those [00:15:00] are my two favorite events. And I believe what you can experience at those events can, can change your business and change your life. So

Janell Roedl: Yeah. This will be my first expo, so I'm excited and it'll be a whole new experience for me. So I'm going a lot by what, members, painting, contract, your experience that you just shared. but I, Your sharing reminded me of one of our stories. So Juan Vasquez is, a painting contractor and he lets us share his story.

So back in 2018, he attended his very first own expo. And at that time he was a small painting company with four. People under him, and he thought he was doing good, went to Expo, and like you said, eyes opened, and he was able to take a gold, you really just need one golden nugget, you don't have to consume all of it, like, you're gonna get a lot, but that one golden nugget, if you go home and apply it, can change everything, so he got his gold nugget, which was implementing systems, and in addition [00:16:00] to that, he like, networked the heck out of it and he said in his, conversation that he's, he's got a contact in every state, one in every state.

And that gives him confidence that no matter where he's at and what he's doing, he's

Jason Phillips: he could phone a friend if he needs, if he has a question, right?

Janell Roedl: And from there, he's transformed his business. He's grown. He's got, his own podcast. he's on the board. so yeah, it's amazing. The stories I hear of transformation that happens through the events and particularly

Jason Phillips: is, that is amazing. So, you know, we've got the, the, the training, there's the, there's the overdrive, then there's the events. Now there's, there's also, like benefits that you can offer to your employees, like healthcare. Can't you,

Janell Roedl: Yeah, there is. So, we began offering, health insurance. And what we found is, you know, those pain points with our painting contractors, this was one of them being able to, provide benefits for their employees, which it helps in retention. they just couldn't [00:17:00] afford some of the plans or couldn't qualify for some of them.

So we were able to leverage the, the size and the power of the PCA to be able to possibly get some packages, and prices that the painting contractors couldn't get on their own. It really depends on each person's state...