What’s it like to work with Live Life Build?

Well, for Ryan Brown, owner of RKB Renovations, it’s meant getting more productive and organised through what he has learned.

Ryan Brown is a Brisbane based builder, and the owner of RKB Renovations 

Ryan has been a member of Live Life Build online programs since 2020. Watch the video to see how Live Life Build has helped him (and you can read what he said below as well).

My name is Ryan Brown and my company is RKB Renovations.

HOW DID YOU COME ACROSS LIVE LIFE BUILD?

Found out basically following Duayne and Amelia on social media for a little bit, and then a lot of the stuff Duayne was talking about really rang with me and to have, I think, a builder and an architect working together to build this program was a real plus for me. So yeah, that’s how I sort of heard about it.

WHAT WAS THE DRIVING FORCE YOU WANT TO CHANGE?

I was happy to a point with things. My business was running but I knew things could be better. I wanted to make things more efficient, have better systems, better processes, and yeah, just try and give our clients a much better experience with their renovating. 

And I think I’m a firm believer in: “you don’t know what you don’t know”, and I was kind of looking for that professional development to be better at my job, basically.

WHAT OTHER AVENUES DID YOU EXPLORE?

I did the standard sort of Master Builders Association courses. I just found out a bit they just weren’t in depth enough for what I was after. 

I looked at another builders coach kind of organisation and just didn’t gel with them. I just didn’t like the way they sort of went about things. 

And then, yeah, like when I sort of started looking at Live Life Build, yeah, just a lot of what it was all about attracted me to it. 

WHAT DOUBTS DID YOU HAVE WITH THE PROGRAM?

No reservations, really. I think like anyone I’ll just kind of, sort of, pick up those things. I had a lot of respect for Duayne, as a builder, knowing him a little bit. 

And then I think, for me it was that, you know, between Duayne and Amelia, they were prepared to put all their knowledge and information out there to make other builders’ lives better. That was probably the main thing that resonated with me, what there was, you know, between the two of them. 

And they didn’t have to be doing it. But they decided this was the industry needed. And I was also a firm believer in that.

WHAT IMPROVEMENTS HAVE YOU NOTICED SINCE JOINING THE PROGRAM?

I’m certainly a lot more organised. I’m planning my weeks, at least one week in advance, if not two weeks in advance. So that’s been a big one for me. 

I was finding that I was being quite unproductive with my time, spending a lot of time just running around the ute, chasing up things, putting out fires, that sort of stuff. 

Whereas now I’m a lot more respectful of my time, and I’ve so organised my weeks accordingly. And I’m much more productive and that’s probably been the big takeaway that I’ve been able to do so far.

WHAT PROCESSES HAVE EVOLVED IN YOUR BUSINESS SINCE JOINING LIVE LIFE BUILD?

I think, particularly, as far as our on site processes go, definitely our scheduling. 

We’ve sort of started using a scheduling programme now, so, rather than me sort of turning up to work on a Monday and saying to the guys “right, you’ve got to be here by the end of the week”, we’ve now got set programs where I can sort of have a Gantt chart on site. 

My foreman has access to that online as well. So they know exactly when electricians are coming in, when plumbers are coming in, when they’ve got to have certain things finished. 

And that’s also with our clients as well, as our clients can see that we’ve got a documented plan as to how we’re going to go about what we’re doing on site. 

And we’re not just running things by the seat of our pants. So that’s been a really big plus for us as well.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE PAC PROCESS?

It’s fantastic. And it’s been a game changer. Certainly for me. The big one I found is that clients now value your time; that, when you can come to them with a documented process and show them the value for them in that process, I think that’s really key. 

You can’t just charge someone for, “Oh yeah  well pay me $500, I’ll give you a quote” . You’ve got to actually show them your process, show them why it works, and show them where there’s value in it for them. So it’s been an absolute game changer for us. 

From the perspective of, as I said before, our clients value my time a lot more. But also the clients that aren’t actually really serious about their jobs, and are just tire-kicking and trying to chase up a few prices, we get rid of them straight away, without even having set foot on a site.

HOW DO YOU GET OUT OF BED NOW?

Yeah, I’ve got no issues getting out of bed in the morning. That’s probably been one of the unexpected things with Live Life Build. 

It’s not just about your business and your business performance. It’s about your personal performance as well. 

So, yeah, certainly enjoying getting out of bed in the morning, yeah, knowing things are organised, knowing things are set up. We’ve got processes in place. So, yeah, certainly sleeping a lot better at night too.

WHAT’S A PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT OF THE LIVE LIFE BUILD PROGRAM?

I think the community is one of the best things that I’ve sort of found with it. You’ve got all these other builders across the country who want to do their jobs better, who want to have better processes in their business and want to enjoy their lives more and want to give their clients a better experience with renovating. 

We all hear the bad stories about builders stuffing people around or tradies not turning up and slowly, but surely, through this program, we will change this industry for the better. 

So the community of other builders, to be involved with them online and through the Facebook groups, has been great. 

You know, the Friday wins we put up…  (you do a little video and say what wins happened during the week), I find that really inspiring to see other builders that are benefiting from the program as well. 

So that’s been one of the probably most unexpected things, it’s just that sense of community that comes with being in the program.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO ANYONE THINKING OF JOINING LIVE LIFE BUILD?

Go for it. Just commit to it. You know and open yourself up to learning new things and to learning these processes. 

It will be a game changer for your business, a hundred percent.

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