Epi 195: If You Treat Your Staff Like THIS, You Will Lose Everything

Marti sits down with Simone McKenzie, CEO of Core Refurbishments in Western Australia. Simone opens up about the brutal reality of staring down a $250,000 debt and nearly going bankrupt. She explains how keeping underperforming staff and tolerating toxic clients almost cost her the entire business. By shifting her focus strictly to retirement living and utilizing a subcontractor only model, she completely rebuilt her operations.

Simone shares the exact steps she took to dig out of a massive $150,000 tax debt, starting with cutting the dead wood and aggressively raising her margins. They discuss how to stop bleeding cash on missed variations by ditching messy spreadsheets for proper project management software. If you are struggling with fixed price contracts or letting bad clients dictate your worth, Simone's turnaround story is the ultimate blueprint for taking back control.

🕒 Timestamped Key Points

• [00:00] Staring down a massive $250,000 company debt
• [05:58] The brutal reality of taking responsibility for other people's money
• [07:28] Why you must cut the dead wood from your team immediately
• [08:14] The absolute terror of raising your margins to survive
• [09:18] Firing toxic clients who refuse to pay what you are worth
• [11:00] Building a subbies only model for retirement living projects
• [13:20] How to stop losing thousands of dollars on missed site variations
• [18:26] Transitioning from being a mate to an assertive business leader

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