Steven Swift: He Prayed About the Skid Steer. Then Five Jobs Called.

Steven Swift wasn't sure taking on a skid steer payment was the right move. He and his wife prayed about it. On the day he had to make the decision, five skid steer jobs came in. He bought the machine—and had it working on its first job about an hour later. Steven, owner of Next Level Property Solutions in Kentucky, isn't new to running a business. He started mowing lawns as a teenager, grew a lawn care company with employees, made good money, and learned some expensive lessons along the way—including what happens when more employees create more headaches instead of more production. Now he's taking another run at business with grading, drainage, land clearing, retaining walls, and skid steer work—and he's trying not to repeat the mistakes he made the first time. Takeaways: ✅ More employees didn't mean more production. Steven learned that adding people to a crew can actually slow the job down when the right systems and people aren't in place. ✅ He learned the money lesson early. Steven admits there was a point when he could blow $20,000 in a month. Now he's much more deliberate about where the money goes and keeping cash available when something breaks. ✅ Know what your business actually costs to run. Steven admits he doesn't know all of his hourly and daily operating numbers yet, which leads to a practical discussion about why a profitable-looking company can still have services that are losing money. ✅ Leave room in the schedule for things to go wrong. Instead of booking five production days solid, Ryan breaks down why a four-day workweek can leave room for weather, breakdowns, estimates, maintenance, AR/AP, and jobs that run long. ✅ Your content can sell before you ever answer the phone. One of Steven's customers watched his work online for roughly a month before calling. By the time they talked, much of the trust was already built. Why It Matters: If you're a small contractor trying to grow your skid steer, dirt work, drainage, or land clearing business without rebuilding the same headaches you just escaped, Steven's second shot at business is worth paying attention to. Links: ➡️ Connect with Steven on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steven.swift.1213 ➡️ Get Ryan’s book “Outta The Weeds” on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0bbSNq2i ➡️ Shop Attachments — Skid Steer Nation: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://skidsteernation.com/ ➡️ Create estimates, track jobs, and stay organized with Tulboxx: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ➡️ Grow your business — Throttled Up Marketing: ⁠⁠https://throttledupmarketing.com/