The Fab Lab

Please consider donating to Rancho Santa Marta!

Your donation will fund the work at this amazing orphanage in Baja Mexico.  RSM was the first special needs orphanage in the region and they care for orphans with mental, emotional, and physical disabilities.

Donate here: (use "Living Water Spanish" at the red asterisk * to specify our group)

https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=Fi1giPL8kwX_Oe1AO50jRkSUl-D8HjiWYB0TYT1fM7XHO3iVYxvvxhHjRfLOeq662EvVVAEjqawDomKT1pbouf0ig1gVzE220h8IPbj4YeY%3D

Check out Rancho Santa Marta:

https://www.ranchosantamarta.org/

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting this great organization!

Aaron - Happy Fabricating!

This may sound crazy, but starting a side hustle can contribute massively to making life easier in your stone shop...I know, I know, that does sound crazy, but it may not be as crazy as you think, especially once you've listened to this episode.  

In this episode, I share the story of how I started 3 side hustles...and none of them were on purpose.

Then I share 2 extremely important thoughts on this for your consideration.

Also for your consideration, consider supporting the Fab Lab Podcast by buying a No Lift Install System!

www.noliftsystem.com

Make sure you tune in next week, its going to be awesome, until then, Happy Fabricating!

Aaron

In this episode, I share an idea I was exploring prior to selling my stone shop...Its unconventional, its out of the box, its a "blue ocean strategy" if you will.

I dont suggest you should consider implementing this idea in your own stone business.

What I am suggesting is that you should be thinking outside the box!  You should be open minded to doing the unconventional in the interest of make your life easier and the work in your stone shop...less hard!

Enjoy and Happy Fabricating!

In the last episode, I detail a list of the ways the counter fabrication business is just plain hard. 

In this episode, I share the 3 most important tactics for positioning your stone shop to overcome those challenges and succeed in spite of them.

1. Do more direct to consumer work

2. Develop standards, process, and your daily operations meeting

3. Strategic relationships with suppliers, built on trust

If you'd like to download the first 3 chapters of my book, Less Chaos More Cash, just visit here:  https://aaroncrowley.com/

Happy Fabricating!

Running a stone shop is HARD!!!

On its best day, its more difficult than just about any business you could run.

As such, you deserve MASSIVE credit and honor for succeeding!

In this episode, I rant and rave a little bit, I even vent some frustration at the inherent flaws in our industry that create a very difficult environment to run a legitimate and successful business in.

Lack of Standards, low barriers to entry, compound custom manufacturing, Supplier - Retailer collusion, are just a few of the unique challenges that legit fabricators face every day.

These challenges require that we rely on PROcesses and innovation and hard work to overcome them.

Congrats on finishing 2022 so strongly, here's to an even better 2022!

Happy New Year and Happy Fabricating!

Gift cards, hams, and Christmas bonuses are GREAT ways to show your love your employees and share the fruits of their labor.

But there are 5 other gifts that are worth their weight in gold, and it doesn't cost you a cent to give them to your staff this Christmas!

1. Appreciation

2. Trust

3. Side Work

4. Vision/Mission/Values

5. Healthy and Safe Work Environment

Give them these gifts and they will know you care!

And I want you to know that I care about you fellow fabricator!

Merry Christmas and Happy Fabricating!

Aaron

 

If you're doing work for builders or remodelers, you're waiting to get paid.  The longer you wait the bigger risk you take, especially if your customer experiences a decline in sales and revenue.

The fabricators that follow these tips wil get paid and get through an economic storm.

Those that don't may not have the cash to weather the storm.

1. Visibility - Aging Accounts Receivables Reports

2. Terms - When do you get paid and what will do if the check doesn't arrive on time

3. Leverage - You have leverage if your customer is sending you work.  Use it to get paid.

You work hard fellow fabricator, too hard to let someone fail to pay you!

make sure you visit no lift system!

Happy Fabricating!

Aaron Crowley

Better to have a plan and not need it than to be caught unprepared!  The simple principles in this episode will serve you well if an economic storm hits your business.  They will serve you well if a storm doesn't hit your business.

1. Know your #'s - what numbers should you know?

2. Cost Cutting Plan - "If...Then..."

3. Debt Plan - Keeping Reserves

Enjoy and Happy Fabricating!

Times have been good in recent years, but will they continue?  Hopefully.  But if they dont, and the economic weather gets stormy, the companies that have prepared will be fine.

Those that aren't prepared will make many mistakes like I did in the Great Recession, and some wont survive.

In this episode, I share the 3 biggest mistakes I made so you can avoid them:

1. Not knowing the #'s

2. Hoping instead of cost cutting

3. Too much debt

I've never been shy about my many mistakes in running a stone shop, you wont be disappointed in this episode.

Happy Fabricating! 

We have much to be thankful for, but sometimes bad news and our perceptions can cloud reality to the point we really miss out…and forget how much we have to be thankful for.

In this episode, we explore the POWER of gratitude and the positive effects it WILL have for those who practice it.

We discuss the following:

1. The Chemical Reality of Gratitude
2. Positive Effects of Gratitude
3. Discipline of Gratitude

I hope this finds you well, taking time with loved ones this Thanksgiving weekend.  If you have some spare time and want to read the source articles I mention in the episode, enjoy!

workplace

https://www.whartonhealthcare.org/discovering_the_health

chemical reality

https://www.whartonhealthcare.org/the_neuroscience_of_gratitude

gratitude study

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain

 

If you’d like to reach out, visit aaroncrowley.com

Or just email me:  aaron@aaroncrowley.com

Happy Fabricating & Happy Thanksgiving!