Week 12: To be effective in business, you must speak many languages

Spanish and English aren't the only languages you have to speak

Communication is critical; therefore, knowing the jargon people use in different areas of your business is essential.

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This edition has the following sections:

Learning: High Output Management

Adding Value: To be effective in business, you must speak many languages

Florida Markets: Florida/National Markets

Interesting things: Tweets

Enjoy!

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Learning:

High Output Management

Since we are talking about communication today, this book was adequate. The former CEO of Intel shares this gem of a book with us to elaborate on different ideas that made him successful during his time running one of the largest corporations on Earth. The book covers topics such as:

1. Management

2. Decisions

3. Planning

4. Modes of Control

5. Training and Motivation

6. Performance Reviewing

7. Hiring and Retaining

8. Planning and Delegating

   Check it out if you haven’t already!

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Adding Value: To be effective in business, you must speak many languages.

I was born in Venezuela, so Spanish was my primary language. Given that fact, it is pretty ironic that I now live in the United States, where English has become my most robust language, and I’m running a construction company that employs mainly non-English speaking Hispanics. I spend most of my days speaking Spanish. But traditional languages are not what I want to talk about today. I want to focus on the different languages we must speak to our colleagues in order to communicate effectively.

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Blue Collar Language:

The first language I have to speak daily pertains to our blue-collar workers. This includes the following people

• Contractors

• Superintendents

• Laborers

Speaking about construction specifics and project timelines is essential when communicating with these groups. I often use construction-specific jargon such as:

• Change Order: Adjustments to the contract's terms.

• Material Terms: Different construction materials such as cement, sheetrock, caulking, framing, etc

• General Contractor: The primary individual or company responsible for the work.

• Punch List: Items that need completion at the project's end.

• Scope of Work: Describes the project's tasks, milestones, and deliverables to ensure all parties have a clear understanding of the work involved.

• Construction Plans: Detailed drawings and specifications outlining the design, dimensions, and materials for the project.

• Inspections: Regular checks conducted by authorized officials to ensure the project complies with building codes, standards, and specifications.

• Job Activities: Tasks or operations performed on-site during the construction process, including labor, material handling, and equipment usage.

• Permits: Official documents obtained from local authorities granting permission to carry out construction activities, ensuring compliance with regulations.

• Utilities: Essential services such as water, electricity, gas, and sewer connections must be considered and integrated into the construction project.

One of the things that I’ve had to learn with this group is the simplification of offsite processes. Blue-collar workers are brilliant and hard-working people. They can tell you all the components of a home's plumbing, electrical, or framing system. However, it quickly becomes more complicated when it comes to technology, logging information, creating written reports, or taking good pictures of the project. The most effective actions we’ve taken to combat this is below.

Create systems that make these processes mindless.

We want to make these processes easy for them. Having a step-by-step laid-out system creates an easy way for them to follow. And follow they will, since it will make their lives easier. A good example is our reporting system, where they have an easy 3-step process for a good report.

1. Conduct usual inspection at the job site

2. Write a brief report on the inspection findings and take pictures of any progress of the home

3. Copy the report to ChatGPT with our prewritten prompt to produce a more elaborate and organized report

4. Paste the new report and the photos on our reporting software

5. Create a To-Do on our software for the next steps so our project managers can schedule them.

Conducting consistent training sessions on how to handle these processes.

We meet with this group every week to train them on our systems. We also discuss their difficulties with our processes and devise ways to improve them.

What I like to remember about this group is the term KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid. We don’t want to confuse them with complex terms or processes. Say what you mean and let them go to work.

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Investors:

An investor’s language revolves around a few things: Returns, Duration, and Safety.

Returns

How much money will they make from this investment? They want clear communication of what amount of money they will receive at the end of the deal. Some important terms to know for communicating returns are:

• Return on Investment (ROI): The percentage profit from the investment.

• Cash Flow: The net monthly income after expenses.

• Capital Gains: The profit from selling the property at a higher price than purchase.

• Net Operating Income (NOI): The income from property operations is minus expenses but does not include capital expenditures.

• Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate): The Net Operating Income divided by the property value, indicating the yield.

Duration

How long is the investment for? When will they receive their money back? When will they receive their investment income? These are all critical questions that the investor will have. The jargon for these questions may include: