Innovation with Steve DiGiovanni

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it. Hey there, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs, brought to you by Action Coach Growth Partners. I'm your host, Bill Gilliland, and in this podcast, you'll find three things.

0:46You're going to hear real stories from real entrepreneurs that will help you along your entrepreneurial journey. You're also going to get business tips to help you scale up faster, and you're going to get actual coaching to help you get better real world results to be the best entrepreneur you can be. Hey, and if you like the podcast, remember to subscribe. And now, enjoy the show. Hello, my name is Steve DiGiovanni, owner of DG Draft and Design. We help homeowners and contractors achieve construction success through design and strategic planning. So before we get into what all that is, Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into this in the first place.

1:31Right on. Yeah, so the way I got into this initially, you know, growing up, I've always been kind of in the remodeling world. My mom, she would always buy the, you know, the house that was the fixer upper kind of deal. And so we were the grunt workers as kids, me and my two sisters. and we would just, you know, we were always doing the demo and doing some tile work even and whatever she could get us upon us to kind of do. But she really liked the design part of things. And so construction and remodeling specifically has always been in my blood. So fast forward about 10 years ago, I got into construction professionally to start to build a nest for my family.

2:16I wanted to learn construction. So I got into it and I wanted to see how a house was built. And I've always been interested and always had, you know, messed around on my own, but really wanted to get serious about it. So, you know, I learned from a lot of good mentors. You know, I started out as a carpenter and they kind of threw everything at me and I just would keep taking it and keep going. And they're like, wow, like you ever consider becoming a general contractor? And I was like, well, no. But so I had a lot of good people. I was surrounded by good people who pushed me and said, hey, you know, you should do this thing.

2:50And so I got into that, was doing that for a while. And when I was making, when I was, you know, a general contractor, I always created a plan for all my projects. And I quickly found how important it was and how it was, you know, absolutely detrimental to every project. And I was learning that a lot of general contractors didn't do that. And it just completely surprised me. And so, you know, during the pandemic, I had a large renovation project going on and homeowners were fantastic and they really valued our, you know, not only craftsmanship, but, you know, our plans and such and how we kind of carried the project.

3:27and so yeah that that's when I made a pivot this kind of a pandemic baby if you will the business where I was like all right well let's you know I really want to help contribute to the construction industry as as a nation like how can we make these construction projects more successful and and kind of be a part of that process. So what exactly are you doing now if you're not actually doing the construction? Sure. So, you know, one of my mentors came from commercial background of construction. And commercial world and that kind of construction, you know, it's required to have pre-construction services.

4:07In the residential world, you say pre-construction services and people are like, what? Yeah, it's like, it's not even a thing. It's not required. People don't talk about it. If they do, we don't call it pre-construction services, which is fine. So what we do now is, you know, we're trying to bring those kind of attributes into the residential world to, you know, create more success in residential home renovation, you know, specifically in that niche. A lot of times if you do have a plan, it's going to be for new construction. A lot of architects, they'll do remodels, renovations and stuff like that.

4:46But it is definitely a void that needs help. So you're bringing professionalism into the, is it mostly remodeling? Yeah, so we do. We specialize in remodeling additions and accessory dwelling units, of course, is a real popular one now as well. So what's that? What's an accessory dwelling unit? Is it like a tiny home? Yeah, good question. Yeah, a lot of people know it as a tiny home. They say, I want a tiny home. And the city looks at it as an accessory dwelling unit, really. So, okay, I got it. So, it's sort of some sort of change or addition to an existing property. There's not really necessarily a solid set of drawings or a solid plan on how to do that.

5:30And so what you're doing is bringing that piece of the stuff really you learned in commercial renovations over into residential. Well, yeah. And thanks for clarifying that because, yeah, you know, you physically get a plan. You know, we run a pretty, I would say, conventional process. We are in no way an architect. We would never call ourselves an architect. we think architects are amazing and we value how much time it takes to become an architect.

6:04However, you know, we go through the similar process as far as schematic design, design development, all these things and walk you through. So you get a physical plan that's permit ready and a construction set and a pricing set for those builders. But you're also part of what you're getting. Yes, is that experience of understanding, planning and what it takes to plan a project and what to expect during your construction journey that's ahead of you. Yeah, in business we always say that the plan is great but really what's important is the planning and so that seems like it's it applies here. It seems like we the plan's important and it's nice to have a plan but we all know that it doesn't really matter what plan you have there's going to be changes so the actual thought processes ahead of time.

6:51So does that, does that transfer? Absolutely. And, um, what we do with Action Coach is congruent. Yeah, absolutely. With, um, these projects and that was something, uh, a potential client brought up yesterday. Um, exactly that, um, as far as, um, you know, what does it look like, you know, when we're planning with you. And, and, and I said, well, you know, we're creating space for you to have a moment. We walk through this and really try to help you walk through it mentally via, you know, design, drawing, strategic, you know, planning to prepare you for that journey, which is true with any, you know, personal goals, business goals, anything that you want to get serious about.

7:38So, yeah, it takes planning. It takes creating space. Cool. So you've had years of experience in the building industry and now in this business. What are some of your biggest wins that you've had along the way? Wow. Yeah, that's a really good question. um some of our biggest wins i would say um you know is is really again i mean i'm gonna keep coming back to this but i really believe it i mean uh contributing to um uh to success in these projects i mean i really that's one of the biggest things and and also you know the the more that we're growing the more that you know because it used to be me for a long time um and now you know we're bringing on team members.

8:28Now we've got a total of three team members. We've got two project designers and a field capture specialist. And working with them and getting different perspectives on each project has been very fulfilling as well. You know, we have a really great relationship with our team, which helps us create better relationships with our clients and also helps has created better relationships for the construction industry as a whole. And so I would say that's some of our biggest wins that we're really excited about. Yeah, I really like that you're about the construction industry and that, you know, sort of bettering and improving the construction industry.

9:13I think the professionalism there is, you know, there's very professional people in that industry and then there's also So some that aren't so professional. And so I think raising the bar for the whole industry is big. I love the contribution and the relationship factor as well. Well, you know, with wins, there's also challenges and learning. So what are some of your biggest learnings along the way? Oh, man. Building businesses. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think biggest challenges is there's many of them, of course. Right. And I would say, you know, it's self-limiting beliefs is probably the biggest thing.

9:52You know, you're talking about business, you're talking about taking on a large project even, or, you know, whatever it is, or, you know, goals you have personally. You know, it's a self-limiting belief and also construction industry as a whole. As a client perspective, there's almost this self-limiting belief for the construction industry to kind of speak to what you're talking about with professionalism and such. You know, used to be a plumber and still kind of is a plumber comes on stage on a TV show and, you know, you're the crowd laughs typically. You know, so the biggest challenge is, yeah, being the self-limited belief and, you know, such a large industry.

10:35And, you know, we're tiny. You know, I don't have all the answers. I don't know everything. I don't know. You know, I'm a person. I'm a human. So, you know, there's a, we're trying, what we're trying to do is way bigger than us. And we hope that we would just make a tiny, tiny dent, you know, is the intention. Yeah. Well, it all starts with the impact you can make. There's the, I always say that there's the, you know, there's the area of control. That's the things you can actually do something about. And then there's another circle outside of that called the area of concern. There's a bunch of stuff that you might be concerned about, but you can't do anything about.

11:10That's right. You can't directly impact. You can impact it, but it's indirect. So it's the direct stuff. So I think focusing on the area of concern is a big deal. Well, the name of our show is Epic Entrepreneurs. So, you know, Epic is an acronym. I've actually, this is cool. This is brand new. First time anybody's hearing this. Is I came up with the acronym for B. so I now have B EPIC. So the acronym for B is bring energy, because I think we've got to bring energy to what we do in industry. And I will unpack that later, but let's get to the EPIC. So just to just, well, let's just go through sort of quick answers.

11:57What do you believe the impact of or the importance of education, ease education? Massive. You know, I was taught a long time ago education is awareness. We want to bring education. We want people to be able to digest it in a way that's good for them, that gives them an opportunity to learn. So it's massive. And I say that about the construction industry. We need more awareness of the process itself. And that's what creates a successful project. Yeah, I think, you know, I think one of the challenges for most in the residential side is most homeowners might do one, two, if they do a lot, it'd be three.

12:43I mean, it wouldn't, they're not doing 10, 12 renovations. I mean, the professional people or the investors might, but most average people that we're going to do business, so they just don't know. So I love the fact that education, because I think that's part of what have to do. We have to educate them about what this process actually looks like. Like a lot of people don't even think about the fact that if you're going to renovate your kitchen and and a couple of bathrooms, you might have to leave your house. That's right. And in fact, it would be better if you did because it would, that's right.

13:17It would be that, that, that, so they don't get that, you know, so that the, that the contractor could actually be in there. So I think, you know, filling that gap is cool. All right. So I think this will go without saying with you, but the P is planning. What's the importance of planning in business and in life? How'd you like to learn from the best? How'd you like to network with the best? How'd you like to be the best? Well, the key to being the best is to hang around with the best and to learn from the best. And we're going to make that possible for you this August in Asheville at the Asheville Business Summit.

13:56I want you to stay tuned. We're bringing in speakers from outside. We've got a lot of good events planned. It's going to be amazing. We got more information coming, but if you'd like more info on how you can be involved, how you can attend, or how you can be a sponsor for this event, it's going to be over 350 entrepreneurs in one place right here in Western North Carolina in Asheville. For more InfoMo or to be a sponsor, I want you to reach out directly to Beth Limmel. That's L-E-M-M-E-L at ActionCoach.com. That's Beth Limmel at ActionCoach.com. We look forward to seeing you there. It's going to be amazing.

14:36Yeah, what's the important part of that? Yeah. Again, we need to create space for ourselves, for our goals, whether that be personal, business, especially family. You know, we really, you know, planning is creating time to sit and look at the future and create a vision and have a, you know, create a flight path. Because, you know, you're going to get pulled all every direction. Like you said, a plan doesn't always go how you think it is, but at least we are, you know, preparing for the journey ahead. I love that. And I think that's where people mess up with this. They don't take the time to create the thinking time, really, to envision what that flight path might look like for them, for their business, for their family.

15:33How many people actually have a plan for their family? Not many. That's right. You know, how many people actually have a plan for their business? I mean, a lot of people don't even have a plan for the renovation. So I think I think it's awesome. I think it carries over. I mean, being planful is very important. All right. What about the importance of finding inspiration? Maybe a better question would be where do you find inspiration? Wow. Yeah. Good question, Bill. Yeah. Where do I find inspiration? I mean, through family, for sure. um yeah inspiration's a you know emotionally it quickly grabs me right um and the trick is there is you know do i whether you get wrapped up in the inspiration and then you just freeze or if you're using the inspiration so you know what inspires me is like when when i think of something greater than myself and i'm thinking about my family i think about the plans that we're making, you know, me doing the action that needs to happen at that moment and then seeing the results of it creates more of the inspiration.

16:46So it's one thing to be inspired. Watch them be like, I'm inspired. This feels good. But then it's another thing you have to go do the thing. Right. So it's like that could be a moment. You can create momentum that way. You know, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah. I mean, one of the things I mean, you know, you can listen to a motivational speech or go see something. but if you don't take any action, then you actually weren't motivated. It was just, all right, I felt better. And then move on. So I think the action piece of it, I actually believe inspiration comes from inside. I think we can, I think we, I think we tap into something inside.

17:19Other things can trigger that, but I don't, that, that's just my own view on it. So I love the fact that you say is now, I think you can, you know, to be inspired to go out and do something with, you know, for your family. Like you can get up in the morning and say, hey, you know, I want my kid to live indoors. Right. I mean, you know, there's some stuff like that, that, you know, there's some have to kind of things. But, you know, then I think it's a matter of how do you, how do you attack it? All right. The last one, the C is commitment. So how do you view commitment? What's your, what's your take on committing and commitment.

17:57Yeah. Commitment, that's huge. We need a lot of that in the construction industry. We need a lot of that from ourselves. We need commitment as we talk a lot about through our process, trust. That's with any relationship. And to develop trust, we need to be committed to our own kind of process, our own values to, you know, the result of commitment to me, I think equals to, you know, bigger things, you know, to trust, which then is a catalyst for something way larger. And it gets you in communities and environments that are beyond what you understand. The commitment is deep, and I could go on. Yeah, it does.

18:52It's a beautiful, it's a hard thing. It's hard, but it also is what builds trust. And one of the things lacking between, you know, I think education, planning, inspiration, and commitment all help build that trust with between, say, a homeowner and a, and you and a homeowner and a business or a homeowner and a contractor in the construction industry. So I think if those aren't in place, then you lose that trust and that's where things go sideways and that's the horror stories that actually almost everyone has heard in the world. Let me ask you, I'm going to shift gears here a little bit. And I mean, you've been a big part of community.

19:41What does community mean to you? I know that's a different C, But, I mean, you're about the relationships and building community. So tell us a little bit about that. Well, and I appreciate you bringing that up because as I'm answering these questions, that has come up. And I wanted to be able to say is that, you know, I go back to my family. I go back to my family. I go back to my family. And, you know, we're a new business. I'm a young guy. you know when I'm out in the community just as a person and you know I try to be aware and to be open to things that are happening or you know catch eye contact with folks or you know whatever it is but I really you know part of that inspiration for me is looking forward to be able to be more involved in the community I mean there's always opportunity to be more involved with the community in my plan for my family there's a lot of certain milestones i need to hit i feel like before i'm able to make a larger impact for the community in a sense um community is everything i mean it it really is and i and i look forward to our future so we can be more involved uh with uh with the community i mean communities are groups of people i mean in in our society communities i mean essentially families are an element of community so any being involved is it doesn't mean you have to you know give a lot of money or even give a lot of time but you know showing up is half the battle so i you know that's a good point yeah i love that i mean show up first and then figure out like where your lane is you know show up for a few you don't you can't show up for everything you're busy i mean kids kids they have gazillions of activities you know every you know people have jobs i mean most families have working parents i mean it's there's there's a lot of other commitments but you know showing up in those communities uh where you can be part of them is is uh is impactful so yeah i think it's good all right so um what's the i always ask this question What's one thing about life or about business that you wish you had known or that somebody had told you before you got down the path a little bit?

22:13What's something you wish you had known? Yeah. Of course, many things, right? Hindsight's always 20-20. But, I mean, the biggest thing is understanding, one, that you're not alone. I don't, it doesn't matter if you have a coach, if you have, you know, if you don't have anyone as far, you know, like if you're all solopreneur kind of guy or a person, you know, you always have support, you know, and also there's always someone that's always, that's done it before you as, you know, innovative. You might think that you are or want to be or whatever it is. there's always someone else that has already done it.

22:55And you have to be open to humility and, you know, let ego go. And, you know, and this whole, you know, it's self-limiting beliefs too. Like really understanding, you know, this journey of business is really a personal journey. You know, how can I develop as a better person to be able to show up or to be able to do this thing that's bigger than me, which in reality just brings me right back to my family and community. It's like, that's where I go back when I'm having a hard day or something, whatever. I go back to my family and show up for them in a way that's that's better. and and from that then i'm better in my business because whatever i do to be better as a family man as a as a dad is a direct result how i can be better um with my business i love that i love that you know i one of my i mean when people ask me that i always say you can't do this stuff by yourself so it's sort of the same thing you're not alone i mean we're the the challenge is in in our society, in our school systems, I'm not knocking, I'm not, you know, the school systems can do some things better.

24:13In general, they're pretty good. Sure. In America. And, you know, the, I know they get knocked pretty hard sometimes, but in general, they're pretty good based on what their mission is. But we're taught to do things by ourselves. And, you know, when you get in life and when you get out of school and you get in business, I mean, it really is a team sport. and you know other than athletics maybe shop maybe band some things like that um chemistry lab in school they're not a lot of it's not really set up to be teams you're supposed to do your own work you're not you know you don't work in team you know it's an interesting conundrum and the way that life works is different you can't do this stuff by yourself so i love the fact that you're so we're taught to do it ourselves so what that means is we don't always ask for help that's it fast enough we don't ask for help we eventually ask for help if we get in a big enough situation but we don't ask or early enough you know we don't get into it early enough at least that was my that was my history so steve this has been fantastic any last thoughts um i mean you know just yeah that really rang pretty hard for me what you just said and and and yeah you're you're never alone and and you can do it and a lot of times we're like scared to ask for help because we don't feel like we're good enough or whatever it is but and you know this kind of a you know shameless plug for you bill but you know that's what's really nice about your um about Action Coach our monthly meetings.

25:54You know, it's an opportunity, like, I remember the first time I came, I mean, I was shaking, I mean, completely for the first few that I came for. I was just shaking because I felt like, like, what am I doing here? Because you have all kinds of different people in different industries making anywhere, you know, 30 million plus in revenue to, you know, little tiny people like myself at the time. And, and, but I've never, but as I kept showing up, you know, I, I gained more confidence and, and, um, in myself and to be there. And, and, and I'm learning still like those folks that you look up to in business or in life, whatever it is, they were in the same place that you were.

26:38And you have to allow yourself to be okay with, you know, with all of it. It's okay. You really don't look like a fool and more than you think. you know what I mean so anyway just like get involved in a group action coach is a good one uh I love it I'm I mean you know I'm drinking the kool-aid it's delicious but I mean really and truly um you know yeah just get out there and and and show up for yourself yeah yeah and the other thing that I would add to that is most of those people that have been down the path are happy to share oh my gosh they're so inviting and like yeah they want to yeah they're excited for you yeah they want to help they want they know how hard it is they know the exactly the ups and downs of being in business and being an entrepreneur and they understand that you can't do this stuff by yourself and so they i'm it's very rare when you find someone who doesn't want to take the time to help someone who's on the same thing they are, even if they're way behind them.

27:45So yeah, that's been my experience. Well, this has been awesome. Thanks for being on. This is fun. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate you. And until next time, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach.

28:21It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email. Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best. Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. Here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part.

29:07It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. It's free for you at giftfrombill.com. That's giftfrombill.com. Hey, and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business, send me an email directly. Just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com. That's my personal email that I read. No one else reads it first. It's not screened. It's my real email.

29:56Just send it to me. I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.