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Listening Time 31 Minutes

How to Work with Family (Navigating Conflicts & Boundaries)

With Christine Hodge and Zack Jurkowski

Episode Overview

In this episode of Masters of Home Service, host Adam Sylvester talks about how to work with family in business with Zack Jurkowski (Montreal Contractors) and Christine Hodge (Clearview Washing).

Show Notes

– How family plays a part in Zack and Christine’s businesses (01:19)

– Identify your role and responsibilities—and stay in your lane (02:11)

– Create boundaries between your personal and professional lives (03:37)

– How to avoid “I’m working harder than everybody else” (06:21)

– Make business decisions, not personal decisions (08:22)

– Jobber gives your team the routing, scheduling, and job details they need in the field (10:02)

– How to handle family conflict in business (10:46)

– Family meetings for conflict management and employee stability (15:17)

– The benefits of being in business with family (17:27)

– How to navigate being a couple in business (20:24)

– Keep personal and business finances separate (22:12)

– How to pay family members fairly for their work (24:25)

– Christine and Zack’s advice for getting into business with your family (26:27)

– TL;DR: Adam’s top takeaways: clear communication, clear roles, clear numbers (29:26)

About the speakers

HOST

Adam Sylvester

CHARLOTTESVILLE GUTTER PROS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE LAWN CARE

Instagram: @adamsylvester

Adam started Charlottesville Lawn Care in 2013 and Charlottesville Gutter Pros in the fall of 2020, in Charlottesville, VA. He likes to say, “I do gutters and grass! When it rains the grass grows and the gutters leak!” He got into owning his own business because he saw it as a huge opportunity to generate great income while living a life that suited him. He believes that large companies can make a serious impact on their communities and on every individual it touches, and he wanted to build a company that could make a big difference. His sweet spot talent is sales and marketing with a strong passion for building a place his team wants to work. Adam values his employees and loves leading people. While operations and efficiency is not something that comes naturally to him, he is constantly working to improve himself and his business in these areas. 

Guest

Christine Hodge

Clearview Washing, LLC

Christine Hodge, Clearview Washing, LLC
Instagram: @clearviewwashing
Instagram: @christineshodge
YouTube: Clearview Washing, LLC
Youtube: The Process CEO

Since becoming the CEO of Clearview Washing, LLC—a commercial and residential exterior cleaning company in Freehold, NJ—five years ago, Christine Hodge has put the company on an aggressive growth trajectory, almost doubling the staff and increasing revenue by 200%. Christine is a tech-savvy systems integrator and excels at instilling a corporate culture of excellence and accountability. Entrepreneurship runs in her family and she successfully built and sold her first business by the age of 30. Her leadership at Clearview has seen the employee retention rate rise to nearly 100%, and she prides herself on building a company culture that’s the best of the best, with a strong team that represents the brand well. The company also focuses on commercial work and luxury clients, with a residential ticket average of $1,500.

Guest

Zack Jurkowski

MTL Contractors

Instagram: @mtlcontractors
TikTok: @mtlcontractors
Facebook: @mtlcontractors

Zack Jurkowski opened MTL Contractors in Montreal, Quebec with his brother in 2018. They specialize in turnkey designer kitchens and bathrooms.  As third generation builders, construction runs in their blood, and they decided to continue the family tradition and focus on the two most important (yet most often poorly renovated) rooms of the home. They believe it is important to share the knowledge and experience they’ve gained to help others in the home service industry. They’ve built a strong online community by delivering real, usable advice about being a contractor to help those new to the field and veterans alike. 

About Masters of Home Service

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