What's New!

Being profitable is more than figuring out your job costs and calculating your rates. In this article, we'll talk about how much you spend on expenses that aren’t job-related and how to price your jobs to make sure you’re covering those costs.

In this series, we’re covering the basics of creating profitable estimates. In our first two posts, we walked through figuring out your costs and calculating your rates.

Running a business comes with tons of paperwork. Storing files, piles of receipts, and stacks of forms clutters your office and your life. We'll give you some easy tricks to reduce the amount of paper you use and get organized.

Running a business comes with tons of paperwork. Storing files, piles of receipts, and stacks of forms clutters your office and your life.

In this article, we’ll walk through the best way to calculate labor and material production rates. Knowing these rates will give you a solid baseline for future estimates.

In this series, we’re covering the basics of creating profitable estimates. In our first post, we discussed figuring out costs and profits and calculating effective hourly wage.

There are many ways to create an estimate, but if you want to ensure that your jobs are profitable it comes down to figuring out your job costs and adding a margin that covers your overhead and allows you to make a profit. In this series, we’ll go over the basics of creating profitable estimates, starting with figuring out your current costs and profits.

There are many ways to create an estimate, but if you want to ensure that your jobs are profitable it comes down to figuring out your job costs and adding a margin that covers your overhead and allows you to make a profit. In this series we’ll go over the basics of creating profitable estimates, starting with figuring out your current costs and profits.

Recently, I talked with Kristen Ford-Hernandez about her business, Premiere Pros Painting & Carpentry - a home improvement company that specializes in cabinet refinishing, painting, refacing, interior painting, and fine finish carpentry.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with some Estimate Rocket users about their businesses. It was a wonderful chance to get to know our customers and learn about how they got to where they are today. In this series, we’ll share stories about what they did before, how they got started, and their experiences along the way.

Still not sure about accepting credit cards? Check out these 3 reasons it's good for business, and an easy way to cover the cost.

It makes it easy for your customers to pay you. Most of your customers probably don’t keep large amounts of cash on them, and some clients may even put off portions of or entire jobs because they don’t have the cash or money in their bank account to cover it at that moment.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with some Estimate Rocket users about their businesses. This time I talked with Torlando Hakes about his business, Color Theory - a residential painting company in Indiana that focuses mainly on color consultation, interior, and exterior repainting.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with some Estimate Rocket users about their businesses. It was a wonderful chance to get to know our customers and learn about how they got to where they are today. In this series, we’ll share stories about what they did before, how they got started, and their experiences along the way.

Having a call go unanswered can stop a customer in their tracks. They may not want to call back. Worst case scenario, they’ll find your competitor and get the service they need there. In this guest blog, Paul DelFino explains how some Estimate Rocket customers are preventing this.

By Paul DelFino, Opportunity Inc.

This time I talked with Lisa Moon, owner of Paper Moon Painting - a residential painting company in Texas that also specializes in wallpapering, specialty finishes, cabinetry, and exteriors.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with some Estimate Rocket users about their businesses. It was a wonderful chance to get to know our customers and learn about how they got to where they are today. In this series, we’ll share stories about what they did before, how they got started, and their experiences along the way.

I recently interviewed several of our Estimate Rocket customers about their experience with business coaches and was pleasantly surprised with what I learned.

I’ve owned businesses for 30 years and have worked with a coach for most of that time. I was lucky early on to have a friend mention that a business coach or consultant could help me with answers to questions that I had no one else to ask.

The problem with using so many different apps is that it can be tedious to move information from one app to another. What if apps could send information back and forth, simplifying our lives even more?

We’re always looking for ways to make our lives easier. Apps like Wunderlist and Todoist help us keep track of our to-dos, metered parking apps help us reserve a parking spot in advance, flight trackers help us keep tabs on our travel plans, and password managers like LastPass keep us secure by allowing us to have a different password for every site we visit.

No matter where you operate, you’ll have dips in business throughout the year. Take advantage of the extra time to analyze how your business performed in the past and set yourself up for success in the future.

No matter where you operate, you’ll have dips in business throughout the year. Take advantage of the extra time to analyze how your business performed in the past and set yourself up for success in the future. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for your favorite contractor, look no further! We’ve gathered some of the best gadgets to make their lives easier and get more done on-the-go.

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for your favorite contractor, look no further! We’ve gathered some of the best gadgets to make their lives easier and help them get more done on-the-go.

Whether you want to eat healthier, start exercising, or learn something new, there are tons of resources out there to help you. We've put together a list of some of our favorite self-improvement apps to give you some ideas and help you achieve your goals.

Whether you want to eat healthier, start exercising, or learn something new, there are tons of resources out there to help you. Because of the amount of information available, it can be overwhelming just to get started. We've put together a list of some of our favorite self-improvement apps to give you some ideas and help you achieve your goals.

So many businesses these days offer sub-par service. Having exceptional service not only helps you stand out but (more importantly) increases trust, customer loyalty, and the likelihood that customers will recommend you or your service. Here are 7 tips to stand out by having amazing customer service.

Customers aren't just an important part of business, they're the most important part. Without them, businesses fail. Obviously, offering a good product or service is important, but that's the easy part. Standing out from the crowd is where things get difficult.

In our ongoing series of Quotes to Live & Work By, we've included a few passages we hope will inspire you to see life a little differently, show you new options for getting out of a rut, and give you a few new tools to use in your daily life.

There are times in life when it's helpful to see the world with fresh eyes, and reading the words of others can help us catch of glimpse of the world from another perspective. In our ongoing series of Quotes to Live & Work By, we've included a few passages we hope will inspire you to see life a little differently, show you new options for getting out of a rut, and give you a few new tools to use in your daily life.

There are so many productivity apps out there that claim to do everything. The trick is in finding the ones that work best for you

People are always looking for convenient ways to bring technology into their lives to keep themselves organized, stay connected with friends, family, and co-workers, and help accomplish their goals. There are so many productivity apps out there that claim to do everything. The trick is in finding the ones that work best for you.

Running a business is tough. Storing files, piles of receipts, and stacks of forms ensure your office and life are completely cluttered. Here are some easy ways to make sure your life is organized and headache-free.

Running a business is tough. Storing files, piles of receipts, and stacks of forms ensure your office and life are completely cluttered. Add to that making sure customers are happy and your business is being profitable, and even an organized business owner will have a headache.

We have released the biggest update yet along with with powerful new features and numerous optimizations and improvements. One of the most highly requested features was the ability to use the calendar for scheduling non-job related tasks and spanning those tasks over multiple days...

The Estimate Rocket + A Call Center = Ultimate Sales Capacity

Every day people fall victim to attackers that steal their personal data right out from under them. We have put together a short list of very easy tips you can employ that will drastically increase your odds of thwarting these attacks.

Every day people fall victim to attackers that steal their personal data right out from under them. Passwords, emails addresses, phone numbers, bank accounts, credit cards, and more can all be compromised in the blink of an eye. Over the years these individuals have become increasingly sophisticated to the point where it is almost impossible to tell the difference between imposters and the legitimate companies they are impersonating. We have put together a short list of very easy tips you can employ that will drastically increase your odds of thwarting these attacks.

We have released the biggest update yet along with with powerful new features and numerous optimizations and improvements. One of the most highly requested features was the ability to use the calendar for scheduling non-job related tasks and spanning those tasks over multiple days...

New Features

After you send out an estimate, how often do you follow up with your prospect? Weekly? Once? Never? If you don’t stay on top of your prospects they may just forgot about you, or go with one of your competitors that has been keeping up with them. Many sales take a lot more than one follow up to close the deal, and not performing these follow ups means the time you spent creating and delivering the estimate was wasted.

A Common Problem

Did we make a mistake? Should we have named “Estimate Rocket” the “Cash Flow App”? To small and large business – Cash Is King! Any book, consultant or webinar will reinforce that message. The best way to learn/confirm the axiom is to have run a small business and need to meet a payroll! Recently feedback from customers about the effect of using the “Estimate Rocket” app has been...

Did we make a mistake?