Benson Agbortogo is the Founder and CEO of Consistent Profit Tree, where he helps service companies eliminate distractions and increase profits, all while working fewer hours. Hailing from West Africa, Benson has found his calling by combining his passion for helping businesses grow with the Biblical principles rooted deeply in his faith. The Consistent Profit Tree System that Benson has developed will put an end to roller coaster income by streamlining the systems that drive profits consistently.

Connect with Benson on LinkedIn and visit consistentprofittree.com/ebook to download a free PDF copy of his book, The Business System That Never Fails.

Episodes are sponsored and produced by Isaiah industries, a manufacturer of specialty metal roofing systems and other building materials. Learn more at isaiahindustries.com

Benson Agbortogo:

People try to get into so many things instead of focusing on a few things they are really good at. I'm sure you've seen the analogy of the magnifying glass and the rays of sun that if you put a piece of paper out there, it will really impact that piece of paper. But if you take a magnifying glass and you channel the power of the rays of the sun on that paper, it catches fire.

Seth Heckaman:

Welcome to the Construction Disruption podcast, where we uncover the future of building and remodeling. I'm Seth Heckaman of Isaiah Industries, manufacturer of specialty metal roofing and other building materials, and today my co-host is Todd Miller. Our goal here at Construction Disruption is to provide timely and forward-looking information regarding the construction world. We have great conversations spanning innovations, as well as trends and practices, building materials, labor market and leadership. Today's guest is Benson Agbortogo, founder of Consistent Profit Tree, where he helps service companies grow consistent profits while working fewer hours. Benson, welcome to Construction Disruption. Thank you so much for joining us.

Benson Agbortogo:

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.

Seth Heckaman:

Absolutely, looking forward to our time and conversation. So to start, I wanted to hear more about Consistent Profit Tree, the work that you do through your company and how you're helping your clients, and who are your clients that you're working with right now?

Benson Agbortogo:

Most of my clients right now, interestingly, which is I believe part of the reason why I'm on this show are in construction. You know, anything that has to do with housing. I have clients in who had real foundations and a foundation drilling, but commercial, residential. Some of them do utilities, you know, other big types that they can get out there. The stadiums that are built, those guys do the foundation in enough of anything from roofing, plumbing, and general service based businesses. You know, these are the people I work with and I came up with the consistent profit tree because over the years, as I've worked with clients, I have noticed a trend, a trend of fluctuation. Which is when people get profitable and then they don't generate any kind of profit and then they get profitable and they don't generate any kind of profit. So this roller coaster path is what I notice. And of course, I realized that that was part of human nature. You know, these companies they stop doing the good things they we're doing to generate profit once and by the profit. They became comfortable and they stopped doing the things they used to do. And then when you realize that they are in trouble, then they say, Oh, we used to do all of this marketing on a consistent basis. Now let's get back to it. So we come in now and say, Hey, if you want to leave, you cannot go on an oxygen vacation even for a day. You have to be breathing, in an ongoing basis, you know, so if you really want to be a good farmer, you shouldn't miss a season of sowing. Because they don't realize that when you miss a season of sowing, it's going to take a lot. It is going to take a longer period of time for you to catch up. So I had to bring that into the ad nauseum. The other reason why we, our company is called consistent profit tree, is I realize that many, many of the clients who came to us were trying to do so many things and they were confusing the client they wanted to serve. As I said, I'm asking them a simple question. Have you ever seen a tree with mangoes and guavas and apples, you know on the same tree? And they would say, no. So, why is your business trying to grow so many fruits? You are confusing people. We don't know what tree you are. You know, stick with one major fruit. So when people come to you, they can recognize you, but in fruit you are producing. The reason why we call it consistent proffit tree is, by nature, trees are universal and they don't respect economies. Trees don't say, Oh, the Democrats are in charge, we are not going to grow. Trees don't say, Oh, there's somebody in the White House we don't like, so we are not going to grow. Trees don't care. Trees. Don't say, you know, you are a bad person, so I'm not going to grow because you are a black person planting and cultivating me. They don't care about skin color. They don't care about if you are a man or a woman. They don't care if you plant them in Africa or London, in Asia or you plant them in America. They just grow. And God is so faithful that He keeps sending rain and He keeps sending sun so long as they plant those seeds, you know, the seeds will eventually grow and become trees and those trees eventually become, you know, orchards. So it help us to take away all the excuses we hear from people as to why their businesses are not growing consistently.

Seth Heckaman:

Love all of those aspects of the name you packed so much in there and so much that, you know, we see from our perspective of, you know, in our business and working with service companies in our business across the country where that consistency and you know, some seasons you have a little more urgency than others and what that up and down roller coaster does to to business health and just your psyche overall. But I love that fruit analogy on a single tree. I'm going to probably steal that. If it's okay, I'll credit you with it, but it's a good one.

Todd Miller:

I will be thinking about that the rest of the day.

Benson Agbortogo:

If Seth if I see you using it to much, you know don't be surprised, if I send you an invoice, a royalty you know?

Seth Heckaman:

That's alright, I'd welcome it.

Todd Miller:

He deserves it.

Seth Heckaman:

That all is fantastic. So, the principle of that resiliency and a disregard for your surroundings and environment and just keep keep growing regardless is wonderful too.

Todd Miller:

You know, to kind of back up a little bit on something you touched on, Benson, you know, we're coming out of a period of the last several years or last few years, certainly with that little bit of hiatus there during COVID shutdowns. But generally speaking, most people in the construction industry have been incredibly busy for the last couple of years or last 18 months. And, you know, then I start seeing this thing of guys buying big trucks and then bigger trucks and then more bigger trucks. And, you know, I do worry a lot of times that folks haven't prepared for those times when things are going to slow down and they've taken on a huge amount of debt. Is that something you end up talking to your clients some about, too, is watching those expenses?

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. As a as a matter of fact, part of our consultation with clients is making sure that they never buy something they are not qualified to own. So we do something we call management by percentages. So there's a capital there's a capital development account that is a percentage of the cash flow that comes in and you never exhausts more than 80% of that account. So if you are ever going to buy something or put a down payment on something that the money in that account is not sufficient, we typically say you are not old enough to own what you are trying to buy. And when they say, well, why don't you just take the money from the operating account and add it here and buy that stuff? And I said no, that would be stealing from the operating account, and before you know it, you will move from organic growth to inorganic growth because every tree grows organically. Trees don't grow inorganically. And when you try to grow trees inorganically, you end up producing fruits that are not healthy. So any business that is growing too much on debt is not growing organically. So that business is having some phantom success and it's just a matter of time is going to crumble.

Todd Miller:

Right. And you're also teaching good practices in terms of, you know, controlling that debt, controlling the expenses. So if an opportunity does come along down the road, that is really a solid opportunity and they want to take on bank debt and they have to do that in order to pursue that opportunity. They're going to look good. So they're going to be in a position where the banks going to say, okay, this is a company that has managed themselves well in the past, that has managed their expenses, has managed their debt, and that helps make them look more attractive to banks down the road as well.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. And when you when you have that discipline of, even if you have the opportunity to borrow, but you are cash wise. I'll give you an example, when the pandemic hit in 2020, then in 2021, lot of the construction business, especially foundations really, one of them was really, really big. I was surprised they went out of business like this. And what happened is they became lazy in the collection of their accounts receivables. So they kept going back to the investors that pump money into that business for them to keep running. And unfortunately, they made their customers, they are bankers without paying them any interest. So when the economy, when the pandemic hit, the investors refuse to put more money. And these guys went under immediately. But one of our clients, who had really built their reserve accounts was able to buy their assets so cheaply because he had that cash available. So that is part of the advantage of running a responsible business. You don't just take advantage when it comes to financing, but you also get advantage in buying things cash at a very, very reasonable rate because you have that money ready to expand.

Todd Miller:

Absolutely, good stuff.

Seth Heckaman:

So I would love to hear, Benson, more of your story up prior to starting Consistent Profit Tree story of what your life has looked like and then led you to learning these key, key principles that you're then bringing to your clients?

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. From my accent, you can tell I'm not a typical American. I was born and raised in Cameroon, which is in West Africa. And, you know, I arrive at the age of about 18. I was really fortunate, you know, to encounter God and you know, really give my life to Christ. So, you know, I talk about my faith openly because I'm not ashamed of it. And I really became passionate to introduce other people to the prize. So I went door to door, you know, talking to people because I really believe at that time that if people had met with God, their problems would be solved. So I was passionate in leading people to Christ right up to after high school, I decided to become a missionary pastor. So, I went to a neighboring country, Nigeria, and planted churches, you know. And I got to a point where I had about 32 pastors under my leadership. But something disturbing began to happen. Every time I had meetings with pastors, they kept complaining about lack of finances in a church I was pastoring at that time, too, I saw people struggling financially. I was struggling myself at the time financially. So one day I became so fed up and I said, God, how can a rich God, based on what I read in the Bible, have poor kids? Why are we always struggling with raising money and money and money and money? There's a disconnect here. And I had that small voice in me that said, Benson, you ought to solve this problem. I said, Yes, that's why I'm asking, I'm frustrated. And a small voice said if you want to solve this problem, you have to go back to school and study business. And immediately I said, get ye behind me, Satan. Because in Africa business is really mostly corruption. If you want to do business in Africa, you are going to be involved in bribery and corruption. And I was thinking to myself, what does a pastor have to do with corruption? So, but deep within me, I knew that small voice was the voice of God. So I said, you know God, if you really wanted me to go back to school and study business, I really want to go to the United States of America. And at that time I didn't even have a bank account, so people were laughing at me. So I had a professor who had been a part of one of the churches planted. So I sent him an email, I said, I believe God is leading me to go back to school and study business. What are the good schools in the United States that can teach me business with a biblical foundation. So he sent me two colleges, the King's College and Nyack College, both of them in New York. I look at the two applications and I say, you know what, I'm a king I'm going to the King's College in New York. So I applied to the King's College. That was the only college I applied. And, you know, fortunately I was accepted. And then God, just, made a way. And I moved into the United States in 2003, went to the King's College, great school, glad to have had a good education. And so I left things started a consulting company with a former business mentor who passed away in 2015 and after that first consulting company, which we ran for several years, I felt it was a good time to put my spiritual training and my business training together to really help people in the business world. So that is how Consistent Profit Tree was born. It was it was called Business and God before, but many people kept thinking it was a nonprofit. You know, I say, no, why do people always associate anything with God a nonprofit? So when I changed to Consistent Profit Tree, which also helps to really put a value on what we do for other people. So that's the Cliff Notes version of my story.

Todd Miller:

That's wonderful. And I was going to mention there's there are several Nigerian princes who owe me several million dollars at this point. I've I've gotten letters from them. So if you can help me make any of those connections, that would be awesome.

Benson Agbortogo:

Unfortunately, Todd, you know, I don't play in that world. In Africa we call them 419, which is your own version of scam.

Todd Miller:

Okay, very good.

Seth Heckaman:

So, that's fantastic. Thank you for sharing it. I loved that, you know, using bringing that spiritual and business together. And so I imagine that when you're working with your clients that can't, when that's such a inherent core part of you that that's got to bleed over in your conversations where it's it's both a spiritual and a business conversation. Then when you're working with folks, is that right?

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. And we work with folks who are not necessarily Christians at this point yet. I remember a Jewish woman was introduced to me and she said, you know, I'm not really a Christian. Are you going to work with me? And my question to her was, do you love people? You say, yes. I said, If you love people, we can work together because it's all about loving people and caring for them enough to help them to solve their problem. So when we work with our clients, love is really at the middle of it. And I used love to help many clients get out of their Mickey Mouse, excuse giving, of why they shouldn't go out there on a consistent basis and not market their product or services. So when I see clients who are tippy toeing about marketing their business, the question I usually say to them is, do you really believe in the service that you offer? And they will say yes. Then I say, if you believe in that service, you are a wicked person. And that really gets their attention. Benson, why are you calling me wicked. I said because you have a solution you believe in, and you have many people out there who are dying, who need your services, but you are not offering them the solution. You are like somebody who knows people have cancer and you have the cure. And you are not telling them about it. I say if you are ashamed to tell people about your services. Then you are wicked. You are not doing them a service. You are doing them a disservice by hiding your service from them. These people are going to have leaky roofs. They're going to have faulty foundations. You know, their plumbing is going to burst because you are not you're going to allow some some bad roofer to go serve them and before you know it, in one year or two years they are having a leaky roof after spending thousands of dollars on you, who has good service. You are shy to talk about it. Why are you wicked, get out there and save so many people from having bad roofs.

Todd Miller:

I may have to steal that one.

Seth Heckaman:

And it applies to marketing. It applies to sales of going in and helping someone understand your value over your competition. But it all goes back to your profit principle though too, where you need to run a business where you can care for people and be profitable and sustainable. But you also need to charge what you need to charge that way you'll be around to help the next people too. So it all comes together and when done with that best interest in heart, it's a beautiful thing.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

So when you're coming alongside with a client and beginning that relationship, what I'm sure there's. You get into the weeds with them, you start making evaluations and understanding, you know, their business. And also, you know, the spiritual and personal life also is a part of that, you know, helping them taking that holistic approach. But what what does that process look like and what do you look for at first or what do you first look at? What questions do you ask? How do you start those conversations?

Benson Agbortogo:

The first thing is really to know where they are going, because if you don't know where you are going is very difficult to design a roadmap to get there. So revenue wise, want to know where do you want to be revenue wise, profit wise, in the next 12 months? What would that look like in the next sixty months, which is five years? Because we want to have both a short term and a long term perspective. Once we know what the destination looks like, then we come back to the departure. Okay, so what are things looking like right now, cause once you know, the destination and the departure it's easy to design a map to move to where you want to go? So we look at what is happening right now. Then it helps us to really establish a gap between where they are now and where they want to be. And that informs us to really look at, okay, what are the systems we need to design to help them to move mechanically, consistently from where they at today to where they really want to be. And that includes the spiritual front, the personal front and the business. So the business, you know, the personal and spiritual, because I really believe that those three go hand in hand, because if you have one and you are missing the other, then you end up making so much money that you have a meaningless life, you have a frustrated life. Or if you neglect your personal you end up working so many hours, you make so much money, but you go give all that money to doctors because your body is sick and it can no longer function well. So you end up not really enjoying that money if you neglect your home and are being like, you know, the guy who was going to the office one day and a two year old doctor ask him said that, are you going home? He said, What do you mean by going home? Because, and it hit him like a ton of bricks, that because he was he was working so much in the office that dot, dot, dot, his office was his home. He was hardly at home. So, there really has to be a balance of bringing all of that together. So there's a holistic approach because if one of the pillars is missing, life is really going to be miserable.

Seth Heckaman:

So that sounds like the faith, purpose, and profit framework I read about on your website that you work folks through.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. Absolutely. You are very smart, man, you know Seth, you put it together very very very well.

Seth Heckaman:

Well you laid it out online for me to read. So that was great. So what are the, you mentioned those gaps that you know what is preventing us from getting where we are today to where we want to be. What are those most common gaps or missing links that you see with construction companies, service companies that then you come alongside and help with?

Benson Agbortogo:

One of the biggest ones I've seen is distractions. You know, people try to get into so many things instead of focusing on a few things they are really good at. I'm sure you've seen the analogy of the magnifying glass and the rays of sun. That if you put a piece of paper out there and you know the sun is hotter it will really impact that piece of paper. But if you take a magnifying glass and you channel the power of the rays of the sun to that paper, it catches fire. So distractions is the big thing that I see impacting a lot of people. So I try to really encourage them to focus on an area are areas they are really good at that they can really dominate. The other one I see is pricing based on what the competitor is doing versus pricing based on the value they are delivering. So they get into this pricing war and unfortunately, a lot of them end up taking a loss just because they want to keep the people busy, or they want to keep their workers busy. The way you look at the bottom line is really anemic. So at the end of the day, they are really quizzing themselves gradually, gradually to death, because if you just do work and your price because you want to be the cheapest bidder, but you don't have any profit left, at the end of the day, you're not going to be in business for so long. So at the end of the day, you are doing a disservice to yourself. You are doing a disservice to your clients. You are doing a disservice to your employees. So that is a very, very common mistake I see and usually is the fastest area that I help clients fix, because once they change their pricing, just like that their bottom line goes up.

Seth Heckaman:

This is the time of year where we start hearing about those kind of jobs around here where, well, it was winter and I just needed to get a deal or we're coming into spring and wanted to kickstart things and all of us end up regretting those deals eventually it seems like, and it seems like those deals even get worse than the low margin they started out with, unfortunately. So the profit karma comes and gets you eventually.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely. And in addition to pricing, one of the one of the things that we also do for clients to solve that problem of oh we are coming to spring, oh I just have to get that deal is something that every service business I introduce them to to this concept their first reaction usually is, oh, it doesn't work. And it's the concept of membership. So changing their business from a customer centric model to a membership centric model, so that model actually eliminates seasons such as winter or spring or whatever, you have members, so you have ongoing cash flow. And when I introduce that concept, they will say, oh, it doesn't work in our industry. Or it works with this business or works with that business, but it doesn't. But I've not seen a single service business that I've not been able to have them to put a membership in place. And typically, finally, when we do they will say, oh, why didn't we do this all along? I say because you didn't listen from day one. I had a business, the foundation, really, it took them three years for them to listen. And when they finally did and things changed in their business they were like, Benson, why didn't we do these things. I said because you refused to listen to it from day one. You kept telling me it doesn't work, it doesn't work, it doesn't work instead of having an open mind to put it in place, to put it in the first place. So membership really eliminates that seasonality. It also really increases the value of the business because any business that has a membership, if they decide to sell, if in their industry, the typical valuation is in a multiple of four, if they have a membership in place, they give themselves at least one or two more multiples just by having a membership in place.

Todd Miller:

That's incredible to help work people through that process. I'm sorry Seth.

Seth Heckaman:

No, that's good. I didn't I had never thought about the added valuation aspect to that and working towards with that end in mind, which we so often with the see that a lot of companies struggle having what that exit strategy is going to look like. And that's maybe some a key, key component there. So can you tell us a little bit more about the nuts and bolts of on how you've seen that play out in some of your clients like. So is it, for example, a monthly fee people can opt in for to be, you know, part of an ongoing maintenance program or something like that? What what have those models looked like.

Benson Agbortogo:

You have the monthly model that works with some service businesses. But what I found typically working a lot more for the construction is the annual membership model. So people actually buy a membership for a year and whatever you do with them. You know, I'll give a quick example of something I just did for a roofing business. So when I did that, he said, ah, this doesn't work. And I said, you know, let me lay it out for you and I actually even volunteered to be his first member when I design it for him. And so he came to my house, I just built a custom home. And, you know, I'm a big guy when it comes to maintenance because I believe that way you maintain you save a lot of money down the road. So I designed his membership for him and I said, come to my home. This builder has built my home for me. But I need you to come and look at my roof and make sure that it is in good condition. And then, you know, come twice a year and look at the roof and just make sure that it's properly maintained. And if there are anything, singles flying out that I don't know if you can repair them before it becomes a bad situation. And then I just paid a nominal annual rate for that membership. But guess what? Because my roof is in a system now, if a storm hits my roof, who do you think I'm going to call? Some guy who does who is chasing storms out of town and hears there is a storm in Dallas so he carries his things from New Orleans and is coming to fix roofs in Dallas because there's a storm? Oh, heck, no, I'm not going to call that guy. Oh, I'm not going to listen to somebody who just knocks my door and say, hey, can I look at your roof? No, I am going to call that guy that I paid some money to be a member of his business. Well, if my roof needs repair, who do you think I'm going to call first? The guy that I'm a member of his business. So that is you know a very simple way that I believe that anybody listening to us can really look at it and begin to think about how to put that in place. There's obviously more in designing what packages are good for residential, what packages are good for commercial, what packages are good for HOA, you know, if you are dealing with that volume, looking at their rules and how to really communicate that value, you know, without just sounding like, hey you want me to pay money for what when I can have a free inspection at any time.

Seth Heckaman:

Great advice and going to get us thinking more as well. Switching gears a little bit, for over two years now, every business owner has seemed to face challenge after challenge, you know, between COVID, supply chain issues, the great resignation. Now we've got some international conflict going on. With the clients you work with, what has distinguished those that have through all of that over the last two years continue to be profitable and successful. What has really distinguished them from the companies you've seen that have have really struggled and aren't in a position to ever kind of make their way out of these current circumstances?

Benson Agbortogo:

I would say three words relationship, relationship, relationship. You know, it was actually one word repeated three times. The unfortunate thing that I see in most businesses is when they are dealing with people, they don't really treat them as people, they just treat them as a transaction. So when there is some turbulence and in the economy and things are being squeezed, typically people become really price sensitive and whoever can offer them a deal, they go for that person. But that doesn't happen if you have a strong relationship with the people you call your clients. So with us, you will really build that culture of the clients that will work with. Treat your clients far more than just people that you do transactions with. You know, really get to know them, really get to care for them. So no matter what is happening in the world, you are still going to have a strong client base going on. Marriages that survive, survive, not because they don't have problems. They survive because the husband and wife have a strong relationship that cannot easily be broken. And the ones that end up in divorce are the ones that when the storm comes, they cannot withstand the storm. You see God never promises us that they will never be storms. But He tells us that when the storms come, some people who have built their house on the rock, they survive and they ones who have built their house on the sand, they don't. And I think that the big difference is stronger relationships and weaker relationships. Warren Buffet used to say, you never know who is naked until the wave on the shore of the sea runs back.

Seth Heckaman:

I haven't heard that Buffet quote but that's a good one.

Benson Agbortogo:

Yeah. So I really believe that that is the distinguishing aspect that I've seen within businesses that are growing irrespective of what is happening and the ones that crumble.

Seth Heckaman:

Sure. Well, it makes so much sense that, you know, providing that quality relationship with clients and that transcendent customer experience is going to just have recurring opportunities regardless of circumstances and great relationships internally keeps people from wanting to leave it. It it's consistent in every every aspect.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

Curious, with someone, so, you know, in the bunker with service industry and the construction industry, part of what we hope for here at Construction Disruption is trying to paint the picture of great opportunity for younger people, a great opportunity for them in our great industry, what we think is a great industry. So I wanted to get your thoughts on what would you tell a young person who is considering somewhere in construction, wherever it might be to, you know, consider investing their career in this industry?

Benson Agbortogo:

I think there's a Chinese proverb that says that the best time to plant a tree was yesterday and the second best time to plant that tree is today. So if anybody is considering getting into the construction industry, or dying to eat and they are wondering eventually thirsty how is this day? Because their reality is the population of the world is increasing, is not shrinking and as a population is increasing, people are not going to go and stay in the farm, they are going to stay in houses. So there is going to be a need for construction to keep being very relevant. It's really interesting that even during the COVID, the industry that really helped the economy was real estate, which really has to do with construction. And if you are in the DFW area, which is where I live. When construction is going up like I'm in, I look at the area where I used to live, when I moved there, when I was there ten years ago, before I built a new house. It was like in a bad land. And now you have warehouses, you know houses everywhere. So the construction industry is going to be growing. It's not going to be shrinking. So if anybody is considering getting into it, I would say get into to it today if you are not already into it. And if you are into it, don't get out. If things are a little bit challenging, think about pivoting, or looking at it from a slightly different angle that you haven't look at. You guys at Isaiah Industries, you do a very good job of not just providing you know quality material but you provide you know, good mentorship. You know, I was listening to your previous guest was saying that, you know, it's really difficult to move to the next level without a good coach. So I would say part of the reason why, again, people are reluctant to get into an industry is because they don't even know where to start. But you guys happen to be the legends of the construction industry. So I believe that you can save any young person a ton of time, energy, and money. Because in Africa there is a saying, what an old man can see sitting down, a young man cannot see even when they are standing up. So I encourage people to get in the industry, but not just get in by themselves, but to seek mentorship from people and organizations like yours. Because I really believe that's going to save them a lot of time and again money.

Todd Miller:

Makes a lot of sense. I love that and talking about planning the tree, the best time to plant a tree was yesterday. Second best is today. I wish I would have planted that orange mango apple tree yesterday because I sure don't know how to plant one today. So, you have said so many things today that are going to stick with me forever, so this has been great.

Seth Heckaman:

Yeah, fantastic. Thank you.

Benson Agbortogo:

Awesome.

Seth Heckaman:

Well this has been wonderful, Benson, and we're getting close to the end of our time. A favorite thing we have around here at Construction Disruption, though, before we wrap up to get to know you a little bit better and maybe ask some more far flung questions is to go through our Rapid Fire question round, which is seven questions here at the end that range from maybe a little more silly and some a little more serious, which we give you the choice. We give you the option of opting in or not. So, I need to ask you, are you willing to go through our rapid fire question round?

Benson Agbortogo:

Hey, I was born ready. Let's go.

Seth Heckaman:

There we go. And as always, those listening, Benson has not seen these questions. And Todd and I will alternate here asking you seven rapid fire questions. So first one, what is your bucket list vacation?

Benson Agbortogo:

The immediate one is going to Australia. You know, I love Australia. It has a lot of similar I would say vegetation to Africa. So I really love going to Australia and part of the reason why I really love vegetation is, you know, I love breathing a lot of quality oxygen and I understand that when you go where there are a lot of trees, you get to get a lot of good oxygen in your system. So Australia would be on top of my list.

Todd Miller:

Very good. Next one, this is a little bit more serious. If you could snap your fingers and do anything to change the world, what would that thing be?

Benson Agbortogo:

I would encourage every person, the 8 billion people on the face of the earth, to become more conscious of their time. Time is something that everybody on Earth has an equal amount of, but a lot of people squander theirs because are unconscious of that fundamental asset that God has given all of us.

Seth Heckaman:

Powerful.

Todd Miller:

Very good.

Seth Heckaman:

What is your favorite book or author?

Benson Agbortogo:

You know, I'll be remiss if I don't say my favorite book is the Bible. It is actually my favorite book. But in terms of business, I would say I've read many, many books and I read many, many each week. But if I were to reduce it to 1, I would say it's The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino.

Seth Heckaman:

I have not read that one yet, but so I chuckled when you said I would be remiss because I thought you were going to mention your book. I was trying to set you up for a plug there Benson.

Benson Agbortogo:

And I snuck in the Bible. You know, when I book came out of the bag, most of this stuff in my Bible, the book are really principles that I gleaned from the Bible.

Todd Miller:

Good stuff, what's the name of your book?

Benson Agbortogo:

It is called The Business System That Never Fails. And again, anybody who is interested can pick a free copy of the PDF copy at consistent profit tree dot com forward slash ebook. You know anybody can go there and take a PDF version of it. Or you can pick up a copy from Amazon it's The Business System That Never Fails

Todd Miller:

Awesome. Okay, question number four, I believe. What time of day are you the most productive?

Benson Agbortogo:

Time of the day that I'm most productive is typically around 5 a.m.

Todd Miller:

That's what most of our guests say, they're morning people, love it.

Seth Heckaman:

Yeah, we only had one that said midnight. Yeah, that that was the outlier. Do you play any musical instruments?

Benson Agbortogo:

With my mouth.

Seth Heckaman:

You're a singer?

Benson Agbortogo:

There's a great passage in the Bible that says, Make a joyful noise to the Lord. So I'm really good at making noise with my mouth. I'm not really musically inclined. My my wife is, my daughter is. And I remember one day I was singing in the house and my wife said, Benson, you know, sing, sing, sing from your sing from your tummy. And I'm like, where am I singing from? They say you're singing from your nose. I thought that was interesting. But no, I don't play any physical musical instrument.

Todd Miller:

But make a joyful noise. And you're doing that all the time.

Benson Agbortogo:

Yeah, I'm really good at that.

Todd Miller:

Amen. What leader from history do you most admire?

Benson Agbortogo:

You know, I really I really admire again, if you had to kind of history would go back to you know Paul, obviously, being one of the guys I really, really admire in history. And anybody who has read The Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino was really talking about Paul. I'm giving away a lot of stuff, yeah, in the end, you know. So I really I really admire Paul. But if we're to look at recent history, I really admire Abraham Lincoln. And here's why. One of his sayings that has really stuck with me and it's also connected to a verse in the Bible, he said give me six hours to chop down a tree, I will spend four sharpening the saw. And the equivalent of that in the Bible is when the ax is dull, more strength is needed to do the work. So many people spend so much time trying to do work with a dull ax instead of investing time to sharpen the ax so they can do the work easily without having blisters on their fingers.

Seth Heckaman:

Powerful. Last question, number seven, what is the best advice you have ever received?

Benson Agbortogo:

The best advice I've ever received is to be consistently consistent.

Seth Heckaman:

Consistent profit tree.

Benson Agbortogo:

Yeah, everybody is consistent, but many people are consistently inconsistent. It means they are consistently doing the things that are not helping them achieve their goal. And then this second group of people is people who are consistently consistent. So they are doing things consistently that are helping them to achieve their goals. So they are doing things that are consistent with the goals they want to achieve. So being consistently consistent is the best advice I've ever received.

Seth Heckaman:

Fantastic. So well, thank you again, Benson, you know, for participating in Rapid Fire, but then also for this great conversation. Is there anything that we didn't get a chance to touch on so far today that you would like to share?

Benson Agbortogo:

I really want to really thank you, Seth, I'm getting to know you now. I chatted a little bit with Mr. Todd on LinkedIn before this call. From the bottom of my heart, I really want to thank you people for hosting me today. And the last thing I want to leave the audience with is to really be thankful. I have seen thanksgiving literally change the lives of people within a few minutes. I really believe that many people are sick, they have incontinence. That is not good because I refuse to be thankful. I'm part of the reason why they refuse to be counsel is because they're focused too much on what they have not accomplished instead of focusing on the things they have accomplished and to be thankful for. And when I'm talking about thanksgiving, a lot of people say, Benson, what if nothing is going right in my life right now? I said, No matter what is happening in your life right now, I can show you one thing that you can be thankful for. And they will say, What is that Benson? I say, You are still breathing free oxygen. That is something to be thankfful for. Because if you stop breathing, everything stops working. So if you are still breathing, you can be thankful.

Seth Heckaman:

Beautiful, that absolutely, power of gratitude, and transforms us from the inside out, no question.

Benson Agbortogo:

Absolutely.

Seth Heckaman:

Thank you, Benson. For. For those that want to get ahold of you, to get to know you and see how you can help them. What's the best way for them to contact you?

Benson Agbortogo:

Consistentprofittree.com is our website. You can go there and reach out. We don't believe in strong-arming people. You know, typically we can help. If we cannot help, we refer people to others who would be a good fit.

Benson Agbortogo:

Seth Heckaman: Thank you so much for your time, and thank you listeners for joining us for another episode of Construction Disruption with Benson Agbortogo of consistentprofittree.com. Hope you reach out and get to know Benson for yourself. Please watch for future episodes of our podcast, we have many more great guests as always on tap. And don't forget if you would, to leave a review on either Apple Podcasts or YouTube. So thank you for your time, God bless, take care. Isaiah Industries signing off until the next episode of Construction Disruption.