A successful construction company can create a great income.

But what about real wealth? 

In this episode of The Wealthy Entrepreneur, host Bob Gauvreau sits down with Paul Atherton, CEO and Co-Founder of Highspire, to talk about how general contractors can move beyond running profitable operating businesses and start building long-term wealth.

Paul explains why the strongest business owners protect their lives with clear “anti-goals,” why most companies either have too few systems or far too many, and why he believes the traditional priority stack of money, customers, and staff needs to be flipped.

He also breaks down why construction companies are uniquely positioned to build wealth through real estate - to be something that’s more than a source of income.

If you want to join the conversation and be a part of the Wealthy Entrepreneur community, let us know here: https://www.wealthyentrepreneur.co/the-wealthy-entrepreneur-podcast-guest-submission. Looking forward to having you on the podcast! 

If you enjoyed this episode, handcrafted by our friends over at fame.so, then please either:

Follow, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

Follow on Spotify 

Instructions on following, rating, and reviewing The Wealthy Entrepreneur are here. 

Highlights:

00:30 Introduction and Meeting Paul Atherton

02:18 Paul’s Journey From Engineering to Business Coaching

06:00 What Highspire Does for General Contractors

08:25 Why People Are Looking for Their Tribe

09:23 Helping Smaller Contractors Grow With Less Friction

11:10 What Makes Scaling Harder Than Expected

11:51 Balancing Entrepreneurial Optimism With Reality

13:25 Why Growth Creates Discomfort

14:22 Why the Business Should Support Your Life

15:57 Anti-Goals and the 80/20 Rule for Better Systems

18:34 Why Staff Should Come Before Customers and Money

19:14 How the CEO Role Changes as the Business Grows

21:46 Using Construction to Build Real Wealth

23:10 The Three Paths to Wealth Creation

24:35 Turning the Operating Company Into a Wealth-Building Asset

26:45 Why GCs Can Make Great Real Estate Developers

28:32 The Advantage of Speed and Access

32:07 How Small Strategic Changes Compound Over Time

33:45 Inside Highspire’s HX Event

36:08 What Comes Next for Highspire

37:37 Why Contractors Need to Get Out of the Field

38:41 Trust, Accountability, and Leading High Performers

40:11 Where to Find Paul and Highspire

41:31 Final Thoughts

Paul Atherton is the CEO and Co-Founder of Highspire, a coaching and consulting company focused on helping general contractors build self-managed businesses and, when the time is right, use those businesses to develop and own real estate.

Before launching Highspire in 2023, Paul spent more than seven years as one of the earliest coaches at Breakthrough Academy, working with construction and trades companies as the organization grew from roughly 35 clients to several hundred. Earlier in his career, he earned an engineering degree and worked across industries including oil and gas, mining, pulp and paper, logging, food production, and large-scale construction projects across North America and China.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-atherton-highspire/ 

Highspire Website: https://www.highspire.com/ 

The M&A Guy Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7duZnpspnjVrfoN8z2RcNu?si=514aeb6e33ec40b3 

Visit The Wealthy Entrepreneur Website: https://www.wealthyentrepreneur.co/  

Download The Wealthy Entrepreneur (digital book) for FREE: https://profitsimple.ca/wealthy-entrepreneur 

Like our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/wealthyentrepreneurofficial 

Join The Wealthy Entrepreneur Community for FREE at https://www.facebook.com/groups/gauvreaucpa   

For more podcast episodes, subscribe to our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/@wealthyentrepreneurofficial

Join the conversation and feature on the podcast: https://www.wealthyentrepreneur.co/the-wealthy-entrepreneur-podcast-guest-submission 

Let’s continue to work on becoming a Wealthy Entrepreneur!