Are you sick of being preached to about how you need to learn to “manage your time better”? I know I am! Of course, managing time efficiently is always a good goal. But I see a trap in all this talk about “getting efficient”.
You see, if we focus only on HOW to save time, we could end up saving tons of time but doing the things we shouldn’t even be involved in. But we sure will be doing them efficiently! The simple fact is, getting the most out of your business, both now and when you go to sell it, has more to do with WHERE you invest your time than with HOW to save time.
Think about it. Are you really going to learn how to hire and develop superior employees by learning how to save time getting one more spot out of the carpet? Are you honestly going to improve the administrative, bookkeeping, sales, or training elements of your business by becoming super efficient with setting your equipment up? Probably not.
Even though spot removal and efficient time management of a job are important on their own they will NOT grow your business. If you want to expand your company beyond just you working alone on the truck as an owner-operator then you must focus on WHERE you are investing your time. One great time investment will be learning business management skills. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Start with a plan. Now that sounds like something that you’d expect to hear me say as a business consultant, doesn’t it? Well, as boring as planning might sound, it’s the first place you should invest your time.
I can already hear the chorus of nay-sayers: “Writing a plan is about as exciting as watching the grass grow.” Maybe…unless you discover that what you’ve been growing all this time without a plan has been weeds! And once you’ve taken the time to write this dynamic and exciting Plan for Your Future, why not invest time each week to see what you need to do (or change) to keep your plan (and business) on track with your vision?
Speaking of growing things, another great time investment is “growing your people”. Whether you’re developing an entry-level employee, a project manager, or an office manager, as the owner of your business you’re the one who is responsible for developing the professional skills of your people. It simply is not possible to grow a successful company if you don’t have competent people working with you.
And finally, what about YOU? Why not invest time in your own professional development? As your company grows and you start adding people to your organization the business skills you need change. Are you changing with your growth? Or are you trying to run your ever-expanding business with the same management skills you were using when it was just you and your truck?
Just as you trained yourself to successfully remove spots from a carpet and how to dry a structure efficiently- you now need to learn to hire top-notch employees effectively/ how to market/ to understand financial statements, etc. So, in addition to your technical certifications, seek out programs that will teach you the skills you’ll need to manage your growing business. (I may be partial but I can’t think of a better seminar to teach you all of the above than Jon-Don’s Strategies for Success program!)
This is not an exhaustive list of all the places to invest your time, but it’s a good start. When you know WHERE to invest your time in your business, you greatly improve your chances of building something of value that you can cash out and retire on. Then you can spend your time HOWever you want!
Chuck Violand (more about Chuck)
SFS Instructor
CEO Violand Management Associates