Are you taking the time to plan for your future, or are you actually working to get through this week, or even just this day? From my observations, most in our industry are just getting by every day looking for the weekend to arrive, and then another week to follow. Very little planning ... just reacting to whatever comes their way.
Whether you are a technician, manager, estimator, front office staff member or owner, this "repeating-stuck-replaying scenario" does nothing but erode your ability to look toward the future and set a direction not only for your company, but also your own personal life. Eventually you are often overcome with the "sudden changes" that actually have been evolving for years, and you find yourself in a quandary of what can be done in a crisis to fix the current issue of today, and they appear each and every day. This certainly will destroy anyone's spirit, enthusiasm or drive to excellence.
In many ways this constant repeating cycle reminds me of the 1993 Bill Murray comedy movie, Groundhog Day, when no matter what Phil Connors (Murray) did during the day, he would wake up by an alarm clock to repeat the same date over and over again. Is this what is happening to you — somehow the calendar date changes, but the activities each day don't?
Michael Gerber, The E-Myth, tags it, "Doing It, Doing It, Doing It ... Ever Day." As an owner, have you created just a job for yourself and not a business? There is a difference. Your responsibility as the owner is to create a striving entity (the business), but have you only established a somewhat secure job for yourself? These are questions that are very very tough for many in any small business to truthfully answer, and more difficult to change.
As an employee of the business in any job position, are you empowered to make the right decision for the business every day, and do you strive to ensure the business grows in reputation and customer preference?
Or is it just a job, and none of this is part of your job? I am sorry, but if you think this, you are definitely wrong.
Over the years, I have observed and worked with clients worldwide that seem to be running on a "hamster wheel" at full speed to keep everything as "balanced" as possible, but there is no change in scenery. Just "working harder, not smarter" every day. But over the last five years or so, it has gotten more and more challenging to continue this pace. It is not because you're aging, even though I have talked with many that say they are just getting too old for this, but because you can't just "buckle down" and get through it anymore with shear work.
I am not trying to paint a bleak and gloomy picture of our future, but hopefully I can get you to see "outside the box" for just the time you read this article and let you know today there are more opportunities than there were 10 years ago, five years ago, and even more than last week. The challenge is that you have to see them to take advantage of them, and probably (no actually, absolutely) they will require you to change what you are doing now. You must change input to change output.
This is also going to be the toughest part ... you must change. Not the customer, not the vendors, not the insurers, not the rest of the world ... you will need to adapt and rethink how you are doing business as well as every single position in your company. "Building a better mousetrap" is the challenge of today and some in the industry are working very hard to prove this can be done.
Where to begin? You must provide a service or value that distinguishes your business from the rest in the eyes of the customer. It, however, is not who has the newest spray booth, frame rack, or paint system to the customer, but the best total value in their eyes. The equipment just facilitates your ability to perform and meet or exceed your promises. Your value to the customer is in your appearance, service and ability to perform consistently to your promises.
So how can you evaluate and establish a strategy for your future? How can you get yourself in a position to work on your business, and not just in your business? How can you get your staff to work on the business too? Simply get someone you trust to help, hire someone to come in, get your staff more involved (and as staff be more involved), join a business development group (20 group), take training programs ... just change what you are doing today.
This is easily said, but it's much more difficult to achieve success, often because the commitment just is not there. This is the key to any change whether it is to lose 5, 10, or 100 pounds, stop smoking or being able to work on your business. True commitment will allow it to happen — anything short of this will most likely fail. You cannot just participate, but lead the changes with commitment at any position in the company.
So what is the difference? Probably the best analogy I have ever heard that distinguishes the difference between supporting participation and commitment are the roles of three animals in a typical daily breakfast. If you have bacon or sausage with eggs and a great big glass of milk ... the cow (milk) and the chicken (eggs) are supporting participants ... the pig (bacon and sausage) is definitely committed to the cause!
Get excited about the opportunities to change ... be excited about those changes. Block out any negativity that many bring to your day-to-day existence. And mostly, get recommitted to your business or the company you work for to capture the opportunities that are surfacing every day. Get serious and be committed. The turkey and pig this Thanksgiving sure will.
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