Congratulations! I see you aren’t working in the field today! Way to go, my friend, we have a lot to cover. Last time, we talked about getting you out of the field one day per week to start working “on” your business instead of “in” it. Now that you have made the commitment to do this, let’s delve into what you need to start doing with this time. Believe me, it’s going to be exciting.
1. Set up your calendar. Your time is very important, so you need to organize it in a way that works for you. As the owner of the business, you are most likely doing the sales, bidding, scheduling and performing the work. You probably have appointments with clients and potential clients. Look at your week and figure out the best times for you to do these tasks. For example, your week might look like this:
- Monday: Field work and set up the week
- Tuesday: Appointments and sales
- Wednesday: Office
- Thursday: Morning crew meeting and field work
- Friday: Open.
Now you have a structure so if someone calls you and asks to meet, you can suggest Tuesday. If you have an office task, save it for Wednesday. Keeping Friday open gives your schedule some flexibility. Get the picture?
2. Work on systems. What is a system? Anything that can streamline your business should be addressed here. How about writing job descriptions, an employee manual and setting up an organizational chart, to name a few? This is not as hard as it may seem as there are resources online that already have some of these things available to you (some are free and others you have to pay for). Researching industry software would be another idea.
3. Sales. Want to grow? You have to sell. Send out a few emails to potential clients, make a phone call or two and set up a meeting for Tuesday (that’s appointment day, remember?). Do some research on that dream customer you want to get.
4. Social media. Post some of your projects and jobs online. Google yourself and your company and check to see if you have any reviews out there. Best to know if they are out there, whether they are good or bad.
5. Billing and paperwork. Yes, you still have to do this so make sure this is part of the schedule. If you can do this once per week, then it will be much easier to keep on top of it.
6. Set company goals. When is the last time you thought about the goals you have for your company? Where do you want to take it? Do you want to double sales? Get a certain job? Hire an office manager? You need to work on these and spend time figuring out how you are going to make them happen.
7. Think. Yes, that’s what I said: think. Take time to think about your company and what you want from it. The things on this list are just suggestions; there are so many things you can do when working on your business. Take the time to think about what you want specifically and make your own list. Then get to work on moving your company to the next level.
Read part one: Spend One Day Off Your Mower
