Copperfield magazine has released some very good business advice and I wanted to share that with you.
It all starts when you are a kid. You learn the importance of pleasing people, such as, parents, relatives, friends, etc. Then you go to school and please your teachers, coaches, and other students. Next is work, and you please your boss, your co-workers and take on as many tasks as possible. If you do well you climb the ladder to more success and more pay.
Then one day you head out on your own and start a new business. Now the very food on your families table is depends on the success of your new venture and since you are brand new to business, it is again, more of the same.
Clean the chimney? Sure. Need a cap? I can help you. Reline the flue? Wonderful. Masonry Repairs? Yep. But trim those branches? O.K. Mow the lawn? Gulp, OK…whatever it takes to bring home the bacon. With this attitude you succeed until the day it begins to hold you back and you need to change it. That is a hard change that most companies never make and in turn it holds them back.
Read along and take stock of your own business situation. These just may be the words you need to hear.
A fascinating man
He has been in business for 25 years. He has a service company ( but this message can be related to sales for retail) He only does four things. Sweeping, caps, damper sales, and relines. Since this is all he does, he is good at it. He is efficient and he wastes little motion, and charges full prices. His skills in these four things are second to none. (And he isn’t one of those guys that try to reline your flue, whether you need it, or not) He turns over all other needed repair work to other reliable craftsmen and tradesmen in his area. If they need masonry repairs, flashing repairs, waterproofing, hearth accessory sales, appliance sales, or you name it! If it isn’t in his magical four he just doesn’t do it.
He says NO!
Now are you sitting down? His one truck (wife answers phones and one employed helper) brings in around 500, 000 a year.
The Mind Thinks of More Things Than The Body Can Do
Just because you have a great idea does not mean you have time for that idea. In fact you could argue that at any moment in time you should never begin an new idea unless your previous “good ideas” are running smoothly. Or abandoned completely. Very quickly a business can end up with nothing but well begun projects but none of them are running smoothly. This situation has a curious way of making us feel that the “solution” is just one more magical, wonderful “good idea” to make all of the previous ones somehow work.
Business is Always Changing
….and you must change with it. In year one of his business the fellow in the previous example would have painted a house if a customer had asked him to.
But how would his business have evolved if he hadn’t? He stayed on top of his business and remained it’s master.
How About You?
Do you find yourself saying yes and then regretting it later? Because it either took too much time, or really wasn’t for maximum profit?
Do you find yourself acting on today’s good ideas before you have last months good idea really running smoothly?
Conclusion
Know where you stand in the evolution of your business. Know the income you need to fill your personal financial needs. Don’t be in the dark about that because that is the foundation of your business goals. If you are brand new to business… sure, trim those branches if there is nothing else on your books. Understand as time goes by -knowing how to say no will be more important than saying yes. You may just go to bed happier and -who would have thought- wealthier.
Copperfield Chimney Supply website
