Hey business owners how safe is your income or what happens if you get injured and can t work

Hey Business Owners - How Safe Is Your Income Or What Happens If You Get Injured And Can't Work

When your income is dependent on your availability, your income is never fully safe. Your wealth is threatened. Your happiness is threatened.

Just like there is no such thing as job security for an employee, there is no such thing as income security for an owner/operator.

This thought was driven home to me recently while I listened to an acquaintances story. He gave me a perfect example of the threat business owners face when they ARE the business. He granted me permis...

construction, contractor, business, advice, coaching

When your income is dependent on your availability, your income is never fully safe. Your wealth is threatened. Your happiness is threatened.

Just like there is no such thing as job security for an employee, there is no such thing as income security for an owner/operator.

This thought was driven home to me recently while I listened to an acquaintances story. He gave me a perfect example of the threat business owners face when they ARE the business. He granted me permission
to share his story with you.

Gary owned a remodeling company.

He met with leads, priced and sold the work, did the carpentry, oversaw the subs, sent out the invoices, and paid the bills. He was a typical owner/operator.

He loved the work. His two employees were easy to manage. He was his own boss. He set his own hours. His two employees were easy to manage. He didnt have to worry about someone disappointing his client or costing him money because he controlled everything.

Gary had a thriving business going. His superior craftsmanship and hands-on customer service earned him a great reputation and produced a flood of referrals.

Gary was purposely staying small. He didnt want the headaches of finding and managing workers and trusting their ability to meet his expectations. He was at his maximum work load and was quite happy about it.

He and his wife enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle that had no end in sight.

Ah, but life never is that easy is it?

Gary fell off of a roof, spent several weeks in a hospital and couldnt work for a year.

His business couldnt function without his hands-on involvement. He lost his only source of income - and he lost everything else. Gary was forced to declare bankruptcy.

That is the ultimate threat to the owner/operator. Complete financial destruction.

Unless your company can run itself, your financial security is ALWAYS at risk. ALWAYS.

Think of this newsletter as your personal hurricane warning system. The hurricane may miss you or it may hit you. At this point, neither one of us knows which course its going to run.

This weeks email is not meant to be an attempt to frighten you. Its an attempt to open your eyes to a threat that you may never have sufficiently
considered. The need to build a business that is self-managing.

Do you have a choice? Yes.

Is it a painful choice? It can be.

Is it an easy journey? Not for most.

What choice should you make? Thats up to you.

Allow me a moment to show you what a self-managing business looks like.

A self-managing business is one in which your daily involvement is not needed; one where your marketing system creates good leads; one where your sales staff meets with prospects, qualifies their fit to your business, and closes deals at attractive prices; and one where your operations team gets the work installed per budget and schedule.

Its a business that you can monitor from out-of-state (or in a hospital bed) via computer, fax machine, and telephone. Its a business that continues to spin off cash whether you are there or not. Now, thats a
self-managed business.

There is a famous Warren Buffett quote in which he describes the type of business investors should look for, "You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will." Warren was describing a business that is so strong, it doesnt need superior leadership to keep the profits flowing. Thats the type of business that gives its owners income protection.

Now, there has been much ink spilled over how to create such a business, the most common advice being "install systems". Well, the easiest way to do that is to perfect them yourself then teach someone else how to do perform them.

Heres the basic sequence for building your business:

1st step: Perfect your lead generation process.

2nd step: Perfect your selling approach.

3rd step: Perfect your method for getting the work done.

4th step: Bring in foremen and teach them how to produce the work.

5th step: Bring in a salesman, teach him how to sell, and pay him for profitable sales.

6th step: Bring in an operations manager / estimator to run the work.

7th step: Put in place tracking systems to key an eye on EVERYTHING and EVERYONE.

If all the other wonderful benefits of owning a self-managing business fail to inspire you to build one, income protection should be enough incentive for you to put forth the required effort.

 

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Here s an affordable internet business

Heres an Affordable Internet Business!

An affiliate marketing business is a simple home-based business using the Internet that is low cost and good for beginners.

web-based business affiliate marketing program internet marketing online business home-based business

This year, trillions will be made and spent over the internet. Web-based businesses such as web content development, retailing programs, affiliate programs, and freelance services are driving web growth to ever-increasing levels. With an abundance of opportunities and work available online, more and more people are turning to the internet as a revenue source. Unlike what most people think, however, working online is no walk in the park. You will need to spend a lot of time and effort to achieve your financial goals, especially during the inchoate stages of your venture. Because of this, you will want to minimize your expenses by finding an affordable internet business.

One of the advantages offered by online businesses is that they require but a minimal investment in terms of money, yet they can become huge money-earners in time. If you are reading this article, you obviously already have a computer and internet access and thats really all you need to get started! Starting your own home-based busine

 

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Hey contractors you d better pick the right market for your business

Hey Contractors, Youd Better Pick The Right Market For Your Business

I hear two complaints CONSTANTLY from contractors.

1. I cant find enough good work.

2. I cant find enough good workers.

What most contractors fail to realize is that the two problems are closely related. The first causes the second. And both are a function of the market you operate in.

Finding an adequate supply of good workers can always be solved with money. If you can afford to pay the wages workers want and give them the hours they need, they will flock to y...

Construction, contractor, business, advice, coaching

I hear two complaints CONSTANTLY from contractors.

1. I cant find enough good work.

2. I cant find enough good workers.

What most contractors fail to realize is that the two problems are closely related. The first causes the second. And both are a function of the market you operate in.

Finding an adequate supply of good workers can always be solved with money. If you can afford to pay the wages workers want and give them the hours they need, they will flock to your company.

A lack of high margins is what complicates staffing.

The market you sell to greatly affects your ability to make money and your ability to hire good workers.

You need to choose your market wisely, very wisely.

Before permanently committing your destiny to a market (including the one you are currently focused on) you must research the following issues.

1. Can you track down enough prospects?

2. Can you market to the prospects cost effectively?

3. Do clients value anything beyond lowest price?

4. Does the work require expensive equipment?

5. Can you find enough sufficiently skilled people to do the work at the wages you can pay?

6. Is competition weak?

7. Are margins high?

8. Do you have the cash reserves to survive the markets pay cycle?

The greater your number of "nos", the more you will struggle. Here are the facts of business life:

Fact #1: You may be the best at what you do but no one is going to pay you for it if they dont value it.

Fact #2: Heavy competition leads to price competition.

Fact #3: If you cant market your business cost-effectively, youll waste all of your income chasing leads.

Fact #4: If you cant hire workers, you cant grow a business.

Business boils down to solving problems of value more efficiently than your competition. Choosing the right market essentially means picking one from which you can generate good leads; for which you afford to hire the right workers; and for which you can afford to buy the right equipment.

Choosing the right market is essential to realizing your financial goals. You cannot overcome a bad market.

Bad markets translate into low profit margins.

Low profit margins mean that you cant afford to pay above market wages. So you will struggle to find reliable, hard working, skilled workers.

Low profit margins mean that you cant afford to take a bath on ANY job. So you sit tight on your foreman, which makes him sit tight on his crews.

That drives good workers away.

When you compare your market to your capabilities, you may discover that the current fit isnt good. Don't fret, you may have several attractive options.

You may find that your current capabilities and services fit a different client than you have traditionally pursued. I see this often. A contractor builds a company perfectly suited for commercial work yet is chasing residential work.

You may find that you need to narrow your focus to a specific size and type of project and become the best, most efficient in that niche. Dont try to be a "full service" shop for every possible client. Thats recipe for certain failure.

If you find yourself in need of a new market, prepare for a tough transition.

You may need to overhaul your marketing system, your selling approach, and possibly your equipment fleet. You may need to let go of some workers and find new ones. Your job costing data may be rendered completely useless.

Your decision will be governed by many factors, not the least of which is the strength of your relationship with your present clients and your companys reputation on the street. If your relationships are strong, you should be able to raise your prices sufficiently to recruit and retain skilled workers. If not, you need to throw those relationships overboard and start anew.

If your street reputation is strongly identified for a given market, rebuild your company around that market or shut it down and open up under a new name. Changing your brand image is almost impossible. Either work within it or flush it.

Nine times out of ten, a haphazard approach to market selection seals the contractor's fate: failure. Great advertising campaigns, superior operations management, and a tight money control will not overcome a poorly selected market.

Did you fail to research the eight basic strategic marketing questions? No time like the present to run through them. It's the first step to building a really successful business.

 

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