So, you finally did it! You told that stupid SOB of a boss what an idiot he was and how you weren’t going to take orders from him or anyone anymore.
You probably did like many before you: You went right out and bought yourself a white van, parked it in your driveway and figured the phone would ring off the hook if you did good work and didn’t rip people off like your old boss. After all, you don’t need a lot of money since you can work cheap.
Congratulations, you’re a new business owner!
OK, how’s it going so far?
The unfortunate reality is that without a map in hand, you’re doomed to be one of the nine out of 10 small businesses that fail within the first few years. They learn a bit too late that fixing stuff is not enough. Being well-liked is not enough. Charging less than the other guy and being a bargain is not enough.
Isn’t working out quite the way you planned?
Take heart that, like you, many of the successful plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical contractors I’ve been lucky enough to work with didn’t get a business education before they went into business. But, they didn’t stay business illiterate for long.
Here’s what most of them had already learned prior to working with me. It’s very tough going it all alone. You tend to fall into a ton of holes and you spend most of your days fighting the daily fires. There’s no strategy; no time, energy or money left to build a successful and profitable business.
They come to realize before the breaking point that just like when they were techs, they were only as good as their technical knowledge and their tools. And to be a successful business owner, they’d now have to get their business education by spending their time, energy and money. They begin by reading the right business books, attending the right workshops, joining the right business trade associations and yes, hiring the right business consultants. They learn that as an owner, you're only as good as your business knowledge and your business tools.
Are you ready to see a road map?
Would you like to know what it takes to own and operate a successful company?
Road Map To Success: Here’s what I teach business owners both new and old when we work together, whether they want to grow their companies bigger or they want to manage the big company they’ve created better - you need to master the Seven Power Concepts.
The fundamentals of owning and operating any business are remarkably the same. There are seven major areas that require your attention as an owner. I call this The Power Concept.
Here’s what I want you to do. Start by reviewing each area, and then rate it on a scale of one to five to locate your company’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as your own.
The Power Concepts to go from powerless to powerful are as follows:
Staffing Power is all about recruiting, hiring and training for every position at your company. Based on all of the other power concepts, you must acknowledge that training is essential to your success. Never stop training. Learn to be open to recruiting raw talent. Become excellent at training and communicating through effective meetings. This requires the development of the skills of an excellent presenter.
These seven Power Concepts are the foundation of a sound business plan. Once you have the goal, you need to prioritize the many projects and steps it will take to reach that goal. A plan for prioritizing and implementing projects can trigger you to assess, plan, take action and inspect those things you know you need to implement. A thorough needs assessment should do the following:
- Learn what you’re doing right so you can do more of it.
- Learn what you need to stop doing before you fail.
- Learn what you need to begin doing and its potential benefits.
Before you can get plugged into the kind of power I’m talking about, you need to make an honest assessment of where you are today - and where you want to be in the future.
EXERCISE - Rate Your Power Rate each area in The Power Concept on a scale of one to five to locate your company’s strengths and weaknesses.
- 1 = Powerless
2 = Have some systems
3 = Currently working on improving
4 = Close to powerful
5 = I’ve got the Power!
Operating Power 1 2 3 4 5
Financial Power 1 2 3 4 5
Selling Power 1 2 3 4 5
Marketing Power 1 2 3 4 5
Staffing Power 1 2 3 4 5
Leadership Power 1 2 3 4 5
Sales Coaching Power 1 2 3 4 5
Now prioritize the areas you need to work on in your company.
Operating Power Priority #_____
Financial Power Priority #_____
Selling Power Priority #_____
Marketing Power Priority #_____
Staffing Power Priority #_____
Leadership Power Priority #_____
Sales Coaching Power Priority #_____
Master these Power Concepts and you’ll be on your way to taking control of your business and your life. And nothing is more empowering than that.