Tricia Huebner tells QSC members to establish systems to
create a successful business.
Photo credit: Bob Miodonski/Plumbing & Mechanical.
How you think about your business - from the perspective of a technician, manager or entrepreneur - will determine how you run it, saidTricia Huebner, a business coach with E-Myth Worldwide. In other words, if you think like a technician, you’ll operate your business like one.
“The true entrepreneur starts a business with the idea of selling a business,” she told members of the Quality Service Contractors March 12-13 during their Power Meeting in Houston. “Most businesses are started by technicians who are seized by the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s an interesting dynamic of having a business vs. having a job.
“You really bought yourself a job when you started your business, and you work for a guy - you - who is probably as crazy as the guy you used to work for.”
The e-myth (the “e” stands for entrepreneur, not electronic) states that you’ll make more money, enjoy more time off and have more control if you own your own business, Huebner said. If the business needs you to do the work so that it can succeed, however, then you won’t have the time to strategize for the company’s future success.
“In some ways, you’d be better off starting a business you know nothing about,” she said. “You’d work on your business, not in it. You’d hire someone else to do the work.”
Most small businesses do not take the time to establish systems or train and develop their employees. The real task of a manager is to build systems for a business, not to run around supervising people and answering all their questions, Huebner said.
“I hear business owners say, ‘Why did I not write these systems down as I was developing them?’” she said. “That’s your proprietary way of doing business. That’s the value of your business. It’s what you show your buyers so they don’t have to buy you or your people.”
Also at the meeting,Doug Santoroof General Plumbing in West Palm Beach, Fla., was sworn in as 2010-2011 chair of the QSC Board of Trustees. Other board members are:
- Vice Chair Roger Fouche of Schaal Heating & Cooling
in Des Moines, Iowa;
- Janet Friesenhahn of Friesenhahn Plumbing in
San Antonio;
- Tina Hedrick of Ray A. Shaffer Inc. in
Schwenksville, Pa.;
- Bob Macca of Macca Plumbing & Heating in
Hartford, Conn.;
- Brian Williams, Ashton Service Group,
Richmond, British Columbia; and
- Industry Partner Representative Scott Ziegler of Hodes Co.
A highlight of the meeting was a casino night and silent auction, which raised more than $14,000 for the Challenge Air for Kids and Families charity. In addition, QSC members contributed $11,500 to the PHCC Educational Foundation’s “Invest in Your Future” program, which funds educational programs and Auxiliary scholarships.
QSC is an enhanced service group of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors – National Association.
