The Small Business Money Machine II

by Jody C. Rookstool

Three Pillars of Success – Part 2 

In Part 1 we learned that the very first thing a business owner must control is their attitude if they truly desire to create a small business money machine.  Attitude is everything when it comes to building a winning culture of success.  Now let’s look at the second pillar of success.

Pillar 2 – Effort and Energy

For most new business owners, this typically is the thing they will say they are the best at; working hard every day.  But controlling your effort and energy is not just about working hard.  I have seen janitors that work hard every day, and I have tremendous respect for them. I grew up in a form where working hard was the only way you survived.  I have learned that working hard is not just about “working hard” as most people; it’s more about channeling your effort in the right areas and possessing passionate energy that goes with that effort. 

Clearly, this second pillar builds on learning to control your attitude that we talked about in Part 1. Managing your effort and energy is not about neglecting every other aspect of your life, particularly your family and personal well-being, but more about laser-focusing your effort and energy on the things that will impact your business and build a foundation of long-term success. 

Let me give you a personal example.  My dad was the hardest working man I have ever seen.  After a failed farm life, he moved to a nearby town when I was in my early twenties and bought a carpet cleaning business. He put in long, hard hours every day cleaning the carpets.  He got up early and worked tirelessly at cleaning carpets for the customers who called. Unfortunately, that business was never worth more when it was time to sell it than it was when he bought it despite his tireless efforts. 

 

It is only now that I have been through 20+ start-ups and have the benefit of seeing successful ventures as well as those that have failed miserably to realize working hard is not enough.  You must work hard on the things that matter most to create a small business money machine.  My dad spent almost every working hour working IN the business and not ON the business. 

Now I can see clearly that had he hired a competent person to clean the carpets, he could have focused his time on going out, talking to business owners and secured commercial contracts. He could have spent his time testing ads and flyers to see what worked to produce the most phone calls at the lowest possible rate. He could have worked on how they answered the phone and converted those calls into appointments. He could have trained his technicians to maximize every job by knowing how to sell upgrades and other services properly.  He could have followed up with customers every six months with a personal call inviting them to get their carpets cleaned again. 

If you are so bogged down in the daily reality of doing the actual work IN your business, you will never create the type of business you want; one that produces profit and runs smoothly even when you are not there.  If you are the one doing all the work, then that is a recipe for longer hours and less pay than you made working for someone else. 

In the early stages of any business, there is certainly no avoiding doing the work and perfecting that process.  You must know your business from the ground up and be able to train and teach others properly.  You can’t learn that without doing it. There is a point where you have to focus your effort and energy on growing your business.  and that requires finding and training people who can do the work IN the business so you have time to focus ON the business and building a company, not just having a job that requires longer hours and more stress than just working for someone else. 

One of the major keys to creating the company you desire is knowing how to focus on your effort on the things that matter the most and long-term impact on your growth and profitability.  If you are always just running around doing the actual work of your company and putting out fires, you will never have the effort and energy that is supposed to be spent on building a foundation of long-term success.

Make sure your best energy each day is spent on things that will impact and grow your business, not just doing the daily work of producing products or performing the service your business delivers.  You have absolute control over how much effort and energy you put towards the things that matter most and will impact your bottom line.

It’s easy to get caught in the trap of always running from fire-to-fire and never having the energy left to put your focus and full energy on those things that will build bottom-line success.  If you are always just putting out fires and doing the work, you will NEVER build a small business money machine; that is a fact you will learn the hard way if you choose to ignore and keep doing things the way you have been doing. For things to change, you must change.