I spent a lot of last week helping small companies get organised and get out of their own way.
Mostly service businesses. Owners stuck in the van, trying to find a way out of the vehicle and into the office. Working on the business, not in it.
One of these was George King, for my podcast. We talked about scaling his tree surgery business, and it’s out now on YouTube (link at the bottom of this email).
It took me straight back to those days. How do you juggle all those balls and employ new people to take over your role?
You just have to dive in. Give up some of your money to them for a while, until the time you’ve freed up brings more customers your way. Better systems. Better processes.
When I look back, the technicians could only do 80% of what I could do. The line managers were only as good as the training they’d had, so I had to spend more time training them.
Everything is your responsibility. Everything stops with you.
It’s an unbelievable leap of faith, paying people to do what you used to do. But that’s how you change from an entrepreneur into a business owner. Into an investor-preneur.
Making the difference is tough.
Making the difference is hard.
It’s meant to be tough and hard.
Because that’s what turns you into the person who can cope with it all. The difficulty is what makes the new you.
Without the awkward days, the better versions of yourself won’t come to the surface. As horrible, gritty, spiky and nasty as they feel, they’re actually some of your best days.
You just need to work out how to get through them without falls so big, and scars so deep, that you can’t get back up again.
Over the weekend I had some good time out of environment with my best mate, James Sinclair.
He’s still got his dodgy knee and needs to do more walking and get confident being upright on that leg. So we took off along the side of the river. Wildlife. Narrow boats. The whole world slowing to a nice easy pace.
And we bantered. The future. Technology. Modelling and tweaking businesses. How margins are changing with what’s happening to taxes. Leaning into the problem with growth.
That out of environment thing really is key. It lets you come at things from a different angle, especially when you’re with someone of real quality who’s ahead of you, or on your level. That’s when the good stuff gets hatched.
You hear me talk about this a lot. I think it’s the secret sauce.
You can’t see the wood for the trees when you’re too far in. Get too engrossed in the micro and you lose the bigger picture and the long game.
Which brings me to this week.
James and I are off to the NEC Caravan and Motorhome Show. Taking the day off like a couple of naughty schoolboys bunking off lessons.
It’s ridiculous. We’ve both run companies for years and years. Yet taking a day to explore something we’re genuinely into feels like truancy.
But I know exactly what’ll happen.
We’ll be working out what things really cost. I wonder what that stand cost to put on? Why don’t they do this? They’ve missed a trick there. Why would you use that colour? What’s that copy saying? That doesn’t make me want to buy. That’s a great idea. Look at those guys, that’s really different. I’m taking a picture of that.
The inquisitive brain, sucking up as much as it can. Swipe and deploy from anywhere you can find it.
So chin up. Face forward. Carry on marching.
And if I’m lucky, I’ll see you again.
James
P.S You can watch my podcast with George here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZPMejN8BKI
P.P.S I’m holding a one-off event in Essex on 19th November - “Van Man To Millionaire” - one day focused entirely on transforming a service based business. Head to https://www.baddowpark.com/van-man-to-millionaire to find out more and book your seat!