Just wanted to share a couple of things I read last week that re-enforced what is becoming a repeating theme in life...
'The primary predictor of success and happiness in life is our ability to get along with others.' - Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne And...
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A couple of months ago I had a cancellation. As happens from time to time. You just roll with it - because really there is nothing you can do about it, and sometimes it takes the pressure off of an over-booked schedule.
The problem is that it is very easy for a prospect to cancel a job when they haven't made a financial commitment. Unfortunately, as the contractor, you don't have the same flex going the other way. Imagine cancelling at the last minute on a customer - the bad rep you would develop, how you could totally mess up their entire project schedule and that of the other trades, etc... A good friend of mine likes to reply to the question:
'How are you bud?' with 'I'm on the right side of the dirt!' I love that response because it puts everything in perspective. If you are alive, it can be a great day. But these days Busy has become the new Good. Everyday you can hear a conversation go something like this... 'How are you Jim?' 'BUSY!' 'Really eh?' 'Oh yah, crazy busy. Can't keep up!' or... Just a couple of observations about caring I've noticed over the years...
1. When you meet someone who really cares about their work, about people and about helping their customers, well, that experience is usually very remarkable. It is infectious and you can't get enough - it keeps you coming back and telling others about your experience. There is almost nothing I can think of that is better for your customers than genuinely caring about them and the work you do. Not a sale price, not a bonus offer, not branding or packaging. Caring about another human and caring about your work is a very difficult thing to compete against. At best, there may be a company that could care as much as you do, but the deck is stacked heavily in your favour as a micro business owner. On the other hand... This post has nothing to do with painting in particular. It contains a simple piece of advice that I received from a real good friend who worked with me for a couple of years. I learned a lot from him, and one of the sticky-est principles is this...
If making a good first impression is the most important 5% of a job, finishing is the hardest 5% of a job. The way the job ends will be what is most vividly remembered by your client.
At this point you may be tired, behind schedule, over budget, getting impatient, feeling discouraged, etc. You just want it to end, so you can get on with your life... Some people think that self employment is very risky, and that it takes special powers to be able to run a small business.
Others think that working for yourself involves driving a new truck, writing off your lunches, golf every Thursday, and working when you feel like it. The truth is somewhere in the middle... 05/2017 Update: After using Easy Invoice App for over a year and appreciating it's value, I have stopped using it due to a change in their pricing. It may still be a viable option for your business, but for now I have chosen to go back to using a template on my MacBook. A little more work, less utility, but cheaper and not held ransom by a 3rd party app.
The calendar can be an effective agent of change. For the past 11 years I had been generating almost all my sales documents by hand. That means hundreds and hundreds of pages worth of estimates and invoices, all painstakingly hand-written. The thing is, I had experimented with Word and Pages and dabbled with various apps, but nothing seemed to meet my needs. I felt like it was simpler and that it gave my business a craftsman feel. But maybe it was fear of change, laziness to learn a new method, or pure procrastination. Either way, the time had come to try something new. This past January I decided that it was time to commit to switching to digital estimates and invoices. After 2 months of using this particular app to create all my estimates and invoices, I think I found an effective new tool that is an asset to my business. I'd like to share it with you in case you are looking for a simple way to manage this aspect of your business... WHY: PERSPECTIVE CHANGES EVERYTHING
Something stressful will happen at work this week. You will back into a colleague's truck, or you will let a customer down, or a builder will place unreasonable expectations on you, or your cash flow will dry up, or you will end up double or triple booked or short of work for the week, or you will paint the feature colour on the wrong wall, or a homeowner will bounce a cheque on you, or...a thousand other frustrating things will happen to you this week. None of it much matters... In our society we are conditioned from early days to ask for permission for everything and wait expectantly for others to provide our opportunities. This mindset is something that has to be deprogrammed when we take the step of self employment.
You can't just do whatever you want whenever you want - that is a distorted illusion of what being an entrepreneur is all about. However, waiting passively for customers to seek you out, to present you with opportunities, to hire you, is going to be a frustrating and discouraging approach...continued... Part of the process of quickly moving from surviving to thriving in your painting business requires that you be selective in who you work for.
Not all customers are created equal. Learning this principle was a 'light bulb' moment for me, after years of trying to give every customer my best, every time. With a bias towards wanting to be a perfectionist, combined with a desire to treat everyone equally, it was a tough process for me to let go and recognize the need to optimize the service I provided according to the quality of the customer. It is easier to change yourself than to try and change your prospects and clients to fit what you want to provide. Focus on what you can control. Focus on your strengths. Focus on results. A little backstory... Just wanted to share a few positive and inspiring talks I've enjoyed recently that might open some new lines of thinking about business and life...
WHY: TIME IS YOUR REAL CURRENCY
So I've read a couple of brief blog posts lately that have got me thinking... You work hard for your money. I know you do. I paint everyday like you, and I personally know a lot of painters. The cash flow can be pretty good if you are smart and hard working and good with people and a little bit lucky. But the point is you earn your money. What you chose to do with that money is where things get interesting... So 2 months ago I spent a good amount of time scraping 20 layers of peeling paint off the wood siding of a house originally built in 1908. It wasn't much fun. The homeowner suggested I try her fancy scrapers. I politely took them, eventually tried them for a few minutes and quickly dismissed them as not much better than my trusty old standard scrapers. Promptly went back to what was familiar. Familiarity feels good.
Fast forward two weeks... Last week on the blog we looked at Red Flags - signs that the project ahead may get stressful.
This week let's consider what could be another early sign that your prospective client may not be a good fit for your business. If your client right away attempts to turn your service into a commodity by asking what you charge per square foot, or how much you charge per hour, this could be a clear sign that their project won't be a good fit for your business. Why?... After over a decade of dealing with a variety of customers and situations, I've learned the hard way to recognize 'red flags' that potentially pose a risk to my business and peace of mind. The best protection I have found is to avoid working for certain prospects and projects. The 3 main red flags that I pick up on are:
1. Unreasonable expectations. A year a half ago I received a phone call that perfectly illustrates this red flag. In the middle of peak season a lady called and asked if we are available to paint the interior of her house in short order. She needed it done in two weeks. But there was a catch - she was on a very tight budget. Normally I like to look at every job, but I didn't think there was any way we could squeeze it in and the low margin was not an incentive to even try. Out of curiously I asked what the size of the house was. She replied 5000 square feet. That was pretty much the end of the conversation. For our small and busy business there was no way we could even think of taking this on. Going any further would have been a complete waste of both of our time. When I started my business I had a very keen desire to help everyone and try to take on every job. This was not modest and it exposed me to quite a bit of stress and risk. As a rule of thumb a job consists of three factors - quality, scheduling and cost. I can usually accommodate 2 out of 3 (as long as one factor is quality). If someone expects all three, or makes other unreasonable demands, it's time to reset expectations or walk away... In photography there is a particularly desirable time to shoot. Most photographers try to make use of the time just before and just after sunrise or sunset. The angle of the light at that time makes for beautiful colours and rich images. Photographers call this time Magic Hour because the light can be stunningly beautiful, giving the photos a 'magical' look (search 'magic hour photos' under google images for examples).
Over the years I've come to appreciate that there is a 'magic hour' in painting as well. It is a window of time where everything you do seems to take half the time it would take at any other point in the day. Where everything you do seems to be worth double. I'm not sure how it works, so it sorta feels like magic... Many of us have used a 'Pros and Cons' list to help us make an important decision. But is it the best way to come to a wise decision?
We could make a pros and cons list of using a pros and cons list, just for fun... PROS - provides a thorough dissection of the significant factors - gets all the ideas out of your head - it's a record of factors if you want to go back and second guess yourself - easy way to consider options and the opinions of other parties CONS - can slow down decision making, which can cost you money or opportunities - analysis paralysis - it equally weights all the factors - (whereas one Con could be more important than all the Pros, or vice-versa) - it will help you rationalize a bad decision Humans are wired to make choices based on deep-set and powerful emotional drivers. We then use logical data to rationalize and explain our decisions. 'I had to get that new $40000 truck - it gets better fuel economy than my old truck. And that old thing is gonna need new tires soon. I got a good trade in allowance and got a discount. I needed another tax write-off, and well, I couldn't afford not to do it!' Meanwhile some of our real reasons for getting it was because it's our favourite colour, it makes us feel successful, it can tow the camper better and it's pretty exciting to pull the trigger on a big purchase. But those reasons don't always go over too well with the accountant. Or our spouse. There is a better way... And now for something completely random...
Today as I was painting a storefront on a busy street, conversations kept walking by behind me. But I could only hear a sentence, or half a sentence, if a truck wasn't driving by at the time. After a while I began to notice out of the random chatter a few words that were loud enough to discern, and then just as quickly the words faded and disappeared. It was pretty cool. Then I began listening for them and recording a few. I wondered...did these random conversations build a story? What was the narrative on Fort Street today? It was a fun way to engage with my environment while working. I imagine it might be similar to the way a blind person might experience a walk down the street - how sounds become more noticeable and create a picture. These quotes are written down in order in which I heard them... Earlier this year I met a young man who was dealing with all the challenges of a start-up. But he was determined to succeed and kept going in the face of adversity. Several months passed and he really started to hit his stride. He finished the season on target and thriving. I needed to know what factors helped him to enjoy a quick progression to success. Jesse was kind enough to sit down with me for a long-format interview and share a few nuggets...
What got you interested in painting? I was actually never really interested in painting. I came across a College Pro booth at Uvic, and it said "Entrepreneurs Start Here." I am in school for entrepreneurship, so naturally I ran over to the booth and began asking questions. However, this experience certainly has me more interested in the painting industry than I ever thought I would be. How would you say your first season went? Biggest challenge? Biggest success? In the end, my first season could not have gone much better. I ended up running the largest first year Franchise in BC's history. My biggest challenge was dealing with setbacks. I had all of these plans going into the year, and it seemed like everything was going wrong. I had painters quit on me, upset clients, and I was also working more than 100+ hours a week in the beginning. I had to learn how to adapt to the situation quickly, and learn how to keep moving the business forward no matter what the situation was. One of the biggest reasons I chose to take on this venture in the first place was for the learning. Therefore, my biggest success would be learning everything that I wanted along the way. I feel like I have grown more as an individual in such a short amount of time than I ever thought possible. I feel like I am capable of achieving anything I set my mind to (which is something I've always believed), but now I have proof. Also, before CPP I thought I knew a lot. I have now learned more than I ever thought possible, and feel like I know less than any other time before. This is incredibly exciting for me because I now know I still have so much more to learn. I know you faced some significant challenges getting up and running. How did you manage to overcome them, stay positive and reach your goals?... Capacity: 'the maximum amount that something can contain'
'the ability or power to do, experience or understand something' I love my morning green tea or dark coffee from a press. I love to drink it on the go out of my favourite house mug, not a travel mug. So there I am in the truck with a full mug of hot tea with no lid. It's dumb - especially because I like a clean truck. But I keep doing it, foolishly believing that all roads will be smooth today. Maybe I'm an optimist. Everyone has their own capacity mentally, physically, financially, creatively. We have limits. There are only so many things we can pay attention to, only so many things we can accomplish. And it's different for everyone... Life is too short to be miserable for 40+ hours each week.
1. Self-employed painters have agency in their work life. They choose which jobs they will take and how the project will be completed. 2. Self-employed painters enjoy the satisfaction of seeing daily results. Their work creates a significant visible affect. 3. Self-employed painters have a fair measure of novelty in their work. New projects, new customers, new colours, new challenges. Interior work, exterior work. New is invigorating and stimulating. It creates opportunities to learn new skills... A dollar saved is worth 2 earned.
1. Make the call. Paint companies have reps. Some are hungry for your business. Compare prices annually and negotiate more favourable terms. Make it an annual thing - blame the calendar ("I'm making my annual call to all my suppliers to review my pricing for 2016"). Some companies will go as far as they need to in order to win your business. If you buy a decent amount of paint, you will have some leverage. Of course, price should not be your only concern when choosing a supplier. And everyone needs to make a living. A good supplier is like an ally to your business. A good price is important to your bottom line, but so is service, knowledge, stock levels, amount of locations, product range, quality, and so on. Weigh out all the factors, but don't assume you are currently getting the best price you may qualify for. Don't overpay for loyalty and convenience. If you buy $10,000/year in paint and can negotiate 5% savings, that is $500! 2. Consider switching to a lower quality line. With all the advancements in paint technology, you may not need to pay $40+/gallon for zero VOC, good quality paint. Shop around and learn about the latest offerings available. A newer, cheaper paint might preform better than your older, more expensive 'premium' paint. If you buy 2 gallons per day, saving $5/gallon might add up to $2400!... The two best days to hire a bookkeeper are the day you open your business, and alternatively, today.
Tomorrow is the wrong day to hire a bookkeeper. Tomorrow means it's not a priority and can be put off until it becomes critical. Which is definitely is the wrong day, because when it becomes critical it means it's costing you a lot of money. Money because you have to take time away from producing and serving customers and allocate it to organizing that you put off in the past. Money because you likely will have lost or missed claimable expenses. Money because you may face penalties and interest for late remittances for GST, taxes, WCB and maybe payroll remittances. Money because you may not receive rebates and refunds you may be entitled to. Two reasons you may be putting this off are because it requires a little work to get organized. But a bookkeeper can walk you through the process and help you with all that paper work stuff. A second reason may be because you feel it's too expensive - you just can't afford it. Let's analyze that one a bit closer... |
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