Are you constantly trying to learn new things for your business? When I say new things, I’m not just referring to the latest and greatest tools and technologies. I mean the skills needed to run your business, and take it to the next level.
Whether you’re just getting started or you’re running a 3rd generation ten million dollar plus company, it’s important to keep learning. Why? Because things change, or you may find more efficient ways of doing something. Don’t fall prey to the “I’ve been doing it this way for 25 years, and it works” syndrome.
I had a conversation with a plumbing business owner about three years ago. Let’s call him Jim for the purpose of this story. I met Jim at an industry trade show. Upon talking to Jim about what my company could provide him in the way of marketing services, he became very dismissive. “I do it myself” is what he said.
I then asked him a series of questions things that if he were
doing a good job, he would be able to answer pretty easily. Stuff like, what’s your cost per click and issues about quality score. Jim’s answers exposed to me that he was doing things, let’s say not as efficiently as they could be done. But Jim was an expert, so of course he knew it all. In reality, Jim was paying about $40.00 per click more that what he should be paying. Back then Jim was a one truck guy running his route and doing his own marketing.
Today, I still see Jim at the events we attend, and today Jim is still struggling along as a one truck guy. Not because he wants to but because he’s an expert at everything in his business. This is a shame because we know a thing or two about internet marketing and could have helped him out.
I don’t tell you this story to brag about the fact that we are good at what we do, but to share with you that getting outside help or coaching can be a very valuable thing for your business.
What I recommend to any business owner is to hire someone on the outside who can look at your business and drill down into the places that you could use some improvement. A great book I read early on is The E-Myth by Michael Gerber. He also has a version unique to you called The E-Myth for Contractors. It’s this very book that opened my eyes on how to run a business successfully. In my opinion, it’s a fantastic book for helping you scale your business. It should be required reading for any business owner and the go to text book in colleges across the country.
The book will help you change your mindset of being the technician and how to avoid getting trapped in working in the business but rather teach you how to work on the business. If you’re not working on the business, then the business can’t scale because it always will rely on you the technician working in the business.
Another important thing is to hire a business coach. I don’t care how long you have been in business or how big your company is. It’s always powerful to have someone from the outside looking at your company and helping you out. Over the years we have worked with many different coaches in areas of business management, finance, technical aspects and even marketing. This has helped us grow our company to where it is today.
We recently had the honor of spending some time with Al Levy of the 7-Power Contractor. Al is the guru of the contracting industry and the go-to guy for taking your plumbing or HVAC business to the next level. As I write this article, I have just finished reading his book The 7-Power Contractor and must say it’s a fantastic read with transformational ideas. For myself, I can take his ideas and use them in my business which is an Internet Marketing Agency. For you, the Plumbing or HVAC Contractor, it’s a no-brainer and will get you started in the right direction.
