Our family’s mission is to be a light through wisdom, adventure, and time around the table.
Our family mission ties directly into the mission we have here at Business On Purpose which is to liberate heroic business owners, just like you, from the chaos of working IN your business.
So that you can ENJOY your business, maximize the impact that it can have on your family and your community, and make time for what matters most!
For a ground rule...IGNORE THE NOISE and distraction…
“It pays to curate the incoming, to ignore the noise, and to engage with voices who are willing to show their work.”
We are about to SHOW you our work. It’s up to YOU to implement
Surveying hundreds of heroic business owners just like you over the past few years we have heard loud and clear one of the biggest challenges that you face in your business...the feeling that you will never be able to step away from your business b/c you are SO busy working IN your business.
Imagine the day, a lady named Josephine comes walking in your workspace, opens up a combo-locked suitcase and says simply…
“I am ready to buy your business at a 4 times multiple of your annual earnings IN CASH right here on the spot...with two conditions…
...First, we have to be able to run your business the same EXACT way that you run your business right now, from the sales calls, to the payroll schedule, to the lead generation, to the production and everything in between. I will not require you stay on an earn out...but we need the entire business map so your valued customers will never feel the switch…
Second, you have 30 minutes to make your decision and we will expect the roadmap to be in our hands and training to begin immediately using ONLY that roadmap as our training (you will not be allowed to “wing” any of it from your head!”
Could you do it?
You might say, “No one would ever do that.” Ummm, we’ve seen crazier.
Then you will say, “that is totally unreasonable to expect that a business owner would have her entire business mapped out SO THAT THE TEAM COULD RUN IT.”
Or is it?
We can say with definition that your business is certainly more “sellable” with a comprehensive systems roadmap in place because your team can run it!
Of course, this entire example may be totally lost you on because you would never have the intention of selling your business anyway.
No problem.
But wouldn’t you like your business to depend LESS on you, and more on the RIGHT TEAM? That is a business that compensates you with intentional time, meaningful freedom, and the money to pay for it all?
Don’t you want your business to help facilitate your passions and convictions? To serve others without killing yourself?
Wouldn’t you love to do what Eric Burton did, and leave your business for 31 days and it would continue to hum along?
We have determined through our own experience that about 8 out of 10 Small Business Owners are being OWNED by their business which means that even if they wanted to sell, no one would ever pay to OWN a business THAT OWNS THEM!
How do we break out of the prison of our own business?
How do we finally get off the treadmill?
How do we stop constantly putting out fires and feeling pulled in 17 different directions?
How do we stop the habit of throwing Hail Mary’s in our business everyday?
One way to try is to simply continue doing things the way you have been doing them. Of course, we know where that leads...INSANITY!
The other way is to replicate the delivery of every part of our small business and make it so predictable others can run it the EXACT SAME WAY WE WOULD.
And, it also gives those team members the FREEDOM to use their skill set instead of being slowed by confusion.
We are so obsessed about trying to find the right people…when in reality the more predictable strategy is to build a great SYSTEM where a variety of people can come join in.
Remember the old Jewish phrase?
In Jewish lore, there is a powerful statement that we have found to hold true since the centuries it was first written, “Write the Vision down so that those who read it may run!”
The same is true for the processes that make up the Vision. In fact, we may even make our own statement to say, “Write the processes down so that those who read AND IMPLEMENT THEM, may run...the business!”
Truth is...if you don’t write it down...you don’t OWN it…and neither can your team
Did you know that your business doesn’t have to own you?
Did you know that you DON’T have to feel like you are on a treadmill?
Did you know that owning a small business doesn’t have to feel like a daily cliff dive with no visibility and no parachute?
Owning a business can be the ultimate opportunity to set others free to live in their skill set, to serve customers, employees family’s, vendors, your local community, and your global community...all at the same time!!!
That’s right. Your business can be a MASSIVE force for living out your convictions and serving others. BUT, it will never get there by doing the things that got you to this point.
As I built this presentation, over my screen was an incredible view of the tidal creek behind our house in the lowcountry of South Carolina. It is a constant reminder of a real, living, breathing process that just operates on auto-pilot every day.
Behind our house, the tide comes in anywhere between 7-9’, and then six hours later is completely empty. That’s right, 7-9’ of water floods the marsh and then completely empties out...EVERY 6 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds the tide comes in and the tide comes out...EVERYDAY!
The tides are a process. Just like the earth’s rotation and the seasons are a process. Processes are simply a “a series of repeatable actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end”.
When process is NOT in place, what you may get is creative, but it will not be repeatable creativity...and if it is not repeatable then OTHER people will not run it the way you want them to…they will make it up as they go.
When process IS in place, what you get is a replication of the original creativity. I’m so glad the sunset is a process, b/c it is something that we like to enjoy on repeat!
When you are starting your business, every time you bake that cake, repair that brake, or stack that crate, you are doing something that could be processed so you NEVER have to do it again…AND you are equipping someone else to live out their unique skill set.
When you process all of the individual steps, you are equipping and empowering others to bake that cake, fix that brake, or stack that crate so that you can focus on the other elements of serving customers, like payables, receivables, inventory, and office management.
Then once those are processed, then you are again equipping and empowering others to facilitate payables, receivables, inventory, and office management, soooooo that you can focus on generating new leads and onboarding new customers.
Then once those are processed, then you are again equipping and empowering others to facilitate to….
Hint: Rinse and Repeat
Do you see where this is going?
Imagine you had EVERY process in your business documented. It could be written down, it could be recorded on video…regardless, it brings massive clarity to every one you might bring into the business.
Imagine, just like NASA has EVERY single detail of flying a spaceship to the documented...imagine that you had EVERY process in your business documented.
THEN, once documented, you focused the majority of your time on training the processes to capable people who could replicate your brilliance and creativity!
Every basic franchise has done it from hamburgers to window washing. That’s what a franchise IS. When you buy a franchise, you are essentially buying a process map to walk you step by step through how to make a hamburger, or pick up garbage, or unload a truck, or change brake pads, or build websites.
Franchises exist for EACH of those services and thousands more.
I’m not even saying that you want to franchise your business...but wouldn’t it be great if others could run your business with the same clarity, MISSION and focus that you run your business with?
IT CAN HAPPEN!
You can do it!
See you at the top!
INSERT MOTIVATIONAL CLICHE HERE!
Welcome to the process map. On this one magic sheet of paper, you will document the title of EVERY major process that makes your business work.
With this one magic sheet of paper, the process clarity that comes with, AND (never forget) LOTS OF REPETITIOUS IMPLEMENTATION, you will create a repeatable business that pushes you towards your Vision, consistently lives out your mission, and is completely in line with your unique core values.
With this one magic sheet of paper, you will have built a curriculum for training that will make you feel like you are running a full-scale business university for your team. Training will become a hallmark of your small business. The product will become less and less the focus and training your team to deliver a great product will increase with habit and time.
Story: Gerrick Taylor planting 52 palm trees...now GT spends his days working ON Taylors (vision planning, training, pioneering new locations, etc.) and coaching middle school football
In order to create a business that could run without you, you must build a team that is excited to run without you…which means you must build a map that accurately reflects your business so those who read it may run.
Welcome to the construction of a business.
In business, we tend to get distracted by what is on the outside. We see logos, signs, branding, and products and we think “Wow, they are CRUSHING IT!”
While inside, the owner of that business feels like they are the ones being crushed by the weight of chaos and burden. They own the business…but in reality, the business owns them and they feel like somewhere deep inside what they have really built is a house of cards.
Every business has five cornerstones, on concrete slab foundation, and four wall systems.
These are the PRINCIPLES of the business…
Harrington Emerson, the American efficiency engineer known for his pioneering contributions to the field of management, once said, “As to methods (processes), there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The person who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The person who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.”
Let’s dive into PRINCIPLES
First, the five foundational cornerstones of every business, whether you are building homes, remodeling back porches, selling ice cream
Next, every business must have a sturdy concrete foundation that is made up of the ingredients of culture and planning.
Finally, every business has four primary systems that must operate with repetition and predictability… again, whether they are selling sport coats, architectural services, or decking products.
We must be careful that we are not so lost and distracted by the day to day fires of payables, receivables, sub-contract challenges, material delays…and instead, we build systems and people to work through that while YOU focus on the emotionally taxing and important work of working ON the business.
Don’t become so focused on the beauty of the interior design, that you forget to take care of the foundation.
To understand each of these is to build a business that makes time for what matters most with the one resource that is non-renewable…your time.
Talk to business owner after business owner and the one thing they will constantly preach is equipping and training their team. Talent grows as training grows, yet too many of us rely on “raw talent” and get burned in the end.
Give me world-class training with average talent who implements EVERYDAY over world-class talent and average training...EVERYDAY.
The little known secret is when you begin to offer world-class to average talent...the talent will eventually rise to the training!
Let me show you how to build a process roadmap that will buy you time for what matters most and get you off of the treadmill!
SHOW PROCESS ROADMAP and highlight…
“Yeah, Scott… we’ve got this… but it’ll just sit on the shelf like everything else”
You’re right…IF YOU LET IT.
So where do you put it so you will use it?
YOUR TEAM MEETINGS
Allow me to give you a real-life example.
Our BOP Coaching team realized we had a breakdown in our New Client Onboarding process. One of our coaches brought this up, we added it to our Weekly Coaches Meeting written agenda…we reviewed it as a team.
Our process was updated, our Master Process Roadmap reflected it, and we moved on
The greatest gift you can give your business and your team is the gift of clarity from chaos.
How? IMPLEMENTATION.
I will take a half-baked plan with full implementation versus a perfect plan with half-baked implementation.
I quote Joe Calloway all of the time because it is so powerful, “Vision without IMPLEMENTATION is hallucination”.
If you take time to build out proper software with a proper processes, you will have greater clarity in the WHO of your business.
Josephine is standing with a briefcase of cash…could you take the deal??
Find out right now…while you are sitting here and we go into Q&A time, I want you to scan this QR code and take this Healthy Owner Assessment that will give you a tangible metric as to the health of your business.
It’s free and wildly helpful.
The U of SC football program had just won the first Bowl Game in the 100-year-plus history of the school.
After joining the rugged and tough SEC in 1992, the Gamecocks were still struggling to be the elite SEC teams like Florida and Tennessee.
Tennessee had a young QB with a head-turning last name…Manning. We had a pony-tailed enthusiast named Taneyhill, along with two offensive lineman, two running backs all headed eventually to the NFL.
We were desperate for a signature win in the SEC.
JAMES DEXTER STORY at Tennessee turning the table over, driving down to the five yard line
Often, in life, sports, and business, we do desperate things in desperate times in order to solve desperate problems.
The last 2 years have created a desperate longing. Let’s articulate the challenge that you are up against today.
PAIN - Skyrocketing material and sub Pricing, Uncertainty, Subcontractor frustrations, Schedule delays, unrealistic clients, and PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE!
Let’s think through some of the desperate things you (or someone you know) may have tried in the midst of a desperate situation in your business…
We are running around, spinning in circles, a slave to an over-heated market, the client, to the employee, to the sub, to the vendor.
And we just want it to STOP. Just for a second so we can catch our breathe.
Talked to a custom builder in Kentucky two weeks ago who said, “I’m actually looking forward to a market slow down.” I was waiting for lightning to strike.
You had a grueling week, and then you have a Saturday where you are fired up about a late breakfast where you are going to eat donuts, cinnamon roles, pancakes, bacon, cheese grits… then after you’re done, you turn on a game on tv watching world-class athletes and think, “I need to work out!”
Chaos can often translate to unhealthy habits because we are vulnerable. In the chaos of the pricing increases or material delays, we tend to rest in the false comfort of cash flow, while KNOWING that we are neglecting the discipline of purpose, process, and systems that will create a long term FIT-ness for us, our team, and the mission we are on in our business.
I’ve seen it reported recently that both Quarterback Russel Wilson and basketball mega-star Lebron James each spend over $1 million on the health and fitness of their mind and body.
Here is a hard reality…trying to control pricing and material logistics is like trying to control the weather…you can’t control the weather, BUT you can forecast and adjust plans based on the latest information…and PRE-PARE.
I love the world prepare…it’s actually two words in Latin
How do we make ourselves and our business ready BEFORE the next step?
A friend of mine, Chad Jeffers is the lead Dobro player for Carrie Underwood. He was passing through Columbia, SC a couple of years ago as we were in town and we had coffee in the lobby of the downtown hotel he and the other band members were staying at.
I asked Chad a simple question that I had never asked, “what is it like to play in front of all of those people?” His response was sobering.
He mentioned that most nights he forgets where he is at, and that the “repetition of the event” can get quite boring. In order to be great and find joy in touring, you’ve got to go back to THE FITNESS of your repetition and training.
In preparation for Carrie Underwood’s Las Vegas residency shows, Chad said…
"Typically for tours (including Vegas) we will rehearse for a month and half to 2 months (7 days a week) prior to the first show. Personally, i prepare for the rehearsals about a month prior to that (especially if we are learning new music). "
Kobe Bryant was 41 when he and his daughter died tragically in a helicopter crash in January of 2020.
He was notorious for his relentless work ethic. Writers Scott Davis and Connor Perrett chronicle some of Bryant’s more remarkable disciplines.
Here is a question for us. It’s easy to scream, yell, turn over tables, run out of the tunnel with a new idea, rally the troops for a momentary push.
What about you? In the face of unpredictable pricing and material concerns, and personnel challenges, and disrupted construction schedules…will you commit to play BEFORE the lights come on??
The best bourbon is PREPARED before it’s aged and evaporated.
The best wine is PREPARED with full ingredients before it sits.
Some of you are coming to the BuildExpo hoping for a hail mary, hoping for a silver bullet, a bright idea that will change the game for you.
I want to offer you something else.
When explorer Ernest Shackleton was preparing for his Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he needed the right team. It is said that he published an advertisement…
"Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."
The advertisement may not be true, but Shackleton’s expedition with his crew aboard the “Endurance” was heroic and transformative for an entire British society.
Reading through Alfred Lansing’s aptly titled book “Endurance”, you realize what kept Shackleton and his 27-man crew alive during months of isolation and loneliness in what has been billed as one of the most remarkable pictures of survival in modern history.
What two things kept these men going, when all other expeditions facing similar challenges, died?
FITness and repetition.
In the new unpredictability, do you want to stop spending your days putting out silly fires? You want to discover REAL purpose in your business? You want to make time for what matters most?
To emerge out of the fog in this unpredictable market, you must commit to great preparation by becoming F.I.T.
The most fundamental step to creating a FIT business, is to painstakingly spend time on the fundamentals. Blocking, tackling, throwing, catching
The second step in becoming FIT, is to…
We must go back to the fundamentals, we must invest in people, and in order to restore business FITness in an unpredictable reality, we must…
FINAL STORY:
FITness is no longer optional.
Les and Sara Claxton…Les PREPARED, he made ready, everything is volatile in his world…and he was ready.
Are you?
ACTION: Which of the 3, needs to be your 1st priority after you get out of your seat?
Fundamentals?
Invest In People?
Trail A Mentor
If you want to test your business fitness, go to mybusinessonpurpose.com/healthy
After months of spending time with and getting to know a construction contractor partnership we got to the point where they thought, “We really need help.”
After a few days, they came back and said, “I think we’ll really be ready in about six months… what do you think?”
This is a multi-million dollar, 40-employee business where each partner is having to stay at the office till 10 pm many evenings just to ensure that all of the moving parts of their business and life is being held up. They are spinning plates, juggling balls, throwing hail mary’s, and hoping that when all is tallied up at the end of each year that they have more money than when they began.
I asked simply, “what will be different in six months?”
They looked at each other at a loss for thought, “probably nothing” they replied.
In that moment I had a decision to make, give in to their excuses, or tell them the truth.
The truth is that they have the bones of a great, legacy business and yet they are at risk of losing their friendship and their family if they continue down the hair-on-fire path they were currently on.
I decided to respond with the mind of a coach instead of the mind of a placater, “you need to make time to begin right now…you have no time to waste, and if you do kick the can down the road, you will never get that time back…and time is ticking fast.”
They did not hesitate and we began a powerful coaching relationship.
Not everyone is ready for coaching. In fact, we have a 26-point checklist that each of our coaches use to determine the fit of an ideal client.
There are three questions we ask in particular that tell us if an entrepreneur and business owner are ready for a coaching relationship.
First, are they willing to make time for coaching and implementation?
We are told by many business owners, I can’t find the time. You will never magically find time… there is no more time to be found. We are all allotted the same quantity distributed at the exact same frequency.
There is no more time to find.
Instead, will you manufacture your schedule in such a way that you prioritize the content of your coaching to learn, install, and implement?
You must take the time you have and make it conform to your vision.
Coaching is not primarily counseling where you layout a problem and then discuss psychological mechanisms to leverage in the future when those situations arise (although there is plenty of psychology in coaching).
Coaching is game-planning, forethought, scouting, play-calling, no-nonsense communication, enforcing repetition, accountability, and motivation. Coaching is not cheerleading and empty flattery.
You are being coached for one reason... to be liberated from business chaos, so you can make time for what matters most.
Second question we ask is, "Is the business owner or entrepreneur willing to do everything we ask them to do based on the roadmap?"
A sports coach is not taking implementation cues from the player…a sports coach is leading the player into the direction they wish to go. Want to win a championship? It is the coach's job to help you get there. Want to build a team legacy? It is the coach’s job to help you get there.
I’ve seen it before when the coach loses her zeal for accountability, repetition, and implementation, rarely does the player take that responsibility on themselves. The coach creates a roadmap for the player.
Is the player willing to follow the roadmap even when it seems incongruent?
A final question we ask is, “does the business owner or entrepreneur have more money coming in the front door than is going out the back door?”
We have become too comfortable with what I’ll call day-to-day debt. Assuming that it is normal and customary for us to credit-card and line-of-credit ourselves into and out of situations.
We can brag on our profit and loss statements all day, but we all know inherently those are usually numbers on a page instead of cash in accounts.
In every business we have ever worked with, there are leaks, holes in the financial hull of the business. It is normal, but we should never be lulled into being ok with the holes long-term. Instead, we want to plug the holes and shutter the back door where appropriate payables get shipped out, but everything else is retained for reinvestment or just fun profit!
If the business is in a tailspin habit of spending tomorrow’s deposits on yesterday's payables, it is hard for anyone to help that situation without major intervention.
We’re not looking for perfectly healthy businesses, we are looking for business owners and entrepreneurs who have real desire to grow, to do things differently, leading them to a place where they are liberated from chaos.
In short, it is time to hire a coach when you are ready to do things different, to make time for the things that really matter, and follow principled leadership and wisdom in the mapped-out repetition of great discipline that leads to freedom.
Delegation… handing off things to your team to allow you to do what ONLY you need to be doing in your business. It’s powerful and necessary, but how do you take a task from delegation to done the right way? Well, let’s talk about that today.
Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
So last week I sat in on an interview and we were discussing how the candidate had implemented change in places he has worked before. And he introduced to us his process for delegating and training tasks. I just started smiling as he basically explained to us what we ask our business owners to do when they let go of certain tasks and hand it off to the rest of the team.
He explained it in simple terms in a 4 step process that I’ll walk you through today.
First, there’s a directive. A verbal communication of what is being asked to do. If you want someone to take over-invoicing all new clients and getting their payment set up, they have to be told it’s their responsibility now.
It never fails, we hear business owners complain all the time that things aren’t getting done. When we drill down a bit, they have taught them how to do the task, they have even let them do it from time to time, but they have never communicated that this is now on their job role and 100% (or however much you desire) of the responsibility and execution of the task is handed over. There has to be a directive that tells them what the expectation now is.
From there, comes coaching. A fully built-out process that explains step by step how to you would like it done. Leaving absolutely nothing out. Don’t say, oh well they should know how to do that part… I promise you, it is worth your time to write every step out with pictures or a video teaching them how to do it.
Doing it alongside them and coaching them to do it EXACTLY the way you want it done. Equipping them and encouraging them as you reinforce your directive.
Third, comes support and accountability. What happens if they have questions? Here are resources for them. Here’s when you will check back on them. Asking them at team meetings if it’s done and how it’s going. Asking if there is anything missing from the process and supporting them as they take it over. Even understanding how long they will need before it is time for them to take it all over.
That’s the support they need and that will ensure they are ready for the last step.
Simply Do it. Take it over. It’s their responsibility that has been communicated, coached on, supported, and then ultimately owned by them.
Now, let’s pause for a second. Typically, we jump from step one to four. Directive/Delegation and then you take it and own it. But what does that lead to? Frustration decreased performance and you thinking your employee is less capable than they actually are.
If you skip the coaching step, there is accountability and support, but no clear tangible process for them to use. If you skip the accountability and support, there is not feedback loop to understand if they actually understand the task at hand.
All four steps seamlessly go together. They must all be completed. And I can hear it now, Thomas this is going to take forever. And my answer? It’s worth it, if it helps you get something off your plate and done effectively day after day after day. Because you’re not delegating something so that you can own it again in 30 days. No, you want this off your plate to free you up for something else. Business development or a new role that only you can filL!
So make sure it’s done the right way. Don’t skip steps.
Direct and communicate, coach them up, offer support and accountability, then free them up to do it and own it.
That’s it. That’s how you delegate. That’s how you liberate yourself and your business from chaos.
That’s what it’s all about!
Ok, we’re finally sitting down to meet 1 on 1 with our employees. So what do we ask? Well, let’s talk about that today.
Good afternoon, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
The thing we have been pushing our clients to do more than anything is to sit down and meet with your employees. Spend time listening and learning. Good employees have become a currency in and of themselves, and the businesses that are thriving right now are, typically, ones with solid employees.
So, we have been pushing our clients to meet with all key leaders once a week or every other week at a minimum, and then meet with everyone else once a quarter. It’s incredibly valuable and communicates that you desire to hear what they have to say and invest in them individually.
In a world where people are looking around for new jobs in record numbers, every meeting counts and every meeting communicates you want them to stick around for a long time.
But the thing we hear more than anything is this…” what do I ask them about?” Or…” what do we check-in on?”
Well, we built a check-in process to guide you through that.
The first thing we want to ask is a general question to open up communication. We typically ask, “Ok, what are you seeing right now?” Super general and allows you to capture their eyes for a period of time. It’s incredibly valuable as they are operating at a ground level in a way you are not. Listen, write down what they say, and decide if it’s something you need to dive in on or something that needs to be tabled. Then, repeat it back to them. Let them know you heard.
Next, we ask, “How are you seeing us live out our mission and values?” This is reinforcement of what truly matters. You will find out quickly if they even know what they are! But will also help you see some truly awesome things that are going on around your business.
Third, we ask, “Do you have any questions about your job role?” Clarifying questions to make sure they know what they’re being asked to do. Then, if there’s ever tough conversations down the road, you can point to these check-ins where you intentionally asked them if they were confused on their job role. It’s valuable and will keep them feeling supported.
Next, “Anything you need from me?” Again, support and shows you want them to succeed and are willing to help. More often than not, you will hear, “I’m good.” Especially if you’re doing these meetings regularly, but when something comes up here, it’s dynamite and helps y’all feel like you’re pulling in the same direction and on the same team. Keep listening.
Here’s where I typically stop and ask any clarifying questions you want to hear more about. Don’t go too long and try to answer everything at this one meeting. Some things are fine to hold off on, but feel the freedom to dig if need be.
The last question is actually your chance to share. And it starts with… here’s what I see. It’s your chance to offer feedback both positive and negative. That way you’re not waiting until your yearly review with an employee for them to hear something that frustrated you back in March. Dive in and tell them what you’re seeing. It keeps short accounts. Its holding your team accountable and allowing you to course-correct along the way instead of trying to right the ship way on down the road.
So that’s it. Take notes, start a file for each employee and consistently ask the same questions…again, and again, and again.
Use the answers to build content to go through at your team meetings. To build training…as if one employee has a question, there’s a good chance that multiple are wondering the same thing and just haven’t had the guts to ask yet.
This is a game-changer. Your employees need to be listened to and need to hear from you! It is team building…It’s accountability, it’s getting a little bit better every week.
Try it, write it down and let us know how it goes. I think you will be shocked at the progress you can make over a course of time by just committing to checking in with your team.
Thanks!
Hey, y’all Brent Perry with Business on Purpose.
Legally and hypothetically speaking, of course, but the question to ask yourself today is this, would I bet on my business to be profitable this year? Hopefully, your answer is yes, but the more business owners I have the privilege to talk with the more I realize there is uncertainty in that answer.
Now I am not asking if you want your business to be profitable. Or if you are hoping to be profitable this year. I am not even asking if you have been profitable in the past. Again, this is a legal/hypothetical question, if you actually had to bet real, hard-earned cash out of your pocket, would you bet on your business to be profitable this year?
This past weekend was the KY Derby, and wow, what a race it was. I will be the first to admit that I am not a huge horse race kind of guy. I do love riding, and I love sports, I just don’t follow the world of horse racing that closely. Luckily I have some friends who do. And as we gathered on Saturday to celebrate the Derby, they were telling me about the field of racers this year. Apparently, it was a fairly stacked field, with 5-6 horses with similar odds to outright win the race.
These horses would be considered the favorites, if you will, to bet on. The horses thought to have the best shot to win the race…aka the ones most people were betting on. These horses were the thoroughbreds, the ones with incredible pedigrees, the horses who have actually won some races in the past, and were being picked to take home 1st place.
Now, let me tell you about the horse, Rich Strike.
Rich Strike had an 80–1 odds to win the race, making it the second-longest shot to win in Derby history, per the NBC broadcast. Rich Strike started in the worst possible position out of the gate. And Rick Strike won the Kentucky Derby.
This horse pulled off the win against some of the other favorites like Epicenter (one of the horses I mentioned earlier), who entered the race with the best odds and finished second on Saturday.
Not only were his odds incredibly low, and his starting position the worst, Rich Strike wasn’t even slated to be running the race until the Friday before the derby and he was signed up 30 seconds before the deadline.
This is not the horse most people take a bet on. But this is the horse that won.
One of my favorite quotes from the Horse's owner, Eric Reed stated, “This horse is just getting good … getting better every race.”
That’s enough about horses, let's get back to your business.
I don’t know how you are feeling this year about your business. Again, the question I am asking today is about profitability.
Are you one of the favorites that before this year began you would have bet on? Only to be slowing down and watch others around you pass you by.
Are you one of the 80-1 odds that nobody gave a chance, but now you are seeing business grow and profit come easy?
Or are you simply somewhere in the middle of the pack?
The good news is, that it is not too late to change your race!
And 2 quick tips, it starts with
If you want your business to be profitable you have to know where you are heading, and why you want to get there. Your vision has to be detailed and has to be shared with others.
You also need to have diversified bank accounts and a system to track your money (both incoming and outgoing). We recommend 5 and one of those accounts, you guessed it a profit account!
If you want some more information and thoughts about your vision or your banking strategy, please feel free to reach out to us at Business on Purpose. We absolutely love these kinds of conversations. And we love seeing your businesses profitable.
Thanks for listening.
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Also, check out our website here, and if you haven’t done so already, take the Healthy Owners Assessment located on the home page.
I had a client turn down a 1.2 million dollar job this week. 25% of his yearly revenue. Let’s talk about why?
Good afternoon, Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
If there’s a phrase that I’ve heard over and over this year, it’s “we gotta make money while there’s money to be made.” There’s a scarcity mindset that is going around in the contractor space. Prices are still on the way up, and yet people continue to build, and work continues to be there for the taking.
So, is all work the same? Is all work worth taking, no matter who the client is and no matter what it costs you? Well, most people today would find a way to make it work. Well, we can hire and train quickly and we’ll find a way to get it done. Straight into emergency mode. Straight into the chaos. And yet, that decision is made out of emotion and not with a plan in place. It’s almost destined to fail or be awful throughout.
I was so proud recently when I sat down with one of my clients and they said, you’d be proud of me… I turned down 1.2 Million dollars of business yesterday. What? I was losing my mind. Walk me through it.
I had someone approach me about a 1.2 million dollar job and I told them we couldn’t do it.
Well, why? I started smiling as I knew where this was going.
A lot of reasons. We don’t have the team in place to be able to get the work done. It would have meant hiring guys we don’t yet trust to keep the rest of the business going. Force training them and sending them out unprepared for that magnitude of a job.
Not to mention the collateral damage of relationships with people who work with us weekly and monthly. What am I supposed to tell them when all of a sudden ⅓ of my workforce is out of commission for the next 2 months and I can’t service the jobs they have sent me all along?
Not to mention we probably won’t be able to maintain the quality we aim for or the work-life balance that we hold our team to. All of which are core values. It distracts us from who we want to be as a team and where we’re headed.
Even though it’s 1.2 million dollars?
Absolutely.
I was blown away. Think about what he just said. 25% growth wasn’t worth it because it was a distraction. Because it wasn’t fair to his team, the business partners he works with on a regular basis, or to his family, as he knew it would be long hours, and sacrificing time with them was not an option.
Proud? Man, that’s an understatement. But here’s what I was most impressed by. This wasn’t a tough decision. He had a filter that he put the decision through that removed emotion from the equation. It was an easy decision that weighed on him about as much as if he turned down a chick fila biscuit because he was on a diet. He had his priorities and stayed the course towards his vision.
That is powerful.
So here’s the question for you. Do you have a filter that you run everything through? Do you know what jobs you want and which ones to steer clear of? Do you allow emotion to push you around and do you see the massive top line revenue number and think…we have to find a way to make this work? That’s short-term thinking. But the work has to be done before that decision is ever made.
I’ll never forget this same client about lost his mind on a half a million-dollar commercial job last year. After that job was finished we came back to the drawing board and built out parameters for when and how to take a job. What was important about billing and draws and retainage? Who does he trust in the industry and how does he work well with them?
That hard work on the front end helped this decision a year later all the easier. He knew what that job cost him from a reputation, a team, mental health, and a family health perspective and he knew how to prevent that from ever happening.
Now here’s the flip side. This won’t be the last massive contract he’s offered. I asked him, do you ever want to be able to take on a job like this? Absolutely he said. Great, now let’s put the work in to build a business that can support that type of job without sacrificing the other pieces. That’s the magic right there. Not letting the tail wag the dog, but building the business that is ready for a 1.2 million dollar contract without being distracted from the vision along the way.
So take the time to think through this. Is every contract or sale the same? Is it costing you things you aren’t realizing…and how do you put the work in to say no out of principal instead of just figuring it out.
That’s good stuff today y’all! Thanks for listening.
A business owner called me and said simply, “my people are getting their rear ends kicked right now, do you know of a good motivational speaker?”
Within a few weeks, I show up ready to deliver a powerful talk on the RPMs of leadership (repetition, predictability, and meaning) and then follow it up with our super fun and engaging DISC workshop so that this team of project managers, purchasers, warranty care members, and general managers could work through the importance of speaking to people the way they wished to be spoken to.
We worked through the realities of competing personalities and, in some cases, warring agendas.
It was a powerful two-hour window of time and left each of the team members trying to understand their colleagues, customers, and trade partners better.
But then what?
The motivation was there. The new insights, the curiosities, and the nuances were all uncovered, evaluated, and role-played to some extent.
But now what?
A two-hour workshop is part insight, part motivation. Insights can spark a lifetime of curiosity, motivation will typically only ignite a short-term explosion that can leave a mark… but then go away.
How do we take the short term value of motivation and merge it with the long term necessities of repetition, predictability, and meaning so that what we set in motion one day, like a rocket lifting to space, can be strategically placed into a cyclical orbit that brings long term value?
First, we must remember that motivation is momentary.
Some things in our home and business lives simply don’t last very long, and yet have the power to wake us up to something that could change our lives.
We see this played out medically when a friend has a sudden, non-fatal heart attack. That momentary situation acts as a wake-up call by which the patient now has a decision, use the heart attack as a catalyst to repetitively change their lifestyle, or simply reflect on this near-death moment as a cool story, but little else.
Cardiology circles are filled with stories of patients who did not respond to the wake-up call with long-term, sustained changes. Sure, they had the gym membership, and purchased the diet foods… but on Tuesday, when it mattered, they opted for donuts and video games on the couch.
When you bring in a shot of motivation, it must be followed with a drip of repetition.
The second way to bring long-term value from a singular motivational event is, there must be a repetitive home for the long-tail of motivation.
The smoothest and most natural repetitive check in to a solitary motivational event is the agenda-driven, leader-led, weekly team meeting.
This predictable, repetitive event can become home to the ongoing follow-up to the singular motivation… if you make it so.
Business offices are filled with team members who wished that their leadership would hold to a powerful, repetitive, agenda-driven team meeting.
The reason we mock meetings is because most meetings are wasting our precious time. It is not the meeting (by definition) that is bad, it is the poor leadership of that meeting that wastes what is precious to us.
Most clients we work with have spent time, effort, and energy to make their meetings meaningful and important. There are still a few trying to play dress-up with their meetings and talking a bigger game than they are living.
It’s up to you, if you want a culture you can be proud of, and your co-workers will want to invite their friends to be a part of… then the team meeting will become a priority.
It is the one place where your entire team can wrestle through agenda issues, and get on the same page with the motivation that you have been sharing.
As always, in making motivation last, remember that hail-mary play calling is not a winning strategy.
Watch any sport and you will only see the equivalent of a hail-mary executed in moments of real desperation, and typically at the very end of the game.
When successful, we are lured into believing that we can operate this way all of the time. Some even believe that certain players or teams can rely on hail mary’s because “they are skilled at it”.
Real skill comes through the daily, repetitive, predictable, play calling of forethought game-planning and scenario scouting. Hail mary’s are a losing strategy long term.
Go ahead, hire your motivational speaker…but not until you have a long-term plan for implementing the short-term shot.
Look at your calendar. Do it. Obviously, this week is slammed, how bout next? And the next? So when does the faucet cut off so that you actually have some time back on your hands and things slow down? Well, let’s talk about that today. Good morning Thomas Joyner with Business on Purpose here.
I saw a meme the other day and I just laughed. Because it represents the way pretty much all of us live our lives week after week after week!
Here it is:
Adulthood is saying, “But after this week things will slow down a bit,” Over and over until you die!!!
I was dying laughing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said the same thing. Next week is a slower week, let’s connect then. And if I’m not careful, I look up and it’s Thursday afternoon and I’m wondering where that slower week I told everyone about actually was!
So, is that you? Are you the person who, at church or your weekly golf match, when asked how you’re doing…always tends to answer, busy man how are you? You deserve a busy badge!
But seriously, who isn’t busy! We fill our weeks with a lot of things that matter and a lot of things that truly don’t! So how do we take our weeks back? How do we begin to own our time and get above the chaos of pretending like life is going to magically slow down in the near future?
I’ve got a secret for you..it’s not going to unless you force it to! Or unless you organize that business and chaos into something that makes a lot more sense.
Here’s another secret for you. It starts with a weekly schedule. Now… I’m not talking about a calendar that tells you what to do. I’m guessing all of you have that.
What I’m talking about is a schedule… intentionally built out in advance of your week that tells it what it will look like. A plan. Same thing with any event. You build out a schedule of everything that needs to happen to make sure that you have enough time for it all.
Your week should be no different. It should be a dictated, time-blocked event that takes place with margin for surprises.
We always say around here, “Chaos is not optional, submitting to chaos is!”
What that means is that chaos inevitably happens. Something takes longer than it should have. There’s a mistake on the job site. Supply chain gets wonky and takes longer to get to you than it should have. However, having a plan in place helps you be able to respond to that chaos so you don’t collapse underneath it.
So let’s take your week and build out your weekly schedule. Take 10 min and write down the big blocks of things you do every week. Or if it’s easier for you to look at the next 2 weeks to get an idea, that’s great too.
Do you need multiple blocks for job site visits? Or team training? Estimating, invoicing, bookkeeping, email…you name it. And write down how much time you think you will need to accomplish that task this week. If it’s 2 hours, twice a week, write it down. Is it an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon every day? Great! What time best fits in your schedule and when works best for you to be most alert for those tasks?
Now go down your list and begin adding to your weekly schedule. The reason we do this is so that you can be fully engaged in your task at hand. How many times have you been answering an email that took some thought? The phone rings, Oh I’ll just pick it up and answer this one quick question. While you’re on the phone, your admin walks in and needs you to sign a few things and look over the schedule for next week.
Ok, I’ll just do this for her real quick. By the time you get back to the email, you have no idea where you were, so it takes you an extra 5 min to finish the email as you lost your entire train of thought!
It happens all day every day right?!?!
But a weekly schedule is different. It’s sitting down to answer email and setting a timer if that helps, saying I have an hour to do a deep dive, and everything else can wait. There’s very few emergencies that can’t wait an hour. It’s walking onto a job site and telling the crew, hey guys I’m leaving at 11, so think through what you need from me today and get all your questions out! It’s amazing how efficient your team can be when they are forced to operate on your schedule.
I think you’ll be shocked at how quickly you get tasks finished when you’re not trying to multi-task on 4-5 different things! Things get done more efficiently and you have blocks with margin in between to put out those fires that may pop up.
Lastly, if you’re anything like my client, you will get really good at accomplishing this schedule so that you have more time throughout the week.
And here’s the last thing I get asked all the time. Thomas, what if I fail at keeping this thing. And here’s how I always respond. The purpose of this is to make a plan. A plan that is tweaked is still a plan. Let the weekly schedule serve you, don’t serve your weekly schedule. Let it illuminate the areas that you need more training or the areas that may need a bit more or less time each week. Review it every Friday for the next week, so that you’re ready to roll on Monday.
It’s powerful and freeing so that you never have to say that quote I started today with. Hopefully, you begin to lean into rhythms where weeks are manageable and there is a slower week from time to time. Because you’ve planned and bought that time for yourself.
It’s a big deal y’all and it’s doable!
I hope you enjoyed thanks for listening…
