Building your business this winter

They are and so are kids

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Yeah, but save up for a good one. You get what you pay for. :wink:

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I have spent the previous 3 winters putting in 50+ hours of office work. Creating Systems, Writing SOPs, research and developing marketing plans, creating graphs and spreadsheets, reading books, organizing and micromanaging everything… this winter… I bought a bigger house for my family and I am gutting it and getting it ready to move in. I will take a break to finalize my P&L statement and gather other misc stuff for my accountant the end of the month. After that, I will probably sit down and review 2016 numbers sometime in January… review and finalize marketing of for the year first of February and get everything in place end of February/first of March. This is the first year it has felt like my business doesnt own me… hope to continue that feeling.

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Not if you’re an SKE grad, lol.

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  1. We need to finish off new offices and conference room, probably in Jan (just paint and floors, but man can we drag it out…)
  2. Wrap up a new van up fit, to get it on the road. Hopefully by 1/1/17
  3. We’re settled on some limited marketing for 2017, but need to tweak CRM
  4. We need to find a spider lift that perfectly fits our needs. Getting real close, but I think our search will run into Jan/Feb. Looking for used, so no need to rush in 2016 to get Section 179. But I’d like to get it done before the spring rush.
  5. Our scratch removal division is finally paying off, so we need to organize some lunch-and-learns and some of the bigger construction companies in our region. Keep the ball rolling.
  6. Personally, I’m down to about 1 day a week, and would like to finalize plans to complete my exit from all day-to-day. It’s looking like I might need a salesman. Our Ops manager is wearing too many hats; I need to take some things off his shoulders, but I’m not putting them on mine. I think for me, this will be the big winter project.
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Same here! Having my season guy start on his own and I will add more workers with me!

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I’ve kept one weekly restaurant. Best storefront client from my route days = 2 hours per week

All of my business efforts are going into resubmitting proposals and staying in touch with property managers = 12 hours per week. My business grows slowly but surely with a bit of marketing. I’m not focused on quantity of clients anymore. Just quality.

For me the rest of my time is spent enjoying life and volunteering in my community. There’s too many people to meet and fun things to do to work “in” a business full time. My wife and I are thinking about working “remotely” from somewhere warm next winter.

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This is my dream scenario.

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Look what came today! :slight_smile:

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I’ll be working on things I need to delegate to others. It’s hard to pass things on to others, but it must be done for continued success. This past season I had my wife take over calls and scheduling. This coming season I think it will be best if she cares for other administrative issues (emails, setting up of meetings, etc.) while I deal with the operation side. She has been a great in the field, but I think the back-end things need to be addressed. We’re going to need to hire; we tried subs this past year. It has its benefits going that route, but I think for long term employees would be better. I’ve recently learned that bookkeeping is not my strong suit. I thought we were doing ok with hitting around $90k by end of the year. Turns out after passing my books to a legit bookkeeper (per my CPA’s request) we’re on our way to hit $106k by year’s end!
Also, I look forward to implementing suggestions from @Chris marketing blueprint.

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Got the first call today

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Thanks Great brother!

Keep putting them out and the calls will keep coming in…

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So how’s everyone’s check list coming along for spring?

My list just seems to get bigger the more things I check off the list.

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The last two weeks have been constant vehicle and equipment breakdowns.

The positive is that I am learning more about corrective maintenance for vacuums and my $4K carpet cleaning machine and my van has a new fuel pump, fuel pump relay switch and fluids and a lube.

Another positive is that more people are wanting services “in the spring.” Hurry up spring!!!

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It not to far away!

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Still passing out door hangers , must have done about 600+ this week.
Got a call from one this week, its schedule for Monday .

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Making additional contacts in the property management field. 50% of my business right now is through agents and firms who oversee hundreds of units. Do you guys make contact with property managers in your areas?

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Cup check:

15% behind schedule. The elephant is large. I am eating it down.

Someone close to me said this the best/most productive winter. Means nothing to me.

Behind schedule, that is all which matters to me.

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I have got in with a couple management companies this year and it has been great for business. Although they came to me for services so I’m not to experienced in going to them. Was thinking of making a nice 3 fold brochure with examples of accounts we do and testimonies from the company. Any suggestions?

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Behind…

I realized the list is too long and so are nights.

I suck at winter.

Rant over… carry on

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