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Mark Eastman

How to Simplify A Complicated Business System

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Focusing on One Shovel Full of the Mountain at A Time

With my years of construction experience, I tend to view things from a building perspective. The things needed to build a good structure are the same for building a good business.

 

These things are:

• Purpose – The why, the reason for building it, who is it going to serve?

• Design – How is it going to look, how is it going to serve (products, services or both)?

• Style – Personal preference of the finished project, not everyone wants everything to be the same, we are all individuals.

• Foundation – This is what supports everything else, the core values of the construction.

• Framing – This is what sets on the foundation and connects everything, it is the system of operating.

• Tools – These are used to put everything together and maintain it daily.

• Team – The people employed to put the pieces together and to perform the daily operations.

 

There is a lot that goes into building something. I have written about how building and operating a business can be like standing in the shadow of an overwhelming mountain and the importance of having a clear plan and being organized. It is easy to be pulled in many different directions when trying to build and operate all the different pieces of a business.

 

By nature, I tend to make things complicated (sometimes more than they need to be). This is in part due to my focus on detail and isn’t all bad. The down side to being like this is that things don’t get done very fast. I know that I need help to build my business and move my mountain.

 

I have been working to get better at sharing shovels. I have determined that one of the things I’ve done in the past is to overwhelm new team members. So, to avoid this I am working on ways to simplify the system and to focus on one shovel of the mountain at a time.

 

Our business has three areas of focus; Sales/Marketing, Production/Operations and Administration/Finance. There is a lot in each of these areas and they all are critical to the support of the business. Keeping them operating equally is one of the most important and difficult tasks.

 

The focused shovel today is preparing a Proposal. This is the area that I’m currently working on in preparation for my Administrative Assistant. It involves things that both I need to do and things I can delegate.

 

Preparing a Proposal involves:

• Meeting with the customer – Finding out what the project consists of and helping them figure out what their dream is. Take pictures, get measurements and make the necessary notes needed.

• Writing down the scope of work to be done – Fill out the areas and categories of the Bid Sheet with the explanation of the work to be done.

• Preparing the price for doing the work – Use the information gathered to determine lineal feet, square feet, cubic feet, etc. of the different areas described in the Bid Sheet and enter it into the Worksheet.

• Compiling this information on to the Proposal – Take the information of the two previous bullet points and put it on the Proposal to be presented to the customer.

I know that I have almost forty years of developing this system and I need to get it out of my head, simplify it and put it on paper if I ever hope to move this mountain.

Move the Mountain One Shovel Full at A Time

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The Size of Your Shovel Is Not Important

I had a conversation with Brett at Engineered Door Products earlier this week about how busy he was. He told me how he was working late into the evening and coming in early of a morning in an effort to keep up. I could feel his frustration. I have had this same conversation with too many people, too many times and deal with this myself almost every day. It reminded me of an earlier blog about spinning too many plates at once.

There are so many great things to do. How will we ever get them done? Why do we continually find ourselves in this place? Who’s fault is it that we’re so busy? 

WE ONLY HAVE OURSELVES TO BLAME!

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about why I’m always so far behind and what I can do to get caught up? Looking at this huge mountain in front of me is overwhelming. How will I ever get it moved?

Looking at a blueprint for a new building can be one of those mountains. There is tons of information on all of those pages. Where do I even start? With the first next thing, that’s where. Determine the first next thing that needs to be done and do it. If I don’t stop looking and start shoveling the foundation will never get poured.

 

It doesn’t matter whether you have a teaspoon or a steam shovel. What matters is that you start shoveling and don’t quit. Failure only exists for the person who quits.

 

 

Another way to move the mountain is with help. Two shovels can move more mountain than one. Sharing the moving of the mountain can be hard for us micro-managers but is critical to accomplishing the task. If the mountain that needs moved is much bigger than a mole hill or unless you have a really really big shovel, some help moving the mountain will relieve some of the weight of that mountain.

Moving the mountain one shovel full at a time is one of my twelve core values. My core values are the root of who I’m meant to be. The list falls into two different categories. Some I’m naturally good at. These I want to constantly reinforce. The others…don’t come so naturally.

This post is to remind myself to keep shoveling my mountains and to let you know that you aren’t the only one standing in the shadow of a mountain that needs shoveled.

KEEP SHOVELING

Here are some links to previous core value posts. We’re getting closer now, only four left.

How to Dream Big in A Small Space

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The Strength of More Than One

A few weeks ago, I wrote about creating realistic expectations for customers and how important it is for the builder to honestly manage those expectations. In that conversation I spoke about Hannah’s project of building her home using grain bins.


This is going to be a dream project for both of us, but it takes planning and working together to make a dream come true. There also needs to be patience and understanding. Too many times people’s dreams become nightmares.


Her most recent floor plan has several changes from the first one. These changes are a normal part of the process (they probably aren’t the last). Some people don’t have the patience for this and plow forward throwing caution to the wind.

On the other hand, some of us tend to plan things to death. No dream is going to be built if there isn’t some action. That’s why it’s important to find the balance of planning and doing.

I think when Hannah’s dream project is finished she will agree that some outside ideas and input helped her project be better than if she hadn’t had any.

All of us have been made to strengthen and support each other. We accomplish more when we work together. In Ecclesiastes 4:12 it says, “…two people can stand back to back to defend each other. And three people are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together – it is very hard to break”. (ERV)


It’s like the two-horse rule. A single draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds so it would stand to reason that two draft horses could pull 16,000 pounds. But they can actually pull 24,0000 pounds. That is three times as much. Each horse has its purpose and working together can accomplish more.

This is the benefit of collaboration. The working together makes each of us as better as individuals and the dream stronger. Hannah and I are both slower more detailed horses. I think we might need to add a race horse to the team so that we can plow a little faster.

 

Keep following this blog and Hannah’s for more updates as the dream moves closer to reality.

The Value of a Professional Builder

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What’s It Worth to Hire A Professional?

I was talking with my wife, who’s a realtor, earlier this week. She was telling me about an individual that had been trying to sell their house themselves and not having any luck. Reluctantly they are now considering listing their house with a realtor.

Her question was why would someone not list their house with a professional? I have thought about this same thing regarding construction for years.

The ‘Do It Yourself’ philosophy has become an industry on its own. This is not to say that doing things yourself is all bad.


The question should be about value, not about dollars.

To hire or not, is the question. I’m pretty capable with a wide range of skills, but there are some things that are just better done by professionals. I don’t know about you, but I would prefer not to do my own surgery or fill my own cavity.

The number one reason that most people don’t hire a professional is the cost. When the purchase or project is in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars the professional fee is big. Is the money saved by not hiring the professional really a savings? The actual cost in dollars, time and heartache may be a lot more in the end.

The value of hiring a professional can go well beyond the dollars spent.

 

 

  • They have been through the pitfalls and can help you avoid them. It breaks my heart the number of times that I have been asked to come finish a project that someone started and then realized they were in over their head.

 

  • There is a process to everything and construction is no different. If you do things in the wrong order the eventual cost is often more than the professional fees. If the walls are sheetrocked before the electrical wiring is ran it isn’t going to turn out well.

  • Doing all the different things a good professional does takes a lot of time. If you plan to do them and do them well, you need to plan to spend the time. As is the case with most things, looking at something from the outside it looks easier and quicker than it really is. What is your time worth?

Once you’ve decided to hire a professional keep in mind that not all of them are created equal. You need to give some consideration to the hiring process and find the right builder for you. In some situations professional may not be the best term when describing some builders. The wrong builder can be as much of an issue as not having one at all. What is the cost of cheap? Good communication with fixed pricing are both crucial to a good professional experience.

The important thing is for you to give some thought to the question of hiring a professional before moving forward and then regretting it later. In Proverbs 19:2 it says, “Being excited about something is not enough. You must also know what you are doing. Don’t rush into something, or you might do it wrong.”, ERV.

What is the value of a skilled professional’s guidance?

 

 

Honesty Is the Best Policy – I Don’t Care How Hard It Is

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How to Create Realistic Expectations for Customers – Part 2

 

Last week we discussed the importance of communication to creating realistic expectations for customers. This week we will look at three more things that need to be addressed to provide customers with a WOW rather than a woops experience.

 

 

 

• Everything takes longer than you think

There’s a lot of information out there about this. It is a very common problem. The planning fallacy gives some explanation, but I think it is more than this. I think many of us have a desire to help others and in an effort to fulfill expectations we over promise, which leads to under delivery. Especially when doing a construction project with all the pieces that have to fit together. Many of these things are out of my control which makes planning and scheduling more difficult. In an article by Emily Guy Birken she tells of a contractor friend who has come up with “a formula for figuring out a more realistic time frame: Double the number and go to the next unit of time for your estimate. For instance, if you believe your kitchen renovation will take two weeks, according to my friend, it will actually take four months.” This seems a little extreme, but I know everything takes longer than expected.

Solution – There are formulas and systems for determining an accurate amount of time needed to do the work. It will take some experimenting to get a realistic projection for the time to do a project. (Even if it is as extreme as the example above.) Be open and honest with yourself and your customer. It would be better to tell them the longer time in the beginning. This goes for the designing and pricing stages as well. Remember that most generally customers aren’t as familiar with the construction process as contractors, and this makes the realistic time gap even wider.

 

 

• Saying yes to too many things

There are so many things that I want to do. So many great wonderful important things. With all these things drawing us to them with overpowering magnetic force we get stuck and can’t move fast enough or far enough to get away from the pull. Mistake #2 of Michael Hyatt’s blog post “The 10 Biggest Mistakes People Make in Setting Goals” is creating too many goals. He quotes the old Chinese proverb, “Man who chases two rabbits catches neither”. I think chasing too many rabbits is what causes us to us to get lost on rabbit trails.

 

Solution – This solution is simple…say NO. This will be the hardest one to do. Those of us that want to help others struggle with this a lot. In 2014 we did the “Best Yes” study by Lysa Terkhurst at church. She said “Whenever you say yes to something, there is less of you for something else. Make sure your yes is worth the less.” We have to find our specific purpose. Then we have to focus on that. We have to be honest with ourselves so that we can create realistic expectations for customers.

 

 

• Details are worth the wait


Another thing that takes time is craftsmanship. I’ve heard people use the saying, “we’re not building a piano” when trying to move a project forward faster. This may have been true, but I believe we should give the same level of intentional care to building someone’s dream as to building a piano. People have different levels of expected quality. Being a recovering perfectionist, I ‘m going to naturally move toward that. Others may not be expecting that level of quality.

 

Solution – Each customer’s expectations need to be determined early in the process so that the length of time can be determined and communicated. This is one of the hardest to determine. Often, they don’t even know what makes one thing quality and another not. It takes time to build a piano or a dream and we need to help them determine what quality of dream they want to build.

 

 

It’s hard to tell people things they don’t want to hear. That a project is going to take longer than they expected is one of those things. Communicate with them. Be honest about the time needed. Say NO if it doesn’t fit your purpose. Quality takes time.

 

If we aren’t honest with ourselves and others then we are creating unrealistic expectations for everyone involved.

Feel free to share examples of unrealistic expectations in the comments below.

How to Create Realistic Expectations for Customers

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Expectations Are My Responsibility, “The Buck Stops Here”

In March of this year I wrote about the home my architect niece is planning to build, using two grain bins. This project has been in the planning stage for several months and the dreaming/idea stage even longer. She and I discussed how we could both blog about this simultaneously from differing perspectives. This project is going be fun on a bunch of different levels.

Hannah posted her first blog at www.un-defined.com earlier this week. In that post she wrote about her reasons for delay in getting started writing.

As I read her post it got me to thinking about the reasons that things often don’t meet our expectations. I’m aware of several projects currently that customers are feeling this way. Some I’m involved in and some not. This sense of disappointment is way too normal, when it should be rare.

We need realistic expectations.

 

Why does this happen?There are several reasons for this issue and some simple solutions, that if done, would make expectations more realistic for everyone involved.

• Lack of or poor communication

I think this is the number one reason for unrealistic expectations. With most projects having so many moving pieces and different people involved it is next to impossible to set and maintain an accurate schedule. When things are proceeding slower than you would like if you were just updated it would help tremendously. This goes both directions – from the service providers and suppliers to the contractor and from the contractor to the customer. It is like waiting for your teenager to get home and they’re late. Your mind begins to go to all kinds of scenarios that rarely are even close to reality. Even though we know this, it doesn’t make us feel any better. Communication makes a huge difference.

Solution –
Be as realistic as possible at the start. Often, the customer expectations are unrealistic in the beginning. Many times, this is their first experience with this kind of project. It is the contractor’s responsibility to be as realistic as possible, even if we know the customer doesn’t want to hear it. When things aren’t meeting the expectations; make the call, go by the job, let all parties know what’s going on. I know that delivering unwanted news isn’t what you want to do. The longer you wait, the worse it will be.

 

There’s a lot of room for improving communication.

Here are some additional posts about this comunication – 

Can Communicating Too Much, Be Too Much?
The Importance of Good Communication
What We’ve Got Here, Is A Failure to Communicate

 

My expectations for this week’s post weren’t realistic. This is a case in point. I thought I could write this in a couple of hours this morning…didn’t happen. With the size of this issue and to cover it properly I kept writing and writing and writing. Finally, I decided it needs to be split into more than one post.

Next week I will post “How To Create Realistic Expectations for Customers – Part 2”

It will cover –

  • Everything taking longer than you think
  • Saying yes to too many things
  • Details are worth the wait

 

Who knows, by next week I might come up with more. If you think of any additional reasons, feel free to share them in the comments.

 

How to Live A Well-Balanced Life

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Finding and Maintaining the Balance in Everything

 

I initially wrote about Using Core Values as My Life Filter last year. The focus of that post was the importance these CORE VALUES have in providing me with insight to who I am and more importantly, who I aspire to be. In that post I listed these twelve core values and said I would write about each in later posts.


Currently have written about:

• Honoring God in all that I do
• Paying attention to detail
• Spending time wisely
• Never being satisfied with mediocrity
• Taking off the blinders and being more aware
• Intentional action and again

Today’s core value is FINDING AND MAINTAINING THE BALANCE IN EVERYTHING.

I listened to a Story Brand podcast recently in which Tim Arnold’s point was that tension was a better description of this value than balance. He points out that “we tend to be binary thinkers. We assume things have to be one way or the other”. This was his point about the term balance when used in this context. Often the word balance creates the picture of an instrument with two sides used for weighing.

Sometimes there are only two choices. When choosing between right and wrong or good and evil, I believe this is the case. I agree with Tim that too often we tend to stop our thinking at only two choices and miss all of the out of the box opportunities that are out there.

I see balance as something that involves a lot more than two things.

The Merriam-Webster definition of balance is extensive and covers a variety of different areas including people, weight, stability, accounting, mental and emotional. This is more the way I think of balance.

I see BALANCE as large platform sitting centered on top of a small point. Without anything on the platform, it sits level. When one thing is placed on top of the platform near the center, things go pretty well, and it stays relatively level. As more things are put on the platform and things begin to be crowded from the center it starts to get heavier at different areas. This causes the platform to lean. If one heavy thing or too many things are moved too far from the center the platform will tip far enough that things falls off. Keeping things setting on the platform is all about weight and location.

Our lives are like this platform. God has set our platform balance perfectly on this point and given us the responsibility of keeping it there. The difficult part of this obligation is the number of things we get to choose from to put on our platform. The choices are endless. There is spiritual, family, work, friends, fun, community, etc. and each of these areas are full of an endless number of specific things that we can put on our platform. Some things carry more weight than others. As we go through life the things we have setting on our platform will and should change.


FINDING AND MAINTAINING THE BALANCE of our platform is the responsibility given us. Will we be perfect at it…no. Can we learn and get better at it…YES!

Whether you use the word balance, tension or something else to describe this endeavor is less important than being aware of it and actively keeping your platform as level as you can.

How Building Things Is Like Giving Birth

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There’s Something Emotionally Fulfilling About Creating

 

I was having a conversation earlier this week with Cheri at Agora Architecture about a project that we are working on. As we visited about the project we both became excited about the new ideas that were developing. I told her that what we’re doing was like giving birth. I then explained what I meant by that and then decided that I should share it with you.


I’ve had this same discussion multiple times over the years. When talking with someone who understands this, the connection is intense. It really is amazing the similarities there are with building and giving birth.

CONCEPTION – “The forming or devising of a plan or idea.” This is where both creating and birthing start. There is a spark or an idea that begins to grow inside of us. Maybe it’s an idea for a new home, a new business, a new design, a new book, a new painting. There is something that has been planted inside by God and we need to pay attention to and act upon it.

GESTATION – “The development of something over a period of time.” As this little idea grows it will want, no need, to get out. We need to be aware and nurture this creation. As it goes through this process it will change on its way to becoming what it is meant to be. This can be painful as the idea continues to grow and stretches us, but it’s a necessary part of the process.

EXTERNAL HELP – When a mother becomes pregnant there is a need for support and help from spouses, family, doctors, nurses, specialists, etc. the same is true for other creations. To the project that I referred to earlier, it started as the idea for a new and used book store and café of Floyd Enterprises. There have been several people involved to this point and will be many more before it is finished. Currently there has been the Floyd family, Debby the realtor, Timber Creek Construction the contractor, Cheri and Hannah the architects. Giving birth requires help and a lot of it.

MESSY – Just like giving birth has some mess involved so do all creations. The process isn’t going to just happen without some clean up.


EXCITEMENT – This is the comparison that I think is the most pronounced. It’s hard to describe the feelings of holding the newborn for the first time. It’s the same when you have been a part of creating something that wasn’t there before. To see, touch and feel that thing that came from somewhere inside and is now tangible is amazing. There is a part of your DNA that has been transferred to it and it will be there forever.

There is something natural about the act of creating, whatever the creation may be. This is something that was implanted in us at our conception. This is God’s DNA in us. We are created in His image, Genesis 1:26-31. He created the world and everything in it. This desire to create and the joy it gives is a part of who we are.

If you haven’t yet figured out what it is that you were put here to create, keep looking until you find it. When you do you’ll know it, because nothing else feels as satisfying as that.

The History of Labor Day and My Problem with It

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Labor and Work…What’s the Difference?

 

Labor Day is one of my three favorite holidays each year. Christmas being my favorite, which is no big surprise. Labor Day and New Year’s Day are tied for the second spot. These two are not typically ranked in most people’s top three.

 

My extended family celebrates both holidays in an almost identical way. They start with parades in the morning and conclude by spending the rest of the day, into the evening, playing games, eating and enjoying time with family. This doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy all the other holidays, because I do. These three are just my favorites.

 

As I was looking forward to the upcoming Labor Day I began thinking about the reason behind the celebration. Labor Day was started as a way to show appreciation for the hard-working labor force in America in the late 1800s. We often forget the reasons behind holidays. We need to remember the reason for this and all holidays and not just look at it as another reason to barbeque with friends or go to the lake.

The problem I have with Labor Day comes from the perception that there is a separation between labor and management / employees and business owners.

There’s no doubt a difference in the roles of these two groups, but too often it is seen as a confrontational battle between the two. It is a mindset of our side against theirs. There certainly have been and still are situations where this is true.

It doesn’t have to be this way. This attitude is a problem for both groups. It’s a view that there is a limited amount and if I don’t get my piece of the pie, there may not be any left. This scarcity thinking in a world of abundance isn’t beneficial to either side. God will provide enough for everybody.

If we would quit viewing labor and management as two competing entities and instead look at both as on the same team working together, both would benefit.

 

Having been on both sides of the employee/owner relationship I can tell you that both work hard to achieve success. If all involved work hard together toward the same goal everybody wins. It is easy to look at other people and think they have it easy, but rarely is that the case.

The definition of labor focuses mainly on the physical while work (link) refers to both physical and mental actions. Work seems less divisive than labor. We can and should work together toward the same goal.

On the first Monday of September this year I’m going to celebrate WORK instead of labor.

How Do I Know If I Need A Storm Door?

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Reasons for and Against Storm Doors

 

I’ve had the storm door conversation several times recently. It’s a common discussion I’ve had many times. I always ask the why question, when customers are considering the installation of storm doors. Most people assume that having a storm door is just a given…I mean shouldn’t everybody have a storm door?

Historically storm doors were installed like storm windows. Both were an effective added layer of protection for old drafty doors and single pane windows. With the changes that have been made to doors, windows, weather stripping, sealants and finishes the need for storm doors or windows has become somewhat of a moot point.

 

Start by asking WHY before blindly moving forward and installing a storm door.

 

Why do I want/need a storm door? Is it for protection against the elements, visibility, ventilation, security, appearance or do I just want one.

 

Reasons for:

  • Protection against the elements – If you have an older draftier entry door, then a storm door can be simple way to get an added layer of protection against the rain, snow and wind.

 

  • Visibility – If you like opening the entry door to see outside. There are a variety of storm door styles, full view, ¾ and ½ glass that allow you to see out and get natural light in.

 

  • Ventilation – If you like opening the entry door to get fresh air in without bugs. Here again there are different ways to get storm doors for this purpose. Some the glass and screen are exchanged. One common style has a half screen and one pane of glass slides up and down. A newer style has a screen that rolls up out of the way until you slide the glass.

 

  • Security – It adds an additional layer that someone would have to get past to get in. Keep in mind that storm doors are not designed as a security system.

 

  • Appearance – There are some storm doors that offer decorative glass that can enhance the way the house looks.

 

Reasons against:

  • Wind catchers – Storm doors are notorious for being caught by the wind and getting sprung or twisted and the closers being bent and/or pulled out of the jamb.

  • Adjustment – Storm doors are difficult to get adjusted from the beginning. When the entry door is shut and the storm door closes and latches properly then the storm door will slam when the entry door is open. If the storm door is adjusted to shut and catch when the entry door is closed, then the storm door won’t latch when the entry door is closed. This is caused by the building up of air pressure between the two doors.

 

  • Inconvenient – Opening a storm door and holding it while opening the entry door when carrying things can be difficult.

 

  • Damaging the finish of the entry door – This seems contradictory to protection against the elements. When the entry door is located where there is exposure to direct sunlight (especially the east and west sides) the glass in the storm door works like as magnifying glass and can cook the finish of the entry door. This is especially true with stained fiberglass doors.

 

Things usually start out being done for a specific reason and over time that reason gets lost in the normalcy of whatever that thing is. Installing a storm door without thinking through the reasons for and against is one of those things.

So, how do I know if I need a storm door? Ultimately this is a question only you can answer, but I hope this week’s solution helps.

 

If you have questions about storm doors or other construction projects that you would like answered, contact us in the comment section below.