You Need a Plan if You’re Going to Build a Successful Business.
STUCK IN A RUT
It was late on a Saturday night and Gene was sitting at his desk in his home office (otherwise known as a dining table). This was the office of his construction company.
He was working to get at least one more construction proposal done before going to bed. He had promised four different customers proposals this week. If all goes well, he’ll have this second one finished before midnight. As Gene crunched numbers, he worried that he might have forgotten something. This had happened before.
He asked himself, “Why am I doing this? I could make more money and work less hours working for someone else. Heck, I’d be better off flipping burgers. This sure isn’t how I pictured my construction business five years ago when I started.”
“I had no idea that running my own business would be this hard!”
Gene rubbed his eyes and stretched his back and thought, “I must be doing something wrong.”
It’s Saturday, and Gene was working like crazy all week, trying to keep up. With production crews not showing up, materials not delivered on time, cost overruns… There’s not enough time to do everything. This means not enough time to get the proposals done. Even if he works tomorrow, he’s not going to get all these proposals done in time. This means he’s going to disappoint at least one of the customers waiting on a proposal.
This is not a very good way to run a business! “How am I ever going to turn things around?”
When Gene finishes the second proposal and looks at the clock, it’s 12:40. It’s already Sunday and he still needs to proofread it, print it, and sign it.
Something has got to change!
“I’ve been leaving home early and getting home late all week. I’ve hardly spoken with my wife or kids for days. I can’t keep going like this!”
“I’m tired of trudging back and forth in this rut with no clear way out.”
This starts at a young age. As children, we have fewer external experiences to draw from. This restricted resource limits our view. This is why young people think they already know everything.
This narrow perspective then becomes our standard and we see no reason to change.
I think this is why resistance to change is so prevalent in construction.
We’re like little kids that started out working for someone. We learned how they did things by watching them. This is why when we start our own construction business, we think we already know everything.
I was a dreamer at an early age. I had big ideas and plans for my life. A part of this dream was to have a big, successful construction company. I was going to build great things.
So, I worked for a few different self-employed contractors and then started my own construction company…
Because I already knew everything.
As I grew up and those dreams weren’t happening as I had envisioned…I became disillusioned. I gave up on those dreams and accepted that they were just that…dreams. This is when the grind of life sets in. It was disappointing to accept that this is all there is.
It was frustrating, just plodding along day after day feeling stuck with no way out.
In December of 2012, I was literally hit upside the head with a board among other things. We were installing wafer board boxing on the wall of a second-floor addition. I was standing on a plank approximately 8’ above the ground when…it broke.
Fortunately, I don’t remember any of this ordeal from the time I was measuring until I woke up in the hospital three days later.
Based on what I was told by the guys that were there when I fell, I hit my head on one of the ladders, then on the concrete slab, and then the board hit me on the head. It sure is good that I have a hard head. Seriously, I was fortunate that I came away from this accident with only a concussion.
The point of telling you this is that it caused me to reevaluate what I was doing and how I was doing it.
This incident made me aware that something was wrong and if things were going to change…I needed to change it. As I was looking to understand what was going on, I began to read. The more information I gathered, the more I learned about what needed to change.
One of the first books I read was The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews. This book teaches seven fundamental decisions for creating a successful life. It gives you a front-row seat for a man’s journey that changes his life.
In the book, David Ponder lost his job and his will to live. He supernaturally travels throughout time visiting historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, King Solomon, Anne Frank, and more.
Each visit yields a Decision for Success that will change his life if he implements them.
This book showed me that I, like David Ponder, had a choice.
Was I going to keep doing things the way I had been…or was I going to do something different?
I decided to change and do something different.
When we’re young we think we have all the time we need. There’s no need to think about the future…we’ll get around to that someday. Then, one day we wake up and realize life has flown by and we haven’t done the things we wanted to.
You don’t have to wait until you’re smacked in the head to make changes.
I made changes to my life and my business. People who knew me before and after can see the improvement.
As I was discussing last week’s post with a friend, he asked me why I do construction. Why would anyone want to start a construction company with odds like this? This question started me thinking about it.
Why is anyone doing construction if the chance of staying in business is so stacked against them? This question prompted me to reach out to some people in construction and ask them.
Why am I doing construction and how did I get here?
When I was growing up, I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to farm with my dad, just like he was farming with his. This was going well until those plans got changed.
When I was in my early thirties my dad died of cancer at fifty. This wasn’t a part of the plan.
At that point we were farming together, he owned some of the equipment and I owned some. The problem was, I couldn’t afford to buy his part so…I got out of farming.
In addition to farming, I had been doing some construction in the winter. I liked doing it, was good at it, so this seemed like the logical thing to do.
The problem was I knew construction…not business.
So, why are others doing construction and how did they get here?
To answer this question, I reached out to some people I know that are in construction and asked them the question…Why are you in construction?
I’ve known Doug Wright, with Wright Floor Leveling, for years and have used their company for a variety of projects over the years. They do foundation repair/replacement, crawl space repair, basement repair, masonry repair, new masonry, and more.
Here’s Doug’s story: he did not plan to go into construction…he planned to play football. Then he was injured in college, and it ended his football plans.
His dad was a stone mason and Doug needed a job, so he went to work for him. As things progressed, he became more entrenched in the business, and the prospects for change became harder and harder.
Not to mention that he wasn’t a fan of change.
So, Doug is doing the construction that he knows and is good at.
Chris Schovan is a painter that hasn’t been in business too long but is great at what he does.
Chris learned to paint as a young man from his grandpa who was a professional painter. His grandfather told him that knowing a trade would always give you something to fall back on.
He was working for a pole barn company and/or in manufacturing when the pandemic hit, and he got laid off. Then someone at church needed some painting done and asked him if he knew any painters. He ended up doing this project which led to other projects and he’s now as busy as he’s ever been.
He likes the freedom of schedule because he doesn’t have to punch a clock.
I use Chris because he provides great customer service and does quality work.
I’ve known Josh Dobbs of Flint Ridge Service and his family for a long time. Josh was a firefighter and planned to be fire chief someday until smalltown politics derailed that dream.
While considering what to do next, he was talking with some guys in real estate and the glass business who told him there was a need for someone to do handyman-type things. So, he started doing some odd jobs. As the demand grew, so did his business. Now he does a variety of construction, excavation, and fencing.
He had never done construction before he started doing odd jobs.
Josh uses the leadership skills he learned in the fire department and the ability to see a need and then figures out how to do it.
Leonard Mumford, of Mumford Contracting, is the owner of a full-service construction company. Leonard and I work together in a variety of different ways.
Leonard was in construction years ago and after going out of business, he swore he would never do construction again. He worked in oil field and sales but was miserable. Then he had the opportunity to do some construction work on the side and was making more money part time.
Then his son convinced him to go back into construction…which he swore he never would.
Now Leonard is doing more construction than ever.
The common thread in all these stories is that none of them grew up dreaming about going into construction…playing football or being a fireman, yes, but not construction.
Not everybody knows what their vocation is going to be. Things happen and we have to shift and make changes. These changes, some big and some small, lead us down paths that we didn’t plan for.
This lack of preparation and planning is why 96% of construction companies don’t make it past the 10-year mark.
Three of these five examples here have made it past that point, but trust me, this doesn’t mean that everything is smooth sailing.
All of them have expressed concerns about the business side of things.
We’re all faced with a lot of choices every day. When situations happen, we can choose this or that.
Choice is the most powerful weapon we have.
Too often we make the wrong choices. Sometimes we make what we think to be the right decisions based on what we know at the time, only to find out later it was the wrong one. Then we can make a different decision.
The important thing is that when making decisions, we’re making them for the right reasons with the right guidance.
We need to be clear on what makes a decision right.
In 2 Kings 18:1-5, Hezekiah became king of Judah. He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done. He removed the pagan shrines, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke up the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people of Israel had been offering sacrifices to it.
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel.
He was 25 years old when he became king. I don’t know about you, but I made some bad decisions when I was 25.
King Sennacherib of Assyria came and began attacking the towns in Judah. After which Hezekiah offered to pay Sennacherib if he would withdraw his armies. The king of Assyria demanded a settlement of more than eleven tons of silver and one ton of gold. To gather this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the Temple of the Lord and in the palace treasury. Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord’s Temple and from the doorposts he had overlaid with gold, and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.
Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander, and his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed. They summoned King Hezekiah… (2 Kings 18:13-18)
Sennacherib offers Hezekiah another deal telling him that no other kings can help him, and neither can God. He tells them to give up and become his slaves. It would be better for them than staying and starving to death. (2 Kings 18:19-37)
After the king of Assyria sent the message, Isaiah the prophet replied, “This is what the Lord says: Do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian king’s messengers. Listen! I myself will move against him, and the king will receive a message that he is needed at home. So he will return to his land, where I will have him killed with a sword.” (2 Kings 19:5-7)
After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord: “…You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen! Open your eyes, O Lord, and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words of defiance against the living God.
“It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. And they have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course the Assyrians could destroy them! They were not gods at all—only idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19:14-19)
That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.
One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with their swords. (2 Kings 19:35-37)
Life happened to Hezekiah, he asked God for deliverance, and they received it.
We need to remember to go to God when life happens to us.
Deliverance comes from God…discipleship is what we do.
Some people like calling others out for their mistakes. Others, not so much. There are different reasons people do this. Some are good and can be helpful. Some are more for the person doing the calling out, rather than to help the person being called out.
These differences have to do with our different personalities.
There are several different personality tests, but my favorite is the DISC assessment. This is a simple self-assessment tool that categorizes individuals into four personality traits: dominance, influence, stability, and compliance.
Knowing these differences between ourselves and others can be helpful when working with people.
This difference became apparent to me years ago when I asked my wife for her input about something I wrote. Of course, I thought it was perfect. She on the other hand made some corrections and changes.
This crushed me…how could she be so mean?
This was about the time I took the DISC assessment. It was very enlightening. I found out that she was among the 10% of the people who are dominant. This does not mean that she was mean or that she was trying to hurt my feelings. It just meant that she was honest and direct.
I, on the other hand, was among the 25% who are compliant. I’m resistant to change and can be rigid.
Getting better requires change.
Then you have people who are stable. This is the largest group at 40%. These people are loyal followers and slow to act. And then there’s the final 25% who are the influencers. These people are artistic and are continually coming up with new and different ideas and are easily distracted.
Pastor Lisa’s message on Sunday was about the prophet Elijah calling out Ahab, the king of Israel, for his worshiping of Baal and not God. Elijah must have been in the 10% of the dominant, take-charge people. With 90% of the people being in the other three personalities, they were following whatever the king told them.
In 1 Kings 18:16-39, Elijah calls out Ahab and tells the king that he is leading the people in the wrong direction. Elijah shows the people God’s power and Baal’s lack of power with a demonstration involving altars.
The pagan priests go through an elaborate process with their offering to no avail. Then Elijah prepares an offering, soaks it in water, and then calls to show the people that God is Lord.
Immediately, the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!
And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”
Too often we’re led astray by just following the crowd and not being aware. Then, because we are followers, we lead other people astray because they are followers too.
Don’t be a blind follower or blind leader. We need to recognize our mistakes and change our direction.
Building a construction business is no different than building a building. If you don’t have a plan, you won’t know what to do. You will just be guessing.
If you don’t have the right tools and know how to use them, it will be a lot harder to build anything.
The Production Tracker is one of those business building tools.
So far, we’ve discussed how…
Creating and recording project numbers can help you focus your attention on the right kinds of projects.
Tracking project bid amounts will give you a clear picture of where you are in relationship to meeting your financial goals for the year.
Tracking dollar amounts of signed proposals will give you the rest of the picture of where you are financially in relation to where you want to be by the end of the year.
Tracking dollars collected from projects will give you a clear comparison of your signed amounts with your collected amounts.
Percentage of jobs signed will let you know if your pricing is too high or too low.
Percentage of dollars signed per dollars bid will let you know how you’re doing in relation to reaching your financial goal for the year.
Percentage of dollars collected per signed simply lets you know if you’ve collected everything that was bid.
Now, let’s look at the final five areas of this tool and how they can help you build a successful construction business.
Average dollar amount of projects bid – This number (cell I-30) is just what it sounds like. It’s the average dollar amount of all the projects you have done proposals for. It can be helpful to know what this information is. It can help you determine if you should make changes to the sizes of proposals that you should be doing.
Average dollar amount of projects signed – This price (cell J-32) lets you see what the average dollar amount of your projects are and how it compares with the proposed amounts. Like the average bid amount, this number tells you the size of projects you normally do. You can then make changes to what proposals you should focus on.
Average dollar amount of projects collected – Like the percentage of dollars collected, this number (cell K-34) lets you know if you’re increasing or decreasing the dollars you collect after proposals are signed. This gives you a critical piece of information: knowing how accurate your proposals are.
These next two areas are instructive when it comes to production planning as it relates to achieving your revenue goals.
Projected timeframe for doing signed projects – This information (cells I-23 and J-23) tell you how long it should take you to do the work of the proposals that you currently have signed. This is determined by dividing what your gross revenue goal for the year is by 52 weeks. Then dividing the current total signed amount (cell J-22) by that weekly revenue target will give you the number of weeks needed to do that work.
Projected date work should be done – This information (cell K-23) converts the projected time needed to do the work of the currently signed proposals (cell I-23) to a calendar date. This is achieved by adding the number of weeks (cell I-23) to the starting date (cell H-23). This then gives you a target date on the calendar that the work should be done to stay on task and achieve your dollar goal for the year.
I find these last two pieces of information to be the most revealing and helpful when it comes to staying on target.
This information can increase a sense of urgency and focus. This information is critical to building a successful construction business.
I hope you’ve found this series on the Production Tracker, as a tool for building a successful construction business, helpful.
You can learn more about the Production Tracker by joining us for the Production Tracker Workshop at 10:30 AM CDT this coming Saturday, May 11th.
If you would like to know about some of the other business building tools we offer, take a peek in the Business Building Toolbox.
Last week we talked about what the Production Tracker is and what makes it an important tool to have in your business building toolbox. I also pointed out how most people operating construction companies hate paperwork, but how important paperwork is to build a successful business.
It’s amazing how people in construction will use all sorts of power tools and equipment but not paperwork.
We began breaking down the Production Tracker…a business building power tool, and how important it is to know what it can tell you…
Which types of work were consistently the most profitable
How you were doing at meeting your financial goals for the year
When you should have the signed projects finished to stay on track
How well you’re doing at getting proposals signed
What the average price of your projects are
We began with how the Production Tracker can help with creating and recording project numbers, tracking proposed project amounts, and tracking dollars of signed proposals.
Now let’s look at how the Production Tracker can help us plan for the future.
When we look at the total proposed amount and the total signed amount, we can see where we are in relation to our financial goals for the year. (See the previous post for more details on this).
Next is…
Tracking dollars collected from projects – This collected amount (column K) is exactly what it says it is. It is where we weekly enter the amounts collected from each project. This total gives us a comparison to our signed amount (column J), and lets us see if our projects have increased or decreased after signing.
Percentage of jobs signed – This percentage, 60% (cell I24), is the percentage of proposals that have been signed. This is cell B22 (15) divided by cell C22 (9). This information lets us know how we’re doing with our pricing. If the number is below 15%, we’re not selling well. If our number gets too high, above 50%, we may not be charging enough.
Percentage of dollars signed per dollars bid – This percentage, 53.11% (cell J26), is the percentage of dollars proposed that were signed. Knowing this percentage helps us as we’re looking forward, knowing how we’re doing in relation to reaching our financial goal for the year. Based on the percentage of 53% (cell J-26), knowing that if our goal for the year is $400,000.00, we need to have done twice that many dollars of proposals.
Percentage of dollars collected per signed – Just like tracking the amount of dollars collected is pretty straight forward, this percentage of 93% (cell K-28), is the same. This simply lets us know if we’ve collected everything that was bid. If not, there may be some outstanding receivables, or we may have made changes during production that reduced our receivables. It’s also possible for this number to be more than 100% which means that there were changes made during production that increased our receivables.
There are still five more areas of information that the Production Tracker provides, but to keep this post from getting too long today, I’m going to stop here. I know that this feels like a lot but it’s not nearly as overwhelming as it seems.
Just like there’s a lot to constructing a building, the same is true for building a successful business.
The five remaining areas are –
Average dollar amount of projects bid
Average dollar amount of projects signed
Average dollar amount of projects collected
Projected timeframe for doing signed projects
Projected date work should be done
Of these next five areas I think the last two are the most revealing to the future.
Now I will predict the future, and next week we’ll finish explaining the Production Tracker.
You can learn more about the Production Tracker by joining us for the Production Tracker Workshop at 10:30 AM CST on Saturday May 11th.
If you would like to know about some of the other business building tools we offer, take a peek in the Business Building Toolbox.
I know, I know, paperwork is not a very exciting topic, but neither is concrete. And we all know how important concrete is in supporting a building. The same is true for paperwork and your business.
One of the three foundational piers in business is administration and finance. One of the building blocks in that pier is a Production Tracker. This tool provides valuable information for forecasting the company’s financial needs and production plans.
Wouldn’t it be helpful if you knew:
Which types of work were consistently the most profitable
How you were doing at meeting your financial goals for the year
When you should have the signed projects finished to stay on track
How well you’re doing at getting proposals signed
What the average price of your projects are
The Production Tracker is an Excel spreadsheet that lets you gather and track information. It has preset formulas that determine and sort the information you need to make your business more profitable.
This document provides information for:
Creating and recording project numbers
Tracking project bid amounts
Tracking dollars of signed proposals
Tracking dollars collected from projects
Percentage of jobs signed
Percentage of dollars signed per dollars bid
Percentage of dollars collected per signed
Average dollar amount of projects bid
Average dollar amount of projects signed
Average dollar amount of projects collected
Projected timeframe for doing signed projects
Projected date work should be done
This list can seem overwhelming but it’s really not.
Here is an example of what the Job List spreadsheet looks like.
Let’s go through the document and break it down into smaller brick size pieces.
Creating and recording project numbers – Having a numbering system can help you sort projects so that you can review which types and size of projects are the most profitable and what you do the most of. It may be that your most profitable ones are not the ones you do the most often. Having this type of information can help you to focus more of your attention on the right kinds of projects for you.
This Production Tracker is a place to list project numbers in conjunction with the size and types of the projects, as well as their chronological order. This document provides the numerical part of the project number specific to each project. The other portion of the project number is determined by job specific parameters that are not included on this document.
Tracking project bid amounts – Our Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system provides the dollar amount for each project. Once a proposal has finished, the specific information to that project is entered into the appropriate cells on the spreadsheet. This information includes Job Number (column E), the Customer Name (column F), Description (column G), Bid Date (column H) and the Project Amount (column I). Regardless of the system you use for preparing proposals, you should have a dollar amount that could be entered into this document.
As each new project amount is added in the project amount column, the total project amount at the bottom will update, giving you a total dollar amount of the proposals you have done this year. Based on your company’s history, this dollar amount should give you a clear picture of where you are in relation to meeting your financial goals for the year. We will explain this further with the tracking dollars of signed projects.
Tracking dollars of signed proposals – Once a proposal has been accepted, the accepted dollar amount should be entered in the signed amount column. Initially, this amount should be the same as the amount in the project amount column. Sometimes the dollar amounts of projects are changed due to change orders. This can be either an increase or decrease depending on the change order(s).
As each new proposal gets signed the dollar amount of the signed proposal should be entered into the correlating cell in the signed amount column. Just like in the project amount column, as each new amount is entered in the signed amount column, the total dollar amount at the bottom automatically updates giving you a total of work you must currently do.
With the total of the signed amount column and the total of the project amount columns, you should be able to get a clear picture of where you are financially in relation to where you want to be at year end.
Let’s say your goal for the year was to generate a gross revenue of $400,000.00. Using the example, you can see that as of December 12th you were at $352,877.66. This is close, but not quite there. If you compare the signed amount to the project amount ($664,381.27) you will see that the signed amount is 53.11% of the project amount. Based on this percentage, to get the signed amount to $400,000.00, the project amount would need to be $754,000.00.
This information is critical to the survival of your construction business.
Your business needs to be built on a solid foundation.
We’ve covered a lot here today. In our next post we’ll pick up at tracking dollars collected from projects.
There’s a saying, “A rut is a grave with both ends kicked out.” Too often we get in a rut and don’t even realize we’re there.
This is how operating a construction company can be.
Plodding back and forth, doing all those things that need to be done, never looking up to see where we are or where we’re going. If we’re not careful the rut will get so deep that we’ll never get out.
This feeling of being stuck can be overwhelming. If we wait too long to do something, that’s when it becomes a grave, and we give up and go out of business. It’s just not worth it.
I could make more money and work less hours flipping burgers.
Building a business can be scary; it might not work. We know our rut well and it’s comfortable. Doing business because “we’ve always done it this way” isn’t a very good plan.
This kind of rut thinking doesn’t allow for building dreams.
Changing things just for the sake of change isn’t a good strategy either. Growing and changing is good, but there needs to be a plan.
Building without a plan isn’t a good plan, whether it’s a construction project or a business.
Things that need to be changed and are ignored have consequences, i.e., diapers, your car’s engine oil, furnace filters, toothbrushes, and bad habits.
Change costs time and money…the question is: is the change worth it?
Not changing is also costly. It’s up to you to decide which is more expensive.
You have the power to change if you want to. Change is up to you.
It amazes me how many times I’ve talked with people who do construction from their ruts. They tell me all about how frustrated they are with their business. Yet, even when we offer them a ladder to help them out of their rut…they won’t use it.
I understand. I’ve been there. Change can be scary.
I remember when I’d had enough of the rut. Doing things the way I was, wasn’t working.
It was after my partner, at a previous construction company, hired a consulting firm that things changed for me. They came in to help us with the business part of our construction company. It was expensive, but what I learned was worth every penny and it cost a lot of pennies (2 million to be exact).
The sad part is this is…I’m the only one that used the business tools that they gave us.
I’m still in business and they aren’t.
Just talking about doing something or buying tools isn’t the same as doing it…action is required.
If you or someone you know is tired of trudging back and forth in a construction business rut, then let us give you a ladder to help you get out.
You have the power to do this. It is a choice that only you can make.
Most people in construction would not consider themselves entrepreneurs. They see themselves as self-employed.
There’s not a huge difference between the two, but it is significant.
It’s the difference between working in your business or working on your business.
Someone who is self-employed is earning income from their own business, trade, or profession. This is how most people working for themselves in construction see it. It’s just a job like any other.
Most of them started out working for someone else. They learned their construction trade but not the business. Being self-employed tends to overlook the business part.
Doing business is scary…not to mention most self-employed construction people don’t like doing paperwork. The problem is, like it or not, self-employment is being in business.
An entrepreneur, on the other hand, is someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of the business. This difference is mostly perspective, and it’s critical. It’s how you see yourself.
It’s about where your focus is. Are you focused on just showing up on the jobsite every day doing construction, or is it bigger than that? This is the difference between having a job and owning a business.
Is what I’m doing just a job or is it building a business?
If we see ourselves as just having a job, the daily rat race becomes overwhelming and is often the reason self-employed contractors go out of business within the first five years. The numbers are staggering.
So if you see yourself as self-employed, what are you going to do to avoid becoming one of these statistics?
The first step is becoming aware. You have to see the problem before you can do anything about it. Then you can decide if you want to keep doing things the way you always have or do something different.
After you become aware of the problem, you need to understand it. This is where things are going to get harder. It’s going to require some research. This is going to take time that you don’t have, but it’s time well spent if you want to stay in business.
Now that you understand the problem, you will need information and instructions for implementing changes. I know this sounds like a lot, and you may be wondering, is it really worth it?
If it is, then you need to learn these new and different ways of doing business and change how you do things.
If this seems like too much, maybe you should just go back to working for someone else!
If you decide that you want to accept the title of entrepreneur and work on building your business rather than just working a job, then we can help.
If you have questions about transitioning from self-employed to entrepreneur, you can set up a free 30-minute construction company consultation. It’s up to you. You get to decide if you want to accept the role of entrepreneur or continue working as an employee for yourself.
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The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
