Business Coaching

[Greg Swartz]

So, today, I spent the entire day at a business development workshop with a company called ActionCOACH.

We learned a lot of stuff today...

Let me interrupt this post now... this is not off topic... this relates to Electrical Contracting... and I am not advertising...

One of the things, is to start off with writing a mission statement for your business, and then a vision statement for your business. For some of you, this is a no brainer, but I needed a big refresher in this. I had not done either.

We talked about what we wanted our businesses to look like, and we talked about not participating in this nation's recession.

We also went over strengths and weaknesses in our business.

We went over long range plans, all the way down to 90 day goals...

It was a fantastic time, and I have to tell you, that these items are really necessary if you want to grow your business.

I have been lucky, because I had none of this, and we happened to grow... now, I have a direction, and a plan.

FWIW, I'd tell you all to look at your businesses and where they are going. I think that classes / seminars / teaching like this is definately the way to go, because we all started off as electricians, and now some of us are ECs...

Just thought I'd share.
Greg

 

[quogueelectric]

So, today, I spent the entire day at a business development workshop with a company called ActionCOACH.

We learned a lot of stuff today...

Let me interrupt this post now... this is not off topic... this relates to Electrical Contracting... and I am not advertising...

One of the things, is to start off with writing a mission statement for your business, and then a vision statement for your business. For some of you, this is a no brainer, but I needed a big refresher in this. I had not done either.

We talked about what we wanted our businesses to look like, and we talked about not participating in this nation's recession.

We also went over strengths and weaknesses in our business.

We went over long range plans, all the way down to 90 day goals...

It was a fantastic time, and I have to tell you, that these items are really necessary if you want to grow your business.

I have been lucky, because I had none of this, and we happened to grow... now, I have a direction, and a plan.

FWIW, I'd tell you all to look at your businesses and where they are going. I think that classes / seminars / teaching like this is definately the way to go, because we all started off as electricians, and now some of us are ECs...

Just thought I'd share.
Greg

I spent an hour online with accubid today. Anybody can do electrical work. You can train a chimp to fly a spaceship. Not everybody is a good buisnessman but it can be learned to get better.

 

[emahler]

heck of a background with ActionCoach and it's founder....

fyi- there is a lot of valuable information out there that these companies teach...it's valuable information when put into the right hands...but there greatest benefit, is that given the right relationship, is having someone there to support you...to answer your questions and bounce ideas off...

as entreprenuers, we are generally very independent type people...we tend to overlook the importance of a good support system...

greg, you are very forward thinking in your approach to running your business...i can definitely see you putting together an advisary board in the next year or 2.....this will help you tremendously...

 

[nafis]

I am glad to learn you are doing this, good investment.
Think of your vision statement as where you want your company to be after some time in the future. let us say you want your company to be one of the fastest EC in your area with zero accident and you want to be the best customer service provider . there are many things you may consider not to forget the financial part like how much sale you want to make banks and loan officer loves to see that ????
A mission statement is how you want to get there ?.. let us say you want to hire sales man , customer service specialist and licensed electricians..... and list goes on

Hope that help good luck

 

[satcom]

I am glad to learn you are doing this, good investment.
Think of your vision statement as where you want your company to be after some time in the future. let us say you want your company to be one of the fastest EC in your area with zero accident and you want to be the best customer service provider .

Very sad, but the only vision some EC's get is growing old, and unhappy after years of running an unplanned business.

 

[emahler]

this is also one of the main things your are paying for when you join a franchise or affinity group...the business coaching.

 

[Greg Swartz]

this is also one of the main things your are paying for when you join a franchise or affinity group...the business coaching.

I think I agree with that statement.

I was PMing with one of the former Mr E franchisee guys on the forum, and he sent me to their marketing website, and they sell DVDs that teach you the same things...

In my office building, there are Farmers Insurance agents, and I was talking with them, and they have something similar, just on a much lower scale...

Franchise restaurants are the same...

I agree with the benefit of owning a franchise and FOLLOWING their guidelines... because they have done the market research, to show continuous results under diverse circumstances.

 

[emahler]

I think I agree with that statement.

I was PMing with one of the former Mr E franchisee guys on the forum, and he sent me to their marketing website, and they sell DVDs that teach you the same things...

In my office building, there are Farmers Insurance agents, and I was talking with them, and they have something similar, just on a much lower scale...

Franchise restaurants are the same...

I agree with the benefit of owning a franchise and FOLLOWING their guidelines... because they have done the market research, to show continuous results under diverse circumstances.

it works for every business...there are undeniable truths associated with every business...unfortunately, most tradesmen don't feel that they will ever run a business...and they are right...

 

[khixxx]

www.naphill.org I would check out the book "The Law of Success"

Greg, Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I know others on here would be willing to share their success and failures but being that this is an open forum it wouldn't be wise.

 

[nakulak]

this is good stuff.

on a side note (just curious), did the business coach tell everyone that they had something on the side of their face, and send some of the people packing ?

 

[khixxx]

this is good stuff.

on a side note (just curious), did the business coach tell everyone that they had something on the side of their face, and send some of the people packing ?

So thats why I didn't get in

 

[emahler]

about 10-12 yrs ago I met a plumber who explained it this way...

I had just gone to my first Maurice Maio seminar and purchased his VHS (yep, before DVD's for you young guys) series on operating a successful service business...I knew this plumber was on the Maio train, so I spoke with him about the series...

he told me "the best thing those tapes will do for you is motivate you. we spend all day motivating our employees, customers, vendors, etc...but at the end of the day, we don't have anyone to motivate us"

and he was, and I believe still is, correct in that assumption..

 

[charlietuna]

I really don't see any item listed that isn't basic common sense ! As Mike Holt always explains in his estimating course-- a good electrician never trains himself in the art of estimating because he is concentrating on ways to get the job done faster than asking himself "How long is this job gonna take?". And looking back at contractors i worked for before i went in business, the more successful ones were guys who were not hustlers! My accountant had no idea how the electrical business worked - and at first made suggestions about investing in CD's and Mutual Funds when this money was needed for expansion in manpower. This is not the same as running a Candy Store! I had no inside exposure to the electrical industry--only ran jobs as a foreman ! Estimating here is like TOP SECRET! I did know how to treat my men because i knew how i wanted to be treated, but i always gave my boss a "days' work" and i also expected that of my men--and it worked! I treated my customers like they were part of the family but had strick guidelines for paying on time and had a reputation of good work(ON TIME AND RELIABLE)-honest prices-"BUT MAKE SURE YOU PAY HIM ON TIME!". We did many jobs over $500k on a handshake! Proving the trust between the contractor and the customer. 25 years and never advertised and never ran out of work !

 

[emahler]

charlie, in all seriousness...how old are you and when did you close shop?

i ask, because my father thinks like you...he used to do $500,000 jobs for T&M on a handshake...

I don't know too many people who can do that today...I'm just curious of the timeline when your company was operational...

 

[cadpoint]

It seems this type of service offered as described is for after the birth of the business, or even what you might have forgotten to do as you found out.
How one needs to learn how to continually grow, prosper, Etc, Etc ... Cool ...

I know our Local Comm. Coll. offers several types of classes, seminar, services related to running a business.
Which isn't covered so much, as you described in you OP, but the likes of some of the aspects are covered.

Most of these classes, etc. are given from the extension service on or off the of the college campus and not so much directly related to the business dept and usually have no "Credit Unit" value. These are usually one shot production or classes, sometimes more or like college classes.

I would advise anyone to research their local CC, and other official public services that are also available, if interested in any classes, etc.

Good Show Greg, I know I can read your excitement very clearly, congratulations!

 

[peter d]

charlie, in all seriousness...how old are you and when did you close shop?

IIRC Tuna guy talked about building high rise condos in Miami in the 1970's.

This post is more of a check of my own memory than anything else, to see if I'm going crazy or not.

 

[satcom]

it works for every business...there are undeniable truths associated with every business...unfortunately, most tradesmen don't feel that they will ever run a business...and they are right...

Unfortunate is the word, just read some of the posts, where someone will say the contractors that charge eniough to support running a business, are crooks, there are the guys that need the trainning the most.

 

[bradleyelectric]

The founder of Action is Bradley Sugars. He has many books in the "Instant" series. http://www.bradsugars.com/ is his web site. If you get involved with them ask if they will be offering the game "Leverage" at any time. Very interesting board game developed by Sugars dealing with business strategies.

In the introduction of his book "Instant Systems" is a quote: "I define a business as a commercial, profitable enterprise that works without you."

 

[charlietuna]

I retired three years ago -- our work niche was high end office buildings--started in tenant buildouts--got tired of begging GC's for my money--started working directly for building owners or directly for tenants--this got us into specialty work--infrared scanning and metering along with power quality monitoring--and this got into other work in the printing industry. Our last job was a $380k T&M job for a large printing company which we had serviced for five years. Upon retiring, the owner told me " We never questioned any of your bills--just payed them--because you always were here when you said you would, and anytime we had a problem". Before going into business i worked for a large high rise condo contractor and we would start a 278 unit apartment building and get the contract signed about the time we were setting the switchgear and generators ! The last 15 years was a nice ride--not worrying about money and working for people who appreciated your services!

 

[emahler]

then god bless charlie...because in the NY/NJ area, the word of the day has been 'document' for the last 15 years....without it, you get the short end of the stick....

as an aside, why did you close down? why not keep it operating? didn't you have anyone who could take over the day to day and let you dabble when you wanted? sounds like you had a literal gold mine of panacea, why stop it?