The 0-5 Challenge

If you are a contractor with sales in the 0 to 5 million dollar a year range and you have been in business for at least 8-10 years, we are going to make a guess about you.  We’re going to guess that your growth has flat-lined.  Well, maybe with this more robust economy, your business is flooded with work and your sales are up, but that is a reflection of what is going on in the economy, not your business.   And you know it.  

If you are still young, you probably haven’t really thought much about it, because you are so busy running “this way and that”, something you need to know hasn’t yet occurred to you and you might not be willing to “hear it” even if you did.  (You figure that working harder and smarter will get you through it).   But you do feel like you are a slave to your business.

If you are older and have been at it longer, you don’t have the energy you once did and in all the running “this way and that”, you may have started to figure it out.  But you don’t understand it quite yet.  (But you have figured out that working harder and smarter hasn’t got you through it).  And you know you are a slave to your business.

You are stuck.  Congratulations.  

Now, contractors who have broken thru the barrier you are dealing with will be sitting here saying, “Well, yeah, sure, they need to go hire somebody to help them.”  That may be true, but likely is superficial.   Because most of you may have figured that out yourself, but the thing is you haven’t found and hired that guy yet or perhaps you did and it didn’t work out.  Right?  So, what is the answer?  Actually, I’ve already given it to you and you missed it.  Let me say it differently.

Ready to Ride?

You are stuck.  (Your business isn’t.  Its waiting on you).  

When the plant is drying out and the leaves are wilting you don’t water the leaves.  You water the root.  Instead of trying to figure out how to make changes in your business, you need to figure out how to be making changes in you.  I’m assuming all of you have heard of the 80-20 Rule.   (It is most commonly understood as 80% of your business comes from 20% of your customers).  Well it also applies here.  80% of the things holding you back are inside you.  Only 20% are outside you.