Struggling To Concentrate... Advice Please!
Discussion
Just having a little rant as I'm getting a bit fed up with myself. I'm sure others have been here before so looking for some advice please. I'm really struggling to concentrate lately, I run two businesses (one is my own, another larger one I'm in charge of day to day operations but don't own it) and I'm just finding it really hard to get stuff done.
I have a lot on my mind, lots to do, lots to think about personally and in the businesses, I'm sure if I tick off a few boxes things will be a bit easier. I'm still renovating a house, I have a 13 week old baby, I've just ordered a car (so need to keep the money coming in!) and I've just booked my wedding for 2016. Am I just doing too much at once and things will return to normal a bit as the little one gets a bit older and the house gets finished? (until the next house/baby/both anyway!)
How do "successful" people get everything done in multiple businesses and still have a family life/personal achievements?! Some of my competitors are making real leaps forward whilst I'm just "pottering along as normal".
I don't believe that "there isn't enough time in the day" as I'm currently wasting a lot of it, mostly due to tiredness, whether or not there is enough time to do all of the things I need to do overall remains to be seen, but I can certainly do a lot more than I currently am. I think I need a holiday and a new hobby to break up the weeks!! (thinking of buying a Rotax Max Go Kart in January
) I do find that as I get older the time just flies by, days go in the blink of an eye!
My business is "about the same" as last year (so far), so no real growth (4 months left), but nice and steady. The other business I've been operations manager for 12 months now, it's only me and an office manager running it with the MD tendering larger jobs 3 days a week, and we've gone from making a loss year after year to a 6 figure profit, albeit all taken by the MD with no budget to improve/expand the company. I want to continue that next year but I really want to see some proper growth in my own company as well.
So problem identified, any tips on rectifying it before I end up a useless bum?
I have a lot on my mind, lots to do, lots to think about personally and in the businesses, I'm sure if I tick off a few boxes things will be a bit easier. I'm still renovating a house, I have a 13 week old baby, I've just ordered a car (so need to keep the money coming in!) and I've just booked my wedding for 2016. Am I just doing too much at once and things will return to normal a bit as the little one gets a bit older and the house gets finished? (until the next house/baby/both anyway!)
How do "successful" people get everything done in multiple businesses and still have a family life/personal achievements?! Some of my competitors are making real leaps forward whilst I'm just "pottering along as normal".
I don't believe that "there isn't enough time in the day" as I'm currently wasting a lot of it, mostly due to tiredness, whether or not there is enough time to do all of the things I need to do overall remains to be seen, but I can certainly do a lot more than I currently am. I think I need a holiday and a new hobby to break up the weeks!! (thinking of buying a Rotax Max Go Kart in January
) I do find that as I get older the time just flies by, days go in the blink of an eye!My business is "about the same" as last year (so far), so no real growth (4 months left), but nice and steady. The other business I've been operations manager for 12 months now, it's only me and an office manager running it with the MD tendering larger jobs 3 days a week, and we've gone from making a loss year after year to a 6 figure profit, albeit all taken by the MD with no budget to improve/expand the company. I want to continue that next year but I really want to see some proper growth in my own company as well.
So problem identified, any tips on rectifying it before I end up a useless bum?
Some familiar things there! Some pointers that I have found helpful that may be of benefit.
Fitness. Even if you are already fit, get fitter. Regular exercise that pushes you improves your ability to concentrate and expands your overall capacity during the day. Because you sleep better as well, you remain alert and effective for longer during the day. Under the same heading, keep an eye on nutrition and keep the beer to weekends only.
Delegate - find others to do things. A paradox of business is to be effective, you have to become less important in the business. This is how the big boys work.
Daily lists - work out what's important and what's urgent. Don't move to the next thing until you've completed the other thing.
Emails - Turn your email software on once in the morning, once just after lunch and once late afternoon.
I'd also look to concentrate on only one business too. Think which will yield you the greatest return and the greatest enjoyment and bin the other. You may take a financial hit initially but this will be recovered in the medium term as you will be focusing all efforts on one thing rather than diluting them across two.
Oh....and keep Pistonheads to the evening!
Fitness. Even if you are already fit, get fitter. Regular exercise that pushes you improves your ability to concentrate and expands your overall capacity during the day. Because you sleep better as well, you remain alert and effective for longer during the day. Under the same heading, keep an eye on nutrition and keep the beer to weekends only.
Delegate - find others to do things. A paradox of business is to be effective, you have to become less important in the business. This is how the big boys work.
Daily lists - work out what's important and what's urgent. Don't move to the next thing until you've completed the other thing.
Emails - Turn your email software on once in the morning, once just after lunch and once late afternoon.
I'd also look to concentrate on only one business too. Think which will yield you the greatest return and the greatest enjoyment and bin the other. You may take a financial hit initially but this will be recovered in the medium term as you will be focusing all efforts on one thing rather than diluting them across two.
Oh....and keep Pistonheads to the evening!
MrSparks said:
How do "successful" people get everything done in multiple businesses and still have a family life/personal achievements?!
I have a lot of "successful" people as customers. They are hard workers with hectic lifestyles but they tend to have one thing in common, staff! By staff I mean home help, nanny, gardener etc So quite a lot of the day to day time consuming stuff is taken care of!Personally whenever I get really busy I just step away from things and go cycling for a couple of hours. Exercise really helps.
100% whats already been said, that is really good advice.
Exercise is something that I go through highs and lows with. If I am doing it, it energises me, helps me in business and generally makes me feel well and stress free. But I will also go through the I CBA phase. This then makes me tired, grumpy at home and work and all round stressed. I will sit at work pressing send and receive in Outlook and generally not doing much more than the minimum. The problem with the CBA phase is I am well aware a good gym / run / cycle will fix it, but I CBA, so it drags you down more.
I had been in the CBA phase for a couple of weeks, but today, I took the day off work, started the day making a veg smoothie (which are excellent for energy) then did some exercise in the gym and took the dogs for a run.
I am now working from home and getting loads done. Properly with my head back in the game.
It does sound like you have taken on too much, but with your head in the right place, you can deal with it.
Slightly off topic, but Brad Burton's books are quite good (if a bit all over the place to read). One of the things he says for business owners is, if you find yourself pressing send and receive in Outlook, get out of the office. Go and do something else as your head is not in the right place. This is very good advice and it works well for me.
Andy
Exercise is something that I go through highs and lows with. If I am doing it, it energises me, helps me in business and generally makes me feel well and stress free. But I will also go through the I CBA phase. This then makes me tired, grumpy at home and work and all round stressed. I will sit at work pressing send and receive in Outlook and generally not doing much more than the minimum. The problem with the CBA phase is I am well aware a good gym / run / cycle will fix it, but I CBA, so it drags you down more.
I had been in the CBA phase for a couple of weeks, but today, I took the day off work, started the day making a veg smoothie (which are excellent for energy) then did some exercise in the gym and took the dogs for a run.
I am now working from home and getting loads done. Properly with my head back in the game.
It does sound like you have taken on too much, but with your head in the right place, you can deal with it.
Slightly off topic, but Brad Burton's books are quite good (if a bit all over the place to read). One of the things he says for business owners is, if you find yourself pressing send and receive in Outlook, get out of the office. Go and do something else as your head is not in the right place. This is very good advice and it works well for me.
Andy
I have a similar amount of stuff on my plate and I am doing it in a foreign land!
I had the same feelings too and I have been using a mediation app in the morning (I get up at 05.30 and do it then, but you can use it whenever suits really)
I has really helped me calm down and become more productive, I can recommend https://www.headspace.com/
Hope that is of some use.
I had the same feelings too and I have been using a mediation app in the morning (I get up at 05.30 and do it then, but you can use it whenever suits really)
I has really helped me calm down and become more productive, I can recommend https://www.headspace.com/
Hope that is of some use.
Thanks for the replies, very helpful.
I think exercise may be one of the key things, I'll be honest I've put on a lot of weight over the past couple of years (2-3 stone). I spend a lot of time at a desk and don't really do anything else. My diet is appalling and I've been drinking a lot. So all this more than likely doesn't help at all. In the new year I am going to improve my diet (for money's sake as well as health, I spend about £100 a week on breakfast and lunch alone haha). I have been struggling in general lately with tiredness, lack of fitness and general health.
I was doing my best (in general) when I was a little bit younger and used to have my 350Z, motorbikes etc, I'd be out driving or riding enduro bikes, road bikes etc every weekend, also weighed 3 stone less
Giving up my business isn't an option, I know that it won't do as well as it could do but as it stands I can back off it and just process orders if needs be, so no need to give up completely. I just have a limited income from the day job, so have to make up the rest myself and I can go quite a lot further with it before it becomes too much work. It's just getting to that position that's going to take the time.
I'll take a look at the headspace thing, I'm open to ideas so will check it out!
Not sure how I'm going to tackle the exercise thing yet, never been my strong point.
I think exercise may be one of the key things, I'll be honest I've put on a lot of weight over the past couple of years (2-3 stone). I spend a lot of time at a desk and don't really do anything else. My diet is appalling and I've been drinking a lot. So all this more than likely doesn't help at all. In the new year I am going to improve my diet (for money's sake as well as health, I spend about £100 a week on breakfast and lunch alone haha). I have been struggling in general lately with tiredness, lack of fitness and general health.
I was doing my best (in general) when I was a little bit younger and used to have my 350Z, motorbikes etc, I'd be out driving or riding enduro bikes, road bikes etc every weekend, also weighed 3 stone less
Giving up my business isn't an option, I know that it won't do as well as it could do but as it stands I can back off it and just process orders if needs be, so no need to give up completely. I just have a limited income from the day job, so have to make up the rest myself and I can go quite a lot further with it before it becomes too much work. It's just getting to that position that's going to take the time.
I'll take a look at the headspace thing, I'm open to ideas so will check it out!
Not sure how I'm going to tackle the exercise thing yet, never been my strong point.
Interesting thread, experience very similar issues with my business.
Ive recently came off the tools, thinking Id have more time to spend on "growing the business"...Im now more stressed than ever and constantly feel like there are not enough hours in the day.
I can't drive without my phone going constant, with texts, emails and calls. My business relies on me taking these calls and texts instantly I can't switch off still I stop driving.
Not pleasant. I have staff, but there are certain things I can't teach at this stage.
edit - we are primarily an electrical contractor, same ?
I don't see how you can possibly expect growth in your own business, if you are devoting time on another. My business is doing good but it takes up every single minute of my day/night. I go for a piss at night and check my emails! Sad I know.
Ive recently came off the tools, thinking Id have more time to spend on "growing the business"...Im now more stressed than ever and constantly feel like there are not enough hours in the day.
I can't drive without my phone going constant, with texts, emails and calls. My business relies on me taking these calls and texts instantly I can't switch off still I stop driving.
Not pleasant. I have staff, but there are certain things I can't teach at this stage.
edit - we are primarily an electrical contractor, same ?
I don't see how you can possibly expect growth in your own business, if you are devoting time on another. My business is doing good but it takes up every single minute of my day/night. I go for a piss at night and check my emails! Sad I know.
Edited by Jamster123 on Tuesday 16th December 21:23
Jamster123 said:
Interesting thread, experience very similar issues with my business.
Ive recently came off the tools, thinking Id have more time to spend on "growing the business"...Im now more stressed than ever and constantly feel like there are not enough hours in the day.
I can't drive without my phone going constant, with texts, emails and calls. My business relies on me taking these calls and texts instantly I can't switch off still I stop driving.
Not pleasant. I have staff, but there are certain things I can't teach at this stage.
Have you tried outsourcing your calls to a local virtual assistant? I would recommend it as it can be fairly cheap, they can email you messages instantly and you can call back the second you're available. I've found that people hate not being able to get an answer, even if it's just a "Yes we're here but someone needs to call you back". Or depending on the size of your business it might be worth investing in a secretary early, there are plenty of things a low-skilled secretary can do to help gain further business to cover their wages. (find new prospects online for instance...)Ive recently came off the tools, thinking Id have more time to spend on "growing the business"...Im now more stressed than ever and constantly feel like there are not enough hours in the day.
I can't drive without my phone going constant, with texts, emails and calls. My business relies on me taking these calls and texts instantly I can't switch off still I stop driving.
Not pleasant. I have staff, but there are certain things I can't teach at this stage.
By the way, I can positively tell you that running a trades business is 100 times more complicated and stressful than being a tradesman, even when self-employed.
All summer I was running about 25 staff on numerous jobs, by myself, some jobs were £100k plus, others £65.00 and it was a nightmare. Even now we're still busy, I've turned down 8 jobs in the past 24 hours and I have about 20 jobs on the go and am pricing quite a few as well. Yet January I barely have anything in the calendar...... (for now... hopefully the calls will continue through January!)
It's stressful, but trades businesses have potential for big profits if done right. I haven't worked out how to do the same with online retail yet. When I do I may give up the contracting! And don't get me started on customers not paying!!!!
Goals, get them decided, written down and then make sure everything you do is related to achieving them.
It's tough, seems a bit wooly but I promise you it works.
Once you've got them in place then its time to get the life 'tools' working for you, habits, time management schemes (GTD is a good one) etc
It's tough, seems a bit wooly but I promise you it works.
Once you've got them in place then its time to get the life 'tools' working for you, habits, time management schemes (GTD is a good one) etc
Try and bin off the company you dont own. If you have less to concentrate on things might get easier?
This may sound harsh and I fecking hope mumsnet dont get hold of it but if you're running about working two jobs you arent going home trying to be superdad staying up all night with the baby as well?
We have 11 Month old twins and I went full time with my business in April this year when they were only 3 months old. My Mrs took the reins at home (literally) which enabled me to work on building the business. If I was doing the night shift at home as well I dare say our year would have been a lot worse than it has been. This may sound harsh in this modern world but its practical and the other halfs contribution is more than equal to what I have done in the business.
Fitness is a good one this is an area I really need to work on!
This may sound harsh and I fecking hope mumsnet dont get hold of it but if you're running about working two jobs you arent going home trying to be superdad staying up all night with the baby as well?
We have 11 Month old twins and I went full time with my business in April this year when they were only 3 months old. My Mrs took the reins at home (literally) which enabled me to work on building the business. If I was doing the night shift at home as well I dare say our year would have been a lot worse than it has been. This may sound harsh in this modern world but its practical and the other halfs contribution is more than equal to what I have done in the business.
Fitness is a good one this is an area I really need to work on!
MrSparks said:
Have you tried outsourcing your calls to a local virtual assistant? I would recommend it as it can be fairly cheap, they can email you messages instantly and you can call back the second you're available. I've found that people hate not being able to get an answer, even if it's just a "Yes we're here but someone needs to call you back". Or depending on the size of your business it might be worth investing in a secretary early, there are plenty of things a low-skilled secretary can do to help gain further business to cover their wages. (find new prospects online for instance...)
By the way, I can positively tell you that running a trades business is 100 times more complicated and stressful than being a tradesman, even when self-employed.
All summer I was running about 25 staff on numerous jobs, by myself, some jobs were £100k plus, others £65.00 and it was a nightmare. Even now we're still busy, I've turned down 8 jobs in the past 24 hours and I have about 20 jobs on the go and am pricing quite a few as well. Yet January I barely have anything in the calendar...... (for now... hopefully the calls will continue through January!)
It's stressful, but trades businesses have potential for big profits if done right. I haven't worked out how to do the same with online retail yet. When I do I may give up the contracting! And don't get me started on customers not paying!!!!
Sound very similar to myself, Working in trades is a complete headache but a lot of money to be made. We have had a massive push this last 3 weeks before xmas and turned over a massive amount ( our record since starting and effectively only a 3 week month) , yet January is empty. My phone won't stop all through xmas though. By the way, I can positively tell you that running a trades business is 100 times more complicated and stressful than being a tradesman, even when self-employed.
All summer I was running about 25 staff on numerous jobs, by myself, some jobs were £100k plus, others £65.00 and it was a nightmare. Even now we're still busy, I've turned down 8 jobs in the past 24 hours and I have about 20 jobs on the go and am pricing quite a few as well. Yet January I barely have anything in the calendar...... (for now... hopefully the calls will continue through January!)
It's stressful, but trades businesses have potential for big profits if done right. I haven't worked out how to do the same with online retail yet. When I do I may give up the contracting! And don't get me started on customers not paying!!!!
Funny thing is, I could go back on the tools tomorrow and have more money in my pocket each week.
Virtual assistant would be difficult, clients want details from me very specific to they're job or property.
I have over 30 NICEIC online certificates to do before xmas, they take around half hour each, its the most monotonous task I can think of. I tried to teach them to my wife but there is too much technical stuff. I offered my guys extra cash to do them, but a) they cant be arsed, and b) they would likely be falsified anyway!
My business is growing pretty fast but its very very difficult, not a lot of people understand the mental pressure you go through. There are so many problems to deal with day in day out. My emails stopped working today for 3 hours, My plasterer called in sick, a customer just cancelled a 7k job on me 2 days before due to start, money I was relying on for xmas. I have 2 weeks with no money coming in, yet I have xmas wages to pay...oh and I also have an 8k VAT bill to pay end of month.....nice. Not easy, but I tell myself this is what separates me from others and Im confident it will pay off, far greater than it has already.
fridaypassion said:
Try and bin off the company you dont own. If you have less to concentrate on things might get easier?
This may sound harsh and I fecking hope mumsnet dont get hold of it but if you're running about working two jobs you arent going home trying to be superdad staying up all night with the baby as well?
We have 11 Month old twins and I went full time with my business in April this year when they were only 3 months old. My Mrs took the reins at home (literally) which enabled me to work on building the business. If I was doing the night shift at home as well I dare say our year would have been a lot worse than it has been. This may sound harsh in this modern world but its practical and the other halfs contribution is more than equal to what I have done in the business.
Fitness is a good one this is an area I really need to work on!
For now, I want to continue with the main business, it suits me to stay there for various reasons, but if the promises made don't pan out in the next year or two then I will be off. Which is why it's important to keep growing my business at the same time as I have a lot of things to pay for, or at least building it so that I have a platform to work from if the time comes rather than starting from scratch.This may sound harsh and I fecking hope mumsnet dont get hold of it but if you're running about working two jobs you arent going home trying to be superdad staying up all night with the baby as well?
We have 11 Month old twins and I went full time with my business in April this year when they were only 3 months old. My Mrs took the reins at home (literally) which enabled me to work on building the business. If I was doing the night shift at home as well I dare say our year would have been a lot worse than it has been. This may sound harsh in this modern world but its practical and the other halfs contribution is more than equal to what I have done in the business.
Fitness is a good one this is an area I really need to work on!
My fiancée is really good to be honest, I have had a lot of sleepless nights and she does expect me to do the night shifts over the weekend which I'm not so happy about, but she generally deals with the little one Mon-Thursday nights and she understands that I have to work evenings, she also does my post office runs for my online business, she's a good listener too when I babble on about business, even though she doesn't understand or get anything I say. I'm still quite involved with my son but my fiancée does let me crack on with work when I need to.
Maybe I need some structure. Work on the online business between X time and X time in evenings and X time and X time on weekends. At the minute I just do whatever, whenever.
Jamster123 said:
Sound very similar to myself, Working in trades is a complete headache but a lot of money to be made. We have had a massive push this last 3 weeks before xmas and turned over a massive amount ( our record since starting and effectively only a 3 week month) , yet January is empty. My phone won't stop all through xmas though.
Funny thing is, I could go back on the tools tomorrow and have more money in my pocket each week.
Virtual assistant would be difficult, clients want details from me very specific to they're job or property.
I have over 30 NICEIC online certificates to do before xmas, they take around half hour each, its the most monotonous task I can think of. I tried to teach them to my wife but there is too much technical stuff. I offered my guys extra cash to do them, but a) they cant be arsed, and b) they would likely be falsified anyway!
My business is growing pretty fast but its very very difficult, not a lot of people understand the mental pressure you go through. There are so many problems to deal with day in day out. My emails stopped working today for 3 hours, My plasterer called in sick, a customer just cancelled a 7k job on me 2 days before due to start, money I was relying on for xmas. I have 2 weeks with no money coming in, yet I have xmas wages to pay...oh and I also have an 8k VAT bill to pay end of month.....nice. Not easy, but I tell myself this is what separates me from others and Im confident it will pay off, far greater than it has already.
Sounds like you're an electrical contractor as well.... Funny thing is, I could go back on the tools tomorrow and have more money in my pocket each week.
Virtual assistant would be difficult, clients want details from me very specific to they're job or property.
I have over 30 NICEIC online certificates to do before xmas, they take around half hour each, its the most monotonous task I can think of. I tried to teach them to my wife but there is too much technical stuff. I offered my guys extra cash to do them, but a) they cant be arsed, and b) they would likely be falsified anyway!
My business is growing pretty fast but its very very difficult, not a lot of people understand the mental pressure you go through. There are so many problems to deal with day in day out. My emails stopped working today for 3 hours, My plasterer called in sick, a customer just cancelled a 7k job on me 2 days before due to start, money I was relying on for xmas. I have 2 weeks with no money coming in, yet I have xmas wages to pay...oh and I also have an 8k VAT bill to pay end of month.....nice. Not easy, but I tell myself this is what separates me from others and Im confident it will pay off, far greater than it has already.
I would highly recommend EasyCert (www.tysoft.co.uk) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab or iPad. I have given all my staff Samsung Tabs with this installed, it was bloody hard work to convince some people to use it, other people think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But either way it's taken my certificate administration time down from days to MINUTES. I know this sounds harsh but I sacked an admin girl after I got this software!! Our certificates are 100% better than before, and quicker.
I would also recommend Google Calendars for programming the staff, it's the only calendar I've found that makes it easy to put in multiple staff calendars on day/week/hour jobs. We can also program as far in advance as we like. All the staff can also see their individual calendars on their tablets. Our business RELIES on it. All the staff also have a Google Email and Drive account, when doing test and inspections or issues on jobs they simply take a picture on their tablet and upload it to the drive then it's on my computer. All of which cost a few pounds a month, I've tried expensive "solutions" and none of them live up to my expectations.
Do you use estimating/job costing software? I've created a dummy estimate with templates for all the common jobs, I can quote test and inspections, fuse board changes, common jobs etc just by copy and paste and then check/edit the items. Cuts estimating time significantly. I can pretty much copy and paste (and check/edit!) jobs up to £100k without going wrong.
With the money thing, there is a fine line between not enough staff and too many staff. Not enough staff and you'll make more money doing it yourself, too many staff and you risk going bust if the work doesn't come in. Get it right and you can make some serious money. You'll have to figure out the magic number for yourself though I'm afraid! For us it's currently at 6-7 staff on profitable jobs and then topping up with subbies and agency labour in the busy summer months, no more price cutting. We've ran 30+ plus on the cards staff and made less money.
MrSparks said:
Sounds like you're an electrical contractor as well....
I would highly recommend EasyCert (www.tysoft.co.uk) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab or iPad. I have given all my staff Samsung Tabs with this installed, it was bloody hard work to convince some people to use it, other people think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But either way it's taken my certificate administration time down from days to MINUTES. I know this sounds harsh but I sacked an admin girl after I got this software!! Our certificates are 100% better than before, and quicker.
I would also recommend Google Calendars for programming the staff, it's the only calendar I've found that makes it easy to put in multiple staff calendars on day/week/hour jobs. We can also program as far in advance as we like. All the staff can also see their individual calendars on their tablets. Our business RELIES on it. All the staff also have a Google Email and Drive account, when doing test and inspections or issues on jobs they simply take a picture on their tablet and upload it to the drive then it's on my computer. All of which cost a few pounds a month, I've tried expensive "solutions" and none of them live up to my expectations.
Do you use estimating/job costing software? I've created a dummy estimate with templates for all the common jobs, I can quote test and inspections, fuse board changes, common jobs etc just by copy and paste and then check/edit the items. Cuts estimating time significantly. I can pretty much copy and paste (and check/edit!) jobs up to £100k without going wrong.
With the money thing, there is a fine line between not enough staff and too many staff. Not enough staff and you'll make more money doing it yourself, too many staff and you risk going bust if the work doesn't come in. Get it right and you can make some serious money. You'll have to figure out the magic number for yourself though I'm afraid! For us it's currently at 6-7 staff on profitable jobs and then topping up with subbies and agency labour in the busy summer months, no more price cutting. We've ran 30+ plus on the cards staff and made less money.
Thanks Sparks, some good advice there. I would highly recommend EasyCert (www.tysoft.co.uk) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab or iPad. I have given all my staff Samsung Tabs with this installed, it was bloody hard work to convince some people to use it, other people think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But either way it's taken my certificate administration time down from days to MINUTES. I know this sounds harsh but I sacked an admin girl after I got this software!! Our certificates are 100% better than before, and quicker.
I would also recommend Google Calendars for programming the staff, it's the only calendar I've found that makes it easy to put in multiple staff calendars on day/week/hour jobs. We can also program as far in advance as we like. All the staff can also see their individual calendars on their tablets. Our business RELIES on it. All the staff also have a Google Email and Drive account, when doing test and inspections or issues on jobs they simply take a picture on their tablet and upload it to the drive then it's on my computer. All of which cost a few pounds a month, I've tried expensive "solutions" and none of them live up to my expectations.
Do you use estimating/job costing software? I've created a dummy estimate with templates for all the common jobs, I can quote test and inspections, fuse board changes, common jobs etc just by copy and paste and then check/edit the items. Cuts estimating time significantly. I can pretty much copy and paste (and check/edit!) jobs up to £100k without going wrong.
With the money thing, there is a fine line between not enough staff and too many staff. Not enough staff and you'll make more money doing it yourself, too many staff and you risk going bust if the work doesn't come in. Get it right and you can make some serious money. You'll have to figure out the magic number for yourself though I'm afraid! For us it's currently at 6-7 staff on profitable jobs and then topping up with subbies and agency labour in the busy summer months, no more price cutting. We've ran 30+ plus on the cards staff and made less money.
I have used the Easy Cert for a few years, but recently switched to the NICEIC online programme, which is pretty decent.
Our work is all very rushed, we do rewires and always on tight timescales so often tests are scribbled down in a book quickly, before being computerised by me at home.
I like the sound of google calendars will look into that for sure.
I used quickbooks online for quotes etc, again its pretty decent and I can knock out generic quotes in seconds.
The staff thing is difficult, we have a team of 3 at the minute who are our "rewire squad ". I also have a full time plasterer, another spark who does jobbing/snagging, 2 guys who do our bathroom installations, and an apprentice doing 2 days a week at minute, So 9 including myself, and the wife is slowly trying to help with admin.
Im still running things from home which is probably a big part of the problem. If I cut back to 3 guys and me, we could rattle out around 4 full rewires a week, potentially over 10k a week with not many overheads, but Im trying to look at the bigger picture and develop other sides of business. You will know yourself domestic rewiring is hard hard graft, and not something I want to physically return to soon.
Yeah, its very rewarding. I often turn up to site, look at my guys all kitted out in our clothing, our vans all signed and think how did I get here?
But, it was also great when I was on my own in 1 van, pretty loaded, taking 3 holidays a year !
People just assume because you run a business with staff etc you are very successful, but no one really knows what goes into it, in my circles anyway.
How do you get so many re-wires etc?
Most of our work is commercial, we do a bit of domestic too when possible but struggle to be competitive. We haven't done a domestic re-wire for a long time. I'd need 8 blokes to do 4 a week, I don't think we're quite as polished on the domestic stuff as we could be.
Can you not do 3 re-wires a week and make things a bit less rushed, book up further in advance and then start boosting other revenue streams like test and inspections, call outs and project work? Depends on your overheads I guess but sometimes a [little] bit less is more in the long run.
As I've turned down about 10 (and counting) domestic jobs this week alone I might look to appoint someone as domestic installer next year and get them doing all the smaller jobs and call outs etc.
I'm going to start turning my emails off as suggested and only check them at set times. I'm also going to start writing to do lists/plans/goals. I've moved my appointments to the afternoons now as I found myself going out mid morning and mid afternoon which seems to make the day very non-productive.
Most of our work is commercial, we do a bit of domestic too when possible but struggle to be competitive. We haven't done a domestic re-wire for a long time. I'd need 8 blokes to do 4 a week, I don't think we're quite as polished on the domestic stuff as we could be.
Can you not do 3 re-wires a week and make things a bit less rushed, book up further in advance and then start boosting other revenue streams like test and inspections, call outs and project work? Depends on your overheads I guess but sometimes a [little] bit less is more in the long run.
As I've turned down about 10 (and counting) domestic jobs this week alone I might look to appoint someone as domestic installer next year and get them doing all the smaller jobs and call outs etc.
I'm going to start turning my emails off as suggested and only check them at set times. I'm also going to start writing to do lists/plans/goals. I've moved my appointments to the afternoons now as I found myself going out mid morning and mid afternoon which seems to make the day very non-productive.
I think you should be asking for a big bonus from your 'employed' job, if you've had that much input in turning around it's fortunes!
Spending that much per week on breakfasts and lunches sounds particularly unhealthy. Cut that back a bit (or a lot if you can). I know what it's like when you have to grab meals on the fly. Try and force yourself to go for a brisk 10 minute walk after each meal. It'll speed up your digestion, get you some fresh air and a little exercise without all the effort of trying to plan a trip to the gym or similar.
Not sure the go kart is a good idea, it'll take a load of your time/money, and it sounds like you don't have any spare time as it is. You'll probably need a full day to get any use out of it, maybe find something else that takes up a little less commitment and you can fit into an hour or two instead?
I know the feeling of never ending work - I'm on call 24/7/365, and the list of jobs admin jobs to catch up leaves me feeling behind all the time I've been trading for almost 8 years and still haven't got sorted out with a proper website.
I'm in very similar position as you, except I have 3 kids (youngest 11 months, oldest 5). Just be glad your missus is supportive, mine takes as much looking after as the kids themselves! I do all the laundry (about 10 loads a week including nappies), grocery shopping, and most of the cooking, and school runs. She doesn't drive, so I'm her personal taxi most of the time as well. I work from home at least half of the week, so I'm always at her beck and call. She's never worked while we've lived together (even before having kids), or made any financial contribution to our living costs. I even pay to put the middle child in nursery/child care a couple of days a week, so she can have some time off from looking after him! All she has to do is look after the kids when they've at home, and the remaining household chores.
I mostly arrange my work around family life (e.g. can't do a site visit first thing in the day, as I always do the morning school run), days off all over the place to take her and the kids to doctors/hospital appointments, parties etc. She complains if I ever work into the evenings or at weekends to try and catch up, and that we don't have enough holidays or time together, when I'm too busy working all the hours I can (around family life), to keep a roof over our heads!
I wouldn't all this, but I try and take a work hard, play hard attitude to it - I do try and go out one or two evenings a week to play sport. But she is resentful of that, even though she is the polar opposite - doesn't work hard, gets everything on a plate and then complains when I try and have any kind of life outside work.
My biggest vice concentration wise is getting distracted by the internet...
Spending that much per week on breakfasts and lunches sounds particularly unhealthy. Cut that back a bit (or a lot if you can). I know what it's like when you have to grab meals on the fly. Try and force yourself to go for a brisk 10 minute walk after each meal. It'll speed up your digestion, get you some fresh air and a little exercise without all the effort of trying to plan a trip to the gym or similar.
Not sure the go kart is a good idea, it'll take a load of your time/money, and it sounds like you don't have any spare time as it is. You'll probably need a full day to get any use out of it, maybe find something else that takes up a little less commitment and you can fit into an hour or two instead?
I know the feeling of never ending work - I'm on call 24/7/365, and the list of jobs admin jobs to catch up leaves me feeling behind all the time I've been trading for almost 8 years and still haven't got sorted out with a proper website.
I'm in very similar position as you, except I have 3 kids (youngest 11 months, oldest 5). Just be glad your missus is supportive, mine takes as much looking after as the kids themselves! I do all the laundry (about 10 loads a week including nappies), grocery shopping, and most of the cooking, and school runs. She doesn't drive, so I'm her personal taxi most of the time as well. I work from home at least half of the week, so I'm always at her beck and call. She's never worked while we've lived together (even before having kids), or made any financial contribution to our living costs. I even pay to put the middle child in nursery/child care a couple of days a week, so she can have some time off from looking after him! All she has to do is look after the kids when they've at home, and the remaining household chores.
I mostly arrange my work around family life (e.g. can't do a site visit first thing in the day, as I always do the morning school run), days off all over the place to take her and the kids to doctors/hospital appointments, parties etc. She complains if I ever work into the evenings or at weekends to try and catch up, and that we don't have enough holidays or time together, when I'm too busy working all the hours I can (around family life), to keep a roof over our heads!
I wouldn't all this, but I try and take a work hard, play hard attitude to it - I do try and go out one or two evenings a week to play sport. But she is resentful of that, even though she is the polar opposite - doesn't work hard, gets everything on a plate and then complains when I try and have any kind of life outside work.
My biggest vice concentration wise is getting distracted by the internet...
Two suggestions. Firstly I'd be looking at getting a decorator in to sort out the house, it seems to me that, okay it might be a release for you to do some manual 'don't think about it' labour at the end of the day but in the long run it would probably get finished quicker and your family would then have somewhere nice to relax.
Okay it will cost something but you need to work out how valuable your time is? If you charged out the decoration at your standard rate does it make economic sense to do it yourself or employ someone? As an aside you may even get some work off the decorator who then needs a sparky at a later date.
Second is there any possibility of converting your employed job into a contractor type of arrangement, you would then be free to put one of your own employees onto it some of the time and then spend more time in your own business, it would also be a steady income stream for your business and one or more of your employees would be gaining experience.
Okay it will cost something but you need to work out how valuable your time is? If you charged out the decoration at your standard rate does it make economic sense to do it yourself or employ someone? As an aside you may even get some work off the decorator who then needs a sparky at a later date.
Second is there any possibility of converting your employed job into a contractor type of arrangement, you would then be free to put one of your own employees onto it some of the time and then spend more time in your own business, it would also be a steady income stream for your business and one or more of your employees would be gaining experience.
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