New Business Development – Page 21

Work WITH Your Environment

We have quite a few squirrels
in my neighborhood.

They LOVE to dig up
certain Spring bulbs.

In the past
I would wage war against them,
trying to save
my tulip bulbs.

I’d place wire mesh
over the ground.

I would drip hot sauce
or cinnamon or cut human hair
or…
over the soil.

I would try numerous ways
to stop the squirrels
from digging up the tulip bulbs.

Nothing worked
and I would become
extremely frustrated.

Now, I simply plant daffodil bulbs.

The squirrels leave those bulbs alone.
They dig elsewhere,
aerating our lawn.

And I enjoy the Spring flowers
with no stress.

It is much easier
to work WITH your current environment,
not against it.

(And your current environment
could be customer expectations,
industry norms,
the political situation,
etc.)

Give Your Employees Paid Lunch Breaks

I can’t believe this has to be said.
But since there are people
trying to eliminate the legal requirement
for lunch breaks,
I guess it has to be.

Give your employees
paid lunch breaks.

They aren’t robots.
They need water and food and rest.

When people are hungry or thirsty,
THAT is all they’re thinking about.

They aren’t thinking about
whatever task you’ve given them
to do.

They certainly aren’t thinking about
how best to serve the company.

They’re doing sh*t work for you.

So give them the hour off
and PAY them for that time.

If you can’t afford to pay them
for that hour,
you can’t afford to be in business.

Treat the humans you hire
as…HUMANS.

Batching Tasks

Yesterday was social media
promotional post day
for me.

I crafted all the graphics
and all the text
with links
for a month
and then scheduled the posts.

Instead of it taking me
two hours a day
for 31 days,
it took me around 15 hours.

THAT is the power
of batching tasks.

The programs were open.
I could cut and paste
taglines.
I only had to run image searches
for each type of graphic
once.
Etc.

If you want to get
a lot of similar tasks done
efficiently,
consider batching them.

Pay Attention To Trendlines

Two days ago,
a buddy told me
the high temperatures
for yesterday,
according to a certain
weather forecast site,
would be X degrees.

I told her
it would be X + Y degrees.

It WAS
X + Y degrees
and she asked me
how I knew that.

I knew that
because
that site’s
forecast model has been
Y degrees too low
for the past year.

Trendlines matter.
They matter
when hosting an outdoor activity,
when planning for a sales promotion,
when keeping our loved ones safe
from the multiple pandemics
happening right now.

Figure them out
BEFORE you truly need
to rely on them.

Pay attention to trendlines.

You’re Paying For Experience

We’re having solar panels
put on our roof.

The company quoted us
two days of work
to do that.

The team they sent
did it
in one day.

The price was the same
and we were fine
with it being the same.

Because the team
they sent
had years of experience.
They finished quickly
(and completed their tasks well)
because they were seasoned professionals.

We were paying for
that experience,
not the actual time.

We were paying
to ensure
the roof didn’t leak
and everything was firmly attached
and working.

If you’re hiring a professional,
you’re paying for their experience,
not merely their time.

If they finish early,
that’s their business.

Easter Weekend And Expectations

It is Easter Weekend
in North America.

I know. I know.
It is still March
and Easter is ‘supposed’ to be
in April.
That’s our expectation.

And because it is
our expectation,
most people I know
are unprepared for Easter.

They are surprised
it is this weekend.

They haven’t bought
Easter flowers or chocolates
or bonnets or…anything.

Customer expectations
are important.

If we deviate
from those expectations,
expect to invest
MUCH more time and money
and other resources
into marketing.

And even with that increase,
expect to lose
some sales.

Work with customer expectations
if you can.

Being Late

As I wait for
yet another late contractor,
my willingness to overlook issues
is dropping
dramatically.

Because his lateness
tells me
my business
and my time
are NOT important to him.
If it was important,
he would be on time.

And this will cost him.

There will be
no bonuses.
I will negotiate
every charge
he seeks to apply.
And I doubt I’ll work with him
again.

There are costs
to being late,
some of them
you will never become aware of.

Be on time.

Keep Some Easy Tasks

The tasks that are easiest
to delegate
are often also
the easiest tasks
to complete.

It’s tempting to delegate
ALL of that sh*t.

Resist that temptation.

If your role
consists of only
difficult tasks,
you’ll become burned out
and discouraged quickly.

Easy tasks are satisfying.

Easy tasks give us
a confidence boost.
They reassure us
we can get sh*t done.

Easy tasks also give us
a mental break
while still allowing us
to accomplish things.

Keep a few easy tasks
for yourself.
Delegate the rest
of them.

An On-Site Project Manager

You need an on-site
project manager.

This seems obvious
but I’ve recently been a part
of a couple projects
where this didn’t happen.

You can’t manage projects
from a distance.

Because a big part
of project management
is firefighting.
It is quickly dealing
with emergencies
and making those fast decisions.

That’s very difficult to do
if you’re not there,
on the site.

People have to hunt you down
and then describe the situation
over the phone or a video call
and it is impossible to describe
EVERYTHING that is happening.

The nuances WILL f*ck you
and your project up.

With the projects
I was involved in
that didn’t have on-site project managers,
someone else
(one time it was the client)
assumed that role.

These volunteer project managers
didn’t have the same agendas
as the true but off-site project managers.

It was a mess.

Have an on-site
project manager.

When The Backup Plan Fails

My area has
two major internet companies.

A few days ago,
my main internet company
wasn’t operational in my area.

So I tried to switch
to the second internet company.

It wasn’t operational
in my area either.

I continued checking
every couple of hours
but I soon accepted that
I was getting nothing done that day
that required the internet.

I completed offline tasks.

When your backup plan fails,
consider that it might be
a sign from the universe
you should focus on other things.

Complete other tasks
and try again tomorrow.