Owning a construction company and being an employee requires different mindsets and attitudes or paradigms. Both positions are natural enemies and generate tension which can lead to a variety of diseases; mental, physical, emotional and Spiritual.
Construction workers live in the real world where everything can be seen, heard, felt, tasted and sometimes smelled. At the end of the day they can look around and see evidence of their activities. Their long term time horizon in years past was two weeks, which is why most payrolls are paid every two weeks. Now with the variety of check cashing and payday loan outlets their long term time horizon has been replaced with now and right now!
Construction company owners work in a world that is intangible and imaginary where nothing is real or solid. Nothing in this part of their world can be perceived with any of your five senses: Sight, Sound, Feel, Taste or Smell. Your long term time horizon is between 30 days and one year depending on the size and complexity of their construction projects.
Construction company owners have to make 100's if not 1,000's of decisions each and every day with whatever limited information is available to them. As a construction company owner you have to decide on Marketing Strategies, Accounting Strategies and Production Strategies or as we call it M.A.P. Vs. P.A.M. It is the construction company owner's version of "Which Came First The Chicken or the Egg?"
Each decision you make carries different weight and the trick is knowing which ones to delegate and which ones to focus on. For example the decision about what markets to pursue; Residential, Commercial, Industrial has more weight and can impact your company more than which brand of toilet paper should be used in the office restroom.
The decision on which market to pursue is only the beginning. Once the decision has been made on which market to pursue you have to decide which subset of that market: New, Remodel or Service & Repair. Each strategy needs very different construction workers, Caveman, Cowboy and Shoe Salesman. Put the wrong worker in the wrong environment and you could see for yourself what happens when a Bull gets loose in a china shop and it is not pretty!
If you, as a construction company owner, could only do one thing all day long that would contribute most value what would it be?
Are you, as a construction company owner, continuing to upgrade your management skill sets and grooming subordinates to replace yourself in order to grow sales and profits?
Are you, as a construction company owner, letting go of the "Fun and Easy Low Paying Tasks"....and replacing them with the Hard, Self-Discipline Tasks" that produces results?"
Let's identify your annual financial goal and divide it by 2,000 hours. If you want to take home $100K a year then your time at work is worth $50 hour ($100,000 / 2,000 Hours = $50.00 an hour). It is important that you do the work you are worth.
Do fewer things, get better and better at them, get more results, get really good at doing the high paying work and outsource, delegate or ignore all else. To paraphrase Stephen Covey from his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
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