004 - Doing The Business

Deep Dive
Written By Guest User

In our first episode, we shared an overview of the Four Fundamentals of Business:

  1. Guiding the business (Leadership)

  2. Getting the business (Sales & marketing)

  3. Doing the business (Production of your product or delivery of your service)

  4. Administering the business (Administrative tasks like bookkeeping, HR, payroll, etc.)

Today, we’ll talk about “Doing the Business.” That sounds simple. You’ve been “doing the business” for years. However, we’ve seen a pattern in most contractor’s pain points, bottlenecks, and challenges. With some targeted effort, you can reduce your stress and improve how you “do the business.”

Show Notes

  • Story of the Show — Derek Sivers, author of Anything You Want (2:32)

  • What do contractors struggle with the most, across the board? (7:12)

  • What is performance? It’s delivering what you sold on time and on budget. (9:47)

  • Why is it so much more difficult to deliver on your promises when you have employees? (14:02)

  • How do you manage expectations about “on-time” delivery? (17:47) 

  • Our bests tips for staying on budget (24:12)

  • What’s the 1% rule, and how can it affect your net profit? (27:37)

  • How do you manage your limited capacity (bottlenecks)? (29:25)

  • Use workflows to increase your efficiency. (34:20)

  • What is hub and spoke management, and when will it work or not work for you? (39:00) 

  • What is circular management, and how can it help you grow? (42:00)

  • Less than 5% of businesses we know of use this incredible management tool. (45:00)

  • Systems are the way you get consistent results. (48:26)

  • How do org charts and systems work together? (54:37)

  • Mount Rushmore — Tools to Help with Processes (1:06:12)

  • Quote of the day — “You cannot manage what you do not measure.” - Edward Deming (1:12:49)

  • Something you can actually go do (1:13:40)

  • Story Loop Closure — Delegating is creating systems and processes, but what Derek did was abdicate. The problem? He gave away his duties, and his employees took control of the company. He had to go to court to get it back. (1:15:41)

  • Ethan’s Minute (1:17:32) — We generously gave Ethan 90 seconds today since we covered so much. So, what stuck out to him today?


Quotable Moments

  • “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who are just so stressed out about by their business. It affects every area of their life.” — K

  • “It’ll never be a profitable business that can work without you if you’re doing all the work.” — M

  • “Sales is not the reason to be in business. Profit and cash are the reasons to be in business.” — M


Mount Rushmore

Resources

More from Martin

More from Khalil

More from The Cashflow Contractor


Guest User
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005 - Administering the Business
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003 - Getting The Business