Manage Your Time, Make More Money
Mainlining coffee and enduring 80-hour work weeks go hand-in-hand with owning a home building or remodeling business, right? Not necessarily. “The harder you’re working, the more questions I have for you because it’s supposed to be easy if you’re doing it right,” said Bob Whitten, vice president of SMA Consulting. During an educational session at the 2005 International Builders' Show, Whitten gave builders, remodelers and other housing industry professionals practical solutions for harnessing their time. To work smarter and more profitably, Whitten suggested that you do the following: Write Separate Goals and Plans Whether you operate your business from your home or have an outside office, you need to separate your professional life from your personal life. The key is planning. Begin by thinking about what you want from your business and writing down your goals. To accomplish those goals, write a business plan (see the note below about the PRO Builder Business Plan Guide) and a mission statement. Then do the same for your personal life. “As a business owner, if you don’t make the distinction between your business and personal goals, you’ll be stuck in entrepreneur-land forever. And most of us don’t want to be there,” Whitten said. Prioritize Time Demands You have an estimate to complete, a floor plan to review, a pre-construction meeting with a customer that starts in two hours and a supplier you’re going to discuss co-branding with later that day. But…
One of your project managers calls from a job site with a question about a schedule change. Then a customer calls about wanting to move a wall. Your customer service manager stops by to talk about warranty service tickets that are still open. Your office manager hands you materials from someone who wants to sell your company a new health insurance policy.
Not surprisingly, that great idea you had for creating a new marketing brochure evaporates as you pour your third cup of coffee. To prioritize what’s on your plate, assign tasks, requests, questions, ideas and everything else competing for your time to one of these four to-do lists:
Important and urgent (“The things that have to happen now,” Whitten said.) Important and not urgent Urgent and not important Not urgent and not important
Get Out of Your Crisis Mode It’s natural for contractors to devote much of their time to those items that are important and urgent. But Whitten said don’t. To accomplish your professional and personal goals, he stressed ― concentrate on the items that are “important and not urgent.” “Then you won’t be in crisis mode all the time,” Whitten observed. “This is the key to getting more things done.”
Conquer Communications
About 10% of phone calls, e-mails, faxes and other communications are important. The rest you should delegate. “You have the potential to create $1,000 more in revenue for your company for each hour you work,” Whitten said, which is much more preferable than being interrupted by phone calls, meetings and other requests for your time that someone else can handle. Ix-Nay on Handing Out Your Cell Phone Number To reduce your incoming calls, don’t print your cell phone number on your business card. Then, instruct customers, vendors and others to call your office number. Be sure to have your staff contact you on your cell phone if something is urgent. But if someone asks your staff for your cell phone number, tell your staff to ask for your permission first before giving out the number. Not everyone has to have your cell number. Prevent snail mail (and faxes) from piling up by acting on it, filing it or trashing it. If you’re unsure about what to do — throw it out. If you get a letter in the mail from a lawyer, don’t open it. Send it to your attorney. “That’s what you pay him for,” Whitten said. “Besides, if you open it, you’ll just ruin your day.” Delegate as Much as Possible One of the great things about delegating is that it allows you to multiply your productivity ― without having to work more. You can build 600 houses with a dedicated team of employees much more easily than you can build two houses by yourself. “When you delegate you have more people working on your goals,” Whitten said. Delegating authority allows you to hand off tasks or projects to others but retain your responsibility. A good way to do that is: Define the project or task. Select the delegate. Explain the goals and reasons for doing the project or task. Consider the resources required. Agree on a schedule and deadlines. Inform the rest of your staff of the new authority line. “If you don’t, your delegate’s authority is handcuffed,” Whitten explained. Follow up with the delegate and provide feedback.
Another great thing about delegating is that it motivates your staff. “If you keep your team in a little box and tell them how to do things, they don’t grow,” Whitten said. “Give them a challenge, and they’ll become better and smarter.” | 
