Builders, Turn Your Fresh Ideas Into Actionable Plans That Get Results
Fresh Ideas
There’s nothing like a break for fresh ideas for your home building business. Every business owner I speak to, who has taken holidays, returns with some new perspectives and goals.
You want to do something with these fresh ideas, but the workload waiting for you pushes them out the way ...until they are forgotten.Or, if you’re the “entrepreneurial” type, you just launch into the first new idea - and it turns out to be not so good. So you try another. There has to be a better way to incorporate some of these great ideas into your building business this year? Here’s three simple steps you can take to give you direction and focus.
1 List Your Initial Ideas
Make a list of all the fresh ideas, goals and tasks ...as many as you can think of. Just write them down on a sheet of paper.
2 Prioritise Your Goals
Impact versus Effort Matrix
Now you’ve got them all down, order them by priority from 1 - 10 (or 20, or whatever). Now, here’s the kicker. Draw a line through every idea, goal or task other than the first five (i.e. leave the top 5). By the way, don’t totally discard the ones with the line through them. You may well come back to them at a later time.
There’s a really good reason for doing this. We overestimate what we can do in a week, and totally underestimate what we can do in a year. It’s just the principle of focus. If you’re having difficulty ordering your, ideas, goals and tasks, utilise an Impact vs Difficulty matrix. For each item just decide whether it’s high or low importance (or impact for the business) and if it’s high or low effort (or cost to the business).
Then place the item in the appropriate section in the matrix. So, if an item will have little return for the business, it’s a low impact item. And if it’s also likely to require high effort or cost, stay away from it - however nice it may be. It’s likely to be a hard slog.
If on the other hand a low impact requires only low effort it can become a “fill in” for when you have some periods of free time - maybe between larger jobs.
Now if an item on your list could have high impact, and it requires only low effort, then it could be a quick win - definitely worth a try. I remember helping a hair salon owner train her staff always to book a next appointment. It raised their revenue by over 30% - at no cost and little effort!
So quick wins are the ones we want to major on.
However, having said that, it is often the high impact and high effort items that will give you the best returns. These take time and effort to accomplish but they pay off in the long run with a high impact on your business. You might only have one major project per year. But if it is a high impact project, it’s worth the effort.
3 Write Them Up
Experience teaches that written goals are more likely to be achieved - probably because you are reminded about them. So, posting your goals and tasks in a highly visible location for everyone to see provides a greater sense of accountability, and gives everyone something to work toward.
Summary
So, make sure you get the very best out of the fresh ideas you bring back from holiday.
Graeme Owen
P.S. Whenever you’re ready….here are 4 ways I can help you grow your building business:
1. Grab a copy of my free book
It’s a road map of a successful 15 minute sales call that’s guaranteed to increase your conversion rate. http://thesuccessfulbuilder.com/book-15-min-sales-call/
2. Join Trade Mates and connect with builders who are scaling too.
It's our new Facebook community where smart builders learn to get more income, time and freedom. View our free business resources for builders. Ask questions of like minded business owners and business coaches. Give your knowledge and expertise to help others. -https://www.facebook.com/groups/TradeMates/
3. Join My New Group
I’m starting a new group called “OnRamp” to kick start sales and marketing in your business. If this sounds like you, message me with the words, “OnRamp”, and I’ll get you all the information.
4. Join Loft Members
If you’d like help to get off the tools, make more money and get your life back...just message me at graeme@thesuccessfulbuilder.com and put “LOFT MEMBERS” in the subject...tell me a little about your business and I’ll get you all the details.