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But I can’t afford to hire anyone, I won’t make any money!
The above statement is one we hear far too often in the repair industry — particularly among small, independent shop owners. While this may make sense the first few months, or even the first year you’re in business, it can’t be a sentiment you carry with you long term.
Here are five things to seriously think about when it comes to the future success of your repair business:
No employees = no growth
You are
only one person. And as one person, you are bound by how much you can realistically get done in one day. Think about how long it takes you to perform a single screen repair, or diagnose a software issue. Now think about how many times you’ve run into a problem, or had unforeseen issues arise that result in time sinks you didn’t anticipate.
These things cost you money when you’re the only person doing the work. Eventually, you
will hit a bottleneck and reach the max amount of income you can make as a single employee business.
If you find yourself looking at your profits and expenses and you realistically
can not hire a second employee, that’s a sign that you need to take a look at your business model and how you’re making money. Something will need to be fixed before your company can grow.
Employees = sustainability
What happens if you get sick or seriously injured? How will you continue to make money? Who will pay the bills while you’re down and out?
Once your business is covering all your expenses, it’s time to start figuring out how to help it sustain itself if you ever have to step away — which you should
want to do from time to time. This means on-boarding employees that you trust to run things when you can’t.
A good business can run like a well-oiled machine. Think about every other job you’ve had. Did a business stop operating when someone called off? Probably not. You must think this way too. When you’re gone, your business should be able to carry on like normal.
Work-life balance, it’s a real thing
Many self-employed people laugh when I try and talk to them about work-life balance. In reality, it’s not a laughing matter. All of us get sick, or need time away for our own mental health. Sometimes it’s hard to pull ourselves away, but if we don’t, we will quickly get burnt out and lose interest in what we are doing — it’s human nature.
An unhealthy work-life balance doesn’t just affect you, it affects your employees and your customers. It can also severely affect your quality of work. If you’re in it for the long haul, you
have to remember to take breaks.
To do this, it is essential to focus on creating a sustainable business model early on. Without employees and managers, a happy work-life balance will never be possible and you’ll be setting yourself up for failure over the long-term.
Jack of all trades, master of none
No single person is a master of
everything. We all have skills we are particularly good at, and those that we aren’t. As a business owner, you are tasked with juggling a lot of projects and duties. However, that doesn’t mean you should be carrying them all out. Pick out the ones you’re good at and hire out the rest.
No one said your first employee
has to be a repair technician! If you love performing repairs but
hate dealing with marketing and advertising, contract with someone to do it for you. The end result is the same: you now have more time to do the things you do best.
Any good business needs full time employees in order to grow, but if baby steps make you more comfortable, contractors and freelance employees are a great way to put your mind at ease. It can also be a way to prove to yourself that spending money to make money over the long-term is the right path.
It’s not just a catchy phrase, time literally is money
The money you have in the bank or the inventory kept in your shop are
not your most valuable assets.
Your most valuable asset is your time — and you will never have enough of it.
This is why it’s essential for you to make the most of it. Learning to make smart decisions about how your time is best spent will be one of the best things you could ever do for your business. Is it best spent pouring over Quickbooks for hours to understand how to make general ledger entries? No. Pay an accountant. Is your time best spent performing repairs every minute of the day instead of figuring out ways to help your business grow? Never.
If you don’t value your time, no one else will. Figure out what you’re best at and spend your time doing that. Bring on employees, contractors, and others that offer professional services to handle the rest. Over the long-term, you’ll be glad you did.
