An hour from now I will be doing the final walk through of an apartment complex we just restored after a fire gutted it. This is where we separate the men from the boys as the contractor scrutinizes everything we have done. If all goes well we will be turning the keys over to the tenants today and allowing them to resume a normal life. Am I nervous? Maybe a little.Wish me luck. Today I truly have all eyes on me.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The People Factor
My company recently began sub contracting for a fire damage restoration company. Our first job was given to us a few days back with the instructions that speed was a necessity. The contractor went on to explain to me that his company believed in taking families that have already been through the tragedy of watching their homes burn and doing everything possible to normalize their lives in as short a period of time as possible. He used the term "The People Factor"
We were given a five day deadline at an apartment complex with 4 units that had burned. Last night, after working some rather long hours the last two days, I arrived home thinking about how today we would be wrapping it up, ahead of schedule. Still, "the people factor" was not kicking in for me. I was just trying to turn a profit as fast as possible so I could move onto our next job.
At 9:45 last night I got a call my brothers home was burning and he had been injured. I raced to the scene to find he had cut his hands open busting out windows in an effort to save his dog that was trapped inside. Before the firemen even left the scene, I witnessed "the people factor". The same contractor I had started sub contracting for had his people posting guards on the home to insure nobody would be stealing any of the property inside. At 2:00 a.m. another crew had arrived and began boarding up and securing the home against unlawful entry.
The insurance adjuster is due to arrive Monday...days later, yet here is this company, with no way of validating they will even be paid for the work already performed, taking care of "the people factor" within hours of the fire. I have already been told by the contractor that this job is mine and while I had planned to take Monday off as a present to myself and my crew for making our deadline on this last job, I know that as soon as I get the call that the insurance adjuster has viewed the damage, they will have me taking my crew in to once again restore order to a fire victims life. The people factor....I get it now!
And for those of you wondering, the dog was pulled out unconscious by the firemen who administered cpr for 30 minutes before transporting it by ambulance to the vet. Today the dog could be found playing in the park. Special thanks to the firemen.
We were given a five day deadline at an apartment complex with 4 units that had burned. Last night, after working some rather long hours the last two days, I arrived home thinking about how today we would be wrapping it up, ahead of schedule. Still, "the people factor" was not kicking in for me. I was just trying to turn a profit as fast as possible so I could move onto our next job.
At 9:45 last night I got a call my brothers home was burning and he had been injured. I raced to the scene to find he had cut his hands open busting out windows in an effort to save his dog that was trapped inside. Before the firemen even left the scene, I witnessed "the people factor". The same contractor I had started sub contracting for had his people posting guards on the home to insure nobody would be stealing any of the property inside. At 2:00 a.m. another crew had arrived and began boarding up and securing the home against unlawful entry.
The insurance adjuster is due to arrive Monday...days later, yet here is this company, with no way of validating they will even be paid for the work already performed, taking care of "the people factor" within hours of the fire. I have already been told by the contractor that this job is mine and while I had planned to take Monday off as a present to myself and my crew for making our deadline on this last job, I know that as soon as I get the call that the insurance adjuster has viewed the damage, they will have me taking my crew in to once again restore order to a fire victims life. The people factor....I get it now!
And for those of you wondering, the dog was pulled out unconscious by the firemen who administered cpr for 30 minutes before transporting it by ambulance to the vet. Today the dog could be found playing in the park. Special thanks to the firemen.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
What Happens If You Go Down?
Yesterday brought about a very strong realization to me. I had gotten sick to the point of not wanting to move with the exception of the bi-hourly trip to the restroom to empty my stomach. Knowing I had to take time to recover I sent out my workers to their jobs and called each of my clients to let them know I would be indisposed and unavailable. Today as I turned my cell back on, I had 48 new voice mails with almost every one being these same clients bringing various emergencies my way. Several of them had left multiple voice mails.
This taught me 2 things. The first is that as 50 cent says "These industry niggas ain't friends, they know how to pretend" meaning that they could care less if you are on your last breath as long as you use it to do something for them.
The second thing I learned is the need to have a contingency plan in effect for my business should something severe happen to me. I don't miss many days and this was rare but if I were to be out a few weeks,things would have went from bad to worse perhaps pushing me to a point of no recovery business wise. I have been running things so long and making 100% of the big decisions that I had never seen the need for things to be different. Now I do. I'm currently operating at about 50% health wise and even though I should really stay out a few more days, I have nobody trained to do what I do.
That brings me to the point of this post, always have another person that can step in and make stuff happen in the event you go down. That is a lesson I should have known from my days as a Marine when every man had to know everyone elses job and it is something I will be implementing into my business post haste.
This taught me 2 things. The first is that as 50 cent says "These industry niggas ain't friends, they know how to pretend" meaning that they could care less if you are on your last breath as long as you use it to do something for them.
The second thing I learned is the need to have a contingency plan in effect for my business should something severe happen to me. I don't miss many days and this was rare but if I were to be out a few weeks,things would have went from bad to worse perhaps pushing me to a point of no recovery business wise. I have been running things so long and making 100% of the big decisions that I had never seen the need for things to be different. Now I do. I'm currently operating at about 50% health wise and even though I should really stay out a few more days, I have nobody trained to do what I do.
That brings me to the point of this post, always have another person that can step in and make stuff happen in the event you go down. That is a lesson I should have known from my days as a Marine when every man had to know everyone elses job and it is something I will be implementing into my business post haste.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Overlooking the Obvious
I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person yet this week something happened that made me wonder how true that could be.
I was on a job site when one of my salespeople called me to inquire about whether we would be interested in providing service to a company that wished to contract us for work in the Outer Banks, N.C. I immediately asked her to send me a copy of their proposal so I could start crunching numbers. Equipped with Mapquest to gain some indication of the distance and the companies own pay scale for contractors,I went to work and it was during this time that I realized that by failing to register my business in North Carolina, only 30 minutes away, I have ignored a very large potential client base.
How could something that was right in front of me for the last 2 years totally slip by unnoticed?After thinking about that question these past few days I have come up with no answer at all other than the proverbial "can't see the forest for the trees."
Next week I will be filing all the appropriate paperwork to do business in North Carolina and after that I will call an employee meeting to brainstorm any more potential areas I may have been overlooking.
I was on a job site when one of my salespeople called me to inquire about whether we would be interested in providing service to a company that wished to contract us for work in the Outer Banks, N.C. I immediately asked her to send me a copy of their proposal so I could start crunching numbers. Equipped with Mapquest to gain some indication of the distance and the companies own pay scale for contractors,I went to work and it was during this time that I realized that by failing to register my business in North Carolina, only 30 minutes away, I have ignored a very large potential client base.
How could something that was right in front of me for the last 2 years totally slip by unnoticed?After thinking about that question these past few days I have come up with no answer at all other than the proverbial "can't see the forest for the trees."
Next week I will be filing all the appropriate paperwork to do business in North Carolina and after that I will call an employee meeting to brainstorm any more potential areas I may have been overlooking.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Time Management
Managing your time properly can be one of your greatest allies when it comes to business, whether online or off. As I usually have more than a few things going on at once I have found that while multi-tasking is a wonderful thing, to truly succeed at anything there has to be time devoted to concentrating on one thing at a time.
I have found that with so much on my plate, distractions occur all the time, usually these distractions come in the form of an idea that will hit me out of the blue for one of my other projects I have going and I have in the past gotten so entangled in the idea that I completely forgot what I was working on getting done until later when it became a problem. For times like this I have learned to carry a notebook that I can make a short notation in to explore the idea further.
I have also set up scheduled after hours times for each of my current side projects with regular work hours being solely devoted to my business and its expansion. Time management does not prevent me from having several different projects going on at once, it actually allows me the ability to focus and bring them all forward. I still believe it is possible to do many things and do them all great.
I have found that with so much on my plate, distractions occur all the time, usually these distractions come in the form of an idea that will hit me out of the blue for one of my other projects I have going and I have in the past gotten so entangled in the idea that I completely forgot what I was working on getting done until later when it became a problem. For times like this I have learned to carry a notebook that I can make a short notation in to explore the idea further.
I have also set up scheduled after hours times for each of my current side projects with regular work hours being solely devoted to my business and its expansion. Time management does not prevent me from having several different projects going on at once, it actually allows me the ability to focus and bring them all forward. I still believe it is possible to do many things and do them all great.
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