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Work on Your Business, Not in It

Small-business owners face the daily time-consuming task of wearing different hats. There’s your technician’s hat, salesman’s hat, marketer’s hat, personnel manager’s hat, bill collector’s hat, and so many more. How many hats do you wear in your business? More importantly, how much time do you spend wearing your businessman’s hat rather than your fireman’s hat? Mike Ciaramitaro has long believed that training and paying a manager not only adds value to his Mr. Rooter business, but also to his quality of life. Ciaramitaro’s use of managers allows him to spend an hour a day at the office, while still driving his business efficiently and profitably.

“The first thing you should do is throw away your work boots,” Ciaramitaro said. “If you can get the right person in the right management position, you can teach them the systems that you believe in. And you can run your business better without working in it.”

Ciaramitaro begins each business day with a 5:45 a.m. meeting with his general manager. He reviews the reports of the previous day’s business filed by his general manager and managers. A quick glance at the reports allows Ciaramitaro to monitor many aspects including cash flow and costs, technician productivity, and add-on sales. Based on the reported facts, Ciaramitaro can instruct his management team and address any issues he deems necessary — then leave for the day.

“This Mr. Rooter system tells me everything I need to know,” Ciaramitaro said. “Needing only one hour a day to run my business successfully allows me the time to take on and be successful in other ventures. This system has allowed
me to build quite a bit of real estate aside from my company without my company suffering.”

Small-business owners who inevitably spend most of their week putting out fires are unknowingly suffocating their business’s growth as well as their chance for a better and balanced quality of life. You can’t see the future through the smoke.

Most independent business owners come from within the industry. They are skilled technicians who take pride in their knowledge and craft. Unfortunately, when it comes to running a successful small business, on-the-job skills aren’t enough. A high percentage of those business owners lack the entrepreneurial or business skills that can make or break a small business.

Every day of your business life may begin with the best of intentions, but probably not the best of business plans. How much time are you spending on the big picture, rather than the small stuff? The business matters you deal with can be broken into four categories:

• Urgent
• Important
• Urgent and important
• Not urgent and not important

If you’re spending more time on urgent matters or problems, rather than important matters, you’re slowly losing time and, most likely, money.

Proven Systems
Proven systems first act as a preventive tool, addressing and minimizing many problems at their root before they occur. If a problem arises, proven systems also detail how your business and staff react to any number of situations and serve as a game plan or map. Systems for pricing, customer service, marketing, and financial scenarios not only provide a predetermined reaction, they also act as your own personal firewall, snuffing out those fires before they get to the small-business owner’s desk.

Train a Manager
Once your proven systems are running smoothly,
you must address the one thing that can upset them: your absence.

Can you leave your business for six weeks and have it run as if you were there? That scenario may not be likely, but can your business realistically purr along if you’re gone for just two or three days? If your answer is ‘no,’ your business needs a second manager.

Proven systems monitored by a trained manager are the answers to getting the small-business owner out of the rat race and into the important job of being an entrepreneur.

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