Tips for growing your business beyond a single owner-operator
Operating a small pest or wildlife control business is exceptionally challenging. There’s all kinds of hurdles to overcome. From knowing when to hire your first employee, learning how to manage personnel and HR decisions, creating HR and safety policies, choosing the right insurance coverage, and employee handbooks, creating and overseeing legal reviews of service agreements, knowing when to invest in new equipment or take advantage of tax incentives at the end of the year. All that and none of it really has anything to do with removing a skunk from under a deck. The skunk is the easy part! The business part, that’s not so easy.
“Start with an in-depth look at your vision for your company”
Our families, spouses, children and friendships all suffer because a business owner is pulled in fifty directions at once. It’s hard to strike a balance between a healthy business, a strong family life and your physical and spiritual well-being. You stare up at the clock in your home office and it’s after nine in the evening and your still working. Maybe for you the kids are already in bed and your spouse is giving you the stink eye because this scene is all too familiar.
Being the leader of your business is a huge undertaking. It’s so easy to get caught up in the business running you instead of the other way around. Often small businesses struggle because there’s literally ten different hats the owner wears on a daily basis. You find yourself starting one thing before you’re finished with the other thing, then the phone rings again and your off in another direction. At this point you need to take control and start directing. It’s at this point, probably before this point, you need to approach things differently. YOU can’t do it all, at least not very well. Trust me, I was there.
It’s time to grow
There’s several approaches to growing your business, but the bottom line is that you need to start delegating responsibilities. This can come in the form hiring a bookkeeper and/or CPA, investing in front office industry-specific software, hiring an individual (or service) to take the calls or hiring your first technician or office person. All of these are very important decisions and not one single business has the same needs or desires, resources or market, every business is unique. This is a critical time that needs your focus and attention. It’s the decisions you make at this juncture that will determine your future.
Consider hiring a consultant or networking with another NWCOA member that has “gotten to the next step” in their business. Bottom line is this, find someone that you can bounce your ideas off of. Brainstorm with them to come up with a growth plan for your business! Every business and business owner is unique and as such, every growth plan should be just as unique as you and your business.
Find your quiet place and visualize your future business
Start with an in-depth look at your vision for your company. If your business is a partnership, or if you’re married and value your relationship with your spouse, you’ll need to include their vision as well. Take some time to develop your vision. Maybe you’ve been so darn busy that all you do day and night is working in your business. Maybe you haven’t even had time to think about what you want in the future or how quickly you want to get there. If that’s where you’re at, that’s ok, but don’t waste another minute. Rise above the fray and see things from a higher perspective.
Here’s some possible visions, or directions, that you could take your company. Do you want to be a small but highly skilled, upper echelon company that brings a high level of professionalism to your clients? This model would charge handsomely for their services, hire only seasoned and experienced personnel and likely cater to high-end clientele with a slower expected growth rate. Another vision could be to provide solid value that includes steady growth, adding one truck per year and spreading your territory outwards. This model likely would charge your markets “average” price for similar services. The value you would be providing to your clientele would be fair pricing and your technicians would get the job done. There’s many visions and business plans out there, what’s yours? What does your market support? What’s the pest pressure in your area? What’s the seasonality or the animal life cycles in your region? Your vision, whatever it is, needs to account for all of these factors and more. Your growth plan has to be compatible with the conditions you find yourself in, in order to be effective. Whether you hire a consultant or seek an industry mentor, whoever you choose to bounce ideas off of should be capable and ready to take considerable time to really understand your situation and all of the factors that make up your unique business and the conditions that surround it.
You’ll need to identify what your goals are for your company. Take the time to really look into how you want to see your business grow. Articulate your vision and write it down. Then think of what timeline you would like to see in order to achieve the vision that you’ve laid out. Clearing your head and understanding this vision is an essential part of the growth plan. If you can’t see it, then you can’t realistically expect to obtain it. Michael Jordan and most star athletes visualize their moves, their success and see the ball going into the net, it’s really no different than that. Now go, find a quiet place to reflect and truly see your vision. Reach out if you need any help, we’re always happy to help businesses thrive.