Typically, trades businesses rely on trust to stand out ahead of the various competitors. Most common issues faced are:
- Finding experienced tradesmen
- Finding young, enthusiastic apprentices with a care factor
- Lack of a strong support structure in admin, often performed by resentful spouses who most likely and rightly would prefer to do other work outside of the business
- Attendance
- Discipline
- Presentation
- Communication
- Invoicing
- Collection of outstanding debts
- All paperwork
- Time management
- Weekend and evening work
- Lack of vision
- Marketing knowledge tends to be very low
- Financial management skills are typically low
So, the most important thing I, as a business coach, recommend the tradesperson to come to understand is that they are a business person first, and a trades person last. The moment a tradie recognises this, their business has a chance to flourish. The greatest successes that I’ve had with tradies, of which I have coached many, are the ones that are prepared to accept this sooner than later. This is because their activities and focus shift dramatically. Rather than being obsessed about the next job and next payment, they become obsessed in leveraging themselves through building teams of tradies either internally or externally through sub-contractors or most commonly a mixture of both. If shifting to another model, such as from a full employee basis to a sub-contracting basis, then, new skills need to be learned as the level of control has reduced. However, the onus of the job being done well falls on the sub-contractor, thus, rework will have to be rectified by the sub-contractor at their expense. Paying them promptly will encourage their loyalty. The main benefit of sub-contracting is not carrying the overhead in between billable jobs.
If you are in a trade industry, give me a call and I can assist you in growing your business to whatever level you desire. Everyone has a different objective and a size in mind, so, we can coach you to whatever size as we have coached all sizes.
