If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the saying, right?
When it comes to innovation, we tend to take a needs approach. I know I do. We’ll leave
something until we absolutely need to fix it. I get it. It’s easier just to keep getting on, but we
need to look at needs in a broader way. Just because something isn’t completely broken down
doesn’t mean it isn’t broken.
Don’t kid yourself. Broke is broke.
Every business has pain points — machines not working, processes making work take longer, etc.
You know, the hard sh*t that you need to identify for your company’s survival. You can’t just
ignore these problems and expect them to go away on their own. And if I’m being honest with
you, I’ve made that mistake myself a few times.
There’s always an issue I’m trying to ignore because I know how much time and energy it will
take to fix. But it’s those pain points that are the most disruptive to your business are the ones
that are most important to work on.
It’s one thing to address the numbers; that’s a given. For construction companies, this looks like
accurately identifying job costs:
– What are your expenses?
– How much does your markup need to be to cover these expenses and still make a profit?
Find a system that works for you and your company. There are some great books out there that
can help you create a plan tailored to your business’s needs. (P.S. I include a recommendation in
each of my bi-weekly newsletters. Subscribe at the bottom of this article!)
The big challenge for a lot of business owners, though, is operations because, frankly, it’s one
thing to start a solo operation, it’s another to scale it. A lot of owners got the first part down, but
when it comes to growing and scaling an operation, they don’t have the business know-how to
do so. They don’t know how to build a process from the ground-up. They’re used to doing it all.
It’s normal for business owners to expend their energy putting out fires, but at a certain point, it’s
to your benefit to fix the process problems and save yourself time and money.
Think of it this way, if it isn’t working best, it’s probably broken. Better to fix it now than let it
sit and become a whole other problem and headache. So don’t wait. Fix your sh*t. Your business
will thank you later.
