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For F*ck's Sake - How Can I Gain Control Of My Construction Business?
“FFS - I can’t seem to find enough jobs to fill my schedule! I might be busy for a bit, but then there’s silence. I’m not sure how I’m going to pay my workers, let alone myself.”
“FFS - I can’t seem to find any time for anything but work! I’m booked 6 months out, but the problem is that I’m working 12-hour days 6-7 days a week. I haven’t been able to spend time with my wife and kids in a long time, let alone go on a vacation.”
Whether you’re part of the trades, a general contractor or a subcontractor, you’ve most likely have found yourself in either scenario.
In the first scenario, you don’t have your sales pipeline filled up and you’re unsure if you’ll be able to put food on the table.
In the second scenario, you’re so busy that you pretty much spend your waking hours working. You’re so entrenched IN the business rather than ON the business.
Let’s get real for a moment.
If I asked you how much revenue you made last year or, even better, how much did you pay yourself last month, you wouldn’t have a clue!
You probably wouldn’t know if the business was profitable or not.
You might find yourself in a “Rob Peter To Pay Paul” situation, where you’re taking the money for the next project to use to pay for your materials and labour costs on your current project. This could lead to a fatal mistake if Peter is late on his payments or decides not to pay at all.
You’re probably thinking, “FFS - Jean, how can I gain control of my business? I want to make more, but spend less time working so I can spend more time with my family.”
Let’s change that FFS acronym that’s used these days to something more useful!
The FFS Framework: A 3-Step Process
Foundation:
Like building a house, you need to start with the foundation.
You know what services you offer and how you do them, but many businesses don’t know why they exist.
Knowing your why will help you find the right clientele rather than taking on every job. Have you heard the saying, “Big or small, there’s no job too small for [insert company name]”?
The problem here is that you might be filling your schedule up with jobs that really don’t pay much and you find yourself running around town wasting gas to please everyone.
This could be the reason why you don’t have time to relax and spend with your family and friends.
Think for a few minutes.
Where do you want to be in 5 years? How do you want your business to look like? Do you want to have more employees? Want to spend less time IN the business and more time with family? Want to go on that trip to Europe you always wanted?
Write your answers down.
Now, think about what you want to do in the next year. How much revenue do you want to bring in? How much do you want to pay yourself? Do you want to hire staff?
The next step is to divide these goals into 4 quarters. For some of your goals, you might not want to split them evenly due to seasonality in your business.
How are you to measure your goals?
For financial goals, it’s very important to have an up-to-date accounting system. Whether you manage it yourself, hire someone in-house or give it to an external accountant, it’s imperative that you know your numbers!
Without your numbers, or worst yet, having inaccurate numbers, you’re not going to know the direction of the company and if you’re meeting the targets you just created for the business. Your business could be bleeding cash without you knowing it!
Frame:
After building the foundation of your business, it’s time to frame processes.
The first process you should implement is your sales and marketing system.
Again, knowing your why is crucial in business. This will help you figure out who’s your ideal client, where can you find them (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, tradeshows, etc) and how you’ll reach them.
Don’t be afraid to reject a prospect because they aren’t the right fit.
Another process to map out is pricing. Make sure your pricing a job to ensure you’re able to cover all of your costs (yes, that includes your time too!) and some profit.
Don’t be afraid to charge more than the competition. Make sure to show your prospect in your bid/quote the value you’ll provide to them. Being the cheapest, corners will be cut and most likely the company is not making a profit, let alone the owner paying themselves.
Other processes that you can map out are the services you provide. Map out step-by-step procedures of how a particular job is done.
Why? There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being that once the process is mapped out, you may notice some inefficiencies or steps that are missed. The other reason for this is to help you when training new staff to do the job.
Scale:
Now that we have a solid foundation and the sturdy frame is in place, it’s time to scale and build additional floors!
When scaling, the sky's the limit!
Just like building a house of cards, you'll need to expand outwards in order to support the next floor.
To do this, it will require you to revisit the foundation and frame of your business to support expansion. You’ll want to set new goals for your business, hire staff in leadership roles, map out additional processes.
Once you have the additional foundation and frame in place, then you can build the next floor. Sometimes it’s a long process and other times it happens very quickly because of market conditions.
One thing to note, you can’t shortcut this part! Without the additions, your new expansion could crumble into pieces quicker than it was built!
Done right, you’ll have a growing company that you can eventually move out of working IN the business to working ON the business while having more time to spend with family and do the things you want to do in life!
Been In Business Over 10 Years?
Being in business for several years does not make you immune to problems.
Look at the businesses that are struggling with COVID-19.
“Jean, that’s a once in a hundred years kind of problem.”
Ok. Look at the financial crisis in 2007-08. People thought the banks were too big to fail. What happened to Lehman Brothers? Collapsed!
You might have cracks in your foundation or defects in your structure that come with the wear and tear of your business.
Continuous Review
This FFS Framework is not a done once and forget about it process. You need to constantly know your numbers to make the right business decisions. You need to revisit this framework and reiterate with any changes that happen.
Help Is On Its Way!
Need help with implementing the FFS Framework in your business?
Looking to build a solid foundation with an accounting system that you can know and understand your numbers?
Want help finding inefficiencies with your business processes?
Want to scale your business to be profitable while spending more time with family and doing the things you really enjoy in life?
Next Steps:
#1) Get A Copy Of The FFS Book Here
#2) Join The "BUILDING YOUR HOUSE OF WEALTH" Facebook Group
For construction business owners ONLY. 👉 https://bit.ly/HoWFBGroup
Jean Brunet, MBA
Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked with various company sizes, from entrepreneurs to multi-national corporations, including a Big Four accounting firm. With my breadth and depth of knowledge and experiences in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance and marketing, I’m able to help you: • Build a solid financial FOUNDATION for your business • FRAME a sales and marketing strategy with processes to ensure you’re profitable • SCALE your business so you can spend more time with your family The work we do today is the foundation of the future.
For F*ck's Sake - How Can I Gain Control Of My Construction Business?
“FFS - I can’t seem to find enough jobs to fill my schedule! I might be busy for a bit, but then there’s silence. I’m not sure how I’m going to pay my workers, let alone myself.”
“FFS - I can’t seem to find any time for anything but work! I’m booked 6 months out, but the problem is that I’m working 12-hour days 6-7 days a week. I haven’t been able to spend time with my wife and kids in a long time, let alone go on a vacation.”
Whether you’re part of the trades, a general contractor or a subcontractor, you’ve most likely have found yourself in either scenario.
In the first scenario, you don’t have your sales pipeline filled up and you’re unsure if you’ll be able to put food on the table.
In the second scenario, you’re so busy that you pretty much spend your waking hours working. You’re so entrenched IN the business rather than ON the business.
Let’s get real for a moment.
If I asked you how much revenue you made last year or, even better, how much did you pay yourself last month, you wouldn’t have a clue!
You probably wouldn’t know if the business was profitable or not.
You might find yourself in a “Rob Peter To Pay Paul” situation, where you’re taking the money for the next project to use to pay for your materials and labour costs on your current project. This could lead to a fatal mistake if Peter is late on his payments or decides not to pay at all.
You’re probably thinking, “FFS - Jean, how can I gain control of my business? I want to make more, but spend less time working so I can spend more time with my family.”
Let’s change that FFS acronym that’s used these days to something more useful!
The FFS Framework: A 3-Step Process
Foundation:
Like building a house, you need to start with the foundation.
You know what services you offer and how you do them, but many businesses don’t know why they exist.
Knowing your why will help you find the right clientele rather than taking on every job. Have you heard the saying, “Big or small, there’s no job too small for [insert company name]”?
The problem here is that you might be filling your schedule up with jobs that really don’t pay much and you find yourself running around town wasting gas to please everyone.
This could be the reason why you don’t have time to relax and spend with your family and friends.
Think for a few minutes.
Where do you want to be in 5 years? How do you want your business to look like? Do you want to have more employees? Want to spend less time IN the business and more time with family? Want to go on that trip to Europe you always wanted?
Write your answers down.
Now, think about what you want to do in the next year. How much revenue do you want to bring in? How much do you want to pay yourself? Do you want to hire staff?
The next step is to divide these goals into 4 quarters. For some of your goals, you might not want to split them evenly due to seasonality in your business.
How are you to measure your goals?
For financial goals, it’s very important to have an up-to-date accounting system. Whether you manage it yourself, hire someone in-house or give it to an external accountant, it’s imperative that you know your numbers!
Without your numbers, or worst yet, having inaccurate numbers, you’re not going to know the direction of the company and if you’re meeting the targets you just created for the business. Your business could be bleeding cash without you knowing it!
Frame:
After building the foundation of your business, it’s time to frame processes.
The first process you should implement is your sales and marketing system.
Again, knowing your why is crucial in business. This will help you figure out who’s your ideal client, where can you find them (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, tradeshows, etc) and how you’ll reach them.
Don’t be afraid to reject a prospect because they aren’t the right fit.
Another process to map out is pricing. Make sure your pricing a job to ensure you’re able to cover all of your costs (yes, that includes your time too!) and some profit.
Don’t be afraid to charge more than the competition. Make sure to show your prospect in your bid/quote the value you’ll provide to them. Being the cheapest, corners will be cut and most likely the company is not making a profit, let alone the owner paying themselves.
Other processes that you can map out are the services you provide. Map out step-by-step procedures of how a particular job is done.
Why? There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being that once the process is mapped out, you may notice some inefficiencies or steps that are missed. The other reason for this is to help you when training new staff to do the job.
Scale:
Now that we have a solid foundation and the sturdy frame is in place, it’s time to scale and build additional floors!
When scaling, the sky's the limit!
Just like building a house of cards, you'll need to expand outwards in order to support the next floor.
To do this, it will require you to revisit the foundation and frame of your business to support expansion. You’ll want to set new goals for your business, hire staff in leadership roles, map out additional processes.
Once you have the additional foundation and frame in place, then you can build the next floor. Sometimes it’s a long process and other times it happens very quickly because of market conditions.
One thing to note, you can’t shortcut this part! Without the additions, your new expansion could crumble into pieces quicker than it was built!
Done right, you’ll have a growing company that you can eventually move out of working IN the business to working ON the business while having more time to spend with family and do the things you want to do in life!
Been In Business Over 10 Years?
Being in business for several years does not make you immune to problems.
Look at the businesses that are struggling with COVID-19.
“Jean, that’s a once in a hundred years kind of problem.”
Ok. Look at the financial crisis in 2007-08. People thought the banks were too big to fail. What happened to Lehman Brothers? Collapsed!
You might have cracks in your foundation or defects in your structure that come with the wear and tear of your business.
Continuous Review
This FFS Framework is not a done once and forget about it process. You need to constantly know your numbers to make the right business decisions. You need to revisit this framework and reiterate with any changes that happen.
Help Is On Its Way!
Need help with implementing the FFS Framework in your business?
Looking to build a solid foundation with an accounting system that you can know and understand your numbers?
Want help finding inefficiencies with your business processes?
Want to scale your business to be profitable while spending more time with family and doing the things you really enjoy in life?
Next Steps:
#1) Get A Copy Of The FFS Book Here
#2) Join The "BUILDING YOUR HOUSE OF WEALTH" Facebook Group
For construction business owners ONLY. 👉 https://bit.ly/HoWFBGroup
Jean Brunet, MBA
Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked with various company sizes, from entrepreneurs to multi-national corporations, including a Big Four accounting firm. With my breadth and depth of knowledge and experiences in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance and marketing, I’m able to help you: • Build a solid financial FOUNDATION for your business • FRAME a sales and marketing strategy with processes to ensure you’re profitable • SCALE your business so you can spend more time with your family The work we do today is the foundation of the future.