Apr 2015 I know I should be planning better but…
I often hear landscapers tell me that they should plan their jobs better but they just don’t have enough time, because one job finishes late and the other is late starting. Ironically, the investment in planning your jobs better will save you much time throughout the week in phone calls and extended site visits or having to pick up tools and materials you have forgotten to plan, not to mention saving money and increasing profit because your jobs run smoother and with less mistakes.
But every aspect of your business gets a boost from better planning. Better planning for your maintenance crews and schedules, better planning of your time each day so you are not working late each night, better planning of your cashflow so you don’t feel financially strangled every month and better planning for your team to lift their technical skills and communications skills.
When I talk about better planning, some guys say “that’s all well and good John but the reality is ..shit still happens regardless how good my planning is.” I say, “I know shit happens but imagine how worse it would be if you didn’t plan.”
You’ve probably heard the old saying; if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
Lack of planning leads easily to overwhelm. And overwhelm causes failure to do things properly causing mistakes, greater expenses, making the wrong decisions and jobs taking longer.
You may have thought you will start the year with some goals to make more money, employ a reliable and skilled tradesman or improve the way you run your jobs so they run smoother and with less mistakes. Whatever your goals are… now is the perfect time to set a goal and follow through with a plan to make it happen because if you don’t, before you know it, 6 months will have passed and still the same re-occurring problems are happening.
Cheers to better planning in 2015!