Did You Have Systems Before Your Hired Office Help Or Did You Find A Miracle Worker?

ruskent

It does not seem like I am able to step out of the feild as soon as I thought I would be able to. I realize that is where I am most valuable now adays. It took 4 years but not we are finally able to pump out work at the pace we should and get the best results.


I just can not handle all the paper work. I get home at 6.30- 7 pm and I am beat. I am starting to look to shop/office space. Shop space will help me run more efficently, and office space will allow me to get some office help.


I am basically a wreck with paperwork. I never mastered quickbooks. I do have a billion excel spread sheets. I think what I really need to do is hiring someone that has worked for established companies to get me on track and keep me on track.


What did you guys do in my situation? Did you train a admistrative assistant or did you find a experienced one?

Mike Finley

If you don't have systems in place you will be relying on the person you bring in to create your systems for you. You might get really lucky and find that person who cares as much about your business as you do, has fantastic adminstrative skills, fantastic accounting skills, fantastic organizational skills and will make you a couple of million dollars.

You might win the lottery too.

If you have nothing set up, you will need to start off slowly and get somebody to take on 1 thing at a time, get it up and running then look at another thing, then another.

However if you don't have a clue what the processes are it's going to be tough, your hire will be looking at you to define the role and the processes. Without that it's just a roll of the dice and pretty much a guarantee of a cluster f&&K for sure. As long as you're cool with fits and starts, 2 steps forward, 1 step back, etc... you'll work it out eventually like we all do.

mahlere

cart then horse...no wait....horse than cart....no wait....engine then cart then horse....no wait....

GregS

I think this was one of the stories in E-myth.

You cannot put someone in charge of doing something if you don't tell them how to do it.

You may not know how to get everything organized into Quickbooks, but you will have to sit down and decide how you want things to go into it, what you want to track and what you want to get out of it.

Take a business course, a book keeping course, something like that to give you a better idea on what is possible.

Milhaus

I'm in the same boat ruskent...keeping it all managed nearly kills you. I'm beat at 5, and then I'm with the kids until 10. No joke that 95% of us fail before 5 years. It's a battle.

I need to learn Quickbooks. It's just a matter of putting in the time. I know it will make things more efficient. There's probably an Accountant in your area that could learn you. I've talked with one here. Again - it's just a matter of finding the dam time! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The million dollar question. Where do you put the balance? I want to make this business run without sacrificing the time I need to spend with my family. Anyone tackle that in their first five years?

mark

mahlere

only startups with enough funding to pay out of pocket for people to do the work...shoestring budgets = family time sacrifice....

Milhaus

So - can you minimize the sacrifice of time with your family by marketing that aspect of your business 'process' to your customers? Seems to me you have to develop a reputation before you can really sell it as a justifiable aspect of the price of a project. Assuming that you charge an adequate rate for your service.

mark

mark the coach

One of the major challenges of running a successful contracting business is using systems and defining the roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders. All too often the owner is wearing too many hats and is always the last one holding the bag. At some point the work load starts to encroach on the things most important to us and we wonder if it will ever improve. If you find yourself running faster and faster and going nowhere fast maybe its time to consider modeling your business after others who have succeeded doing what you do. The decision to develop, implement and train systems even with minimal employees, is consistent with best practices for any business. Hiring any employee without systems and clear direction usually fails. For starters if you need help with the office workload take a few moments and write down the items that you need to get off your plate. If you can, write a thorough job description listing the responsibilities and functions for the person you want to hire. Consider hiring a professional agency to find the best candidate hopefully with industry specific experience.
If you haven't read it already consider reading The E-Myth and begin the process of defining your future by creating your business plan. Define your goals and write them down. Decide what you want most for you and your family and design/build your business to give you what you want and deserve. The systems to develop are Marketing, Sales, Production and Administration. If you are too busy or for some reason unlikely to develop systems you will more than likely become increasingly frustrated and run the risk of following the path of no return.
If you need a job description for an office manager or assistant for a residential construction company I would be happy to send you one.
Whatever you do I hope you find the best solution for you and your family.

mark the coach

Ed the Roofer

The key to this is accepting the fact that the current family is sacrificial.

Either you all make sacrifices to get to the next level, or you sacrifice the family and start with a new one.

Seriously, divorce in the first 10 years of starting up a business is very common, but does not have to be.

Plan what you want to have done.

Write down that plan.

Add to and update that plan.

Now, find someone who can administer those functions that you described.

Also, ask another business if you could sit in and study their office procedures for a day or so.

Pay them in some form of gratuity of services that they need. Stroke their ego and say you would like a jum start on the way they model their business and that you would love to emulate it.

Plan for family time, otherwise work issues will always take precedence.

Ed

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mrghm

same thing here,

when i started off on my own it only took a few hours a week to do all the paperwork inclduing quotes.

as we have gotten bigger i was able to get my dad in part time he is now full time in the accounts side and snowed under.

i dont work in the feild at all now but i am still out of the office all day at meetings or checking on jobs.

i am falling behind in doing quotes which does hurt.

i now need a part time accounts assitant to take the pressure of my dad so he can retire again plus i need an estimator to help price.

i have gotten very big very quick which is not all ways good but there is now money in the bank and we are not counting the days till we get our next cheque.

we only do commerical work so we are on 60 day payments, we still pay our guys weekly even through its almost two months at time after the work was completed.

back when i started it was just me and a jnr it was alright, i still think back to getting a cheque for 9k for a job i just finshed thinking how good was that now i get cheques for 300k and it does not have the same meaning.

Sarah9910

Know what you are good at and do that for the sake of your business. You are wasting money if you use your valuable skills doing something else. Getting the work, networking, analyzing results of others and reviewing reports in the company are normally the owners most important tasks and skills. If you aren't skilled at bookkeeping, find an accounting nerd who is. There are lots of them out there, just like there are lots of computer geeks and contractors out there, the task is to get references and find someone you can trust. But I'm sure as a business owner, you already knew that.

kirbymurphy

Pay a CPA with an MBA to set up the books, even if you're small.
When you grow, you'll be happy U did.

After you get a system in place, use it.
Do the paperwork.
Make sure the data entry gets done.
Follow through with the monthly reports or audits.
Why spend the money if you won't use it?

Milhaus

Sorry if I stole the thread rusk....

Sarah9910 - trust IS the key. You say it like it comes to everyone. It is a battle to find people that you can trust. I can count the number of people that i trust completely on one hand. I do expect a lot of that trust (which may be my problem), but I guess I can't see trusting someone with my family without some serious time invested in the 'relationship'.

kirb-I've been thinking just that. I've got an accountant, but he is set doing minimal work as of yet. I either need to ask him to step it up for me and foot the bill, or find someone who will.

mark

Sarah9910

You don't need an MBA to do this work if you have the skill...I do this, I don't have an MBA, I have worked in construction all my life, I have a bachelors of Philosoply with post degree work in accounting. I have tons of experience. References will help you start for a trust basis, call those references, then working together will tell you if its right or not.

You don't need a physical office, this kind of work can be done remotely. You might pay more for a person with experience but you don't need to pay rent if you aren't ready for that. Anyway, if you get an office and hire an assistant and you don't know them, and you have to go out to the field, how will you know if the work is getting done while you are gone, or if they are on their cell phone text messaging their friends? Pay for the work to be done, not the employee. Also. you need someone who can set it up, manage the paperwork, show you how to read reports, take you to the next level.

Biusiness is slow right now, won't be near year end.

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