Let’s Talk Restoration
Having been actively involved in the cleaning & restoration industry since around 1992, I’ve made some serious blunders which have cost me precious time and money. I’ve also learned a great deal, though in all honesty, it wasn’t until the past few years when I finally matured as a businessman and was ready to accept the fact that I didn’t know nearly as much as I thought I had known.
Thankfully, this year has been a record year for my service company in terms of revenues, operational capabilities, quality relationships forged and best of all it has without a doubt been the most fun year I’ve ever experienced in business.
I’ve done quite a lot of reflecting recently on just how much this wonderful industry has changed. Today’s restoration industry doesn’t look anything like it did when I first got my feet wet. I think tomorrow’s industry is going to look even brighter.
Today my business looks completely different than it did even five years ago. While reflecting I couldn’t help but to ask myself a few questions;
1. Why did I get into this industry? Why did I not choose a different industry?
2. What was I doing so wrong, for so many years?
3. When was the turning point?
4. Who has been instrumental in my own success?
Why - Why did I get involved in the cleaning & restoration industry? The answer is simple. Dumb luck and poor planning. No research went into our decision to start a house cleaning service. It just so happened that during our search through the yellow pages this is the heading that we ended up choosing. Had I been a little smarter, I would have listened to Lisa when she suggested that we choose becoming a Law Firm. Even so, for me it ended up being a situation where I said I’m already in too deep with too many years invested to turn back. That’s the kind of thing that silly pride can cause an individual with my mindset to do.
What - What was I doing so wrong, for so many years? This was a very difficult question to answer to myself. The truth is that I was pretty much doing everything wrong. I lacked direction. I never had any written goals or objectives. It was pretty much a game of wait and hope for the best. I always considered myself fortunate just to make it another day. Another important dynamic lacking in my business was balance. Often times we business owners have the tendency to focus all or most of our efforts on only one or two of the areas of our business. An example for me is that I have always viewed my business as being separate parts. Operations, Administrative, Sales/Marketing. Like many business owners I was fairly good at one, maybe two parts. Administrative & Human Resources was my specialty. I could spot an employee with one unshaven whisker from 50 yards and quickly set him or her straight on the cleanly shaven policy.
Looking back I realize that I would have been much better served by focusing a little more on all of the parts as opposed to one or two of the parts. Why didn’t I do this? How hard would it have been to share some of the responsibilities with other, more qualified individuals? The answer, years later and countless thousands of dollars shorter is simple. That is exactly what I should have done! Again, it’s very difficult to make rational decisions when one is operating out of a sense of pride.
Finally, I realized that my company was a product of all the other competitors that I had tried to copy through the early years. It made no difference at the time if these competitors were making money or not. In my mind they possessed something that I perceived as good and thus I wanted to be like them. It finally dawned on me that I had chosen the wrong operators to emulate. My Dear sweet Mammy had told me when I was a teenager that I had an uncanny ability to find the worse in life to hang with. She warned that my continual association with the “Crew” (my friends) as she not so affectionately referred to them would lead me down the path to ruin. In retrospect she was right on the money.
When – When was the turning point? Hmmm, this was another difficult question to answer. I’m sure that it never happened overnight. I sort of think of it like what the alcoholic or drug addict must go through. You might have many people along the way trying to help you through the highs and the lows, but it’s only when you hit what they refer to as “Rock Bottom” that you say enough is enough, and commit to change.
Rock bottom for me came upon departing SFS at Jon Don in 1998.
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