Giving Your Business the Gift of Time
What’s something that everyone wishes they had more of? Time!
More time for themselves, more time for their business, more time to get things done, more time with friends and family.
Today, let’s talk about how you can give yourself and your business the gift of more time while growing it like never before.
We talk to a lot of people, including more veteran business owners and brand-new owners/operators. All of our contractors, in all phases of their business lives, are always running out of time.
One of the reasons many people are so drawn to running their own business and being their own boss is because they get to control more about their lives and their schedules.
But the truth is… running a business can be a time-consuming endeavor. And yes - for at least part of your business life - you will have to grind. When you have more time than money, you’ll need to dig deep to get all of the work done.
But - there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is a moment. A turning point.
When you can figure out how to invest in yourself and in your business, you can take yourself away from your business. You don’t need to have your hand in every single part of your business.
With the right people, services, and smart automation in place, you can save time and get better results.
Why Your Time Is Your Most Valuable Resource
Contractors and home service pros of all kinds need to juggle a lot all at once to really build and grow a business.
Managing your day-to-day operations, dealing with employees, satisfying your customers - all of those things are their own separate full-time jobs.
Let alone wanting to have more time with friends and family - the whole reason you wanted to start your own business in the first place.
For many new business owners, having to take on all of these business management and development tasks also means learning how to do all of these things on the fly as you go.
If you’re not also taking the time to do better, you will miss out on opportunities to grow.
If you miss out on those growth opportunities, you’re more likely to experience burnout - because you will be very, very busy but not have as much to show for it.
Don’t waste your time.
There are certainly times when jumping in and committing to your business are incredibly important - but that must be tempered with the same commitment to learn how to run your business better, too.
Don’t be another Chuck In A Truck trying to operate a business just by running as fast as you can today without concern for quality and the future of your business tomorrow.
Building Your Business By Investing In Good Things
There’s a great quote by Barbara Corcoran - she’s a successful investor and businessperson, but you probably best know her as a Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank. She said…
“Make sure you pick good people to build your business with, as they'll determine 80 percent of your success!”
It is important to recognize that while you - as an owner/operator/entrepreneur - are the spark that ignites the fire in your business - a fire does not burn for long without some more tinder, kindling, and fuel.
If your fire is all spark and no stick, you’ll burn out quickly.
In your business, you need to have the right partners, resources, methods, and procedures that help you to build and grow more effectively.
- Amazon isn’t the company we know today if Jeff Bezos didn’t hire his first computer programmers.
- Google wouldn’t be the company we know today if Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn’t hire their first engineers.
Successful companies don’t grow because one person works really hard at all the jobs. They grow because they recognize the need to surround themselves with people who have strengths to offset the weaknesses of the business.
For most contractors and home service pros, business scaling is difficult. There is a big jump in the revenue you have to be pulling in to hire your own marketing team, a new advertising department, customer service representatives, and the like.
Having a website, local marketing presence, social media visibility, paid advertising efforts, and print marketing services — all of those things certainly can be achieved with enough grit, determination, and coffee by a single person or by hiring a full-time staff.
But for contractors and home service companies, that isn’t the best way to go.
Instead, using managed services and software is a lower-cost way to get the benefit of a department’s worth of people.
Footbridge Media is a contractor marketing agency. So, of course - we’d recommend that you use our services. But, in general, it is common sense that a business needs to have a marketing strategy in place.
Why pay for the salaries and benefits of multiple people when you can get better results with an agency?
On top of that, hiring people to do... your marketing - for example - means you need to know what you’re looking for in the skills and experience of individuals. You also need to balance the cost or availability of an extremely experienced person with the more easily obtainable but less experienced marketing hire.
Niche service providers often have Google reviews and a track record of success that you can crowdsource and understand in a way that is much easier than reading through resumes and calling past employers for a subject matter that you’re not an expert in.
Beyond marketing, it can be accounting, human resources, answering services, IT, logistics, payroll, and more - there are ways to find balance in your personal contribution to your business success.
It makes more sense to invest in services that will provide expert results to free up your time to focus on the things that you do best.
Hiring experts doesn’t get you off the hook for everything, but they will provide the support, resources, and tools that you need to get the best results possible in a balanced way.
They’ve spent years building up structure and industry knowledge so that they can help you now. So, you get the benefit of their time on the job instantly instead of having to figure it out on your own.
For example, you could spend time manually checking your Google reviews and comparing them to a list of your customers. You could email and text your customers manually to ask for their feedback after a job is done. You could check that list again and email and text the ones who haven’t yet left you a review. You’d then have to add new customers to your list every time you finished a new job. You’d have to check your Google reviews again to submit review replies.
Or, you could use an automated review management system.
For a relatively low cost (or for free if you are a member of Footbridge Media’s contractor marketing program), you automate all of those efforts to a bit of software. Using software will more consistently complete your communication efforts and will save hours of manual review, emails, and text messages.
Those are hours you then get back to use as you see fit in your business or personal life.
Gaining The Gift Of Time
With that newfound time, you can focus on tasks that are more in your wheelhouse and more aligned with how you want to run your business.
You can enjoy some peace of mind knowing that your marketing or other parts of your business are being handled without you needing to constantly check in on it.
That ultimately means you’re more effective at working on your business. That will help to reduce your work stress and improve the quality of your business at the same time.
That should also translate to you having more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor! More time with friends and family or doing the things you enjoy doing.
It means you’ll finally get the opportunity to reap the benefits of running your own business.
How It Works In The Real World
We’ve been lucky enough to work with thousands of contractors since 2004. Those contractors all recognize the value of investing in their businesses and that they can get a return on their investment to help their business grow while giving them back some time.
That includes folks like
- "Spend your time doing what you're good at – Painting! I make more money painting than I do trying to sit behind a computer and do websites..." - Jeff of RePaint Florida - Painter Marketing Case Study
- "THE ROI IS IMMEDIATE - I wish I had started sooner with Footbridge" - Jeff at AMW Housewashing - Pressure Washing Marketing Case Study
- "Footbridge Media is the answer to our small business online presence. You can't go wrong. They know what they are doing." - Stephanie at 32 Below Inc. - HVAC Marketing Case Study
- “The best part of the program is the ease of everything. I can sit back and not worry about this part of the business." - Eric at Anytime Electric - Electrician Marketing Case Study
Ready To Give Your Business The Gift Of Time?
If you’re excited about your business but don’t know how to get it all done yourself - you shouldn’t.
Your business needs more than just you to grow.
It needs support.
Surround your business with people you know you can trust to bring experience and strength to the table.
If your home services business could use a little marketing support, the pros at Footbridge Media are ready to help - see how we can help your contractor marketing growth and business development needs.
"Contractor Marketing Tips And Tricks" - The Footbridge Media Podcast
About Chris Lonergan
Chris Lonergan has over 12 years of contractor marketing experience with Footbridge Media. With a background in web design, print design, content creation, and online marketing, Chris is focused on providing quality marketing and business solutions in the construction and service industries - helping small business owners to more efficiently manage their companies and grow their operations.
Chris Lonergan has previously contributed to and/or been featured in PM Magazine (Plumbing & Mechanical | Contractors x Engineers), theNEWS (ACHR - Air Conditioning | Heating | Refrigeration), Service Roundtable's blog, inPAINT Magazine, the SMB Marketing Agency Show, and the Green Industry Podcast. Chris is also a past SGI/CertainPath breakout session presenter.
