Spend One Day Off Your Mower

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Hey, you! Yeah, you: please take off the headphones for a minute. How long have you been on that thing? No, I don’t mean how many hours. I mean how long, like days, weeks, months, years have you been running power equipment for your company? Get off the mower now!

Really!? It’s been that long? Shut the blades off and let me ask you another question. Is this what you want to be doing for the rest of your life? Stop looking at me like that and answer the question. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that if it’s really what you want to do, but last time we talked you said you wanted to grow your company.

I know it’s hard to find help, which reminds me, why is that guy sleeping in your truck? Stop making excuses for him. So, you’re stuck running the equipment because Schmedley has a head cold? Really? Look, you’ve been in business five to six years, right? And the last few years you have been telling me that you want to get out of the field so you can work on growing your company. But every time I see you, you’re still doing the same thing: working your tail off in the field. Like I said, if that’s what you like to do, that’s fine. OK, OK, stop throwing grass at me. I get it: you want to grow. Don’t get all mad when I call you out on this stuff.

Alright. I have an idea that just might help you phase yourself out of the field. First of all, you need to tell Schmedley over there that you will no longer cover for him. If he is sick or can’t make it to work, then he will have to figure out how to finish his route on his own. If that means coming in on Saturday, then so be it. I know you have another crew out right now that is working and is pretty self-sufficient. Your brother is the foreman on that crew, right? So along with them and that part-timer you have five to six employees, right? That’s a good start.

So here is the idea: I want you to pick one day a week that you will be out of the field. Tell all of your employees that on that day, let’s say it’s Wednesdays, you will be working in the office only. This will set the tone of what’s to come. You will feel a bit weird about this at first but just go with it. This will give you a whole day to begin working “on” your business instead of “in” your business. This will also help with you transitioning from being an employee in your business to becoming a leader.

Next week, I will talk about what you will be doing with your time away from the field. Stay tuned, and stay off that mower!

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series. Read part two: 7 Tactics to Work ‘On’ Your Business