“That’s OK I can do that tomorrow”. That’s the reply I frequently got when I was Greek Operations Manager teaching young engineers their job. My role as fleet manager was to ensure our guests had the best holiday EVER so they would refer friends and family and come again and again themselves. And they did, with our company growing at 133% every year for the four years I worked there.
But we didn’t achieve that with the attitude of “I can do that tomorrow”. Yachts are hard task masters – quite unforgiving in fact! They didn’t understand if we already had two blocked toilets and save blowing a head gasket till we had the toilets fixed! No, in fact it seemed more likely that we would have a blown head gasket if we already had 2 toilets that had blocked.
And there’s a reason for that because the blown head gasket was a symptom of something else – it was a symptom of an attitude. An attitude I worked with my team to change. It wasn’t easy as at first they felt they had less time to play. And playing is fun when you’re in the yacht charter world. All those fabulous activities like diving, jet skiing and windsurfing to choose from.
So my crews had to learn to schedule the big rocks like preventative maintenance and get those tasks done. Over time they understood that working that way meant they had more time to play not less. They also learnt that they could schedule in the play time and it was interrupted less often with a blocked toilet or blown head gasket.
The relevance to business growth is that we often think we don’t have time to work ‘on’ the business and do the tasks that ensure it grows or meets other targets. We’re so busy unblocking the toilets or fighting the fires. And the only way to have the time for the big working on the business tasks (and the freedom a successfully running business gives you) is to choose. Choose to be committed to your vision. Choose how you spend your time.
Here are just 9 of the many blocks people put in the way of their success:
- “If I just keep doing what I do, one day it will all click and then I can take it easy”
- “People will recognise the quality of my service and refer all their friends”
- “I must do the same things that others in my sector do to be successful”
- “By just focusing on our costs and keeping them low our business will grow”
- “Our customers only want to deal with me and won’t deal with anyone else in our business.”
- “Bringing others into my business will force your prices up”
- “Marketing is expensive and doesn’t work in our sector”
- “Our customers like the way we do things and will go somewhere else if we change”
- “Customers are all focused on price”
Each of these statements is an opportunity for you to look at what might be keeping you stuck.
If you recognise yourself in one of them want to make some changes I have a solution you will absolutely love. Check out my free discovery session – “I want a solution”
I’m suggesting you’ll love it because it is F R E E. Plus it can be done over the phone so no travelling or wasted time.
