The U of SC football program had just won the first Bowl Game in the 100-year-plus history of the school.
After joining the rugged and tough SEC in 1992, the Gamecocks were still struggling to be the elite SEC teams like Florida and Tennessee.
Tennessee had a young QB with a head-turning last name…Manning. We had a pony-tailed enthusiast named Taneyhill, along with two offensive lineman, two running backs all headed eventually to the NFL.
We were desperate for a signature win in the SEC.
JAMES DEXTER STORY at Tennessee turning the table over, driving down to the five yard line
2nd and 1 (5 yard penalty): (7:40) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc Blocked FG Returned 95 yards for a TD (9:51): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jPj3LKGMhc 56 - 21 Final Score…Often, in life, sports, and business, we do desperate things in desperate times in order to solve desperate problems.
The last 2 years have created a desperate longing. Let’s articulate the challenge that you are up against today.
PAIN - Skyrocketing material and sub Pricing, Uncertainty, Subcontractor frustrations, Schedule delays, unrealistic clients, and PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE!
Let’s think through some of the desperate things you (or someone you know) may have tried in the midst of a desperate situation in your business…
Go more intensely after deposits, draws, or receivables Maybe you’re in a habit of using tomorrow’s deposits, to pay yesterday’s payables Hiring Marketing companies to get more leads/sales b/c “Sales solves everything right????”…even though we don’t have measure in place to manage the money even if it did come in Tried to buy bulk material and it’s dropped your cash flow Build Bonus structures and increased base comp, b/c “more money means people will stay longer” Just putting your head down and doing it yourself…”it’s just easier” Tried to fix your schedule, or job costing, or projections schedule…but it just takes too much time Hired new PM’s and Supers, Fired old PM’s and Super’s Hired your brother or your cousin, or your son Take on more work even though you are way behind on receivables and never properly job-costed previous job to understand profitabilityWe are running around, spinning in circles, a slave to an over-heated market, the client, to the employee, to the sub, to the vendor.
And we just want it to STOP. Just for a second so we can catch our breathe.
Talked to a custom builder in Kentucky two weeks ago who said, “I’m actually looking forward to a market slow down.” I was waiting for lightning to strike.
You had a grueling week, and then you have a Saturday where you are fired up about a late breakfast where you are going to eat donuts, cinnamon roles, pancakes, bacon, cheese grits… then after you’re done, you turn on a game on tv watching world-class athletes and think, “I need to work out!”
Chaos can often translate to unhealthy habits because we are vulnerable. In the chaos of the pricing increases or material delays, we tend to rest in the false comfort of cash flow, while KNOWING that we are neglecting the discipline of purpose, process, and systems that will create a long term FIT-ness for us, our team, and the mission we are on in our business.
I’ve seen it reported recently that both Quarterback Russel Wilson and basketball mega-star Lebron James each spend over $1 million on the health and fitness of their mind and body.
Here is a hard reality…trying to control pricing and material logistics is like trying to control the weather…you can’t control the weather, BUT you can forecast and adjust plans based on the latest information…and PRE-PARE.
I love the world prepare…it’s actually two words in Latin
Prae (Pre) = before
Parare (pare) = make ready
How do we make ourselves and our business ready BEFORE the next step?
A friend of mine, Chad Jeffers is the lead Dobro player for Carrie Underwood. He was passing through Columbia, SC a couple of years ago as we were in town and we had coffee in the lobby of the downtown hotel he and the other band members were staying at.
I asked Chad a simple question that I had never asked, “what is it like to play in front of all of those people?” His response was sobering.
He mentioned that most nights he forgets where he is at, and that the “repetition of the event” can get quite boring. In order to be great and find joy in touring, you’ve got to go back to THE FITNESS of your repetition and training.
In preparation for Carrie Underwood’s Las Vegas residency shows, Chad said…
"Typically for tours (including Vegas) we will rehearse for a month and half to 2 months (7 days a week) prior to the first show. Personally, i prepare for the rehearsals about a month prior to that (especially if we are learning new music). "
Kobe Bryant was 41 when he and his daughter died tragically in a helicopter crash in January of 2020.
He was notorious for his relentless work ethic. Writers Scott Davis and Connor Perrett chronicle some of Bryant’s more remarkable disciplines.
Practice from 5a to 7a…in High School Shaq said he would practice without a basketball…just visualization and mind preparation Had Nike alter a few millimeters off the bottom of his shoes to achieve “a hundredth of a second better reaction time” You must “love the process…the daily grind…this generation loves the results too much.” - Kobe Bryant’s conversation with Nick Saban “I loved preparation more than the competing part” - Kobe Bryant’s conversation with Alabama Football Team NBA Scout in 2008. -“Allen Iverson loves to play when the lights come on. Kobe loves (playing) before the lights come on.” -Here is a question for us. It’s easy to scream, yell, turn over tables, run out of the tunnel with a new idea, rally the troops for a momentary push.
What about you? In the face of unpredictable pricing and material concerns, and personnel challenges, and disrupted construction schedules…will you commit to play BEFORE the lights come on??
The best bourbon is PREPARED before it’s aged and evaporated.
The best wine is PREPARED with full ingredients before it sits.
Some of you are coming to the BuildExpo hoping for a hail mary, hoping for a silver bullet, a bright idea that will change the game for you.
I want to offer you something else.
When explorer Ernest Shackleton was preparing for his Trans-Antarctic Expedition, he needed the right team. It is said that he published an advertisement…
"Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey. Small Wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."
The advertisement may not be true, but Shackleton’s expedition with his crew aboard the “Endurance” was heroic and transformative for an entire British society.
Reading through Alfred Lansing’s aptly titled book “Endurance”, you realize what kept Shackleton and his 27-man crew alive during months of isolation and loneliness in what has been billed as one of the most remarkable pictures of survival in modern history.
What two things kept these men going, when all other expeditions facing similar challenges, died?
FITness and repetition.
In the new unpredictability, do you want to stop spending your days putting out silly fires? You want to discover REAL purpose in your business? You want to make time for what matters most?
To emerge out of the fog in this unpredictable market, you must commit to great preparation by becoming F.I.T.
Fundamentals
We convened an emergency meeting of our clients in March of 2020 and talked openly about our concerns and realities...and then all committed... “We WILL NOT contribute to chaos, but instead will simply respond to this call-to-action so we can implement the leadership that we have all been invited into.” It’s realizing that your business is not a slot machine that you put money in and hope for the best! Five Foundational Cornerstones Firm Foundation made up of 13 Ingredients Four Structural Walls of Admin, Ops, Marketing, and Sales Your business is constructed in the same way that your projects are constructed: Your business has a lifecycle just like you do as a human that goes through stages What are some of the fundamentals of that leadership??…
Five Stages Of A Business
Each stage requires different engagement from people, and different leadership styles from you Great News! You can actually build predictability and stability into your business…sure, the tide and tradewinds of the market will impact you, but YOU determine your course Custom Homebuilder from the West Coast comes into 2020 with a cash account of $32,000 available dollars. $32k on $12mm worth of contracts. That’s it. Within 12 months, by going back to the foundations, they began 2021 with over $300k of available cash, and it continues to grow. What was the silver bullet???? STORY: FITness and repetition…no silver bullets. Knowing your cash gives you OPTIONS!!!
The most fundamental step to creating a FIT business, is to painstakingly spend time on the fundamentals. Blocking, tackling, throwing, catching
The second step in becoming FIT, is to…
Invest In People
NY TImes Headline: people are discontent and leaving for “greener pastures” (UPDATE: 4mm quit in January 2022) We can either gripe about the Millennials/Gen Z…or you can stop whining and start investing!!!!! It’s not as expensive as you think…HOW? If your team does not know where you are going…THEY WILL NOT FOLLOW YOU and they cannot make great pricing and material decisions! How? WRITTEN Vision, Mission, Values How? WRITTEN Cockpit and Master Process Roadmap How? A clear, old fashioned WRITTEN Org Structure & Job Roles How? BASIC Financial Accountability and Tracking…SIMPLE SPREADSHEETS Invest with Clarity Priority…SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE, SCHEDULE Common refrain, “I don’t know why she is so freaked out about missing the Electrical/Framing schedule…we’ll get the billing eventually!” Not realizing that the payroll bell rings EVERY month whether you bill or not In Ted Lasso, Danny says “Football Is Life”...in construction, “Schedule Is Life!” The pricing and material challenges leave ZERO room for unpredictable communication…so HOW? Weekly meetings don’t have to be pointless, boring, worthless, and a waste of time… If they are consistent, agenda-driven, and leader-led…weekly meetings offer a consistency that your team craves! These are NOT project meetings…those are separate…these are business meetings that build clarity, focus, and camaraderie centered on the MISSION! Non-Negotiable Weekly Meetings (cue eye roll) Invest with Communication The real crisis of our day is not all of the things we think exist from the cable news tapes…the real crisis is a crisis of compassion and empathy STORY: talking with the psychologist who said that young people now have the capability to show empathy without FEELING empathy STORY: 3 weeks ago a biz owner walks into our coaching time: Wife whose husband stole her money. They showed AND felt empathy Your team will be more prone to stay on top of the unpredictability if you lead with empathy and laser focus on the vision Reclaim the Face to face conversation Brene Brown wrote “People are hard to hate up close” HOW? 5 Question Check Ins at set times on set days Professor Sherry Turkle of MIT has written extensively for decades on the necessity of empathy. What is her solution for the crisis of empathy we find ourselves in? Invest with Compassion and Empathy
We must go back to the fundamentals, we must invest in people, and in order to restore business FITness in an unpredictable reality, we must…
Trail A Mentor Bill Gates famously said, “Everyone needs a coach!”
Pricing variations and material disruptions are not new…find others who have navigated past storm patterns…everything has a pattern if we’ll stop long enough to see it I have a business coaching group I am a participant of weekly, a psychologist monthly, and a speaker coach, two wisdom mentors I meet with 4 times per year, and two guys locally that we meet together for breakfast about 25 times per year Right now… …And I’m a professional coach! Mentor: (find someone who has a different perspective and who is farther along that you) Everyone needs a coach, because everyone is broken…just admit it! At the height of their game: Ronaldo still has coaches, Simoan Biles has coaches, Serena Williams has coaches, Tom Brady has coaches, Lebron James has coaches. (PAUSE) - Who is someone further along than you, who is actively mentoring, pushing you right now?
FINAL STORY:
FITness is no longer optional.
Les and Sara Claxton…Les PREPARED, he made ready, everything is volatile in his world…and he was ready.
Are you?
ACTION: Which of the 3, needs to be your 1st priority after you get out of your seat?
Fundamentals?
Invest In People?
Trail A Mentor
If you want to test your business fitness, go to mybusinessonpurpose.com/healthy
