The Stand-Alone Construction Business

Dear Jayme,

I’ve heard you talk about a “stand-alone” business. I don’t really get it. Are you saying that I can have a business that doesn’t need me around at all? That doesn’t seem possible and even if it were, I wouldn’t know where to start to make mine look that way. Isn’t this just for the big guys?

Gene

Dear Gene,

The ideal stand-alone construction business is one that allows you, the owner, to be uninvolved in the business. It runs entirely by itself, gets great results, and sends a fat check to your villa in the Caribbean.

Possible? Sure, but it’s not realistic until you’re doing many millions of dollars and can afford a trusted executive team to handle everything. Anyone who tells you otherwise is jerking your chain. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a business that requires a lot less of your involvement in day-to-day operations and produces great results at the same time.

It’s realistic to spend no more than 20 percent of your time dealing with daily operational issues and 80 percent focused on strategic issues like planning and business development. It’s also realistic for you to be able to leave the business for significant periods and have it continue to produce excellent results while you’re gone.

Sounds great, but can you imagine yourself working and living this way? You’ve heard me go on and on about how to build systems, delegate tasks and hire good people. And that’s all crucial, but it comes later. First and most importantly, you have to start thinking about your business (and your role) from a stand-alone perspective. As long as you think of yourself as the hands-on firefighter, that’s exactly what you’ll be.

Thinking about it from a stand-alone perspective doesn’t mean gazing into some mystic sunset and concocting a gigantic notion. It just means recognizing that when you come into your office, your job is to make the big decisions and only deal with the occasional exception, with most of your time being relatively peaceful and productive. That’s the stand-alone mindset.

How do you get from here to there? A great way to start is to find a person whose business (and life) runs the way you’d like yours to run, and whenever something happens that requires your personal attention, stop and ask yourself, “How would so-and-so do it?” This can be anyone who clearly runs their business rather than working in it. And it’s fine to use big examples like Donald Trump or Bill Gates. (Would The Donald run the crane? Does Bill write the ads for Windows 7?) You don’t have Donald or Bill’s resources, but you’ll start seeing all the things that an owner should and shouldn’t be doing, which is a good start.

For years, you thought of yourself as an electrician, plumber, roofer, paver or other technical expert. Now it’s time to think of yourself as the business owner. Once you start looking down the pipe from the other end, things will appear very different (and much better).

Cheers!

Construction Business Owner, February 2010