Les Cunningham

In business, the only person (usually) not at risk to be “let go” is the owner. I’ve found that the majority of owners are willing to admit their shortcomings, but a lot of them are unaware as to what they can do about them.

I spent 20 years working as a commercial airline pilot at the same time I ran my own construction company. I would drive to the airport from my office, actively empty my mind of my company’s business, and fill it with what I needed to know and do to fly the aircraft as safely and as efficiently as possible. 

It’s about time to start thinking about what you are going to do regarding a holiday party or even – gasp! – perhaps bonuses. Do you remember what you did last year or the year before?

You may be asking yourself if is it possible to expand in an economy where companies are down 40 percent? Would anyone in their right mind be thinking about expanding? Forget right mind; is it possible to expand in this current marketplace?

In the current economic environment it definitely pays to be doing the right things in your business. That said, what are the right things to be doing?

Have you noticed that as the weather is warming up, your flow of business is slowing down? Have you ever wondered about doing storm work outside of your geographic area?

Depending on your geographic location, your restoration business right now is somewhere between slammed and slow-to-none. If you are slammed, you have probably not been very diligent in reviewing your monthly income statement and balance sheet with your budget for the year.

I continue to be amazed at the wide variety of estimators working in the industry today. Even more amazing is the range of opinions people have as to what they want an estimator to do and/or be capable of doing.

Have you noticed that your business is a little slow? Are you wondering what you can do about it? Did you read about the multi-count indictment of a contractor by the state of Colorado? How is this earthquake in our economy going to affect the industry?

When a business is started, it is assumed by the owner-operator that it will be successful in that, as an owner, they will make more money than they have previously earned as an employee. Most entrepreneurs haven’t thought about whether or not they want to run a business for profit or run a business that is not for profit.