Stop Hiding in the Work

Ladies, you get a break here.

This one is mainly aimed at us blokes.

I don’t know what it is about some men in business, me included, but we’ll happily get up before a sparrows fart, jump in a tractor, fix a breakdown in the rain, deal with a difficult customer, work eighteen hours, and call it “doing what needs doing.”

Sitting down for half an hour to look properly at whether the business is actually making money? Bugger that.

Suddenly there’s a fence to fix, a truck to move, a workshop to tidy, or some other urgent little job that magically appears from nowhere.

The truth is, a lot of business owners would rather stay busy than stop and look at the numbers. The research suggests that the more uncomfortable those numbers might be, the stronger the urge becomes to keep working harder and avoid them.

Avoiding the numbers feels better in the moment. You can tell yourself the phones are ringing, the machines are moving, and things will come right after the next big run.

However, the bank balance is not sentimental.

It tells the truth eventually.

Putting off the accountant meeting. Not opening Xero or MYOB. Not creating invoices. Not checking aged receivables. Not looking at job profitability because deep down you suspect some of the work you’re proud of might actually be making bugger all.

That is financial avoidance in a Swanndri.

Here are some numbers every contractor should know.

First, job profitability. Did the job actually make money once labour, fuel, travel, consumables, wear, delays, and mucking around were counted?

Second, cost per machine hour. If you don’t know what the gear costs to run, quoting is mostly guessing with confidence.

Third, average time to invoice. If the job is finished this month and invoiced next month, you’re financing the customer for free.

Control starts when you stop hiding in the work and look properly.

Sort it now.