What a year we had last year!

I made a conscience design to effectively grow the business last year, handing my website and marketing over to a 3rd party company and reaping the rewards of what I sowed.

On paper, everything was fantastic.

In reality, it was only a lesson learnt to pull the reigns in again.

You see, I have focused my business throughout on quality over quantity, always taking the stand point of making sure the workmanship and quality of materials is first class, then worrying about the exact profits later.

However, I fell into the all too common contractor trap of just taking on as much as work as I can, putting in 60+ hours on the tools each week to keep up, then wonder why not only the quality started to drop away, but also the back end of the business effectively failed completely.

Now don’t get me wrong, my quality of work towards the end of the year was still quite acceptable, but mistakes were creeping in that not only cost money in repairs, but also kept me up at night kicking myself and just begging for the year to end (end of the current workload), so I could step back, re-evaluate everything and get back on a more solid path.

I took 3 weeks off at the end of the year. For the first time in what seems like a decade, I actually switched my phones and computers off and simply just took time for me and my family without any concern for what work had to offer.

This was the absolute best thing that I could have done, not only for my business, but also for my mental health and well being.

You see, I’m not a live to work kind of person. I’ve had my business since my early 20’s and have always strived to be better in life, but I have always been well aware that I am only on this earth once and if I lose myself in work too much, I’ll miss the journey along the way.

Last year for me was a great milestone to reach. I finally discovered exactly what I could earn and achieve, as well as having the negative aspects blatantly slap me in the face to bring me back to reality.

So the year to come and hopefully the remainder of my working career….

Balance.

I’m going back to basics. I will maintain the good marketing that I have put in place and continually strive to better my business, but I have also decided to set very specific working hours and anything outside of those hours, see’s my phones and computer turned off, my tools packed away and me spending time with loved ones and activities outside of the work place in general.

This will also see me going back to basics of one job at a time, done properly. Something I’ve always been a fan of.

I start a job, I finish that job 100% to satisfaction, then move onto the next project.

This is going to see some clients having to wait a fair amount of time for my services, but not only will it put my mental well being back on track again, it will also see my much more refreshed and able to provide my clients with the quality of workmanship and customer service that has seen my business thriving and receiving 5 star reviews in for the past 15 odd years.

I’m really looking forward to what this year has to come and I feel refreshed and enthused to grab the bull by the horns and get back to the basics that have seen my business successful throughout.

If you’re after a quote or a new client, I look forward to seeing your work. If you’re a client who has had work completed by me previously, thank you for your business and I hope you all had a great end of year break.

Cheers to a new year ahead.