Running a successful small business is analogous to attempting to juggle five “bean bags” simultaneously! If you’ve ever attempted to juggle five of anything—bean bags, juggling balls, chain saws—you understand this is a very daunting challenge!
1st Bean Bag of Business: Leadership
As the owner of the business, you are the one who initially juggles the first Bean Bag of Business: the Leadership bean bag. You are the creator of your enterprise, and initially, juggling this single bean bag presents little difficulty.
2nd Bean Bag of Business: MESS
If your business is to thrive, however, you must then begin juggling the second Bean Bag of Business: your Marketing, Estimating, Sales, Service (MESS) bean bag. To generate a revenue stream, it is imperative that you market and sell your services.
3rd Bean Bag of Business: Production
Once you’ve initiated your MESS, you will have two bean bags in the air. Juggling two bags poses little problem for most. Good fortune bestows itself upon you! Your marketing and sales efforts have paid off! Customers begin to call and before you know it, you’re juggling the third Bean Bag of Business: your Production bean bag.
The Production bean bag represents all that you do, be it landscape construction, maintenance, arbor care, irrigation installation, etc. Juggling all three of these bean bags is still relatively easy, especially if you are the only one doing the work. However, as your business begins to blossom, you will find the need to hire people to help you grow your business.
4th Bean Bag of Business: People
You will now begin juggling the fourth, the heaviest and most daunting of the five Bean Bags of Business: the People bean bag! The People bean bag is typically the most challenging of them all. Keeping all four of your business bean bags in the air simultaneously has become much more daunting. You can ill afford to “drop the bean bag” once you’ve got the wheels of production moving.
And just when it appears you’ve mastered juggling all four of the bean bags of business, your key foreman calls in sick on a day you desperately need him. Additionally, two pieces of equipment you need for the project today have broken down. Since you became very busy taking care of your current customers, you haven’t invested much time or money in marketing your services. Consequently, the sales leads have been few and far between and you have no new work on the books! Adding that fourth bean bag to the juggling act intensifies the game!
5th Bean Bag of Business: Financials
Finally, your company must juggle the fifth Bean Bag of Business: the Financial bean bag. The Financial bean bag represents the lifeblood of your enterprise! This includes your payables, receivables, taxes, inventories—all things relating to the financial side of the business.
Along with the People bean bag, the Financial bean bag, if dropped, can seriously hurt the business. Therefore, it is critical that this juggling act have a firm grip on these key elements.
So there you have it! To succeed over the long haul, entrepreneurs like you must figure out how to keep all five Bean Bags of Business in the air without dropping a single one.
What’s the “secret” to keeping all of them in the air without crashing to the floor?
Your People! Unless you are a circus performer, it is extremely difficult for any one individual to juggle five bean bags at once. Therefore, a wise leader should seek to hire competent people to assist him or her in juggling these critical Bean Bags of Business. This includes someone to assist in juggling the MESS, and good People to perform the Production functions of the business. And, the wise leader keeps a watchful eye on the Financial bean bag at all times!
Bottom line: invest in your people. They will either help you keep all your bean bags in the air, or they will cause them to crash to the floor!
If you need any help juggling any of your Bean Bags of Business, do not hesitate to contact me. My job is to help Ewing customers succeed in their businesses. An extra hand is a helpful one.
