When was the last time you put your company through a thorough business checkup?

Your doctor wants you to have an annual physical. How about your business consultant (if you have one)? Is she or he requiring you to take a close look at the health of your company each year?

One of the biggest mistakes most contractors make is to ignore performing a regular review of the health of their company. And why is it that contractors do not make time to analyze and evaluate their product or service, their systems and processes or their financials?

As business consultant and author of the E-Myth, Michael Gerber claims the small business owner may be a great technician, but all too often, he spends the majority of time “working in the business, rather than working on it.” My take: many entrepreneurs get so thoroughly consumed by the daily dust cloud of activity their business has created that the hours, days, weeks and months flash by without much attention paid to the very essence of keeping them in business for the long haul!

We’ve created Bink’s Business Blog to prompt you to take a very close look at the workings of your business, and to help you step outside of your dust cloud of activity. Its purpose is to inspire you to step outside of your daily dust cloud of activity and perform an objective review of the critical elements that allow your company to function profitably.

Twice a month, we will invite you into the Business Check-Up Room to explore tools, tips and techniques designed to keep your business breathing the sweet air of profitability! We’ll take an in-depth look at business leadership. We’ll help you develop a cost effective marketing strategy to help you catch and keep customers. We’ll expose you to sales techniques uncommon to the construction trades.

We’ll offer up ideas on how to sharpen your competitive edge while improving your field production systems. You will learn how to price your work profitably, how to hire and keep the right people how to read your financial statements. All of us at Ewing are dedicated to helping you succeed. After all, we NEED you to succeed if we are to do so! We welcome your comments, suggestions, requests and critiques. Best of Business to all of you.