Stop Putting Out Fires
Alan Pentz says three signs indicate that you’re spending too much time fixing problems and not enough growing your business.
Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
The worker classification rules are changing again.
Even though Matouk makes bed and bath linens in the U.S., the tariffs are a big problem.
But some small businesses that are benefitting greatly from the tariffs.
MANAGEMENT
Alan Pentz says too many business owners are essentially human duct tape: “Most owners started their business for freedom. Instead, they’ve become the most expensive employee they ever hired. They are the human duct tape holding everything together. And too many are proud of it. That pride is killing their growth.” Here are three signs, he says, that you are spending too much time putting out fires:
“Your vacation requires a 47-point handoff doc. If it takes a manual to keep the lights on while you’re gone, you don’t own a business—you run a very expensive personal services company. Fix: Start with the process that breaks most when you’re away. Document it so clearly anyone can run it. Then test it.”
“You get emergency texts about decisions your team could make. Most ‘urgent’ escalations aren’t complex. They’re just proof your team has learned you’re faster than the system. Fix: Now that you have documented processes ask the person, ‘Have you tried the checklist or talked with x?’ Keep doing that for a few weeks and the questions will stop.”
“You know how to fix things that happen ‘once in a while’… every month. Those ‘rare’ billing or delivery problems? They’re recurring. You’ve just normalized firefighting. Fix: Track your firefighting time for a few weeks. Where do the problems come from? Is it finance, operations, marketing? Identify the source of the chaos and then fix it with better systems and/or better people.” READ MORE
