445: How To Get Your Life Back In A Seven-Day-A-Week Construction Business

Contractor Success Map with Randal DeHart | Contractor Bookkeeping And Accounting Services

This Podcast Is Episode Number 445, And It's About How To Get Your Life Back In A Seven-Day-A-Week Construction Business Construction business owners already have a time-consuming and challenging job running their business. If their business is open five days a week, they usually need the weekend to catch up on paperwork, pay bills and manage any tasks they didn't get to during the week. For those with a seven-day-a-week business, there's even less time off. They often feel the need to be onsite whenever the company is open to deal with unanticipated issues, help the staff out, and ensure all tasks are completed. Being onsite seven days a week isn't healthy or productive, however. It can cause burnout and result in errors being made. It affects the construction owner's personal life and quality of life, not to mention their overall well-being.

Here are three tips for getting your life back when you operate a seven-day-a-week business.

1. Hire a trusted manager

The next best thing to having you onsite all the time is to have a manager with authority similar to yours who can be onsite when you aren't. Invest money in hiring a manager to deal with operations so you can take days off. Train that person to deal with any issues you anticipate and make sure they know and understand the business inside and out. Give them the authority to make decisions in your absence. It might take a little time to build up trust with that manager, but they will be invaluable to you when you have them.

2. Delegate tasks you don't need to do

As a small business owner, you have regular duties that need to be done but could be better done by an expert. Doing them yourself takes up a ton of your time and forces you to be on the job site more. Look at your tasks and determine which ones are eating up your valuable time. Could you hire a bookkeeper? An accountant?

Virtual assistants can now be hired to deal with invoicing, collecting payments, and making phone calls on your behalf. That frees you up to deal with other tasks at your job site, which means you may get your other duties done and find you have free time.

These outside service providers cost money, but they are worth the expense when you consider the time and energy you'll save by not taking on those tedious tasks. Especially when you factor in the extra personal time, you'll have.

3. Start slowly

The worst thing you can do is wait until you feel you're about to have a nervous breakdown before you think about taking days off. That increases the chances that you'll need a day off at precisely the wrong time—during the busy season or when there's a work-related crisis emerging.

To get yourself comfortable with taking days off and get staff used to you being away:

• Start slowly.
• Maybe take an afternoon off during the weekday; that's typically the slowest.
• When you're comfortable with that, start taking an entire day off here and there.

After a while, you'll be fine taking two days off, even during busier periods. You may not always have a five-day-a-week job, but at least you'll be okay taking days off for yourself.

Final thoughts

As contractors, you wear too many hats that you end up wearing yourself out from the weight of it all or from the time it takes for you to wear all of it. You don't have enough energy nor time.

It would be best if you had time away from your business to maintain your sanity and stop yourself from burning out. Having trusted staff and expert service providers in place will help you take a break from your worksite and get yourself some personal time.

About The Author:

Sharie DeHart, QPA is the co-founder of Business Consulting And Accounting in Lynnwood, Washington. She is the leading expert in managing outsourced construction bookkeeping and accounting services companies and cash management accounting for small construction companies across the USA. She encourages Contractors and Construction Company Owners to stay current on their tax obligations and offers insights on how to manage the remaining cash flow to operate and grow their construction company sales and profits so they can put more money in the bank. Call 1-800-361-1770 or [e-mail]