E-myth Revisited

Originally Posted by Ankesh

Thanks Joe.

But I'm not looking for info on how to grow my biz... but looking for how to structure my biz so that it grows without me.

Hey Ankesh.

I think the reason that there's not much written on this is because there's no one-size-fit-s all "system" that can really be written about and duplicated.

Each business is unique and needs to do things in different ways. There are concepts behind developing systems that should probably be written about. I've even attempted to write about it before but even the concepts are difficult to put on paper.

You mentioned something that I think is really important.......

There's a huge difference between building something that 'runs" without you and something that "grows" without you.

Building something that "runs" without you can sometimes be as simple as hiring someone that can do things as good as yourself and walking away.

Growth is a whole other issue and a far more important one.

A few ways I do things......

Out of over a dozen employees now in my cabinet shop, only two of them are paid hourly. That would be the two office gals.

Everyone else's pay is incentive based.

My manager, for example is paid minimum wage as his base salary plus a variety of bonuses including....

bonus on total monthly sales
bonus on total monthly profit
bonus for growth over last month
bonus for growth over last year (for same month)
and a few others

His minimum wage job paid him $165K last year

The guys in the shop are paid on piece work meaning that they are paid a specific amount per job.

They can make as low as $400 per week or as much as $1500 per week depending on how fast they work.

Installers - same thing. They are paid a commission. The faster they get things done, the more they make.

On top of that, both the shop guys and the installers are paid an "on-time" bonus, meaning that when a job is sent to the shop, there is a deadline (usually a week before the scheduled install date) that in must be completed by. Their pay can go up or down depending on when they complete the job. The installer also has a timeframe that the job has to be completed in.

A lot of good things happen when you set something like this up. While they all have schedules, we pretty much let them do as they want. If they need to come in a couple hours late or leave a couple hours early it's never a problem. They know what needs to get done and what they need to make.

They control their own paychecks. (and they all want to make a lot!)

The more they make - the more I make

Our salespeople/designers are all paid on commission. They have a set commission for any jobs they sell that we provide the leads for.

They also have a huge incentive to get their own leads - an extra 2% commission. Doesn't sound like much but when the jobs they sell are usually in the 10-30K range, it really adds up and gives them a reason to grow my business.

I should note that we only deal with contractors so once they've got them signed up, that extra 2% is theirs for as long as they stay with us, even if that contractor calls us directly instead of them.

So, there in a nutshell is my secret to "growth"

Give employees a reason to grow your business, make them want to come into work, and reward them handsomly for it.

Now, with all that said, there is still the issue of systemizing.

None of that stuff can happen without systems running in the background to hold it all together and make the entire process streamlined and efficient for everybody involved.

What kind of business are you trying to build?

If you want to share the details here, it might be fun for everyone here to put our heads together and come up with systems that will work for you.

If not, email me privately and I'll take a crack at it.

Jim