Three Huge Mistakes to Stop Making!

Sometimes you get a little lost in figuring out what people want to hear about in writing the HF Contractor Blog. I tend to notice that posts that get a lot of comments and reactions are tethered to a controversial subject, sort of like the anything about Lumber Liquidators. Being controversial is not my style, and being right on a forum doesn't matter when you're arguing at someone from a keyboard whom you may have never met.

Time is the one variable that helps or cripples business owners in the industry. You cannot create more time, only influence how effectively you use it. I want to give you a very unconventional perspective on the three biggest ways to waste your time. I feel very qualified to speak about this because I have gone the conventional and unconventional route in building my business, and I will tell you that conventional rules of business building are for sheep in the Internet age.   

1) Excessive Networking: Several years ago I probably invested 20 hours a week at networking events and having coffee with people in the industry hoping to broaden my circle and increase my referrals. From designers to builders, I was a human Rolodex and knew people from all sorts of organizations and business groups. I was thumbing through a stack of old business cards the other day:

Of the ones I threw away from the picture, I counted nine businesses that either filed bankruptcy or shut their doors just beforehand. I have lost touch with about 80 percent of the rest of the people from the stack, and I doubt they could point me out in a room if someone said find me. Interestingly, I have personally met everyone in this batch of cards more than once. I did make a few good connections, but the value was in the friendship and knowledge I gained from people, not the referrals. Why? Because people are very busy and unless are a customer, then they will not always remember you or clearly understand your business or when to refer you.

2) Home and Garden Shows: I have done plenty of home remodeling shows over the early years. I used to build the fancy floor, stand on my feet for 10 hours a day with a smile, and talk with people about everything under the sun. The real fun stuff was when some engineer would come over and start grilling you to test your knowledge with no intent to buy, while the interested people behind him waited almost long enough to talk to you but walked away. I had a fancy bid sign-up sheet and getting someone to sign the sheet alone was a task. Even if they signed up, only about 5 percent of those leads turned into jobs. In fact, I would generally manage to make about double my costs after the show, all for 60 hours of work and really tired feet. After awhile I figured that if I invested 60 hours into writing online content or working on some other targeted form of marketing I could make more money. In fact, I will go on record to say that generally if you go about it properly you can make 10 times more money from marketing online than any home show in existence if you are a contractor.

3) Online Forums: Forums may not count as a business builder technically, but I see them as a way to increase your knowledge, which helps your sales process. I cannot count on all my fingers and toes how many pissing matches I have witnessed on forums. It can range from people working to humiliate each other to others seeming to be in search of a trophy for being the smartest guy in the room. I can bet you that many argument "winners" on a forum are also hurting in the bank account or personal relationships department. Some of these people will construct 600-word responses to people and complain they don't have time to write a blog. Go figure…

You can always make more money, but you cannot make more time in this life. Invest your time in things that enrich your life instead of your ego, and you won't have to invest in blood pressure medications and Xanax like when your business is out of control.