Interdependence

As outlined in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People interdependence is a graduation from independence. When my partnership crashed and burned I set out to go on my own and start a company that would not make the mistakes of the previous one, my first entrepreneurial venture.

I still believed in strength of numbers so I set out to partner with a local kitchen and bath supplier for construction and another college friend for real estate. Both ventures began to remind me of the previous failed one with both partners sharing some of the characteristics which I believed caused the previous company to fail. Thankfully my partner in real estate felt like he was doing too much work and decided to go on his own. I walked away from the construction partnership quickly after that and started buildPROS. This was my independence. As the business grew I brought on board some of my most talented and driven friends, or in a way one could say they fell in my lap. This is when, once again, I graduated to interedependence. The moral here is, no one can do it on their own. In business be very careful how you choose your strategic partners and employees and always retain the proper amount of control, allowing yourself to make the final decision when necessary.

Systematization

Our main goal is to systematize all aspects of our business so that we can continue to perfect how we do business and allow ourselves to expand.

What are systems? Systems are guides / operating procedures which help us provide a consistent product to our clients.

For example if I was writing systems for:

Creating an invoice:

I would type the following:

1. Open template file located at c:/mydocuments/buildPROS/formsandtemplates/invoice
2. Update business info if necessary and save to template
3. Insert date
4. Insert client info
5. Generate invoice number (refer to How to Create Invoice Number)
6. Always type in scope of work first
7. And so on until this task is completed....

Creating an estimate:

1. Visit site with checklist and estimator kit (See Estimator Kit)
2. Measure site
3. Complete checklist
4. Etc...

If you haven't done so already, create a folder called "systems" in my documents. Then create a subfolder for each task that you are systematizing... Each folder will contain word documents and excel charts for tracking of those tasks if necessary

The decision to make this a daily part of our routine was made after reading the E-myth

Sunday

God asked us to rest on a Sunday. That is what I choose to do today as with many Sundays. I lay in my bed looking through a big window overlooking the city of Providence at the beautiful clouds and I think about how to run business better. My thoughts are laid out on paper in forms of notes, documents, forms, templates, interactive excel charts, policies and procedures. I take this day to rest from the day to day business. From putting out fires. From reacting. From working with everyone as they work. Today I take some time to be with my thoughts. With myself. With the upcoming needs of today, tomorrow and the near future...

I rise
And I take the Sun from Sunday
Let it shine
It's sweet like a Sunday
Also wise
Someday even Monday
Could remind
All of us of Sunday
with its skies
Tuesday through Friday
following close behind
For this to be, one day
Today I devise
A wide, well guided runway
One one could fly off of blind