Heating Help

Wow! Another new year. A good reason for starting out fresh, and a goodexcuse for looking at what you are doing, how you are doing it, andthen setting some goals about how you want to proceed this year. Itwould be presumptuous of me to suggest what your goals might be. Buttake just a minute and assess a few things concerning you and yourbusiness. From the following list, check off those things that you aredoing.

___ I have a clear mission and vision for my business.

___ It is in writing.

___ It is communicated to everyone in my company.

___ I have a clear plan for my business for the year.

___ It is in writing.

___ It is communicated to everyone in my company.

___ I have a budget for the business and monitor it via a monthly variance report

___ I know my sales and gross profit margin goals, and track both.

___ I review my profit and loss statement and balance sheet every month.

___ I have an ongoing cash flow projection, so I know when my money is coming in and when it is going out.

___ I job cost all my big jobs and most of my small jobs.

___ I share the job costing information with my people in the field.

___ I have health care benefits for my employees or a plan to get benefits for them this year.

___ I have personnel policies in writing.

___ I have job descriptions for my employees in writing.

___ I conduct annual performance reviews of my employees.

___ I treat my people with dignity and respect.

___ I take the time to hire well.

___ I provide training opportunities and a career path for my employees.

___ I know my market niche and have a plan to reach my sales goal.

___ My company is known for its great customer service.

___ My company is know for the quality of its product.

___ I stay on top of industry trends.

___ I am an active member of my trade association.

___ I plan to attend the state or national convention this year.

___ I plan to take some of my employees with me.

___ My company supports my community through donations of time, expertise, money or all three.

___ I have a plan for improving myself and my leaderships skills.

___ I am good at managing my time, and I effectively delegate to my employees.

___ I have effective policies and procedures in place, and review them on a regular basis.

___ I set aside an hour a week to just think.

___ I run effective meetings that have good follow through.

___ I have good communication in my company and information flows up and down in the company.

___ I catch people doing things right.

___ I treat my employees with respect, and I engage them in making my business successful.

___ I have an employee incentive program that rewards my employees for contributing to the success of the company.

___ My company meets the needs of my family.

___ I take care of and pay attention to my health and get regular exercise.

___ I balance my work with my family and personal life.

___ I am going to take a great vacation this year.

___ I take the time to read for business and pleasure.

___ I have set at least one personal, nonbusiness related goal this year.

___ I am going to play more golf, tennis, fish, ______ (fill in the blank) this year.

___ I run my business, it doesn't run me.

Now,you may want to set some goals to address the items that you didn'tcheck off. Tear this page out and post it somewhere where you can seeit. When you are planning your week, try to include time to do one ortwo of the items listed here that you are not currently doing. And whenyour trade association offers you opportunities to be better at thesevital skills, be sure to take advantage of the opportunity!

Like to learn more? Get Linda Leigh Francis' book, Run Your Business So It Doesn't Run You .