What’s your biggest business challenge? If you’re like most security guard business owners, it’s dealing with not having enough time to get things done. It’s impossible to add more hours to your day, and even if there were more, it still wouldn’t be enough because there’s always something else to do.
As a security guard company owner, you will often find yourself spending too much time working IN your security guard business rather than ON your business. If security officers aren’t showing up to work and clients are calling and complaining, often times you are the one who has to put out the fires. But if that’s all you’re doing, you’ve done nothing to build your business beyond today or tomorrow.
If you’re truly going to lead your company, you need more time to figure out not where you’ll be tomorrow, but where you’ll be in six months, a year, two years from now. That’s what builds your business. Making the time to think long-term will only result from being more efficient with your time. Although it takes a lot of work to be more efficient with your time, the results are worth it. Here’s are a few tips on how to get started.
Commit to Change
In the first few years of trying to grow my security guard company, I remember that many of my days were filled with putting out fires and other non-strategic tasks. But during that time I had the opportunity to join a small-business incubator. The incubator had only one requirement and that was once a month, I had attend a four-hour meeting at their office with their consultants and advisers. During that time we were not allowed to check phones or emails, because they wanted us fully engaged.
Initially the idea of being disconnected from my business for four hours was a little unnerving. But after attending several meetings at the incubator, a light bulb came on. I realized that when I was taking the time to work with the other business owner and the advisers — just talking about the business, considering the “what ifs”, and contemplating big picture stuff — I was doing things I should have been doing myself. If I had spent the first several years of my security guard business contemplating the big picture stuff, who knows where I would have been.
It was a real revelation! I saw how taking the time to think about your business will help move your business forward. But I wouldn’t have made that connection without taking the time out of my day to attend the meeting. As a security guard business owner, you have to give yourself permission to stop typing emails and to put down the phone.
Commit yourself to taking the time to think about all the big picture stuff. After awhile, you will realize just how important that “Big Picture” time is. Taking the time to think through the strategic issues allows you to establish processes that help drive efficiencies across your organization. Although wanting to increase your efficiency should be a no-brainer, it actually takes a pretty big mind shift to make it happen. Business owners too often get wrapped up in putting out fires; you have to make a decision to let a fire go here or there to get ahead on eliminating the sources of those fires altogether. If time is money then efficiency is profit.
Your Security Guard Business Has To Embrace Technology
Most business owners know that technology can help save time. The problem is, they put off adopting new tools because they hate taking the time to learn them. As a result, they stay with outdated models because they’d rather work with something they know.
For example, there was a time when we did the hiring and scheduling for our security company on a yellow legal pad. But as the company grew, we ran into situations where people were being double booked or not scheduled at all. I tried to develop an Excel spreadsheet to make the process more efficient, but we were essentially just moving the old on-paper system to an electronic one. The results left a lot to be desired and we spent a lot of time trying to perfect that process. Then someone asked me, “Why don’t you just buy some scheduling software?”
I had no idea why we hadn’t, but once we did the results were profound. With our old system, we spent 3 1/2 days doing payroll every two weeks. After we shifted to the new system, it took about half a day. As a result, we added an additional six days a month that we could devote to revenue producing activities. WIN!
The role of technology is to boost efficiency. Adopting full-scale solutions instead of simply tinkering around the edges of a system that works “good enough” for you takes time — but it’s an investment that pays off down the road in increased efficiency. Look for ways to upend the way you do things with technology.
Protect Your Most Valuable Resource, Your Time
Once you get empty time, you’ll be tempted to fill it with tasks such as writing that report or making one more sales call. Instead, respect the value of that time and reserve it to think about long-term issues, reading up on the industry, or even simply daydreaming about “like-to-have” situations for your company.
Even today, I try to set aside an hour every morning to read articles about the security guard industry, look at what’s new in marketing, or any other topic that might inspire the next big idea. Even sitting back and looking out the window to let your mind wander can help you spark a new idea or guide you in a new direction to take your security guard business. As a leader, when you free up your time, you’re creating a resource. Don’t allocate it to everyday tasks — give it to something you’ve never done before, and see where it takes you.
How much time do you set aside to think about the big picture? If you don’t what stops you? Please feel free to leave your comments below.
By Courtney Sparkman
