Greetings Floor Dealers!

In the last installment, I made the case that the main purpose of your flooring business is not to provide jobs, sell stuff, help customers, or even to make money.  (Or to keep your brother-in-law employed and out of jail.)  The main purpose is this: to fund and facilitate your ideal lifestyle. Yes, it should be doing those other things, but none of them is the main purpose.  (Check out my last column to understand exactly why I say this, and how making this one fundamental shift in your thinking can change not only your business but your life.)

In order to fund and facilitate your ideal lifestyle, you’ve got to have a clear picture of what your ideal lifestyle looks like.  This sounds obvious but few dealers give this any thought.

I was on the phone with Rick, a dealer from New York.  He made good money, but he was working 70+ hours per week and was on the edge of total burnout.

“Rick, what does your ideal week look like,” I asked him.  

After a long pause he said, “To not work so much.”  

“If we get you to a point where you are working a lot less, what do you want to do with all those extra hours?”

He didn’t have an answer for me.  So I gave him an assignment.  I told him to get a week-at-a-glance calendar and go sit in a coffee shop, away from work or home.  Phone off, no emails, no distractions whatsoever.

“Rick, I want you to build your ideal week in that calendar.  I want you to start dreaming again.  If you only want to work Monday through Thursday, and take three-day weekends every week, fill it in.  If you only work 30 hours per week, block out the hours you want to work.  If you quit Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:00 so you can coach your daughter’s soccer team, fill it in.  If you take martial arts classes on Monday’s and Wednesdays, fill it in.  If you spend weekends traveling with your wife, put it in the calendar along with somewhere you’ve really been wanting to take her.  This is your ideal week, so totally let go.  Make it good, because this will be the blueprint for your ideal lifestyle. Oh, and one more thing.”

“What’s that?” Rick said.

“While you’re filling out that calendar, don’t worry about how you’re going to make your ideal lifestyle a reality.  We’ll get to that later.  For now, just dream.”  

And that, loyal reader, is my assignment to you.  If you feel like your business totally dominates your life, that you don’t get enough time to enjoy the things that have meaning, purpose, and value to you outside of business, then I challenge you to get a calendar, visit your local coffee shop and build your ideal week.  Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • What do I enjoy doing outside of work?  Or what might I enjoy doing?  (Golf, coaching my kid’s sports team, fly fishing, training for a marathon, writing a novel, playing in a blues band, volunteer work, etc.)
  • How many hours per week do I want to be at my business?  (Make sure to leave PLENTY of time for doing what’s important to you.  Don’t worry about how you’ll make this a reality.  We’ll get to that.)
  • What time do I get up?
  • What time do I arrive at my business?
  • What time do I leave?
  • How many days per week am I at the business?  Which days?

Put it all on your calendar.  You’ll now have a clear picture of your ideal lifestyle.  Remember!  Don’t worry about how you’ll make this a reality.  We’ll cover that in the third installment.

 

To Tons Of Customers!
Jim Augustus Armstrong is The “Coach”

Jim Augustus Armstrong is the President of Flooring Success Systems, a program that equips dealers to double their profits, cut their work hours in half and beat the boxes! Many dealers have totally transformed their businesses and their lives for the better after joining Flooring Success Systems.
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