How many of these statements sound familiar?

  • “Business is slow, so I scramble to get more customers. The next month things pick up, and I stress out and work long hours trying to stay caught up, then things slow down, and the cycle starts all over again.”
  • “I feel like I’m stuck at the same level no matter how hard I work.”
  • “I’m working WAY too many hours, and I’m feeling burned out.”
  • “I make a living, but I’ve been unable to accumulate real wealth or save for retirement.”
  • “I feel discouraged that things will never change for the better.”

If any of those ring a bell, you’re not alone. In my work with floor dealers, I hear these comments all the time. The good news is that by implementing the right strategies, you can make a higher salary than the average family doctor while working less than 35 hours per week!

Florida Dealer, Craig Bendele is an excellent example of that. Like many dealers, he was working 60+ hours each week, including weekends. The stress was terrible, and business was not fun anymore. Finally, he’d had enough, and began implementing changes. Things have completely turned around for him. Now he only works Monday through Thursday; he takes 3-day weekends every week. He takes vacations and time off when he wants to. At the same time, his business grew by 50% two years in a row, and he and his wife are now building their dream home.

Jerome Nowowiejski is a dealer from Texas who underwent a similar transformation. When I met him, he was working six days per week and hadn’t taken a vacation in years. His residential margins were also meager (below 30%), and he was struggling to grow his business. Once he began implementing the correct strategies the change happened pretty quickly.

Within 90 days his margins were at 45% to 50%. He is consistently booked out for weeks at a time, and he’s been able to use the additional profits to buy multiple rental properties. At the same time, he dramatically cut his work hours. He no longer works weekends and takes lots of 3-day weekends and multi-week vacations.

How were these store owners able to do what so many dealers only dream about?

In a word: systems. They transformed their businesses from being owner-dependent to being system-dependent. Owner-dependent means that if the owner isn’t there to personally babysit the operation, things quickly begin to fall apart. (Sound familiar?) System-dependent means that the business runs on systems whether the owner is there or not.

A good example of this is the dealer who owns 15 stores. There is absolutely no way he can be in each location 60 hours per week or even 10 hours per week. If his stores were dependent upon him personally being there, he could never grow beyond one or two locations. His stores must be system-dependent.

If you only have one store, you can create a system-dependent business that gives you a very high salary and simultaneously gives you the freedom to live your ideal lifestyle.

Craig and Jerome each only have one store. But what Craig and Jerome did was cut the rope. Here’s what I mean:

Picture a hot air balloon lifting off the ground. It can’t go higher than 60 feet because of the rope holding it down. That balloon is your business, and the rope is how many hours you can physically work each week. Your company wants to soar, but eventually, you reach the end of your rope.

In Part 2 and Part 3 installments, you’re going to learn how to cut the rope so your business can soar and you get to have the time and freedom to live your ideal lifestyle.

 

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.
See what real, live dealers are saying!

Free book! For a complimentary copy of Jim’s book, “How Floor Dealers Can Beat the Boxes and Escape the Cheap-Price Rat-Race of Doom Forever,” visit BeatTheBoxesToday.com.