5 Terrible Organizing Mistakes
Have I made these 5 terrible organizing mistakes? Let’s just say that starting a business is a learning experience and I’ve earned an MBA in Organizing 101. Forewarned is forearmed. Take a quick look at these five profit eating mistakes and keep them out of your curriculum.
- Bidding a job too low.
- Proceeding on Good Faith.
- Never Saying No.
- Ignoring the Law of Large Numbers
- Making It All about Business
I’ll describe each one of these mistakes in a little more detail below. If you’ve already made a particular mistake and have the lesson well in hand, just skip ahead.
Bidding a job too low
The client will be very happy, then very concerned, then very mad when you reach the third day of a five-day job and you’re less than half done. We all make mistakes, but trying to do too much for too little is the quickest way to destroy your reputation and your profitability. Your pencil has to be pretty sharp to win in this competition but track your bids carefully against your results for the first year or so. Try to do jobs at an hourly rate rather than a firm bid and double-check your estimates. If you think a closet is going to take 6 hours go back through your assumptions after the dust clears. Make a worksheet to guide your estimates and eliminate some of the guesswork. We’ll have a format for just such a worksheet in a future post.
Proceeding on Good Faith
People are generally ethical, right? Except for the small percentage that aren’t. You can maintain a friendly relationship with a client and still treat them like a client. Get a signed agreement. Get a good faith deposit. Get progress payments for a big job. As Suzanne Massie taught the world: “Trust but Verify.” We’ll have an article here that outlines a simple standard agreement that can be used by a small organizing business.
Never Saying No
Say it along with me. “No.” Say it again. “No.” “No” can be just as important as “yes.” Saying “yes” much more often than “no” is just good business. But never saying “no” will quickly introduce you to a lot of those learning opportunities I talked about earlier. It’s great to be confident. It’s also great to know when you’re in over your head and “no” is the rip cord tied to your parachute.
Many times, that “no” has to face a pleading prospect whose moving truck is arriving this weekend and they forgot to hire the packers. Sometimes a deadline leaves you for dead. Don’t sign up for emergency services unless you’re a trained EMT. If you can build in a contingency, hire some extra hands for extra fees, and really don’t need sleep—then go for it. But, just like underbidding, nobody hails a hero once the kryptonite shows up.
Ignoring the Law of Large Numbers
Everything reverts to the mean, eventually. You can be smashing the casino’s bank all night long, but if you don’t cash in before dawn, eventually, your lucky streak will sneak right back to the averages and the house will go to bed with your money. Accept that your business will have highs and lows. Over time you’ll perform at the average unless you specifically improve something. Your ads may attract clicks from 6% of the people who read them. With diligent testing and retesting you may get that percentage to 8% or 10%. Some days that click-through-rate may be 14%, other days it may be 4%. Don’t get overly elated or filled with despair. Manage expenses and investments to the averages, stay the course, and keep raising your averages.
Making it All about Business
You’re in business to live, you’re not living to be in business. If you get those reversed you might be a good candidate for a documentary about greed but you’re not going to enjoy the ride. Treat your employees to a picnic. Donate your services to a local charity. If you or your staff make these 5 terrible organizing mistakes or a hundred new ones, try to take it in stride. Take the opportunity to make a few people’s lives better. You’re a professional in a position to demonstrate how to take charge of your life. As Spiderman says, “With great power, comes great responsibility.” Make the most of it.
