One of the privileges of the travelling lifestyle (and the huge virtual community) is that I get to spot trends.
Here’s the latest trend, articulated by two clients this morning which echoing the sentiments of many others:
“How can I better time manage myself?
I think a lot of my frustration comes from doing too much and having a really poor work/life balance.
60 hour weeks are not productive but I need help in planning my week as to when I do management, when I do clinical reading and treatment planning, how much clinical chair-side time I devote – if i don’t earn then the practice loses money.
For the first time in years I dread going to work and would get out if I could.”

and the next one…..
“I am now wondering about the merit of me aiming to gross such a high figure every month, as I feel it has taken its toll in lots of different ways.
After slogging away last month – we start again – but this time with a 25% monthly pay cut to me, now reviewing further cutting down my personal expenses – beginning to wonder about all of these insurance policies. Perhaps it is time to have a bit of a rethink about why I am slogging away so hard – insanity – time to do something different to get a different result.”
Trending:
•           Owners taking pay cuts
•           Owners ploughing their own savings back into the business
•           Owners taking fewer, less expensive holidays
•           Owners working longer hours
•           Owners waking up at 04:00
•           Owners drowning in work or their sorrows
•           Owners managing the financial demands of their families, their suppliers and their teams
•           Owners having to solve every problem for everybody else – and then getting it in the neck for not being home enough
Solutions:
•           Consider downsizing your business, so that you get a life
•           If associates, hygienists and therapists are not profitable – they are performance managed
•           If team members are not world class – they are performance managed
•           If suppliers are not supportive – they are performance managed
•           If patients are not polite, respectful and appreciative, they are performance managed
•           If your family are not supportive – they are performance managed
•           Apply a zero-tolerance rule to ANYONE who does not conform
I am still working with clients on a daily basis who are breaking their own previous records on sales and growing businesses – but there is still no room for anything less than excellent in all departments.
 
My story
I personally lost a business back in 1993 because I took it upon myself to be top salesman in my own company and managing director, finance director, marketing director and every other bloomin’ director. I worked 70 hours a week for 2 years to keep the staff paid, the sales team happy and my family with a roof over their head.
But the recession of the early 90s was bigger then my brains and my brawn. Eventually even I went bust and had to give my house back to the bank.
I’m not going to watch any of my clients do the same.