Think i need a prefix.
I am not looking for cuddles, just advice on business, i am open and honest, sometimes to honest. but who cares. not everything on ljn is about people looking at your website, sometimes it's about the proper struggles with running a business and the impact on your family life and your self. we can talk about slabs and stone walls later and compare who has the biggest. You also may not undersatnd why i put the back story, trust me i trimmed that down.
I enjoyed success for a year maybe two, after three years of building my business, I have been in the landscaping and construction trade all my life, things where going well, really well. Then as many relationships do mine fell apart, this could have been work related, or simply the wrong girl, at the time my whole world fell in on itself, I was thirty six years old living on my Dads sofa (not that he deserves that title) it was hell. The bubble I had created that pushed away everyone I was close to had fallen in on itself, I tried taking my life, if you new me and the life I lead before, (before running a landscaping company) you would know this is something I would never do, life is for living what ever it throws at you, you have to stand up be a man and fight, sadly at the time, I could not see this.
Eventually I did find the light. After three months of self pity, I started working again, now the jobs I was doing where very low end, the bottom end unskilled work, but I was busy and I had met someone. We quickly moved in together, I took on her three children and she was happy to take on my daughter and we lived happily ever after NOT.
One of the many problems I have now ( and I do feel I should be writing my own blog on depression and struggling with family and business) is I have been getting work, not high end, but I see that changing, money is tight and my spare time is little.
But I regularly have this said to me, why don’t you get a proper job “I have a proper job” yes but one when you come home your not working, “because I have ambition, I want the best for my family and I will never get that working for someone else” you need to get a proper job.
I will never work for anyone again, even sub contracting. I like being the boss, (I like being in the digger) I worked every bloody job from the bottom up, became the best I could, better than most I worked for.
So yes my problem is time management, can you be a father of four soon to be five and be self employed, I cant do office work from home, its just a no go. When I get in from work I have to be a dad, when the kids go bed, I have to be a husband. When do I get to be a business owner?
Sorry to turn this site into readers wife’s, but sometimes you need advice from tradesman, who run a business, not that bloke down the pub.
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I have a wife and two young children and yes it is difficult to spend quality time with everyone especially when you are busy. I was working 14 hour shifts from Friday until Tuesday, leaving the house at 5am, getting back at 8pm. I didn't even see my kids when they were awake but have taken today off so that I can be part of the family.
Normally I try to do as much office/admin/site visits during working hours, typically between 8am and 6pm. I will probably spend between 7pm and 8pm (but no later)working on the computer during the week - quotes, invoices etc but probably not touch the office during the weekend!
Time management is easier said than done - you have to be really strict with yourself and ultra disciplined.
Hi there,
I can certainly understand where your coming from. I had a year of shutting people out when I split from my kids mum. and that was coming off the back of leaving a job that I utterly hated. The management were tyrants. and that was the lower management rather than the top, though Management will back their management. rather than what is right. also - I still get suggestions from relatives about going for this job and that job, yet I spent a year and a half unemployed before starting up myself and with no luck. So Im with you on that - I love working for myself, organising my time to suit, being able to go and see my kid do shows/nativities at school etc. theres nothing like it. I had looked to start up my own business for 2 years before I did. I had enough tools in my shed to get going then reinvested any extra earnings in more equipment to offer more services.
When I started up myself last April, I hit the ground running. I had went to a Business Gateway book-keeping workshop, they gave us a template to enter data for income and expenditure, I just went through my receipts book and purchased receipts and updated the spreadsheet every 2-3 days, or week. I dont employ anyone, so its really just making sure I update my spreadsheets. I have during the close season went a bit further and organised and tweeked things a bit more. I suppose that is the main thing you need to keep on top of.
Ive been involved in lean management projects in previous jobs, so this year I aim to do more measuring etc, organising work in one area at a time with so many customers covered within these one areas. and to record other things.
Its only a suggestion, but Duncan Bannatynes books have helped my line of thinking. you could consider them. I find them worth their weight in Gold.
Keep the head up, good luck and best regards
Scott
ive always been ;lucky with teh support from my family. I gave up a very stable job in the police, but couldnt deal with what i was seeing anymore ( i was a diver and got fed up with constant call outs and picking up dead bodies and bits and pieces) My wife supported me from day one, but as you grow a business it becomes harder to keep on top of it all and be everywhere at once.
I made it a rule that i would always try to be home at 4 by the latest to see my 2 children when they come home from scholl, and that we would sit down at dinner alltogether, before i put them to bed with a story. I have stuck to that and i stead fastly refuse to see a client between 4.00 and 7.00
Two years ago i got diagnosed with sarcoidosis and although it wont kill me, its made life harder as i struggle with all the physical stuiff i do. That made me sit down and look at things again.
Ive reorganised things so im more of a boss than jack of all trades. I probably spend 1/2 of my time on site at most in a week because thats all i can do. Luckily the guys that work for me are good and i can leave them to do a lot of the main work and i come in to do the fancy stuff, or drive the machines
Thats meant that i have time to go and see clients during the day, and doing all the run around jobs. It was probably a blessing inm disguise. i still spend evenings in my office doing stuff, but i quite enjoy it. But weekends are now for the family and i simply dont answer the phone at weekends or in the evening, unless i chose to. If it were a shop people couldnt get hold of you. If ive lost a few jobs, well at least i havent lost my family or my mind!
I think ive discovered in the last couple of years that you can be robust with people and tell them when you can and cant do quotes and people will change their schedule to suit, and that people seem to respect things when you treat it more as a business with times you are availiable etc. You do it becuse you enjoy it,so dont lose sight of that, and dont lose sight of your family either. just have a good think about how you manage your time and be organised
Time with the family is essential. My kids have long since flown the nest, but we still run a strict 7.30-4.30 day. To do that, keep on top of schedules and make money, requires discipline, not only in getting things done, but knowing when to say 'no'.
Don’t be afraid to put a day aside for the office when needed – I still keep an eye on the weather forecast for an up-coming ‘rainy day’ – doesn’t always work, but it’s amazingly satisfying to be sitting in the dry working and not losing time.
All a bit basic, but it’s so easy to lose sight of the important things in life. Good luck!
Shame
Obviously I need to sleep, but apart from that I live, breath, and will die thinking gardens..... there are short moments when I can completely switch off and that is assisted by by best friend, Lizzy, she knows the goals and heights I have set myself and she is not prepared to scupper my goals, after all why should she I do my utmost to look after her as he does me. I love it
Believe in yourself and you will achieve
Kerry Jackson
Newton Abbot
Devon
www.JacksonsLandscapeDesign.com
I find time management is difficult, for instance I came home at 5.00 been on forestry all day, knackered, ate tea, sat on my arse until about an hour ago when I had to prepare some invoices and reply to some e-mails,
My wife is very understanding of the fact that my business occupys a large proportion of my time and energy when i'm out and at home, It's gradually starting to pay off now and I hope that in the coming years things will get better still.
We have three daughters 12,17 and 19 and we try to do something with them on a sunday. but this isn't always possible.
Running a business, as you well know, is bloody hard work, but like you said I couldn't go back to working for anyone again.
Keep plugging on mate, I'm not the best bloke to give advice about time management as i'm not very disciplined, the replies above give a good outlook on more efficient people than me. But I will say that you strike me as a survivor and a determined one at that, stay that way and you won't go far wrong.
Best of luck to you fella!!
Agree with all who've said self-discipline is key, seems to be pretty unanimous in fact.
Easier said than done, but there really is no alternative to managing your time effectively, and that means being strict with yourself and others. Keep a diary up to date, allot time for admin, plan and make your own business rules, and stick to them.
Make the family aware that sacrifices have to be made by everyone, and at certain times of the day dad/hubby shouldn't be disturbed, and stick to it. Say, for the first hour after you get in, you concentrate on quoting/bookkeeping/marketing, and you stick to it. They'll soon get used to it, quicker than you think, and it'll become routine for all the family. Consistency means imposing self-discipline.
As I said, easier said than done, but YOU can do it. Best of luck matey.
The support of your partner and family is essential. I help my husband running his landscape gardening business and have my own garden maintenance business but, a few years ago, I left a well paid management job because it was too stressful and made me ill. Yes, we all need money to live, but life doesn't have to be all about money, you need job satisfaction, and now I have that. I am much happier and, it is a well known fact, that gardening is very therapeutic. We don't have kids and still have trouble getting the work/life balance right but, working as a team, we understand the demands of the business. I agree with Paul that if your partner could help in some way then they would have a better understanding of what's involved and you might even get to spend some more time together. Opening up is the hardest thing when you are feeling low, but it is good to talk and, with the support of friends and family, hopefully you will be able to keep on top of things. Keep your chin up!
Time management is one of the most difficult things for me, I get by but whatever I am doing, whenever I am doing it, I feel I ought to be doing something else at that time. I try "to do" lists, when I am able to fit them in, try planning but it only takes a phone call or something unforeseen to scupper my well laid plans for the day.
So I am not the best person to advise on time management, what might help is to have a longer term plan, I read a book on thinking by Edward De Bono, Teach Yourself to Think. Probably the most useful point he makes is to decide on where you want to end up, then plan the steps back from where you want to be to where you are now, a bit like planning a journey. Find your destination then plan how to get there, work out what you need for the journey, plan your stops and work out alternatives if a tree blows down across the road.
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