February 2024 Newsletter

Reading time: 3 minutes.

Happy New Year to you all. I have to assume everyone had a great holiday season and is refreshed and can’t wait to get back to work.

Right?

Moving on.

Does it feel right to you?

Are you looking forward to the year ahead? 

Have you made your New Year’s resolutions?

Broke them already?

Created grandiose plans that are never going to see the light of day? We’ve all done it.

Where am I going with this? I want this newsletter to be positive and uplifting. Newsy.

Can I start again?

Great. Welcome to 2024.

The year of doing ‘more in 24’ resonates in everything you do. Nah, that sounds too cynical.

What about this - it’s your year to shine.

It’s time to start your plans to do what you love.

Not too shabby.

OK, I’ll continue…

I want to tell you a true story of a gig I had many years ago.

I was approached to look at a small enterprise in the hope of increasing its margins.

I’d done this stuff before and for a small fee, I accepted. 

I figured it would take a couple of weeks. 

If I couldn’t suggest positive changes by then it wasn’t going to happen.

The first thing I did was to get a feel for the vibe and the culture of the business.

There was only 5 staff and two of those were part-time. It took me about an hour with each employee for a one-on-one chat to understand each role. 

The production for everyone was quite easy to measure.

The first person I interviewed was one of the part-timers. A woman. She worked from 8:00 in the morning until 1:00 pm. She loved her hours, but she didn’t like her job. It was repetitive and mind-sapping. She said as much, or what she didn’t say that had me thinking. Her production level was very ordinary. Then I interviewed the other part-timer. Almost the same issues. She worked from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

After just one day, I developed a clear and simple plan to increase the margins.

I presented it to the owner. He implemented the plan. We monitored it over the next 3 months. Gang-busters. Exactly as I expected.

What changed?

Simple. I swapped the part-timers roles. 

Same shifts, no change there. 

The data entry chic wanted to increase her knowledge of bookkeeping and accounting for future leverage when her kids left. A matter of a few years.

The bookkeeper wanted a less mind-taxing role to focus on getting out the door on time to be with her young kids. This would save her money on babysitting fees for extra time. Many evenings, she needed to stay back to finish off urgent matters.

Do you get it? 

Before…both did not like their job. 

After… both love their job. 

Everybody lived happily ever after.

I hope you enjoyed this positive story to start your year.

My goal is to bring useful enlightening and positive opportunities throughout the year. 

If you’d like to comment or raise an issue at any time, just reach out.

Until next month.

Experience isn't the best teacher, experience is the only teacher.

cliff climber

Confidence comes from experience

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