EP #29 – Time management w/ Doug D’Aubrey

Overview

How do you stop being busy and actually start growing your business?

In this episode of the FieldRocket Podcast, host Tulloch Priest is joined by business coach Doug D’Aubrey from Executive Training and Consultancy to break down the one thing that holds most tradespeople back: how they spend their time.

Highlights

The early stages of a business

• (1:24) Time management is about being productive and maximising the time you can spend earning money.
• (3:30) For a young business, the first thing you need to spend your time on is working out what services you are going to offer, based on your skills and location.
  • Then, you need to work on getting yourself known – through marketing, networking, and referrals. 
• (8:45) The more time you spend doing jobs, the less time you’ll have for marketing. There is a natural balance between the two.
• (9:20) It’s important to consistently allocate time for marketing, or you’ll get stuck in a roller coaster of marketing ➝ delivery ➝ marketing etc.
•  (14:10) As you grow, time management becomes more complex. Doug suggests creating a framework where you allocate time for certain tasks like marketing, sales, admin, etc. 

How being a manager affects time management

• (18:02) Doug tells the story of a lawn care company he worked with that struggled with productivity. By allocating 15 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening to handle the admin and smaller tasks, they were able to perform much better. 
• (23:20) If you show interest, support, and spend time on your employees, they’ll work harder in return. 
• (20:25) As you grow, people management becomes part of time management. The result is that you can delegate tasks out and see profitable growth. 
• (22:50) You’ve got to balance your time between delivery, admin, and marketing, but this balance will change as your company grows. 
• (23:45) When a customer asks you to do something extra: Make sure you’re ready to charge if it’s a big task because your time is valuable. It can also cause a domino effect when you’re late from one job to the next. 
• (27:40) From a manager’s point of view, your goal is to support your employees. They’re the ones earning you money.
  • In doing so, it’s important to show that they are worth your time.