A few weeks ago, I gave you 6 steps for starting a restoration business. For the first step I mentioned the importance of thinking profit first, so I thought I’d delve a little deeper into that today. Missed the blog post? Check it out HERE! Most entrepreneurs got started on their journey with a vision of a healthy business that they built brick-by-brick. They begin with:1. Great expectations. 2. Debt. 3. Hard work. But, statistics show that most never achieve their goal.
Create A Successful Model First
So that brings us to the question: How do you achieve your goal in your restoration business? Is it rapid growth? Bigger buildings? More trucks? The best equipment? Working 80 hours a week? FORGET ABOUT IT. Building a business that is healthy, requires building a business that is profitable. A business that is profitable requires a profitable model that you can replicate. A profitable model must be technically accurate, sustainable and be simple enough to be able to be understood and run by other people. If you do not have an amazing business model and you have grown and diversified rapidly, you likely have a terrible job where you work 7 days a week and never have enough profit. Sound familiar? I’ve been there. Here is where many restoration business owners err. They imagine that if we can get enough work, cast a wide enough net, we will kill it. Maybe. Or it might kill you. Either way it’s a flawed approach. Trust me, I did this. And lived through it. Barely. You must start with a simple, repeatable, accurate and profitable model. In water restoration, that means that you start with technically accurate processes designed for profitable delivery that can be followed by trained techs. Keep in mind that your model will have flaws that can leave you open to liability. It might not be technically accurate, or doesn’t produce profit, or your approach may make it nearly impossible to collect on from insurers. It happens. Refine your model’s processes eliminating or mitigating those flaws until you have a system that meets our original definition of simple, repeatable, accurate and profitable. Then, and only then, you can begin to shift your focus to replication. If you start growing too soon you won’t have the time to fix the model because you’re out on the firetruck putting out the fires your business has started. Get the model first!
Replicate Your Model
Then, you begin to work on the things that get your profitable model into the hands of customers. You work internally on a simple but effective organizational structure that will support growth. Invest in training and development of your team at Reets Drying Academy so that they are the absolute rock stars in your market. Build an amazing culture where employees want to work and hate to leave. It was what you started out with in your mind. It all starts with a vision and a simple, repeatable, accurate and profitable model. In case you’re wondering what I’m angling at, I don’t do consulting. I will not do consulting. That’s not my goal. That’s not my model. However, I’ve been through all these steps and we have a successful water mitigation model in our restoration business. We are replicating it. We train our guys to be the rock stars and we have a pretty awesome culture where people enjoy working. And we continue refining our model. I also like sharing information if people want it. I hope today’s post helps! Have a great day and think about your mitigation model. It’s never too soon to focus on making it better.
The 4 PRINCIPLES OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS MODEL: A business model must be simple, repeatable, accurate and profitable.
Jeremy Reets started working in water restoration in the family business in 1990. He is known as the innovator of the TES/ETES drying systems, a discipline of drying called Directed Heat Drying™ and the Evaporation Potential formula.
Jeremy opened Reets Drying Academy and flood house in 2005 to provide water damage restoration education. Jeremy and his brothers also own Champion Cleaning Systems, Inc., a multi-million dollar water damage mitigation company that his family started in 1970.
In 2011, Jeremy began ReetsTV, a series of online water restoration training packages designed specifically for restoration company’s everyday needs, another first in the Industry.
Today, Reets Drying Academy provides online training for water damage restoration, mold remediation, mitigation estimating and fire damage restoration.
