By Tom Grandy, Founder
If you are married, and/or have children, it’s highly likely you have purchased life insurance. Why? If something were to happen to you, you want to be sure your family is taken care of, right? Guess what, your business is no different.
Nobody likes to think about it but “what if” you didn’t show up for work Monday morning? What if you became very sick, were seriously injured in an accident or even worse? What would happen to your company in the short run, or worse yet, in the long run if it were to be weeks or months before you were able to come back to work? Do you have a backup plan?
The reality is that all business owners should be in the process of training their replacements no matter their age. Life is full of uncertainty, and we need to be thinking of a Plan B even when there seems to be no immediate need for it.
Plan B can take several forms. One form is literally to document every area of responsibility you have. That’s right, put it in on paper, step-by-step. This actually applies to ALL employees. What happens if Jim, Suzy or Joe doesn’t come to work tomorrow? Does anyone know what they do or how they do it? They might get sick, have an accident, or simply decide to take another job. Documenting all areas of direct responsibility will do two things. First it will allow someone filling in to know what to do, at least in the short run. Secondly, it will serve as great job description for the new person filling the job.
A second form is a combination of delegation and/or training your replacement. Let’s face it, some day you are going want to retire and/or sell the company. Having trained the next owner/general manager while you are still at the company will greatly ease that transition. This is not a simple or short process. It will literally take years, so the sooner the process begins the better off you and the company will be. As the process moves forward, take a vacation for a few days. When you return, see how things went. What needs to be tweaked? Later, take a week off, then a couple of weeks. Bottom line, train your replacement so that at some point you can either retire fully or at least let go of the reins so you can enjoy what you have invested in most of your working life.
Delegation is literally one of the most difficult things you as the owner will ever have to do. However, like was stated earlier, life happens so why not try to prepare as best you can while all things are going well.
One last tip. Be sure to have a life insurance policy on the owner, again, just in case.
This month’s Website Special ties into preparing for the future as well. The special is our Company Policy Manual which comes in Microsoft Word so it can easily be customized for your specific company. The normal investment is $134.95 but this month it’s only $99.95. Order today!
This month’s other offering is our HVAC Onboarding Self-Paced Online Training course. What a great way to get new employees (office or techs) up to speed. Normally the investment is $299.95 but this month it’s only $279.95. Order today!
