You chase two rabbits and you catch neither!

Three years ago – May 2019…Dan made a declaration; “It’s about time this business started to work for me.”

Standing back to create time to think about the direction and what to focus on created a shift in the mindset for the culture in the business.

In the last quarter of 2019 Dan was deciding whether to focus on a premises move, or profitability for the final 3 months that year. He chose profitability, with a declaration; ‘Create a Foundation for the Business’.

That decision resulted in a sub-conscious eureka! moment in the shower;

“I’m actually trying to manage two separate businesses, the franchise network and the service contracts. Why don’t I sell the service contracts part, and focus on growing the franchise network?”

The servicing side of the business had been used to build up the franchise side, and was now occurring as more of a distraction of resources, time, and as the focus on profitability showed, a distraction for the finances.

It proved a pivotal moment, transforming the trajectory of the business.

A buyer for the service contracts (and future franchisee) soon showed up justifying the analysis of the profitability in agreeing the sale price. And the sale was completed at the end of January 2020, the same weekend as Brexit happened.

This created clear water for Betterclean Services Franchising, and the opportunity to focus on the remaining business and creating an operations manual, detailing how we do business here.

 

The 2020 – The Lockdown…Dan was amazed at how much focusing on the processes achieved, especially on something not that exciting, and completed this in the lockdown of 2020.

The manual created a clear understanding of how the franchise business model worked on paper, and the foundation for the next focus on moving to new premises, and another declaration, ‘Preparing for a new beginning’ in 2021′.

 

2021 – Unstoppable!…Dan’s verdict at the end of this period.

From the foundation built, the business has shown itself to be resilient and stronger than before the two year challenge of Covid, building on each year with progressive and inspiring themes.

There was also a transformation in Dan, from; “Is this for me”, to “Loving it!”

And the source of the transformation was the moment to sell one part and focus on the remaining.

Jim Collins, in his book Good To Great, calls it the Hedgehog Concept; great companies do just one thing really well.

While fox type companies are very clever, coming up with lots of ingenious ideas, the most successful businesses are those that do one thing really well. Like the hedgehog who simply rolls himself into a prickly ball to effectively protect himself.

The less you have to focus on, the more focused you are.

Is there One Thing that your business does really well?

And do you focus on it, build a culture around it, and promote it?