What toddlers and electrical can teach you about business…

Let me set the scene for you…

You’ve been without your fireplace for two days. It’s your primary heat source for your main floor. There’s a snowstorm. It’s freezing.

You chat up the suppliers, replace a part, test the wires in the thermostat, smash it with a hammer… it’s a mystery why it just *stopped working*. It’s also 20 years old, and everything else in your house is falling apart so your natural reaction:

It’s broken.

You begrudgingly call the local service guys, brace yourself for an “it’s pooched” verdict and a thousands-of-dollars-bill for a replacement you can’t afford.

Service guy spends 30 mins inspecting – up and down to the basement, thermostat to fireplace – while you try to distract yourself making muffins.

And then…

“So, it’s just electrical, someone must have nicked this wire, easy fix”,
he says as he splices it together, kneeling suspiciously close to toddler height.

Oh yes, the poorly placed hanging wire (because of course, see my house highlights if this doesn’t make sense to you) to the thermostat in the space under the stairs… right by your toddler’s toy work bench…

Your toddler who is obsessed with “being a worker guy” and recently observed Dad installing spotlights… stripping wires to reveal smaller wires inside…

I’m just working at my work bench…
I wonder if this wire here has more small wires inside? …
If I just….

– Maddox, probably

And sure enough, surveying the damage when he gets home: ‘Oh, I broke that’.

Alright Meaghan, this is hilarious and also mildly concerning,
but what does it have to do with business?

I feel like a lot of us catastrophize our business when things are slow.

And honestly, given our current economy and the general state of the world, it’s hard not to. I do it too.

But before you go down the spiral of pure panic, wondering if you should just throw in the towel and close up shop (or sell your house)… maybe call in a professional to assess the actual damage.

Perhaps it’s just a tiny nick in the wire.

• Maybe your services just aren’t clear and people don’t understand what problems you solve for them or how they can work with you
• You’re talking to the wrong audience – not the ones that see the value in what you do – and what’s why you’re getting more no’s than hell yes’
• You don’t have systems in place to streamline your client experience, so you’re constantly reinventing the wheel from inquiry to proposal to booked job (and your follow-up speed is sacrificing you leads)
• You’re focusing your marketing on the ‘how I do it’, vs the ’what it gets you’ narrative (I don’t need to know how to splice a wire, I just want you to turn my heat back on)
• or, maybe you’re just literally just not telling people you have something to offer…

Similar to the path between my thermostat and my fireplace, maybe there’s just a disconnect somewhere and it’s a simple service call to tie up some loose ends…

Figurative tying up may include:

• update your website pages
• build a template for your proposals
• set up a CRM to manage your inquiries, invoices and take payments
• bounce ideas off and help get you out of your own head

And of course sometimes it is more efficient to invest in those bigger ticket projects – ie installing HVAC instead of a fireplace that heats 1/4 of the house – or doing a web/brand refresh.

What I’m saying is that sometimes you really do just need to call in the pros to take a better look.

You can’t always Google or DIY your way out, because you might be YouTubing how to fix the fireplace when it’s the thermostat that’s fried.

Translation? It can be hard to see the real problem when you don’t know what you’re looking for, what solutions exist, or when you’re just in too deep to see the bigger picture.

If any of this resonated, maybe it’s time for an Audit – an inspection? Free estimate? I’m done with this metaphor 😂😂 Fill out this intake form and we can figure out what solutions work for you, your biz and your budget.

tl;dr

• my toddler cut the wire to our thermostat, therefore killing the fireplace
• we thought it was donezo, but it was an easy fix
• calling in the pros can be scary, but there can be other solutions you haven’t thought of (and are thousands of dollars cheaper😂)