Today was the reason I hate owning my own business

[ditchdr]

After repeated talks and write ups I fired everyone who works for me.. Production numbers are in the toilet.

Jobs that take me by my self less then 5 hours are taking 10 to 12,, Hell had one crew spend 2 hours cutting a 1/4 acre lot. 2 FREAKING HOURS.. It takes me by my self 20 min from gate down to gate up to mow edge, trim and blow a 1/4 acre lot.

Clean ups were taking days when I can do 2 on my own in a day.

And these are 2 person crews.

For the past 3 months my payroll has been 100% or more of my gross. I have taken a hit since the middle of Jan. There is no reason for it. Matter of fact the only jobs that are on schedule are the ones where I am there all day. Its not like I push them hard to work. I supply the best equipment there is, I make sure everything is filled with fuel, all the service work is done on everything, I put the adresses in the GPS units, hell Jessica makes sure all three trucks have fresh ice, gatoraid, water, and fruit every morning for the guys. I am the one who is up till midnight or later making sure they have work to do.. And its not like there is a lack of work to get done. I have a 3 week back log or work out side of regular mowing jobs.


But I just felt like I was being taken for a ride, so they had to go, and it hurt me deeply to fire them. But I guess I learned a lesson today, never become friends with your workers..

So now I have 2 40K mowing rigs sitting in the parking lot that should be making 1K a day in service. I am going to the staffing office tomorrow and getting some workers out here. its my only choice.

 

[NCBusa2001]

Your just afraid to "share the wealth" you rich buisness owner you, LOL.

No, seriously, you shouldn't feel bad to make a business decision. There are a lot of "friends" out there that will take advantage, no matter how nice you make it for em.

If they want to see bad working conditions just tell them to watch an episode of one of those logging shows on Discovery.

Just bid-ness.

Chris

 

[TruWrecks]

It is tough, but worth it to be independent.

 

[ogre]

if i had spare time, i'd mow lawns for you bro. one matt to another.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Well DitchDr Let me tell you a story about Blanca Busa formerly known as 'Lucy in the Pita factory' !

My family and I opened a Middle Eastern bakery/restaurant/grocery store in Nashille yrs ago.
We spent alot of time , effort and money building it.
I personally did half of the work..

Here is a pic of the pile of equipment I put together

Pic of the 5 ton oven we had shipped over

4 tons of rock salt poured in 50lbs at a time to keep it cool

Hotel size gas burner mickey moused onto it to cook...like a jet dragster

Oven room with conveyors

Cooling racks

Stacking racks

Piles of never ending pita bread

Grocery and food counter

Spices from over 30 countries..all fresh

It was a dream...until we hired folks !
I woke up at 4am everyday for 3 yrs to bake the bread. Then bagged it 6pcs to a bag 3000 bags minimum daily.
Then I delivered it. Then I came back and checked the store to see what supplies it needed.
Then I cut parsley for 4 hrs to make fresh Tabbouleh with.
Then I worked the food counter till close at 9pm.
Then I cleaned the store, the bakery, the bathrooms and the office.

Why
Because people were always late, didnt show or simply just gave up.

I worked for about 5hrs in the oven room. Temps would get so hot it would boil thermometers.
The first time we fired up the oven it set off the sprinklers and flooded the place.
We did not have 155 degree heads in them and they popped..
ALL OF THEM AT 55 GALLONS PER MINUTE.
Ran till the Fire dept shut them off 30 mins later.
Place was 90% done and we ruined it.

The heat from the oven room would radiate into the cooling and stacking room.
The dough rose and needed to be cooked at speed. The hotter the room the faster things needed to go.
I would always crank it up and really start spitting them pitas out.
I would step away for a second come back and notice all was slower.
There was a single adj wheel you could spin to increase or slow all the machines in oven room down at same time.
The workers could reach thru a hole in wall and turn it without my knowledge.
Happened all the time.
I'm hot, turn it up.
2 secs later..."Saiid Its too fast turn it down"
140 plus in here I'm going as fast as I can back to work !

I turned crews of 7 over almost every week all the while spending almost 18 hrs a day there for 3 yrs.
It wore me out.

I feel for you.

 

[ogre]

yea, here's a pic of one of your employees, with you "motivating", lol

just playing bro. seriously tho, you can't make employees WANT to work hard. they don't care if your business succeeds, as long as their check is signed every week

 

[Florida Sport bikes Blog]

OP,
Wow in the mean time people who want to work can't find work. Try craigslist.org for employees? If I were closer I'd be all on it.

 

[Tufbusa]

I've been in business for myself most of my adult life. I feel your pain. Finding good help is by far the biggest challenge of operating a business of any sort.

However, my son has the best theory about hiring help.

"Pay peanuts you get monkeys"

You are right, you should never become friends with your employees. They will take advantage of that friendship almost every time!

 

[aussiekeeper]

I fired everyone 5 years ago...........I am happy now.

 

[ogre]

"Pay peanuts you get monkeys"

this is also true. it's no fun to break your back and go home to a lousy paycheck and have bills you can't pay.

 

[BIG GUY]

After repeated talks and write ups I fired everyone who works for me.. Production numbers are in the toilet.

Jobs that take me by my self less then 5 hours are taking 10 to 12,, Hell had one crew spend 2 hours cutting a 1/4 acre lot. 2 FREAKING HOURS.. It takes me by my self 20 min from gate down to gate up to mow edge, trim and blow a 1/4 acre lot.

Clean ups were taking days when I can do 2 on my own in a day.

And these are 2 person crews.

For the past 3 months my payroll has been 100% or more of my gross. I have taken a hit since the middle of Jan. There is no reason for it. Matter of fact the only jobs that are on schedule are the ones where I am there all day. Its not like I push them hard to work. I supply the best equipment there is, I make sure everything is filled with fuel, all the service work is done on everything, I put the adresses in the GPS units, hell Jessica makes sure all three trucks have fresh ice, gatoraid, water, and fruit every morning for the guys. I am the one who is up till midnight or later making sure they have work to do.. And its not like there is a lack of work to get done. I have a 3 week back log or work out side of regular mowing jobs.


But I just felt like I was being taken for a ride, so they had to go, and it hurt me deeply to fire them. But I guess I learned a lesson today, never become friends with your workers..

So now I have 2 40K mowing rigs sitting in the parking lot that should be making 1K a day in service. I am going to the staffing office tomorrow and getting some workers out here. its my only choice.

I sure wish I lived a lot closer to you! Would be there in a hurry to pick up the slack. Especially when you put gatorade, fruit, and water in the trucks. That sounds like one sweet deal to me.

 

[Wayneovich]

You had to do what you had to do man. Never let other people make you fail. Be carefull though of the staffing service there are plenty of idiots there and it sounds like you have some expensive tools/equipment.





Blanca would you compare that to building a lego bakery shop.

man that looked like alot of work.

 

[Vonderbach]

But I guess I learned a lesson today, never become friends with your workers..

This is a key revelation that I would ask you to remember and drill into your head for future employees. Not only should you not befriend employees, but you should also never hire friends for family. Of course, this is my personal preference, but it saves a lot of heartache and bent feelings that last far longer than their length of employment. Sometimes it's better to remind them that you're the boss every once and a while. A written warning usually does the trick. You tell them that this is required by your lawyer to make sure that all issues are documented.

My family and I opened a Middle Eastern bakery/restaurant/grocery store in Nashille yrs ago.
We spent alot of time , effort and money building it.
I personally did half of the work..

Did it close down, did you sell it, what? Looks like fun, lots of work, but fun.

 

[djsin]

you know if i could come to sc...id would so work for u....the new gf just moved up here from nc and wants to go back

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Did it close down, did you sell it, what? Looks like fun, lots of work, but fun.[/QUOTE]


I asked Skydyvr to go by there and see.
We sold it yrs ago to folks who never followed thru with SBA loan payments.
Not sure if its still there.

We had to knock down the walls to get oven in. Then we built it back up.
After that 3 more stores were built around it.
No matter what I cannot see the oven being anywhere else ?
Oven weighed 5 tons and we put 4 tons of salt on top of it !

The equipment all of it needed constant every minute fine tuning to keep it running. I was constantly replacing rollers and bearings and plates in the oven. Even after we sold it they would still call me for help.
Finally after things fell out between them and my dad he forbid me to help them anyomore.
So I dont know..

Ditchdr sorry for any diversion...

I too wish I lived closer . I love Gatorade and fresh sammies !
Can we open an office in SoFla ?

 

[skydivr]

Ditchdr: The cost of hiring that extra employee really changes things. You can make a heck of a lot of $$ just doing it yourself and staying BUSY. It's when you hire that extra employee or to that you can't keep your eyes on that it gets complicated, and is why a lot of small business FAIL.

Why should people work, when the gov't is offereing to support them for FREE?

Saiid, i'll go try and get you a pic late next week.

 

[Blanca BusaLess]

Ditchdr: The cost of hiring that extra employee really changes things. You can make a heck of a lot of $$ just doing it yourself and staying BUSY. It's when you hire that extra employee or to that you can't keep your eyes on that it gets complicated, and is why a lot of small business FAIL.

Why should people work, when the gov't is offereing to support them for FREE?

Saiid, i'll go try and get you a pic late next week.

If it open and you like Mid East food go in and get a sammie and a fresh bag of pitas.
Curious if they still use the Gold Seal that says 'Baraka' on it.


DitchDr keep the faith.
The struggles of being self employed are always better than working for someone else !

 

[AQTCJAK]

Owning your own business has pro's & cons they are as follows pro's if you have family & children you can attend there function (only when work does need attending) in my case all my customers understood me taking time off for family if they didn't I helped them to find other means. Cons everything else employees, long hours, micro management, AP, AR, payroll, cant get tired of the boss & just quit the list goes.

For those reasons I have been in business for my self since the late 80's

Would I ever change that not a chance

 

[ditchdr]

Yeah my boss is a total jerk, but only Jessica tells him off.

As for pay, my guys were paid very very well. Almost double what other landscape placers pay.. It just came down to a issue of respect.. Heck got a call today, seems Monday when they did a mowing job on one of my high dollar clients, they hit 7 sprinkler heads and broke them.. There is NO reason for the deck to be that low, much less you will the plastic if you hit one..

 

[Fastfrog007]

Ill work for ya!! Seems like your a decent boss that understands that happy employee's are good workers. Usually... Keep lookin, its hard to find good people.