Set your business up for success

By Emma Peterson. 

Seasoned business consultant John Kenney dives into the traits of top-performing contractors. 

With over 45 years of experience as a contractor in the field prior to switching to his current role as a consultant, John Kenney of Cotney Consulting Group has seen a lot of businesses succeed, and a fair few fail as well. To share about what separates the successful companies from the rest, he stopped by OutdoorCoffeeShop™ for an episode of From the Gound Up™. 

The biggest thing that John highlighted as a marker of success is structure. He explained:  

Top performing contractors don't work project-to-project operations. They have operating procedures, SOPs, processes, structures, whatever term you want to use, that guide their operations. They know their numbers, their accurate burden rates, their equipment costs, their production rates, etc. They are not guessing because they have structure. 

Hand-in-hand with this structure, they have clear training and communication channels so their entire team can operate efficiently within that structure. John gave an example of what this looks like, sharing, “If you train your people correctly and you communicate with them extremely well, everyone knows what to do and it stops those common questions that slow things down, lead to issues and overall delay your operations.”  

In today’s digital era, making sure that you are choosing the right technology for your company is a key part of building a strong team and structure. John elaborated, “You need to get the technology that works for your business model. There are all kinds of software and technology out there. That doesn't mean it's all going to work for you. You've got to be able to ask the right questions and find the technology that works with the way you operate.” 

Overall, John’s advice for setting your business up for success comes back to systems and structure. As he put it, “Build your business around systems, not yourself. Contractors who win and become successful top performers in the next decade are going to be the ones who run operationally disciplined companies that are supported with the right technology and tools.”  

Listen to the whole episode or Watch the recorded conversation to learn more about building a successful business.