Hooked on Doing It All? … How to Finally Let Go

Ange
Well, today we’re peeling back the layers on one of the biggest challenges in the trade industry, the fear of letting go. 

Andy
We’re going to reveal what it’s really costing you. 

Ange
And we’ll dive into the art of delegation because many trade bosses aren’t getting this right.

Andy
It’s actually why so many tradies try to scale their business up only to scale it back down again. 

Ange
Let’s help you gain back your time so you can spend more of it on activities that help you grow your business. If that’s what you want or with less stress and far greater control. 

Andy
Let’s get this show on the road. 

You’re listening to the tradie show. This is the podcast for trade business and contracting bosses like you who want to lead with confidence, make more profit and create a better lifestyle. 

Ange
We’re your hosts, Andy and Angela Smith, husband and wife team and co-founders of Lifestyle Tradie. Are you ready to have some fun?

Andy
Hell yeah! 

Ange
If you want 2024 to be your year and you’re tired of the endless grind, then join us at our brand new in person event, Lifestyle Tradie on Tour. 

Andy
No more late nights quoting and invoicing. No more second guessing your decisions or missing that arvo surf with your mates. Don’t miss out on this game changing opportunity. We’re talking real actionable strategies that have already changed the lives of thousands of tradies just like you. 

Ange
Well, what are you waiting for? Head over to lifestyletradie.com.au and register now.  

Andy
If you’re wondering what’s holding you back in your business, it could be the fear of letting go. It might seem stupid that this is one thing that has so much impact. But in all my years of experience coaching tradies, make more profit and streamline and systemize their business, this is by far one of the biggest reasons they are stuck. 

Ange
Yeah. We see this all the time. Don’t we, Andy? Trade business owners who find it incredibly hard to share the workload, they’re afraid to let go of big and small tasks because it’s just easier to just do it themselves.

Andy
Yeah. And I understand this is the easy solution. But if you want to grow, this is definitely not a long term strategy. 

Ange
Well, this fear of letting go doesn’t discriminate. We’ve seen it play out in small and medium sized businesses. Those that have a team of two, you know, through to guys that have a team of 30. It makes no difference what trade industry you work in or how long in business you’ve been. It can squash the opportunity of even the best businesses if you don’t know how to get on top of it. 

Andy
We actually wrote a book about the different stages of growth. In a business called Startup, Scale up, Sell up. And we’ve seen this fear of letting go play out across all of these stages. 

Ange
Yeah. Well, in a roundabout way, it’s actually this startup phase that perhaps can be blamed for your fear of letting go. We’ll explain what we mean by that in a minute, but what is important to know is that it certainly can no longer be the reason for holding you back.

Andy
So let’s take you back to the beginning in your startup phase. You’re doing everything yourself, there’s no one else to rely on. You’re a hustler. You’re on the tools. You’re meeting customers for quotes. You’re answering phone calls. You’re invoicing. You’re overseeing every single detail. And I know this because this was me in the early days of our plumbing business, Dr. Drip. As the opportunity for jobs increased, I was working into the night and often on the weekends. Plus we also had a 24/7 service, in which I answered the phone many, many times. 

Ange
Well, I remember those 3:00 AM wake up calls were like, next level. 

Andy
Ooh! 

Ange
You were in the deepest sleep. And then the next minute it was like you had a rave. It was all a bit much  . 

Andy
Yeah. I was so fanatical that I didn’t wanna miss a single job. And the thing was, I was actually okay about working the long hours. I was so dedicated to building the trade business, I’d always dreamt of owning, and I used to be harassed by my mates all the time for working so hard. But I knew we’d just return from traveling for a few years. And I remember saying to them, how many holidays have you had in the past two years? And that’d be like, Oh, six to eight weeks. And I’d be like, well, I’ve had a year and a half of holidays. We’ve done 13 months around Australia and a ski season in Canada for a year as well. So it was my time to get down and get dirty. 

Ange
Yes, I agree. And the thing is, you just got so busy and when your time was so precious, I couldn’t help but think, were you spending time on the right things? 

Andy
Well, really, that’s a great question because every trade business owner is the same, right? Long days, late nights and feeling overwhelmed and there’s only one of you. And that’s why learning to delegate has to start in the early phase of business. Don’t be so proud thinking you have to do every single thing yourself. 

Ange
I remember doing an exercise with you about strengths and weaknesses around business. Do you remember what we discovered? 

Andy
That I had no weaknesses?  No, I actually don’t, but I’ll have to say definitely the bookkeeping department was not me.

Ange
No, definitely not. So that was a very easy decision to outsource all your bookkeeping tasks to a local business. Now you’re a gun with numbers though, I’d say.

Andy
I realized early that I just couldn’t keep up with all the data, train or the detail of invoicing and reconciliation. You know, there are always others that love this stuff. So I think, you know what? Let them have that, I say. 

Ange
Yeah, let ’em have it. So what I do remember was the real problem started when you hit what we call this scale up phase of business. You basically said yes to every job and to ensure you could cope, you simply bought a new vehicle, employed a new tradie, and soon enough we had a team of five.

Andy
Yeah, that’s exactly right. And the problem with that meant that I had five times the phone calls. I had five times the jobs. I had five times the invoicing. I had five times everything.  

Ange
Five times the headaches and five times the spot fires and five times the stress. 

Andy
We could go on. 

Ange
I’d say this is when your control freakness kicked in big time.

Andy
Yeah, interesting. I don’t necessarily see it exactly that way, but I just doubled down and made sure that everything went like clockwork, like every single job was seamless, every customer was happy. You know, that’s how I wanted every one of our jobs to be. 

Ange
Well, do you remember when you asked me to start taking over the marketing?

Andy
Yep, I did. And I get a feeling there’s a story coming.  

Ange
Well, you actually blew up at me for putting an ad in our local newspaper for like 297. All because I didn’t get approval from you. 

Andy
And you’ll never let me live that one down, will you? 

Ange
Well, I had been managing literally a multi million dollar budget dairy farmers. So putting like a little ad in the local paper was like small fry. It was a simple and straightforward task. 

Andy
It’s a beautiful day outside, isn’t it?  And I can tell you’re still not holding a grudge, right? 

Ange
Uh, no, but I am just stating a fact. You say you wanted everything to go like clockwork, I’d say you had a fear of letting go.

Andy
There’s no doubt about it. I was a control freak and had control freak tendencies. And at times it definitely did get in the way of me, 

Ange
A bit. 

Andy
Yeah. Well, maybe a lot, maybe I was a bigger control freak than I’m saying now. So I was a control freak. I’ve controlled it a little bit now. I’m a bit better these days.

Ange
Do you reckon? 

Andy
I think so. 

Ange
So I think a great deal of trade business owners are actually the same. 

Andy
Definitely. 

Ange
Even though they’ve employed a team of qualified trades people, they still refuse to offload work. Isn’t that the reason why you employed them in the first place to literally give them or share the slack?

Andy
Yes, but I’ve heard it many, many times. And it was the same for me as well. They think it is faster just to do it themselves. And they constantly say, Oh my God, by the time I train that person up, the time I explain even what needs to be done to that person, it’s just faster to do it myself. 

Ange
Ah, and now you’re working yourself into the ground.

Andy
Agreed. 

Ange
And you can’t be everywhere. 

Andy
Agreed. 

Ange
And so I go sleepless nights, stressed about the business, then you’re missing valuable time with the family, which causes issues in the relationship. 

Andy
Agreed. 

Ange
And guess what that leads to. 

Andy
It sounds like a classic case of burnout. And sadly, it’s All too common, but it doesn’t have to be this way. And there’s a better approach and the key is learning how to delegate. 

Ange
Well, actually, I remember a few years back, we had a new Lifestyle Tradie member join and he had a team of like 22. He was what we call in the sell up phase of business. And he couldn’t work out why he was so busy. And after unpacking some training, we discovered he was doing stuff like delivering trailers to site, but he had apprentices that could drive to do that. He found it actually easier to do it himself than to literally ask anyone for help. 

Andy
You say a team of 22, I know exactly who you’re talking about. He had a team of about 38 and now he has a team of over 60. 

Ange
You know what though, Andy, I can think of a thousand things that he would be better to use his time on. What we call these high return on investment activities like strategy, business development, even staff training. 

Andy
Yeah, the question needs to be asked. What is it costing you? You know, doing that thing that perhaps someone else could be doing. And I’m not literally talking about money. I’m talking about your precious time. Your time is highly valuable, but trade business owners are very, very quick to give it all away to everyone else. 

Ange
Yeah, that’s an interesting sentence. So this comes back to the fact that you were brainwashed in the early days when you were literally setting up your business, that regardless of how long something took, you just did it all. But now that you have a team, you need to actually start shifting this thinking. You’ve got to actually start including them in your game plan. You have to play a different role as a leader. 

Andy
A leader. Yes. Interesting, because that means it’s our job to ensure they are super aware of what is expected of them. So they become a better tradie and a better human being as well. 

Ange
Yeah, nice. But what I hear tradies say is, I don’t trust anyone, but have you actually set them up to succeed so that they build confidence you’ve actually only got yourself to blame. 

Andy
Ooh, ouch. Go for the throne, Ange. 

Ange
Yeah, but it’s true, right?

Andy
It is true. 

Ange
There’s no point beating around the bush. It’s all a part of why trade business owners have a fear of letting go, in my opinion. I reckon you’d feel more comfortable empowering your team if you’d actually spent the time to teach them what to do. So Andy, let’s just pause here for a moment because if a trade business owner wanted to start looking at tasks to offload to the team, literally to get some time back, where would you actually say they should start?

Andy
Yeah. Well, the first stage would be to start small and build your way up and not only are you learning what and how to delegate to others, they too are on a big learning curve as well. So I would suggest starting by looking at your work through the view of one single job. 

Ange
Yeah, I agree, actually. So maybe suggest listing out your flow of a job, literally step by step from start to finish, including even steps that you touch in your job management system. And then ask yourself where in that process or in that job process, can our tradies start to take ownership? 

Andy
It’s not going to be simple as Here you go, mate, that’s your responsibility now, because that’s just leaving your business open to mistakes and you cracking the sh*t and just taking back all the responsibility again. All that will do is leave you back at square one. 

Ange
Hmm. So let’s give you an actual example then. Maybe think of ordering materials for a job, like if you’re doing this task at the moment for your tradies, then design a process to help them do it themselves. 

Andy
So how do you suggest doing that? 

Ange
Well, like literally sit side by side with that person and speak out loud how you do this whilst you do it and they watch, then capture the steps. So that they can then map out like a flowchart of sorts. 

Andy
Then next time they need materials, they can do it themselves by following the flowchart or even a video. 

Ange
Exactly. And when you delegate one activity at a time, not only do they learn that this is now their responsibility, they actually gain confidence over time. And this will give you confidence in them, one less thing for you to do. 

Andy
There’s no doubt about it. Letting go in your business feels really uncomfortable at first, but all this is absolutely crucial for building trust with your team. 

Ange
Exactly. It’s about taking considered steps and delegating properly. I actually read this great book called Who Not How by Dan Sullivan, and it’s all about delegating effectively. The premise is there’s someone else better to do that thing than you. 

Andy
And there’s no doubt about it. It makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? To delegate to someone with greater knowledge or better skillset than you. 

Ange
Well, when looking at tasking your business, you actually have to ask yourself who can do this, not how to do this, because the who question will make your brain name an actual person or maybe a profession, but the how question will make your mind think of the details and the steps that you need to go through to learn this yourself and to implement it.

Andy
Interesting. And it’s definitely a great concept because then you can start to get your turn to take on more significant responsibilities. And this would be my suggestion for the second stage. 

Ange
Right. So it does need to be said that having others take on more significant responsibilities is only possible now because you recognize you couldn’t keep doing everything yourself. Well done. So by letting go of small tasks, you’ve built up some trust in your team, and now you have more time to train someone else. 

Andy
That’s right. Now, when it comes to having your team take on more significant responsibilities, you need to make sure you’re communicating effectively and setting clear, I’ll say it again, Clear expectations. It’s not just about telling someone to do a job. It’s about ensuring they understand the why behind it. How about you share with us an example, Ange? 

Ange
Well, let’s say you have a landscaping business and you’ve got this guy, let’s call him Sam, who’s showing some initiative. You could actually make him a team leader with the ultimate goal of replacing you on site, say, and him managing the team day to day. So you would speak to him about your plans and why you think it’s a good idea that he takes over the team. So that you can start working on the business to make improvements because it’s, you know, for the betterment of everybody. 

Andy
So on an actual job, the way this will play out is something like this. In the beginning, you’ll still be the person that meets the customer and gets that quote approved and across the line. But then when you have your first site meet up with the customer, obviously take Sam with you, introduce him as the leading hand so they realise that Sam is going to be the contact on site and it’s not going to be you. 

Ange
Yeah and what I love about that is you can let the customer know that you’re going to drop in here and there but you elevate Sam as the guy. You know, like you really praise him and let the customer know how much experience he has and that you really trust his work. 

Andy
Yeah. And you obviously are not saying it’s his first job and I’m just trying to show him how to be a leader and take some responsibility for a change, but pretty much that is what you’re doing.

Ange
And you know what? You might need to handhold Sam a bit in the beginning. You know, I’m talking literally to be a bit more verbal, like this is what I need you to do now, or this is what I need you to do next. And you’ll probably have to repeat yourself a few times, but eventually they’ll be able to take more and more responsibility away from you.

Andy
And this allows you to step out and now be in the office working on the business, not so much in the business. 

Ange
Yeah. And don’t we love that. So once you’ve got this down path. Start turning this into what we call systems and processes because this is the game changer. Having a solid system in place makes it so much easier to start delegating tasks. I’m talking about job management software or standardized procedures for lots of things that happen over and over again in your business. This could be like simple stuff like how you answer the phone or even how you turn up at a customer’s house. 

Andy
For example, we trained our Dr. Drip boys on the exact steps to follow when attending a residential home. And this may seem insignificant, but by doing this, it didn’t matter if I, as the owner of Dr. Drip, turned up to do the job, or if it was Stu, or if it was Dave, or any of the team showed up. They all followed the same steps and provided the customer with the same top notch service every single time. 

Ange
Yeah. I love that Dr. Drip was supported by these freedom flow charts that we designed. They were an absolute game changer when it came to delegating tasks to the team. 

Andy
A hundred percent. And then what you’re going to do is you’ve got to make sure you keep up with these regular reviews and feedback with the team because this is really crucial. It’s not just about delegating and then forgetting about it. 

Ange
No, that’s no support. 

Andy
No, no.  

Ange
You actually need to do some check-ins, don’t you with the team? See how things are going, offer some guidance. And remember, feedback is actually a two way street. 

Andy
Yeah, that’s right. And regular reviews help in identifying areas for improvement and acknowledging successes as well. In fact, a real powerful thing you can do as a company is actually get your team involved in the first place. 

Ange
Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. Get them to help you come up with the systems in the first place, then they’re more invested from the beginning and are probably more likely to say, Hey, Andy, we might need to make a change to this step whilst they’re working in the field.

Andy
Yeah. This is all about you gradually letting go. You know, you’re building trust and you’re gaining confidence in your team because you set them up to succeed now, allowing you to work on the business as the business owner should. 

Ange
Right. 

Andy
Because really the business needs you to be looking at the high return on investment activities, such as strategy and business development.

Ange
Yeah. It doesn’t matter what phase of business you’re in, whether you’re in a startup or scale up or sell up, if you have a fear of letting go, you have to acknowledge that you have that fear. Then I’d suggest going back over this episode to the steps we suggest so that you can learn to let go a little bit.

Andy
The only way you’ll end up with a successful business is by letting go. Making sure you’re delegating properly and trusting those team members around you that you’ve hired and trained. 

Ange
Yeah. Delegating starts small, right? Grows with clear communication, it’s supported by systems and processes, and absolutely thrives on regular feedback.

Andy
Remember, it’s all about gradual steps. You don’t have to let go of everything at once. So start with a small task first and then build from there. 

It’s Tradie Dilemma time. And this is our A&A segment where you let us know what you’re having trouble with in your business, and we’ll give you our best advice.

Ange
Okay. So today we have a question from Jenny who runs an electrical business in Canberra with her hubby, Chris. 

Andy
Hey, Jenny. Hey, Chris.  

Ange
So Jenny writes, if our payroll lands on a public holiday, do I have to do it on the day or can I pay it the next business day? The answer to that is it’s our responsibility as a business owner to ensure that we pay the wages on the day they are due, which means we cannot be paying anything late. So it can’t be done the next business day. So if it does happen to fall on a public holiday, And say you’re even on holidays yourself, of course, maybe you’re even in an area that you have no service. Maybe you’ve gone camping. I would suggest you would actually schedule in your financial package to pay the wages. So it is the base wage, call it, because you know what that means for your team. And if they’ve done any overtime in that week, then you would just pick up that payment in the following week’s payment. Does that make sense? So that way. All of your team are getting paid when they are expected to receive the money.

Andy
Great answer, Ange, and I hope that helped Jenny and Chris.  

Ange
So remember, our goal is to guide you on a path to becoming a successful trade business owner, where you are both streamlined and systemized, all while making profit without the need of you being involved on a daily basis. 

Andy
Yep, we’ve lived the rollercoaster of having to rebuild a broken trade business and we’ve come out the other side stronger for the experience. And we’re excited to share those lessons with you. 

Ange
Yeah, which is why we’re thrilled to invite you to Lifestyle Tradie on Tour. This is not just an event, this is a game changer for your trade business. 

Andy
Plus there is no better way to learn more about your business than in a room filled with some of our smart cats and we are really pumped about the opportunity to meet everyone face to face as well. We’re keen to shake your hand, hear your story and offer some personalized advice as well. 

Ange
It’s a day packed with practical strategies from profit growth to mastering your marketing. We’re also going to discuss the impact artificial intelligence or AI will have on your business in the not so distant future. Are you interested? Trust me, you should be. It’s all designed specifically for the trades industry. 

Andy
So what are you waiting for? Jump onto lifestyletradie.com.au and secure your spot for Lifestyle Tradie on Tour. Or click the link in the show notes, it’s your opportunity to transform your business journey.

Ange
2024 is your year to shine and it starts with Lifestyle Tradie on Tour. Let’s make it a breakthrough year together. 

Andy
Absolutely. See you there for a day of learning, growth and face to face conversatIon. 

Hey guys, I just wanted to ask you a quick favor. We’d love it if you could rate and review this podcast. It really helps more tradies find us and at the end of the day, we created the show to support tradies just like you build profitable businesses that you love. As always, we appreciate your support. 

Subscribe to The Tradie Show wherever you get your favorite podcasts.  Rate and write us a review or for more information about Lifestyle Tradie, head to lifestyletradie.com.au.