Where to from here?

I have a brother…who painful and expensive as he might be I love dearly. He runs a small business in Thomastown. He does mechanical and hydraulic repairs.. specializing in earthmovers and heavy trucks. And therin lies the problem

He has more work than he can handle. He is a very good mechanic. And very fair. He has a foul temper but is a nice enough bloke. Of course he is for he is my brother. But he is not getting rich. In essence this is because he is a good mechanic.. and not a good businessman. He knows this by the way, no secrets here.

He has more work than he can possibly handle. He does no advertising.. all the work is word of mouth or repeat business. He (and at the moment his one mechanic) are running their butts off. The workshop could easily be a mint. But.. ummm organization could use work. He needs to play to his strengths, he needs to concentrate on running the workshop, He should still give his direction to the business.. its his business, but he should have other people look at his decisions.

We are trying to set up exactly this sort of system.. with Perfectnotes and intelligent systems running the office. With us involved maybe one morning a week. And with my brother running his workshop with maybe a half dozen people working for him getting through as much work as they can physically push though the business. Their is no reason the place cannot be a gold mine. The hard bit is finding customers.. and he has that sorted.

I wonder how many businesses in the country are in the same sort of situation. Its important to play your strengths and be aware of your weaknesses. In my brothers case his strengths are his undoubted technical skills (now their is a family trait) his ability to command and his ability to get along with people. His weaknesses are entirely to do with running a business. In my case.. I have a tendency to trust people a tad too much and expect honesty from them… mind you, it doesn’t happen twice, having decided someone is a no hoper, changing my mind is unlikely. And so on. If your weaknesses are addressable .. then address them. If they are computer related then talk to us.