Spend More Time With Your Family
Goal setting is a cornerstone of every successful business because your goals drive higher productivity. With a clear picture of the main objectives, you can better eliminate non-essential tasks and distractions that come up in day-to-day work. Another, more personal, reason that goals drive productivity has to do with the core needs and dreams living inside the business owner. Of course, business owners want to make money. Obvious financial goals exist for every business to remain open, and families need money to survive. But financial goals are only the first layer. Go a little deeper in the heart of a business owner, and you’ll find bigger picture goals that carry significant meaning for them. These goals are often about who they want to be and how they want to look back on their life well lived. It’s these big picture goals that drive a business owner to face each day with confidence and determination.
Jani-King has played a role in bringing dreams to reality for many of its franchisees. Business owners who can identify what they want and take calculated steps toward it each day, well, the sky’s the limit for these folks. Below are four big-picture goals that are popular among Jani-King franchisees and tips to make them happen.
#1. Spend more time with family.
For many Jani-King franchise owners, the most important pressing need is more time for the family. It’s especially true for parents raising young children and individuals caring for elderly parents. In the new year, New Mexico’s citizens continue to observe State mandated stay-at-home orders. 100% of the state’s students are still learning online. Parents are needed at home more than ever to assist kids with their education. New Mexico’s 65 and up population is 22.2%, slightly higher than the US average at 19.7%. More families are moving their elderly relatives out of assisted living facilities into family homes to their avoid risk of contracting COVID-19.
The nature of the commercial cleaning industry offers flexibility for business owners to arrange work schedules around important family responsibilities and special moments. To take advantage of this flexibility, it may help to target industries that correspond with your family’s schedule. Office buildings traditionally schedule evening cleaning services which frees up parents to be with kids during the day. Even more New Mexico businesses will have evening cleaning hours available due to COVID-19.
Derek Young owns Brickyard Pizza, on Central Avenue across from The University of New Mexico. For 16 years his restaurant has been a popular Albuquerque gem where College students and the entire Albuquerque community go for tasty food and unique entertainment.
Young says, “I’ve changed our service hours three times since March. We were always open until 2:00 am, but with the changing restrictions for restaurants, we’ve moved closing time to as early as 9:00 pm. We’re open until 12:00 am right now. We’ve been staying open to feed the healthcare workers at the hospital nearby.”
Jani-King franchisees can enjoy a flexible schedule while meeting the changing needs of the New Mexico business community at large.
Moreover, with Jani-King, there’s no rule that bars family from coming along. Some franchisees bring their kids to work with them when they need to. Husbands and wives can work together as a team during work hours and share a different side of themselves they might not have seen otherwise. You can also employ your family members! There might be someone in your family that is just perfect for a role as a marketer, cleaning technician, or supervisor.
Just remember the flexibility flows both ways. Business owners care about their staff and customers too, and it’s natural to want to handle matters as soon as they come to your inbox, no matter the time. To avoid “work creep,” set your business hours and stick to them. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish if you stick to self-imposed time limits. You can still provide stellar service to your customers and be responsive to your employees while your family gets the time it deserves.
#2. Travel
A lot of franchisees have made their travel dreams come true much sooner than after retirement. And although it’s hard to imagine going anywhere now, considering New Mexico’s quarantine restrictions for travelers, when it’s safe to travel again, chances are high you’ll feel like getting away. The way to accomplish your travel goals is to train trustworthy, and highly capable, supervisors. Make training and development a regular priority in your business so that your team is equipped to care for customers and make decisions effectively. Not only that, but swim upstream and do your best to hire quality employees. It might take a little longer to fill the position, but your time spent interviewing more people and vetting the candidates will pay off with peace of mind when you step away from the office for any period of time.
Make sure you set up your company communication for travel and test it before your first trip. Provide select individuals your cell phone number and, even if you don’t intend to use it much, bring your computer. In the event of a business emergency, you’ll be glad you did. If you plan to be away for an extended time, schedule teleconference meetings and some office hours so that you can stay involved and accessible while you’re away.
#3. Scale the business
Some franchisees have an internal drive to grow their business to the fullest extent. They understand the different role they would play in a larger company. It would take them off the front line and more of their time would be spent developing teams, leading, and delegating appropriately. Growth driven franchisees welcome the leadership role. They want to provide the best service they can to as many customers as possible. They also like the idea of providing jobs to many people in the local community. They’re attracted to the wide-scale impact their business can potentially have on the community at large.
One reliable way to scale a Jani-King Franchise is to tap into the vast resources Jani-King provides franchisees. Jani-King offers a “treasure trove” of support and has helped new franchisees achieve higher levels of growth in a shorter time frame than trying to go it alone. New franchise owners can draw from over 65 years of industry knowledge available to them. They can get support in hiring and training employees, account opportunities, industrial equipment, management training, and even the bid process for securing large accounts in commercial and government spaces. Using Jani-King’s systems for success reduces the ramp-up time it would take a new business owner to scale on their own. It minimizes expenses due to mistakes and enables a new Jani-King franchise owner to accept more and larger accounts they might have had to pass on if they were not backed by such an abundance of resources.
Another way to scale is to make prospecting a top priority, second to providing great service. Networking and getting active in the business community can benefit in the way of new business and referrals. It’s a good time to dip your toe in the networking scene since many of these events are online. You can join more Zoom meet-ups than you could if you had to get ready and drive to in-person events.
#4. Provide a better way of life for themselves and others.
For some Jani-King franchisees, their business is their pathway to improving the quality of life for themselves and their children. Unlike other countries that have a thriving skilled trade sector of the middle class, the United States places more emphasis on university education, so more opportunities go to university graduates. It can be hard for someone who doesn’t have a degree to get a leg up. Jani-King affords non-degreed individuals the chance to even the playing field financially and lifts many owners to levels of income they only dreamed about. Their Jani-King business serves as a pivot toward continued success for their children and their children’s children.
The best advice here is to not wait. If you’ve been considering opening a Jani-King franchise and fear is holding you back, give yourself permission to step out on faith and to believe in yourself. Success is a natural result of working with Jani-King and using its proven systems. While there are always challenges for any business owner, you’ll have the Jani-King team behind you all the way, and the commercial cleaning industry is here to stay.
January could be a great month to plan some quiet time to discover what you really want to accomplish in your business this year and over the next five years. There’s no reason you can’t achieve what you want if you commit to the goal, plan (with Jani-King’s help) your strategy, then work your strategy. The goals business owners have for their businesses are as diverse as the people running them. Jani-King is here to help you reach them!
