Many years ago I was waiting in the outer office of a builder with about 20 other contractors.  It was Friday afternoon about 2:20.  A door opens and the lady says, we are not giving you your checks until after 3:00 so stop asking.

I had picked up checks several times on Friday afternoon.  This day I asked myself, “What are you doing here with these people?”  I did not like the picture it painted of my business nor did I like being treated that way.   I did not like the feelings I had in me being there.  It was demeaning.  I never picked up another check on Fridays again.

When you wait in line as a contractor to pick up checks on Fridays, it gives off the impression that you cannot make it through the weekend without the money.  It says you cannot manage your money well enough to run your business without getting a check on Friday.

Learn to leave enough in your accounts to make it till the middle of the next week when the checks come in.  You can do it.  It is just what you allow in your life and what you get used to.

So from then on we asked to be mailed the checks and never picked them up again.  This is where rule #20 came from.

# 20 We don’t pick up checks!

Then this freed me up to do more jobs on Friday afternoon and increased our bottom line.

# 23 Take care of call backs immediately.

No one is perfect.  If you messed up a job and got a call back to correct it, take care of it immediately especially if it’s for a major account.  Fix it within the first 24 hours or sooner so they know that you can be counted on to take care of problems when they come up.  This is great for your reputation.

Repairing the goof ASAP also makes your mistake leave their mind quickly.  You don’t need the thought of your screw up lingering in their head.

Don’t argue over $25 or $100 especially when you make $1,500 – $5,000 year from that account.  Don’t argue over pennies; you lose dollars so just fix it. It will save you a ton of headaches when you go looking for new accounts.

# 37 Eat that frog.

I listen to Brian Tracy some, and he has a set of CD’s called Eat That Frog.  The idea is to do the worst job or the job you dread doing the most first thing in the morning or the week.

Brian said think of it as a frog you have to eat live today.  If you eat it first thing in the morning, then it is over with.  That is far better than dreading the thought of eating it all day long and then finally eating it at 5:00 PM.  Do it first thing in the morning and it is over with.  The rest of the day is free.  Very nice!

Sometimes I do the call backs first.  I hate those.  Or I call the jobs with cranky people first.   There can be any number of reasons you dread doing certain jobs, but no matter, do them first thing and it greatly reduces your stress for the day.

If that idea works for you buy the set of CD’s from Brian Tracy as a way of saying thank you. They are interesting and fun to listen to as you drive around.

# 27 Don’t stay on hold for too long.  

Staying on hold too long is like you are begging, like you have nothing better to do while they take care of their business.

• If they called you, let them all back.
• If you called them, wait a couple of hours then call back.

Apologize and say you could not wait but had to go — pressing issues.

Like it or not life is a lot about impressions.  If you stay on hold long, it gives the impression that you are not busy. I would rather leave the impression I am very busy, thus, very good at what I do, even If I have nothing else to do.  Think about it.

# 28 Use the 80/20 rule.  

When I was young, I did this with my grass mowing accounts.  At the beginning of each year I culled the ones that only wanted the grass cut every other week so that it was tall and very time consuming to do   with no extra money. Or the ones that did not want to pay more because their yard was too large for the price they were paying.

You can use this rule for any wholesalers, other contractors or manufacturers that you work for.  Most people are great but some need to just be gotten rid of.

This 80/20 rule is old, and the principle is found in many different areas of life.  The following link can help you to understand some of how it works:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

• 20% of your customers give you 80 of your grief, when the time is right, cull them.
• 20% of your customers give you 80 percent of your income. They go to the top of the list for priority when you make out your schedule.

Rules guard our lives – our minds.  They help guard, most importantly, our minds from feeling frustrated, defeated, used, belittled.  This is important because the more you have these feelings, you are likely to see yourself as not worth much.

Rules also help guard our integrity in the minds of others.  They will begin to realize that you run a business and are not just someone that needs to buy groceries for their family.

Many people have a very poor attitude toward contractors.  Looking at some of the contractors out there, that is understandable.  So it takes a little work on your part to set yourself apart from the other contractors in general and to set yourself apart from those in your field.  Self-imposed rules of conduct can help you accomplish that very quickly.

• Proverbs 14:24 The wise accumulate wisdom; fools get stupider by the day.  (The Message)
• Proverbs 2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.

Accumulating rules that govern life are all part of The Prosperous Life.