Growing a business: How do I make the leap from solo to team?

[ericscher]

Quick and dirty background:

I am a (mostly) one man show that specializes in gravel surfaces, driveways and roadways.

I have a tractor with a device that is real effective at grooming gravel surfaces, a small excavator (about 4 ton) and a skid steer (about 5,000lb), plus a couple of trailers and tow vehicles and a small dump truck.



Currently, if I am just grooming a surface I can do that solo. If there is any sort of excavation or if more than a single quick tailgate of gravel is being added, I call a local agency and have them send over a laborer or two.


As of right now, I reckon I've created myself a job, not a BUSINESS. I don't want to look forward ten years and find that I STILL have just a jpb.

By the end of this decade (5 years) I want to have two complete sets of the basic driveway equipment (tractor & groomer), a truck & trailer for each, the extra equipment that goes along with any business that moves dirt and/or stone and two full time employees to operate them. Plus maybe a third to shuffle back and forth between them. or for other job types, while I do estimates and bring in the work.


I can see how things operate now...
I just pick up the phone and order a warm body like I'd order a pizza.

I can also see how things operate later, when I have enough work to support 2-3 full time employees and enough employees to do the work.


But I am having trouble seeing how to make the leap, because it's a Catch-22. Like needing experience to get a job but needing a job to get experience.


I also know that nobody can give me a magic formula, that at the end of the day the REAL key is hard work + time + determination.


Still...
If there's anyone here who has made that leap from basically a one man show to a genuine business, and is willing to share the experience and the benefit of any wisdom picked up along the way, I'd be grateful.

 

[catman13]

The question to ask yourself is if you like to operate equipment or want to spend most of your time looking for work to keep the guys working and doing the paper work involved in it.

 

[watglen]

You really gotta ask yourself what you enjoy the most. If its the actual machine operation, then stick with it. But if that has gotten boring and you want more of a challenge, then you can give it a try.

Just make sure you avoid the mistake of being really successful at something you don't enjoy. That is to say, you can have the employees, and the multiple jobs, and the fleet. But all that is really tough to appreciate when you spend endless hours on the boredom of paperwork. Its really easy to find your way into a position where all the fun goes out of your life.

I can speak for myself, but I find machine operation gets dull after a few hours. I enjoy the business side of things more, the big picture stuff. I enjoy having employees around, to keep me company. There is a shared support structure when you depend on each other. I enjoy that.

But it brings a lot of crap too, and you may see those aspects as more pain than gain.

Best of luck though...