April 7, 2022

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Greenwood, BC – “Wow – didn’t think one could get ‘Employee of the month” by shutting down production of a plant!”

We had just driven up to a large building near the airport in Grand Junction. Parked in  front was C’s yellow Miata in front of an “employee of the month” sign. He was working there on a Saturday. 2 days before a transformer in the building blew, some 10 feet away and completely fried the electrical components of the large printing press he was running. Plus, many other key components throughout the plant.

I was thinking, “how does a guy get parking privileges when his press becomes inoperable on his watch?” Did all the other employees vote for him because they got some days off because the plant basically shut down?

C offhandedly explained later – “ah, no, we don’t have ‘employee of the month’ anymore. Since it was a weekend and no one else was working, I simply chose the closest parking spot!”

We had come to the plant because we needed a key to the house. The battery to the garage door opener had died and his wife had left her key inside the house.

You’re probably confused.

We were staying with my wife’s cousin and her husband. Earlier in the week, the entire building’s electrical systems, where he worked, had stopped working when unexpectedly a transformer blew. They had printing deadlines, so C was asked to come in on the weekend to keep them on time, using the other big press that was still functional.

The three of us, in the meantime, has spent the day driving and exploring a cool area east of their city. This trip included a visit to an organic orchard, a marble quarry and an old coal mining operation where the coal was “coked” into a higher quality ‘carbon’ coal for the purposes of creating hot furnaces for the production of steel.

Coke Ovens - Redstone Historic District, CO

At one time there were 249 such ovens, where nearby coal would be “cooked” for 2 days, before being shipped out again to the largest steel operation west of the Mississippi in Pueblo, CO.

Near this location was a small village and a cute “general store”. We stopped in for coffee and ice-cream.

The place was being run by a woman our age. She told us she was from California and there helping run the place for her daughter, who was busy building a house, or something like that.

But I feared for the business’ continued success if her daughter did not pay attention.

Firstly, my simple order for an espresso macchiato ended up being a double for the price of one and my wife’s order of a small bowl of huckleberry ice cream was a heaping bowl with enough for 4 people! Total price - $4.50 for the bowl and under $3 for the espresso!

Here’s a key lesson for those of you looking to delegate or hire staff but then end up being “too busy” to train them properly.

You will lose money.

Either via poor customer service, or because, as in this case, you will be out inventory with not enough in revenues to replace it. No business can afford to give/sell their perishables at cost or even below. You lose enough via normal spoilage. You need to be earning hefty margins on the food costs so that you cover salaries and overhead, with a small profit for you.

Lesson for you. Check your numbers constantly and regularly and be sure to train your staff appropriately. You’ll go broke otherwise.

Until next week…

Stay healthy and focus on profit!

- Hugh
The “Profit Accelerator” Expert

P.S. Did you know that even tiny improvements of 1-3%, in just 12 fundamental areas of your business could give you 50% and more improvement to your bottom-line? Test out brand-new Profit Acceleration Simulator^TM  and discover the true impact of a conservative estimate of Profit Acceleration initiatives on your business and see for yourself. Head to: https://hughtafel.com/simulator/

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