Crush One Before Another
Our Northern Vessel ownership team recently decided that I need to take on a larger role within the company. I was already active behind the scenes and had a part-time, finance and operations role for the last 15 months. However, as the business grows and evolves, we need more of many things. After much convincing from TJ (our founder), I agreed to step in deeper.
Younger me would have thought the best course of action was the full implementation of all the great ideas on day one. Full bore, 100% force on everything from the get-go. However, after much experience (and the harshest of hard lessons), I've wisely learned that's a terrible approach. Instead, my best advice to the team (and to TJ) is to ease our way into the first initiative.
In our particular situation, given the sheer number of people we serve each day, inventory management is critical. However, we purchase hundreds of different items for our shop. Old me would have attempted to gain control of each of these products at the same time.....ouch. What's about the transpire is a staging. First, the big rocks of our business: coffee beans, milk, and serving containers (cups/cans/bottles). These three items are critical to our operation, and failure to manage these well will result in product outages, waste, warehouse storage shortages, or destructive margins, all of which are harmful to the business.
Dozens of initiatives need to be completed, yet we're focusing 100% of our attention on getting better control of coffee, milk, and containers. That's it. If done well, just that will have a transformative impact on the business. Once we gain traction, we'll take the newly learned best practices and incorporate our other inventory items. Then, once that's knocked out, we'll move on to another important initiative.
No, the entire point of this piece isn't to wax about coffee inputs. We need to focus! I often meet with clients who think the best idea is to implement every idea from the start. Many of my coaching concepts are counter-cultural in and of themselves, so trying to completely shift how we're viewing and handling finances in every single way, all at once, is a wildly terrible idea.
This month, we'll incorporate this. If successful, we'll add something next month. If all continues smoothly, we'll add the next piece. Before long, ten new ideas have been successfully implemented. On the flip side, if we try to implement all ten of these ideas right away, we might strike out completely.
Make one change today. Just one. Commit to it. Give yourself grace, but keep at it. AFTER you've locked it in, add another. Repeat. This applies to personal finances, for sure, but also to so many other areas of our lives.
To be continued....
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