Improve My Business

It’s interesting to see where business is going right now.  I’ve got a few irons in the fire, all put there through a different method, and all equally interesting:

1)  working with a national government  on improving healthcare using Lean techniques;

2) working with a state government to manage the hundreds of tasks that are a result of a detailed report (how to help them actually DO something with all these comments);

3)  teaching a (different) state agency how to map their processes in order to see where they have duplication and waste; become project manager for the elimination of these wastes;

4)  working with a services company at remote locations to implement a quality system;

5)  providing auditing services to clients.

In some of these engagements, I am dependent - dependent on being selected as the vendor; dependent on monies being released; dependent on governmental schedules.  I’m definitely swimming with the sharks - hoping my bid is deemed best fit; wondering if I should subcontract to a larger firm to get my foot in the door; etc.

In other engagements, I am master of my destiny (but not in the “Seinfeld” way) - I control my schedule, am the sole selected vendor for the assignment, and may have worked with the client previously and therefore our expectations are pretty clear and defined.  I’m the only fish in my puddle, or at least a big fish in a little pond.

Each, I’m finding, has their good points:  for larger contracts, it’s more job security (if they come through).  For jobs that I am subcontracting for (the national one), while I’m a valuable player on the team, I’m not the prime lead.  My friend Michael is.  He’s the one that gives me status (instead of the other way around); so he’s the one that has to determine the status; I’m simply the recipient of this news.  In smaller contracts, (#4 explicitly), we had a brief phone call on Monday, set up a longer one on Wednesday, and started working on contracts and initial visit dates on Thursday.  Less than 5 business days start to finish - and immediate gratification (”we’re doing something”).  However, it will be a smaller engagement, so if I focused solely on jobs of this size, I’d be doing the ABC dance - Always Be Connecting, looking for the next sale, etc.  If I worked on only larger engagements, I’d need to have the pipeline filled to allow for the 1-6 month delays between award of contract and start of work.

Conclusion?  I’m the same size fish - I just need to swim in both areas.

Technorati Tags: government contract, healthcare, Lean, quality audit

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that we’ve had tons of changes lately at McDonald Consulting Group.  Our staff has moved on to more ‘fun’ things (crushing grapes in the Pacific Northwest; starting a family and winning the grand prize - an adorable little baby girl; starting college in a state far, far away), leaving me here to build a different team.  I’m back to using contract help to meet my client demands, and that takes a bit more time than working with employees.  Contract help isn’t here every day, and therefore doesn’t know my ’shorthand’ - when I say “I’m going to go to Buffalo NY”, Barret would know to set up flights, hotel, airfare, etc.  My virtual assistant (VA) may intuit that also, but may not know which hotel chain, airline, or car rental company I prefer (all things being equal).

The same goes for contract consultants - I have to spend more time explaining who this client is, what we can do for them, what we should expect from them, and how to interact with them.  It’s in my best interest, from a customer service perspective, to do so; but dang! It’s time consuming!

During this time intensive phase, I’ve had to let some things slide.  One of them?  This blog.  So although we were really good about having posts written in advance that would launch when they were supposed to, we used up our ‘cushion’ and ran out of materials.  And when I did have some free time, it was usually late in the evening, and I selfishly/wisely decided to spend it with my family (which is why I still HAVE a family)…

OK, so now, for the first time in months, my head is slightly above water - no meetings today, proposals are off my desk and in the hands of future prospective clients, and I can see my desktop again.  [Yes, verified that it is a brown desk...]

As soon as I post this, I think I’ll lay out some future blogs - may even follow some of Chris Brogan’s blogging tips (and if you’re in business and NOT reading Chris every day, you’re missing out…)

So, what should you do when you find yourself in a similar situation?  Despite your best efforts, and best intentions, you’re behind on a project.  It may not be mission critical; but still may be something you feel badly about allowing to languish…

When you find yourself derailed, the best thing to do is to get back on track.  Don’t moan about all the lost time; don’t complain about the fact that it will take some discipline to get back on a schedule; and don’t delay out of embarrassment or a feeling of overwhelm.  Just start doing it.  Now.  Like I am.