Not sure if this is just me, but when I take a break from my work I tend to do more (mindless?!) scrolling of social media.

As we’ve rolled into the new year and kicking off 2023 I’ve noticed a trend on my social media feed.

There seems to be a stack of posts from business coaches, consultants, mentors and ‘experts’ offering their magical-unicorn-must-have-never-been-seen-before-calculator that is going to solve all your problems in your trade business.

Just download it, enter your details and *poof*… you’ll never price another job incorrectly again or undercharge for your staff labour or undercut yourself on materials or whatever the promise is.

Sounds appealing doesn’t it.

Grab a free download. 

Chuck in your basic numbers.

Job done… let the money rain down!

Ok, I’m obviously being (very) cynical about these posts and the tools they offer. As a so-called ‘business coach’ and mentor myself you’d be forgiven for wondering why I’m taking the piss out of the very same tools our clients use in our own trade business program.

Here’s the shit thing about all these quick fixes and free downloads. They ignore the fact that there’s a whole lot more to your business and personal story than just your labour costs, or your markups. Businesses are run by people and people are far from simple. Which makes businesses the same – complex.

Suggesting that you can fix your problems by changing one simple thing is, in my opinion, a bit of an insult to you as the business owner and to me as a coach and mentor!

If it was that simple, wouldn’t everyone be doing it?

Wouldn’t more tradies be enjoying the profit, cash, time off, smooth operations and low stress benefits of their own gig?

The truth is, after more than 15 years coaching business owners myself, the answers are often as complex as the people involved.

That’s why you should expect to invest quite a bit of time (and yes, money) into your own personal and business development if you want real, sustainable results.

Sure, sorting your charge-out rate can make a positive difference and you should be looking at this but it’s not the only thing to consider. In fact, focusing on this as a quick fix could cause you bigger problems by ignoring other issues at play. Like your team productivity or your customer experience (or lack of) or the fact you’re about 7 minutes from burnout…

We make our prospective business program members dig deeper and identify the major issues as well as the minor ones, often ranking more than 40 or 50 critical business elements before we even consider getting started on change.

So by all means grab those free downloads, do something about your pricing, your margins and your job costing but don’t stop there… dig deeper to work out what the hidden problems could be that are stopping you from achieving those desires you have for 2023.