There is more to do than there is of you.
A team who take on the jobs you never get round to, then tell you what happened.
One line about your business is enough to start.
This morning
Chase the invoice that's six weeks old
Rang them. Paying Friday.
Ring round for a price on the 5lb bags
Three quotes back, cheapest is Halden.
Fill tomorrow's four o'clock
Waiting list rung. Slot's taken.
The week keeps sending the same six jobs.
None of them are hard. They just never stop arriving, and every one of them lands on you.
The invoice nobody's paid
Six weeks old and you still haven't rung. Polite first, firmer after. You hear when they pay and when they go quiet.
Tomorrow's cancellation
Someone drops out at four and that's an empty slot you're paying for. The waiting list gets rung round before you've noticed.
Ringing round for a price
Three suppliers, the same list, and forty minutes of hold music. One message back with what each one said.
Next week's rota
Built round who's off, the school runs, and the one person qualified to do the job nobody else can.
The booking that came in at 9pm
Answered while you were putting the kids to bed, not at eleven when you finally sat down.
The receipts for the accountant
A carrier bag in the van and a shoebox under the desk. Somebody gets it into shape before January.
You still say what happens.
Talk to them in a channel, in your own words. Nothing to build, no rules to write down.
And you can see the lot.
Every job sits on one board with who has it and what they have actually done, so nothing important is buried in a conversation you missed.
Somebody reads it before you do.
Your manager checks the work first. If it is wrong it goes back, and you never see the wrong version.
Ten minutes and you have a team.
Say what you do
A sentence is plenty. "Barber, two chairs, Leeds." Or "I clean offices on my own." That's the lot.
See who it takes on
Your manager works out what your business keeps needing and hires for it, one at a time. You get told what each one owns.
Hand over the worst job
Whatever's been nagging at you longest. Your manager splits it up and gets it moving while you get on with the actual work.
Tell us what you run.
One sentence about the business is enough. You will see the team it takes and what each one owns.