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I recently received an e-mail that
struck an emotional chord within me. I waited several days to
respond and, when I did, I took a half-day writing the response.
I’ll protect the privacy of this individual. I hope he doesn’t mind
my sharing this edited version of our correspondence with you, because I
believe many reading this will see something of themselves in it and it
may improve the lives of some of our colleagues and their families.
Here’s what he wrote:
“First of all, I would like to tell you we purchased
Tec Daddy's Service Technician Survival School on DVD and so far they
have been awesome!
“I've got a question for you. I have read many articles of yours
about working techs too hard and forced overtime and so forth, but what is
the alternative? I don't know of any highly successful service
companies who run an 8-5 shop.
“Being
in the position that I am in, working in the office and running service
and sales calls, I would love to spend more time with my family, however,
I love my job. I love running calls, but 60-80 hour weeks and
working almost every Saturday and a few Sundays and not seeing my kids in
the summer can really wear on a guy. I just don't know what the
alternative is. Can you help me Tec Daddy?”
Here
was my response:
The
answers to your questions are in the questions themselves.
You
said: I have read many articles of yours about
working techs too hard and forced overtime and so forth, but what is the
alternative?
My
response: Not working forced overtime.
You
said: I don't know of any highly successful
service companies who run an 8-5 shop.
My
response: Here's an idea--do what everyone else is doing!
That is, if you want to end up like the majority of
the contractors out there--worked half to death, divorced, bitter, feeling
powerless and setting a poor example of the tremendous potential of
a career in this business (and consequently chase much needed new
talent away from our industry).
My
very extensive client list is full of companies that don't work their
techs much, if any, more than 2,000 hours per year. By the way,
service agreements and doing really good maintenance for your service
agreement customers goes a long way toward managing your workload.
You
said: Being in a position that I am in,
working in the office and running service and sales calls, I would love to
spend more time with my family, however, I love my job. I love
running calls, but 60-80 hour weeks and working almost every Saturday and
a few Sundays and not seeing my kids in the summer can really wear on a
guy. I just don't know what the alternative is.
My
response: You're killin' me. First you said you'd love to spend more
time with your family, then you said you love
your job, then you said that not seeing your kids is wearing on you.
You're all over the place. You don't know what you want
You don't need Tec Daddy, you need Dr. Phil.
If
you've got so much work that you're working 60-80 hours per week, you're
taking on more work than you can do, and that's just plain wrong.
You're sacrificing time with your family for what?
Is it the money? Raise your rates. If you actually are working
60-80 hours per week, you should be charging exactly double what you're
charging now. See if that doesn't lighten your work load.
Tell
me again, who is forcing you to spend time away from your
family? Ever heard of the word, "no?" This is why I say that
most people in our industry were born with a birth defect--no backbone.
Someone calls and demands you or one of your techs show up at their door,
so you do, whether you want to or not. Has it occurred to you that
you are under no obligation to so much as pick
up the phone if you don't feel like it?
Take control of your life!
Control is not handed to you as a gift. You take it or you lose it.
Currently, you're under the "lost it" category. Get it back.
Where is it written that you must sacrifice your family life for your
career?
Every aspect of your life is a result of the decisions you make today.
You keep sacrificing family time for work, and you'll be sorry.
Very sorry. For a very long time. You're making some very
poor decisions and you're on the road to becoming a very lonely old man,
full of regrets.
Be a
good parent. Why have kids if you're not going to be a part of their
lives?
Get
mad at me and prove to me you can do the right thing just to spite me.
Show
this letter to your wife and you can both sit around and talk about what a
jerk I am.
Raise
your rates.
Learn
how to say "no" when people demand you work more than, let's say 10 hours
in any single day and 48 hours in any single week.
And
please don't give me the old, what about the dire needs of the pregnant
woman without heat or air or the elderly woman story. First of all,
you're not the last technician on the face of the earth, and you can't
take care of absolutely everyone who calls. The phone book is thick
with people who'll take care of the people you don't.
I'll
go to my grave wondering why we are so worried about the needs of everyone
but our own, our techs and those of our families. Someone going
without heat or air overnight is nothing compared to our wives and our
children going most of their lives without their husbands and
fathers. Now let's throw your personal
feelings of guilt into the mix. Take if from me, if you feel guilty
now, give it about twenty-five or forty years.
You
said: Can you help me Tec Daddy?
No, I
can't. You've got some decisions to make. I hate to chew out a
supporter, but I hoped I've ticked you off. Emotion provokes action.
Do the right thing. Remember your priorities. I'm on your
side. I wish you all the best.
Thank
you for your continued support.
Yours
for increased success,
Charlie Greer |
