By Joshua Trolinger

Falling temperatures mean so much to so many. To the naturalist, fall is setting in and the world’s canvas is painted by every color in the spectrum. To the outdoorsman or woman, it means that the greatest time of the year is here and with bugling, velvet shedding and last year’s newborns ready to face the world, it is our time to enjoy the wild. However, for the contractor it means that the season is winding down, employees are wearing thin and the final push to finish yet another productive season is only minimal moon phases away.

The habitual cycle of business flows through our schedule as shown to us through nature. With each fall, the deciduous stage of the forest prepares its lifeblood for rest. As mother nature concludes another season of growth for rehabilitation, so does the contractor. This is the time to assess the health of your business. It is time to look deep in to all the successes, failures and missed opportunities. Now, like mother nature, we must assess where we need to put forth the fertilizer and the nutrients through investments, rehabilitation and unfortunately, what needs to be trimmed into non-existence.

There is no better time to make the correct moves for next year while we allow our lifeblood (people and equipment) to rest in the off season — evaluating our equipment, addressing training needs of our people and enacting the capital investments for a prosperous future. We know who needs help, what equipment is ready for pasture and where our missed opportunities of growth were during the growing season. How we address all these variables during this brief period of rest is crucial to a prosperous future. Now is the time to finish the work, and not just the projects with deadlines. Now is the time to make the decisions of how, where and with whom to move forward. The latest information from the season makes these decisions mush easier and our delivery more justifiable.

Dealers across the nation are setting up for busy winters. This is the best time of the year to ensure a successful season to come. Planning now can help with having a sharp vision, considering choice points, thinking about future growth and easing the challenges down the road. For machine inspections, scheduled repairs, training for employees, trades or new purchases, this down time is the only down time that doesn’t cost you. There is a cost to the investment, yes, but the inability to meet deadlines that happen during the season can mostly be avoided by planning. It also gives the owner time to make the fiscally responsible decisions for a fresh team to attack the work next season.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Make the most of this off-season. Build your foundations for success. Train your employees, rehab and replace your equipment, and most importantly, invest in yourself. You can be the anchor, the pivotal movement … either way, you must be your best self to create success in others. Do work!

Joshua Trolinger is a National Account Manager with LeeBoy. He can be reached at Joshua.trolinger@leeboy.com