Congratulations for reading this far. Most people won’t, because there is nothing less flashy than the idea of writing things down. Read on, and find out why documentation is the major difference between a large successful business and a small struggling one.
In my telephone answering service, Centratel , we handle emergency after-hours calls for nearly a thousand accounts across the United States: doctors, veterinarians, HVAC companies, funeral homes, hi-tech companies, etc. The answering service business is a private 9-1-1 operation, and because of the nature of the on-going transactions and the sheer variety of situations, it can be a breeding ground for chaos. For 15 years, I endured 100-hour workweeks, failing health and minimal income before I got a clue that my business problems had nothing to do with inherent challenges within the industry, my lack of a college business degree, a shortage of “good” employees, or finding proper financing.
It was literally a midnight awakening that made me a believer in documentation. This change of perspective saved my business and maybe even my life. In the process of discovering this new vantage point, I was super-energized by the realization that 99 percent of my competitors don’t do the work of thorough documentation. Why? Very simple: It’s too hard. That’s it! It’s just too hard! Of course, that is good news for me because I overcame that “too hard” hurdle and did what I had to do.
Author: Sam Carpenter
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