Following the work

     My next trip to Chicago is imminent again.  That is not all bad as I will get to see my two sons once more.  I really like the slower pace in Florida now but my large customer base in Chicago is demanding my attention again.  I can make myself very busy by setting up my schedule weeks in advance and packing it full for a couple of weeks.  I can also plan each day with appointments very close together so there is a minimum of travel time between jobs.
     I bought another tuners business in 2006 and when I became a large business managing my time and deciding which jobs I should do and which ones I should send out to the tuners that work for me became an important part of my job description.  I sort of knew that going in but I didn't know if I would like the duties of a manager.  As a business grows the owner at some point has to decide whether to keep the business at a size that one can do all the work alone or press ahead and grow the business further so that help is needed and then suddenly the owner becomes to some extent a manager.
     Decisions have to be made about giving work out and giving the work out generates other tasks like bookkeeping, payroll, more complicated record keeping, and often a more complicated business structure to be maintained.  There is also the increased liability when you send another worker into your customers living room. Every tuner has made some kind of mistake such as spilling something on a carpet or knocking something over and had to replace something or repair something for a customer but when your tuner is in your customers living room you become liable for his mistakes too.
     In spite of these problems I find I like these management tasks.  The tuners that work for me have been doing great work and the experience they get from their work for Renshaw Music not only helps them pay their bills but become better tuners.  I think most of them come to appreciate just doing the work without the responsibilities of maintaining and growing a customer base.  One of the management tasks is also to keep finding new tuners and new customers  as tuners and customers sometimes leave the company for a variety of reasons.
     Another reason to grow the business is so that I can concentrate on my strengths and begin to delegate tasks in which I am weak to others that can work in their strengths. In this way I think my larger company can better serve my customers. I said in a previous posting that it would be easier to work for someone else than to be a business owner.  In the same way it would be easier to maintain a smaller business that to expand to a business with 5000 customers.  I think I have again not chosen what is easy but taken a higher road.