Taking charge: leadership do's and don'ts

• DO join a trade association. Shop around first, and find one with a mission and philosophy that matches yours.

• DO find exceptional performers within the walls and ceilings industry and copy them.

• DO find a successful business owner with whom you don't compete and offer to become his or her mastermind partner. Commit to help each other improve as business people.

• DO read at least one book per week. Alternate between classic novels, humorous fiction and business books.

• DON'T miss your kid's football game because you choose to work instead.

• DO commit your hopes and dreams to ink and paper, or computer bytes. Keep a journal. Thinking manifests at one level; speaking and writing creates at an even higher level.

• DO use a day planner. We are too old to remember everything. Who cares if you look like a nerd-you can laugh all the way to the bank.

• DO listen to books on tape or CD in your car. My current favorites: Good to Great by Jim Collins and Time to Make the Donuts by Bill Rosenburg.

• DO handle the issues that keep coming up and spoiling your success. Talk to a friend or a minister. Go to the desert for 40 days and 40 nights.

• DON'T lie. Even "white" lies chip away at one's integrity.

• DO say, "Tell him I'm busy right now, and I will call him back later."

• DON'T say, "Tell him I am not here!"

• DON'T look for service standards within our industry. Go to Disney World and watch how they do it.

• DO lead by example.

• DON'T talk so much.

• DON'T imagine that you are irreplaceable. Once upon a time, our business partner's last words were, "If I don't do it myself, it will never get done." He died two days later. Things got done.

• DO go on a ride-along with one of your technicians at least once a week.

• DO make a sale yourself every once in awhile, just to show the rest of the team that you still got it.

• DO watch "The Apprentice" when the second season kicks off. Yeah, I know. It's just TV. But watching it is educational. It will get you thinking about business as a game ... because it is.

• DON'T enter into a 50/50 partnership. There is no such thing.

• DO find 10 things that are going right and congratulate the people responsible.

• DO find something to laugh about and share it with someone.

• DO read the autobiography of Christie Brown. It will keep you from feeling sorry for yourself.

• DO what you say you will do. Be a Samurai: Every word is a promise.

• DO it today.

Making money: financial must do's and never do's

• DO understand that one is in business for the money.

• DON'T be ashamed about that.

• DO run a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow report every week. Once a month is not enough.

• DON'T trust industry averages for budget and performance comparisons. If most businesses stink, and they do, what can be learned from industry averages?

• DO base selling price on the costs of doing business.

• DON'T pay any attention to what competitors are charging. What do they know?

• DON'T forget what you really sell: time and knowledge.

• DO remember that the knowledge takes time to deliver.

• DON'T kid yourself. You are not selling materials.

• DO consider material sales as gravy. Materials take time to install and that's what you sell.

• DO track billable hours. It's the variable with the most impact on financial position.

• DO create a line item in the budget for "customer satisfaction costs." Allow 1 to 2 percent of total sales. This is for making folks happy the second time around, when you blew it the first time around.

• DO understand that the proper selling price is the first and most important step in making more money for the company and employees.

• DON'T spend money on marketing, uniforms, new trucks, computer systems and new employees until prices are raised to cover the new costs.

• DO get out of tract-home work now, unless the company is very, very good at tract home project management and has the financial data to prove it can make money doing it.

• DO learn about real estate. Eight out of 10 self-made millionaires have significant real estate investments.

• DON'T forget Warren Buffet's rules for business. Rule #1: Never lose money. Rule #2: Never forget Rule #1.

• DO grow rich in a niche.

• DO something no one else does and charge a lot of money for it.

• DO pay employees much better than anyone else.

• DON'T forget that there is more than one way to make a living.

Get it sold: sales and marketing pitfalls

and windfalls

• DO whatever it takes to make customers happy, even if it means giving them all their money back. If one is being taken advantage of, then ...

• DON'T work for that customer again.

• DO spend more time asking questions than pitching a product.

• DON'T make a sale if it isn't in the best interests of the customer.

• DO learn about marketing. Good books for starters: Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith, The Wizard of Ads by Roy Williams and Bang! by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval.

• DO create a bulletin board of all marketing pieces. Everything should "match" and reinforce each other. Make sure the material is presenting a consistent, clear image.

• Do give customers one good reason to call. Boil it down to an elevators speech, an eight- to 24-second speech on why you are their best option.

• DON'T forget what they are really buying: time, their time. Because of a company's service, they don't have to spend their time worrying, wondering, calling around, shopping or fixing it themselves.

• DO ask the customer for feedback. Send a report card, or follow up with a phone call.

• DO ask for the sale every time.

• DON'T worry when they say, "No."

• DO ask if you can ask them one more question.

• DO ask, "What made you say, ‘No?'" and see if the issue can be fixed.

• DO feel free to say, "No" to customers who won't allow the company to make a profit.

• DON'T discuss poor performance in a crowd.

• DO acknowledge great performance in front of as many people as possible.

• DON'T underestimate the power of a handshake, a smile and a sincere, "Well done!"

• DO anything and everything that will make you stand out in the crowd.

• DON'T use low prices as a selling advantage. The advantage disappears the moment someone offers a lower price.

• DO switch to "flat rate" and up-front pricing because your customers want to know "how much" before they buy.

• DO offer service with a smile. Customers will respond to it.

• DO keep score in the sales game. Competition is good fun and good for you.

• DO read a Zig Ziglar book. Zig is the godfather of sales.

• DO listen to old people.

• DON'T gossip.

Get it done: tips for delivering the goods

• DO work on your own attitude toward work and life.

• DO choose to work with folks who don't suck the life out of business. Employment is a day-to-day agreement.

• DO call if you are going to be late.

• DO reschedule if an appointment cannot be made as soon as possible.

• DON'T discriminate when hiring. Women make great technicians. Kids today are wonderful.

• DO take a mental health day once in a while. Go to the park or to the movies.

• DO aim for a company that runs without you. Picture receiving financial reports via e-mail at your Maui beach house.

• DON'T assume that telling someone to do something means it will get done. Put it in writing and follow up.

• DON'T assume anything.

• DO provide everyone with an "in" basket. Empty the in basket by the end of the day. Work gets done, filed or delegated.

• DON'T pay technicians on a commission-only basis.

• DON'T reward every employee the same way regardless of performance. The over-achievers should make more. Keep score and keep it objective.

• DON'T give a raise every year just because.

• DO create a compensation plan that combines hourly wages with spiffs for stellar sales performance.

• DO understand that a technician works at one speed: his or her own speed.

• DO recognize that the labor shortage is directly related to our unwillingness to pay skilled workers what they are worth.

• DON'T be fooled. The talented kids out there are not interested in $10 an hour for uncertain, seasonal, dirty work with no benefits.

• DO create an Operations Manual. Every job in writing. Everyone accountable.

• DO get input from the folks affected when putting an operations manual together.

• DO apologize if you are wrong.

• DON'T hold a grudge.

• DO more of what works and less of what doesn't.