Episode 5 - Patrick DeBuff

“I'm great at installing closets, hanging blinds, that kind of stuff. But when you get into the weeds with books and employees and management, that's where I think guys like me struggle,” explains Patrick DeBuff, owner of The Closet Guy, a custom closet company. Today, Patrick joins co-hosts Dan and Matt to talk about the obstacles he is facing with growing his company and to set an action plan for applying the lessons he has learned in his coaching with Matt.

 

Patrick is quick to recognize that his competitive nature and passion for doing a job quickly and perfectly can be both good and bad for business. He finds that he does not always have time to work on employee management tasks because he is continually putting himself back into a technician role. Additionally, the lack of a written employee manual leaves room for misinterpretation and without clarity his employees are more likely to interrupt him with questions. In order for Patrick to not leave money on the table and open up more opportunities for his business, he will need to step back even more from a technician role and fully step into his role as a leader. 

 

Next Actions

When you interact with your employees, you are establishing an expectation for what is appropriate. Set boundaries early on so that you and your employees are being treated the way you want to be treated. Make time for managerial work and be firm with your employees about not interrupting that time. Chunk down employee management tasks into more feasible steps in order to stay on track. 

• Establish communication expectations for you and your team

• Set aside time specifically for coaching and business work

• Chunk down the strategic work that needs to be done into baby steps

 

Quotes

• “I'm great at installing closets, hanging blinds, that kind of stuff. But when you get into the weeds with books and employees and management and that kind of stuff, that's where I think guys like me struggle.” (4:34-4:45 | Patrick)

• “Nothing hurts my feelings more than a dissatisfied customer.” (5:06-5:08 | Patrick)

• “There's nothing really written down. I show them how to do it, and that's how they do it. And that does obviously leave room for interpretation, because I can't show them every situation.” (16:47-16:59 | Patrick)

• “It's a struggle trying to not want to go in there and do it yourself, and fix it, and make it perfect yourself.” (20:49-20:54 | Patrick) 

• “If I go do 4 or 5 sets of 12 reps of an exercise, all I'm going to see is my inability to walk without a limp tomorrow. That's the immediate result of that, and there's nothing fun about that. I have to understand what the long game is. But if I keep doing that I'm going to see the final results that I'm looking for." (45:11-45:35 | Dan)

 

Links

Clearing Obstacles - clearingobstacles.com 

Episode 5 RX - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ia_R2MRSXcMw4AMMEmwYqLDNTqxj8DxL?usp=share_link , BlindSide Window Coverings - https://blindsmissoula.com/

The Closet Guy - https://www.closetguy.com/

 

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