feature
WaterLink
Sp nTouch
Focus or chaos: which side are you on? By Dave Crenshaw
The Future of Water Testing Super fast and simple—results in 30 to 60 seconds Stand-Alone or Cloud-Ready Seamless integration with DataMate Web Ready To Go Anywhere, designed for... § Pool Operators § Service Technicians § Retail Professionals Learn More!
p 02 9624 8842 | f 02 9674 5115 e sales@lamottepacific.com www.lamottepacific.com 68 SPLASH! June/July 2018
B
usiness owners are caught in an ageless and epic struggle. Two forces battle daily to either move you closer to a glorious harvest or to a smoking pile of rubble. The odds of your success in your venture depend on which side is winning the battle. This is not a war between good and evil – but chaos and focus.
Chaos
I define chaos as: the haphazard allocation of resources toward that which is of variable value. Consider what this means. As your business grows, you allocate resources. A little here, a little there. In the middle of answering an e-mail, the phone rings. The phone rings again in the middle of that call. In the middle of training a new teacher, you come up with another exciting money-making idea. And that’s just the first hour of the day! When you’re operating in a state of chaos, some of the things you’re working on are valuable. Other things you’re working on, the fires you have to put out, are worth jack squat in terms of using your resources wisely. At some point, it hits you. You start questioning yourself, asking yourself things like this: “Oh. My. Gosh. Why on earth did I spend hours and weeks and months trying to pursue [fill in the blank]?” That’s the haphazard allocation of resources at work. Unnecessary effort is manna to the chaos monster. An all-too-common example of Chaos is when a business sells a wide variety of only loosely related products and/or services… teaching, swimsuits, parties, movie nights, diving instruction, underwater basketweaving…you name it.