What do you invest in?

I have never been one to worry too much about the stock market ups and downs, or the state of the economy. Neither one is something I can control. Yes we are in the market somewhat, but our investments have been more in ourselves and in our business.  We have always tried to use what we have learned, good and bad to make a solid return on our business investment. Our biggest investments over the years have been into the people we hire. Now we have not had many employees, but we have had many sub-contractors. They can be just as important. ...

This is about investing in employees, investing in people, and investing in customers.

My first employee many years ago was my brother. Fresh out of high school, not sure of what he wanted to do. He came on with me and learned what I knew. (That was not much; I was only in this business five or six years at that time) We helped each other learn the ropes of a fledging business. We had good times and we had some marginal times, but as the years went by we learned from each other and grew.

He has since moved on to his own remodeling and building company and doing fine. I hope I had some good influence on him and his decisions as he has continued on. We still work together and help each other out on occasion. It’s a good mix.

Time moved on. Employee-less for a long time. During this time I relied on investing into relationships with other contractors who fed me a lot of work for some time. I had to invest in relationships with all my customers who kept me busy in my own remodeling and various ventures. Investing in customers is a must in this business. They continue to feed us in many ways, including an occasional dinner at times. (Julie, Kari) 

I got to know an older lady in a development I was working in. It was a time when I worked many late evenings. I would help her in little ways, nothing much in my eyes, but huge in hers. Well almost every night I was working late in her neighborhood, she would bring me something. A chicken dinner, some cookies, or a piece of pie. I had invested in her in what I thought was a minor way. She thought differently.

We've gotten to know, who we consider to be a very good friend now, by just helping her move out junk from her basement and kill an occasional bat. She lives next to one of the homes we built, and as we were building the house, she would bring over little treats– cookies, brownies, cake or some other goodies. The Artist now spends many a Sunday with her knitting together watching football- well Alice watches.. not so much the Artist! ... All from investing a little time into someone.

Not too long after that, it was time to invest into an employee again. Six years ago, we took on Adam. Fresh out of the same carpentry school I went to and now he is our lead guy. Investing in him is paying off nicely now.

Fast forward to present time. It is time to invest again. Training started this week with our apprentice Tyler. A fresh face, a fresh attitude and a fresh start. I trust my investment will pay off again as the importance of investing in people is showing its opportunity again in the potential return down the road.

Enjoy your ROI, whoever it may be!

~The Carpenter