The Ups and Downs
Collecting Sand in a sieve
I’m sure other business owners can appreciate this analogy (and I’ve said it before) but to me, with what we do, we may as well just be collecting sand in a sieve.
So say we’ve got a little garden scoop and a sieve and the job of a small business is to just go and collect as much sand as you can and you just hope that there’s some sand left in the sieve.
The cost of doing business
There’s a pile on the ground every day and obviously the ATO needs plenty.
You’ve got a couple of factories to rent.
You’ve got millions of dollars of equipment to pay off.
Payroll tax.
Superannuation.
LeavePlus.
Incolink.
The list goes on.
So, obviously it’s very hard to keep sand in your sieve – but you still go out with the best intentions.
Chasing the sand
Monday – You’re quoting work, looking for work and completing jobs, hoping they stay as quoted. At the end of the day – three or five o’ clock comes around and you check if you’ve got any sand left in the sieve or if it’s all on the ground.
Then you go and have a crack Tuesday. But Tuesday it rains, so no one gets to collect any sand .So Tuesday – the sieve remains empty.
Wednesday – You have a fantastic morning collecting heaps of sand, but by 12 o’clock, all the sand collection just stops. Everyone comes back to the depot. And then by 3 o’clock, you check your sieve.
It’s dusted, empty again.
You go out Thursday. You have a fantastic day. You collect sand consistently all day. You get to the end of the day, everyone goes home and there’s, you know, a bit of sand in the sieve.
That’s a fantastic day in crane hire.
when it all hits the fan
And then Friday.
With the best intentions, you go out. Something goes slightly wrong and before you know it, you’re blocking someone’s street with a truck on a nature strip, diesel spilling out all over the road, and you’ve got a visit from 12 CFA members and two fire trucks (heavy rescue also popped in for a little bit, though not really sure why). You’ve also got the council, the EPA and concerned neighbours everywhere.
So you just throw all your resources at it to try and get everything clear and off the road. Then you have your wife cancel the school run, go and grab 10 bags of cat litter, then you’re out there spreading cat litter and then cleaning that up.
There’s no sand in the sieve. There’s bugger all sand in the sieve that day.
The sands all on the road trying to mop up diesel.
MORE HOLES IN THE SIEVE
You get through that, and then you realize that the government’s kicked a hole in the sieve because come next month, you get to pay superannuation weekly.
So it’s going to be even less efficient at holding and retaining sand.
And that’s your life.
That’s small business.
DO IT ALL AGAIN
Now you go back and you sort of pay the neighbourhood off with bottles of red wine and gin as an apology.
And then you gear up and you get ready to go again Monday.
So now I’m going out this weekend to look at jobs and hope that we’re better, efficient collectors of sand on Monday.