The Business Cycle of Growth and Value Creation
Have you ever wondered when it’s the right time to add a workflow management app to your surveying or civil engineering business? There is never a great time. I hear this: my team is too busy, we have too many out of control projects to change, we don’t have time for implementation and training. Ever heard the expression “want to get something done? Give it to a busy person!”? Is this you? Probably. The team at Qfactor have years of enterprise software implementation experience and is here to help.
As CEO of Qfactor, I’ve had long conversations with surveyors, business owners, managers, and even side-hustling solo entrepreneurs. I’ve dealt with new buyers, sellers and companies that have merged. Based on my experience, here are the three main situations when companies are ready to level up their operations:
- Transition from solopreneur to managing new employees. So, the owner wants to start things off on the right foot instead of having to fix things later. Right now, things are running smoothly with mostly manual processes and a couple of apps, but the owner knows it’s important to get organized now so that new employees can easily learn the ropes.
We are contacted by many surveyors who are moonlighting from their day jobs or looking to break away from their current employer. They’ve learned the hard way that not having quality and scalable processes and systems in place makes work and project management more difficult than it needs to be. These guys and gals are busy but want to start out right.
The solopreneur knows it’s good to start out with a solid, well defined way of managing business from proposals to paid and done projects. We offer an integrated start up package that includes Quickbooks Online, TSheets and Qfactor.
A company can get started before adding the first employee.
- Growth. Business is good. Companies in this cycle have expanded and now have a team of 15 or more people. Managers want to keep everyone in the loop about the progress of all projects and proposals. They want to be super organized and efficient because time really is money. Unproductive project status meetings can be streamlined or replaced with better access to project data for everyone. The best way to do that is an easily accessible app for the entire team.
“Qfactor is a lifesaver because it helps us organize our data, tasks, and schedules. It also gives us real-time profitability reports, which is a huge plus.”
– satisfied Qfactor users
Right now, many companies are on the same page – growth. That’s a good thing. But it also means taking project management seriously. Without a management system that connects tasks, timesheets, and Quickbooks, projects and profits can easily slip through the cracks. Meanwhile, payroll never slips through the cracks.
- Position the Company for sale. So, this 70-year-old surveyor found me at my first surveying conference. He was all about this “Qfactor thing” because he knew the younger generation of owners would want to use “fancy” software to manage their “stuff”. Pretty smart, huh? By uploading years of client projects, they could easily measure their value, which makes their business worth more when they sell it.
A few years ago I met a business broker at a conference who specializes in the generational transition of companies from the founders to new owners. When he saw the project and financial information that resides in Qfactor, he commented that if his seller and buyer had access to the same data, the value of the company would be more apparent to both parties. Further, he felt the value would be greater than what traditional financial reports show.
If any of these situations sound familiar take a step back and assess:
- Which business cycle describes your company?
- What are your goals for the next few years?
- What kind of growth and profit do you want to achieve?
- Are you optimizing performance (and value) now?
- How/when will you retire?
Once there is a clear understanding of needs a plan can be developed. A reliable workflow app may need to be part of the plan.
As the founder and developer of Qfactor with an 8-year track record I am proud to offer a cool and powerful tool that can help track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. Most project management applications pick up when you get the project. Qfactor starts with the proposal process ensuring a pipeline of new business .
The first client for Qfactor happened to be a surveying company where my friend was CFO. When I told her what I was building over lunch she reached across the table and said “Frederick, you need to meet with our CEO. He spends 5-hours a day in a spreadsheet and we still don’t know the status of our projects.”
This led to conducting a soup-to-nuts analysis of their business from the first call asking for a proposal to project completed and paid for. What I learned about the business processes of a 35-year old, 25-person surveying company became the basis for Qfactor for Surveyors.
We have grown almost entirely by word-of-mouth from satisfied clients. That’s because Qfactor is not just another piece of software, it’s a tool that can help transform business.
So, if it might be time for you to tune up, level up or sell your business, give Qfactor a look.
Want a live demo? Let me know! Click on this calendar link to find a time that works for you.
Take time to save time.
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PS – My Dad, the Colonel, has a computer and accounting background, so I am the proverbial apple not falling far from the tree. I also have a tech and accounting background. I started this business from helping fiber and commercial solar construction companies manage project profitability.
