Business Advice Required

[adiboy]

Just to give you a bit of background on this, I started my own website design and marketing agency back in 2017 from my dining room table with very little capital or investment and without having ever worked in a website design or marketing agency previously, although I do have significant knowledge of website design and marketing so it's not as if I was going into it blind.

Back when the business started out, it was very much a case of just trying to keep the bank balance afloat and most months in the first year of operating were a real struggle to pay wages and general bills, etc. It was pretty stressful, but we always managed to pull through. Initially, it was just me then after some time I decided to find a nearby office to rent out and hire my first staff member who was an apprentice at the time, but still within the business today as a Senior Consultant.

As we increased the number of clients we worked with and the size of the clients we work with, we increased the number of staff members internally, primarily hiring apprentices due to the low costs associated. Because at the time, hiring fully experienced staff members just wasn't an option for us due to the high costs associated so it's fair to say we tried to find the cheapest options.

Rolling forward a bit and just prior to Covid-19 impacting everything globally we were working with some really big clients which significantly increased our income as a small business and which allowed us to increase the number of staff members. During this time and mid-pandemic, we also decided to move to a much larger office and significantly invest in the overall equipment etc. It's worth mentioning that most of this was possible due to us receiving a bounce back loan, during the pandemic which we'll need to pay back for the next 6-years but nevertheless it got us to where we wanted to be as a business.

Today we turnover around £300k - £400k annually and I'm in a position where I have 8 staff members of which 50% are apprentices. The remaining 50% are made up of staff members who have completed apprenticeships previously and have since moved into full-time roles within the business. Each staff member tends to manage a specific service so for example we have someone who just manages website design projects, someone who just manages social marketing and so on.

Over the last 6-months, I just feel like things have gone from bad to worse. I'm continually stressed out, angry and upset at both work and home and I just don't feel like my team shares the same ethos or determination for the business as I do, besides a few long-term loyal staff members. I've outlined my issues below which I could do with some advice on:

• My staff members don't seem to have the skill set required to actually manage the services they manage on behalf of me or the business. I often feel like a lot of staff members have just fallen into these roles with unwarranted job titles such as Lead Consultant & Senior Consultant when in reality they are probably a Junior Consultant at best (without sounding too harsh).
  
  
• I continually need to chase people within the business for basic things such as managing their own tasks, workload and leads. Despite me continually asking them to do this, they stick to it for 2-days and then fall back into the same habit. This then means I often wake up really early in the morning before I start work to manage 8 other staff members' workload for the next few days.
  
  
• I often find myself chasing staff members to complete certifications and training which I have offered to pay for in addition to allocating time within work hours for them to train for but it's like they just don't care. They've had around 3 months to complete the training which takes 4 hours tops in order to get ready for the exam and only 1 staff member has managed to do this.
  
  
• I've recently had to take over one of our core service for a staff member who left the business and out of 8 staff members internally nobody has the skillset to manage this service. I've recently had to intervene in another core service as the quality just wasn't there, and most recently a staff member has handed her notice in who manages one of our other core services, of which I am the only one with the correct skillset to manage. I feel like I now have 3 core services to manage alongside the business which is something I just don't think I can do physically and mentally.
  
  
• When we started the business I would create processes and documents which really helped and we were really keen to enhance our marketing and branding on an ongoing basis. It feels like now everything is just at a halt and if I ask someone to work on something or enhance something it never really gets done or it's done to such a low standard, I end up having to do it so as you can imagine with so many other jobs that never really happens and it just gets abandoned.
  
• We were highly rated by clients in regards to our responsiveness and general customer service. I would often respond to clients over the weekend or out of normal working hours and they really respected that which went a long way in regards to building our business and client base. I appreciate not everyone agrees with that but as a start-up, you need to have some type of USP. These days, staff members will just sit in the car park until 1 minute prior to their shift starting, at which point they will come in and start making a coffee. 10 minutes later they are finally starting work and going through emails they received from clients the previous day. I honestly don't expect staff to sit reading emails outside of work but due to the nature of our business, I would expect them to respond to a client now and again, especially if it's urgent and not too late but it just seems like they don't share the same drive as me in regards to providing clients with a good customer experience.
  
  
• I've given staff members the responsibility to manage services and they just don't seem to be able to do it which has resulted over the last 12-months in a struggle to actually retain clients within the business, as they often cancel services because of either the lack of quality or lack of communication from the staff members managing the overall service. This essentially means we just run on a treadmill at the moment and for every client that we gain we seem to lose a client for some type of issue with the service.

Sorry if this seemed like I was venting my stress (I think I might be) I'm just getting to the point now where I just don't know what to do but it would be great to know if anyone has had any similar issues running a business or if anyone could provide some general advice which could help.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ian J]

Sorry if this seemed like I was venting my stress (I think I might be) I'm just getting to the point now where I just don't know what to do but it would be great to know if anyone has had any similar issues running a business or if anyone could provide some general advice which could help.

All of the issues outlined by yourself seem to be down to a complete lack of management by the company owner - you

 

[MBE2017]

Your business is not my field of expertise, but a few thoughts in general.

It sounds like you have a lazy unmotivated workforce, much of the blame in regards to this has fall on your shoulders regarding recruitment, training and motivation.

You seem to have an awful lot of staff for a low turnover, so I expect salaries are presumably low?

Not having cover in case of someone leaving, once again, foolish not to have thought of this possibility surely?

Going forward, I would start a five minute daily meeting, set out goals, training requirements etc. If someone doesn’t want to complete their training next week, explain their P45 will be heading their way.

Look for a handful of quality workers who can cover 2/3 fields, look at all your existing staff, have some very hard conversations with them regarding their potential future.

 

[fisicx]

Do you need the money?

Reduce the size of the business, make staff redundant and go back to what you enjoyed doing.

Some people like running a business. Some people enjoyed being productive. You seem to be in the letter group.

You aren’t a web developer or even part of the creative team. You are a manager. If that’s not what floats your boat get someone in who does enjoy running a business.

 

[adiboy]

All of the issues outlined by yourself seem to be down to a complete lack of management by the company owner - you

Thanks, Ian, I don't deny that I've struggled to manage the team but it would be great to know where you feel I have lacked, as lack of management is a pretty broad term and I appreciate your feedback but I'm not entirely sure what more I can do besides the following:

- Having regular 1-2-1's every 2-weeks with staff members
- Having regular team meetings to discuss projects
- Encouraging staff members to upskill themselves through paid training courses
- Increasing wages in line with the business revenue
- Providing result-driven incentives for the staff members

Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[adiboy]

Your business is not my field of expertise, but a few thoughts in general.

It sounds like you have a lazy unmotivated workforce, much of the blame in regards to this has fall on your shoulders regarding recruitment, training and motivation.

You seem to have an awful lot of staff for a low turnover, so I expect salaries are presumably low?

Not having cover in case of someone leaving, once again, foolish not to have thought of this possibility surely?

Going forward, I would start a five minute daily meeting, set out goals, training requirements etc. If someone doesn’t want to complete their training next week, explain their P45 will be heading their way.

Look for a handful of quality workers who can cover 2/3 fields, look at all your existing staff, have some very hard conversations with them regarding their potential future.

Yeh I see where you are coming from and the high turnover has only been recent but that's naturally going to happen as staff complete their apprentices and look elsewhere for employment with higher wages. I have thought about the cover of staff members leaving but I was hoping my other staff members within the business would step up to become that cover.

I'd rather try and develop staff members who have experience within the business than further increase the number of staff members when I'm struggling with the ones I currently have but maybe that's me being a bit naive.

And thanks for the feedback and advice, I really appreciate it!

 

[Mark T Jones]

In a nutshell, as others have said, it's a management issue

Your choices are either to take time out to learn manager, or to employ one.

As a business grows, the role of the owner/founder changes, sometimes beyond recognition - you have to stand back and fully recognise what your role is

 

[adiboy]

Do you need the money?

Reduce the size of the business, make staff redundant and go back to what you enjoyed doing.

Some people like running a business. Some people enjoyed being productive. You seem to be in the letter group.

You aren’t a web developer or even part of the creative team. You are a manager. If that’s not what floats your boat get someone in who does enjoy running a business.

I have only recently started to take a salary myself to be honest because I'm used to putting everything I have into the business and even now I return some of my monthly wages because I want the business to develop. Obviously, with Covid-19 we lost a lot of clients as a business so it was a struggle to keep the staff but since then I have managed to get everything back on track and then some so it's not like we are worse than we were a year ago but I just feel like we could be 10x better.

And yeh you may be right. I started my business because I enjoyed working with clients and actually creating websites and marketing campaigns for businesses. I use to get a real thrill when I would meet with a big potential client at a meeting, even if I didn't get the pitch, I was always growing and expanding the business and my own experience.

Now I sit in my office on my own most days, checking spreadsheets, completing accounts, carrying out payroll, and chasing staff members but let's face it what does it cost to hire a manager these days £40k - £50k. Which would mean having to sacrifice existing staff and a lot of resources which would impact output for a single person and I guess that's the issue.

 

[fisicx]

Go back to being a developer. Use freelancers for the bigger projects. Do what you enjoy.

I’ve reduced what I do and now rarely work more than a couple of hours each day. I pick and choose what projects I take on and spend most of day having fun.

 

[adiboy]

Go back to being a developer. Use freelancers for the bigger projects. Do what you enjoy.

I’ve reduced what I do and now rarely work more than a couple of hours each day. I pick and choose what projects I take on and spend most of day having fun.

I would do that but I genuinely do want to build a successful business with a team and I know it can be successful but I just need to work out a way to restructure the business and the team.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I would do that but I genuinely do want to build a successful business with a team and I know it can be successful but I just need to work out a way to restructure the business and the team.

Why do you want to build a team?

What are your personal measures of success?

I was once a shareholder / director of a large brokerage with branches and lots of staff.

I now work from home alone. I earn more, have very few hassles, have complete control and am happy.

That's my personal version of success

 

[adiboy]

Why do you want to build a team?

What are your personal measures of success?

I was once a shareholder / director of a large brokerage with branches and lots of staff.

I now work from home alone. I earn more, have very few hassles, have complete control and am happy.

That's my personal version of success

I just feel like that's success in my eyes, having a large team and multiple offices. I won't do this forever though as I want to get the business into a position where I can sell it eventually and move on to other things in the future that I want to focus on, so I guess that's also my motivation.

I'm 29 and I want to buy a house as well, which seems like a small thing for most people but I can't do this at the moment, so again I guess that's another motivation, to ensure the business is a success.

 

[fisicx]

I would do that but I genuinely do want to build a successful business with a team and I know it can be successful but I just need to work out a way to restructure the business and the team.

I which case stop being a member of the team and start being a manager. Take no part in the creative process, you just need to manage. Don’t meet with clients or discuss the project, you just need to manage those that do.

The fact you aren’t taking a wage suggests the business isn’t a success.

 

[adiboy]

I which case stop being a member of the team and start being a manager. Take no part in the creative process, you just need to manage. Don’t meet with clients or discuss the project, you just need to manage those that do.

The fact you aren’t taking a wage suggests the business isn’t a success.

That's what I do currently hence my previous messages and it's not that it's not a success as a business. And I can take a wage of around £2,000 p/m but I would just prefer to put some money back into the business.

I don't mind living below the average and struggling a bit, provided it means that I can build my business quicker and provide my team with higher wages in order to retain them within the business.

 

[MOIC]

I just feel like that's success . . . . . having a large team and multiple offices.

Tell that to a bank manager (the good old days) and he'll roll his eyes and take a step back.

Keep your staff, expenses and problems small.

 

[fisicx]

When I was in the Army and promoted to Sergeant my boss said my platoon aren’t my mates anymore. You have to separate leadership from friendship. When your team fails do you give them a bollocking? Are there consequences for failure? If not there is no incentive for improvement. Everything you have posted indicates a failure of management. Until you get that sorted nothing is going to change.

 

[adiboy]

Tell that to a bank manager (the good old days) and he'll roll his eyes and take a step back.

Keep your staff, expenses and problems small.

Provided the business makes a profit I'm sure the bank will be happy.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I just feel like that's success in my eyes, having a large team and multiple offices. I won't do this forever though as I want to get the business into a position where I can sell it eventually and move on to other things in the future that I want to focus on, so I guess that's also my motivation.

I'm 29 and I want to buy a house as well, which seems like a small thing for most people but I can't do this at the moment, so again I guess that's another motivation, to ensure the business is a success.

Might I suggest that you are falling into the vanity metric trap? (And serious buyers definitely won't fall for vanity metrics)

Today's big businesses - I mean mega businesses, become successful by running lean - recruiting staff and offices only when strictly necessary, and then with clear goals and outcomes.

Your own goals are contradictory - you won't get a mortgage on £24k a year

 

[fisicx]

Provided the business makes a profit I'm sure the bank will be happy.

Maybe, but you won’t get a mortgage until you are taking home a decent wodge. 100k mortgage means you need to be paying yourself at least £40k

 

[adiboy]

When I was in the Army and promoted to Sergeant my boss said my platoon aren’t my mates anymore. You have to separate leadership from friendship. When your team fails do you give them a bollocking? Are there consequences for failure? If not there is no incentive for improvement. Everything you have posted indicates a failure of management. Until you get that sorted nothing is going to change.

Yeh if they mess up, or forget to complete tasks and reports on time etc, I will let them know about it trust me, especially when I've been in the office from 5 am doing them myself. But there are only so many times you can ask someone to do something and then it just turns into frustration.

 

[adiboy]

Might I suggest that you are falling into the vanity metric trap? (And serious buyers definitely won't fall for vanity metrics)

Today's big businesses - I mean mega businesses, become successful by running lean - recruiting staff and offices only when strictly necessary, and then with clear goals and outcomes.

Your own goals are contradictory - you won't get a mortgage on £24k a year

I'm not looking to be a mega business and I'm not talking about vanity metrics. Profit is the most important metric to a buyer and that we do have as a business, considering it's increased 100% in both turnover and profit year over year since 2017. I think we did around a 200% increase in profit, last year compared to the previous year.

And yeh I am aware I won't get a mortgage at £24k per year which is why I mentioned that above.

 

[adiboy]

Maybe, but you won’t get a mortgage until you are taking home a decent wodge. 100k mortgage means you need to be paying yourself at least £40k

Yeh and the rest, especially as a Director taking 50/50 in dividends and wages.

 

[fisicx]

Profit is the most important metric to a buyer

No it’s not.

Making a profit is a very small part of the decision to buy a business.

 

[BigDreamer]

In my opinion, if someone refuses to pull his own weight even after repeatedly reminding them, you should show them the door with no mercy. It could send a signal to the others that if they don't start performing, then the same will happen to them, and if they genuinely care about their job with you, they will start performing.

Maybe also offer performance bonuses so that those who do hit their targets without being spoon-fed get rewarded, and those that don't, don't.

 

[adiboy]

No it’s not.

Making a profit is a very small part of the decision to buy a business.

Yeh, it's not the only factor obviously i.e. culture, processes, branding etc but it's the number 1 out of those. If you are in profit as a business then it's better than being at a loss.

 

[adiboy]

In my opinion, if someone refuses to pull his own weight even after repeatedly reminding them, you should show them the door with no mercy. It could send a signal to the others that if they don't start performing, then the same will happen to them, and if they genuinely care about their job with you, they will start performing.

Maybe also offer performance bonuses so that those who do hit their targets without being spoon-fed get rewarded, and those that don't, don't.

I feel like doing this might just set a negative message rather than a positive. I think if I did this everyone including those who do perform well would feel threatened which isn't really fair. It's a nice idea but If I did this I would probably just lose more respect than what I would gain from it.

 

[Mark T Jones]

In my opinion, if someone refuses to pull his own weight even after repeatedly reminding them, you should show them the door with no mercy. It could send a signal to the others that if they don't start performing, then the same will happen to them, and if they genuinely care about their job with you, they will start performing.

Maybe also offer performance bonuses so that those who do hit their targets without being spoon-fed get rewarded, and those that don't, don't.

We don't know specifics here, but as a broad rule, if an individual is problematic, it might be worth removing them. If a number of staff aren't measuring up, then it's likely to be a top down problem.

This is particularly pronounced as the OP is responsible for training up a lot of staff through apprenticeship

 

[The Byre]

You are running what should be a one-man-show with a staff of eight - so nine people! That's less than £40k turnover per head.

Let me introduce you to J. He was hailed as "The World's Most Dangerous Geek!" by Rolling Stone Magazine. He wrote an MP3 player that he sold to AOL for $60m. He began to study Computer Science but dropped out after just three months when he (a) realised that he knew more than the lecturers - and (b) was earning nearly $4m p.a. from his share-ware projects.

Today J. is in his 40s and runs a company that makes the World's most used and IMO best audio processing software. His turnover is double-figure millions - and he employs NOBODY!

The guy who makes the how-to videos gets about $1k for every short video - so there are loads of really good videos available. The guys who do much of the bug-fixes are freelancers, as is the main project manager. Users act as the testing team for the beta versions.

This secret weapon is today used by almost every audio professional. It is out-competing Yamaha's CuBase (1,000 staff) and Avid's ProTools (1,500 staff). Adobe has given up making J. offers for his company and that software. The last thing he needs is more money and more pointless company structure.

But that's what you've got - pointless company structure! Eight payrolls. Eight places of work. Eight computers. Eight pension schemes. Eight holiday rosters. Eight parking spaces. Eight bodies to be kept nice and warm in winter and cool in summer. Eight people milling around the coffee machine on YOUR dime!

Open any trade magazine (online or physical print) and you will see a dozen names of those who have written the articles. Now go to their office and all you will see is one person behind a PC or a Mac and armed with an older copy of InDesign. That's all it takes to put a large 100+ page trade mag together. If they are relly buzzing, there may be a full-time ad salesperson. More often than not today, the editor is working from home and there is no office anywhere.

I ran a company with over 150 people on the books - I think I must have met about five of them in person. I paid by results only.

 

[BigDreamer]

I feel like doing this might just set a negative message rather than a positive. I think if I did this everyone including those who do perform well would feel threatened which isn't really fair. It's a nice idea but If I did this I would probably just lose more respect than what I would gain from it.

Based on what you have said, it seems they have very little respect for you already and have no fear of any repercussions for not doing what they are told by you as you mentioned that only 1 member of staff finished their training.

Then again, it could be many other issues that others have mentioned. Apprentices probably don't give a crap about their job as they probably just use it to get experience on their CV to eventually move on somewhere else, and since there are 8 of them, they probably think that they can get away with not doing what they are told because if they all don't do it, they don't expect everyone to get fired. (They probably have a WhatsApp group chat where they laugh about it)

 

[adiboy]

So based on the above do

Based on what you have said, it seems they have very little respect for you already and have no fear of any repercussions for not doing what they are told by you as you mentioned that only 1 member of staff finished their training.

Then again, it could be many other issues that others have mentioned. Apprentices probably don't give a crap about their job as they probably just use it to get experience on their CV to eventually move on somewhere else, and since there are 8 of them, they probably think that they can get away with not doing what they are told because if they all don't do it, they don't expect everyone to get fired. (They probably have a WhatsApp group chat where they laugh about it)

So based on the above, do you think it's worth removing the 2 lowest-performing staff members from the business and spending what I've saved on hiring a manager or head of delivery who is more senior with more experience?

 

[MBE2017]

My last comment adiboy, you have used words such as hoping etc, this is not management, you need to expect, demand and require. I used to have approx 80 guys per area self employed working for myself, at meetings on the door out of the meeting room I put a sign, YOU ARE NOW LEAVING AN £80k PA position. That was the lowest take home, approx 30 years ago. I didn’t have time for arguments, or lazy guys, it was my way or the highway in a heavily regulated industry. Anyone not wishing to do the work was offered the chance to leave, or change their habits.

As for motivation, set small and larger goals, weekly, monthly, annual etc, even daily, as in getting your staff members to work as required. Getting rid is not going to lose you any goodwill, but it might I still an amount of fear and respect.

All well and good paying your guys increases, but you are not paying yourself. Set an immeadiare goal, ie mortgage within 18 months of £xxx xxx, salary required is £ xxxxx, how to get there?

As I mentioned I don’t know your business, but as mentioned previously, seriously consider networking and outsourcing some or all of your work. You would potentially cut costs, start making some decent money, either way, you should be taking home the largest pay cheque of anyone.

 

[adiboy]

My last comment adiboy, you have used words such as hoping etc, this is not management, you need to expect, demand and require. I used to have approx 80 guys per area self employed working for myself, at meetings on the door out of the meeting room I put a sign, YOU ARE NOW LEAVING AN £80k PA position. That was the lowest take home, approx 30 years ago. I didn’t have time for arguments, or lazy guys, it was my way or the highway in a heavily regulated industry. Anyone not wishing to do the work was offered the chance to leave, or change their habits.

As for motivation, set small and larger goals, weekly, monthly, annual etc, even daily, as in getting your staff members to work as required. Getting rid is not going to lose you any goodwill, but it might I still an amount of fear and respect.

All well and good paying your guys increases, but you are not paying yourself. Set an immeadiare goal, ie mortgage within 18 months of £xxx xxx, salary required is £ xxxxx, how to get there?

As I mentioned I don’t know your business, but as mentioned previously, seriously consider networking and outsourcing some or all of your work. You would potentially cut costs, start making some decent money, either way, you should be taking home the largest pay cheque of anyone.

Thanks, I really appreciate this and yeh we do outsource work and we do have partners who also provide us with work and yeh you are right, I should probably think about myself a bit more and I'm often told I do way too much but I just want to be the best.

And you are also right, I should probably expect more from people who I pay or I can't progress the business.

 

[fisicx]

Yeh, it's not the only factor obviously i.e. culture, processes, branding etc but it's the number 1 out of those. If you are in profit as a business then it's better than being at a loss.

It’s none of the above. In fact the right business running at a loss can still sell for millions.

If you walked out the door tomorrow would the business still be able to operate? If not your business is worth nothing.

Sorry to be so blunt but you need to invest in some management training.

 

[pentel]

I just feel like that's success in my eyes, having a large team and multiple offices

Wow... Success can be measured in many ways. This is the vanity option.

But there are only so many times you can ask someone to do something and then it just turns into frustration

Better to turn it into a P45 and goodbye

It's a nice idea but If I did this I would probably just lose more respect than what I would gain from it.

Sorry to be brutal here but your staff treat you like a doormat. How much lower can you fall. Time to show them who is the boss by dealing with unacceptable behaviour. You are not their friend. You can be friendly and helpful but if a better offer comes along they will be gone,

 

[Mark T Jones]

There is a lot of value in this thread, which can apply to many, many business owners, particularly those who have grown from making money from a core skill to running a 'proper' business, which requires very different knowledge & skill sets.

NO business owner is good at everything; we all need help in some areas.

Here. the OP evidently has skills in web design etc, and also evidently in drumming up business - which are both valuable.

They have admited to being short on management skills - I would add business strategy & planning to that list.

To benefit from these (vital skills) the answer is to

- Employ
- Outsource
- learn or
- avoid.

Learning will take time, so need an interim measure too.

 

[The Byre]

I just feel like that's success in my eyes, having a large team and multiple offices. I won't do this forever though as I want to get the business into a position where I can sell it eventually and move on to other things in the future that I want to focus on, so I guess that's also my motivation.

Stop right there - please!

There is probably a record amount of loose money looking for a warm home, such as well-run companies, property, shares in value businesses - stuff like that. But you have to put yourself into the shoes of a person with a few thousand to invest. Big tip - they're not looking for a job!

So let's pretend that I might one day want to buy your company. I do not want to work there. I (along with just about everybody else on Planet Earth) already have a full working day - I certainly do not want to be burdened with more work, running eight goofy guys in some lock-up. That means that the company must come complete with an experienced manager and a deputy manager.

I would also have to audit your company, so now things are getting expensive. Manager - £50k, audit costs about £10k - so just owning your company would cost me at least £60k p.a., maybe more!

In other words - you need to restructure the company so that it can be sold one day.

 

[tony84]

I have not read all of the replies so some/all of these may have been covered off:
1) Your staff are not qualified for their roles - you took them on as apprentices. If they are not up to the level of a senior role, you have to take the blame for that. One for the lack of training and 2 for the promotion(s).
2) They probably do not have the same ethos as you. This is your baby, for them it could be a job. In addition to that if you have been dishing out promotions so easily it could quite easily be a case of easy come, easy go.
3) 50% of your staff are apprentices. Thats ridiculous! An apprentice is monitored and hand held. How can half of your staff be trainees - who is training them? You with not enough time or your senior employees who are not good enough? Anything more than 2 apprentices I think is too many for a business your size.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I just don't feel like my team shares the same ethos or determination for the business as I do

Why would they - it isn't their business. What incentives do you have in place to make them more engaged/interested?

My staff members don't seem to have the skill set required to actually manage the services they manage

Whose fault is that? Theirs or yours?

I continually need to chase people within the business for basic thing

How do you track these tasks and hold them accountable? Do you have regular project/team meetings?

I often find myself chasing staff members to complete certifications and training which I have offered to pay for

Incentivise them to complete or agree that they will pay for the course if they do not complete in given time.

I've recently had to take over one of our core service for a staff member who left the business and out of 8 staff members internally nobody has the skillset to manage this service.

Again, whose fault is that?

When we started the business I would create processes and documents which really helped and we were really keen to enhance our marketing and branding on an ongoing basis. It feels like now everything is just at a halt and if I ask someone to work on something or enhance something it never really gets done or it's done to such a low standard, I end up having to do it so as you can imagine with so many other jobs that never really happens and it just gets abandoned.

If they really helped them they would be using the. Have you set and trained your staff in the processes that must be used?

I've given staff members the responsibility to manage services and they just don't seem to be able to do

Then you have given the responsibility incorrectly. Good workers do not necessarily make good managers. Also, did you reward them for this additional responsibility?

It looks like you have a successful and profitable business. You could bring in a manager to take operational the stress away from you, you could have some training or you could get the staff training. Several solutions and maybe a combination of them all!

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Some great advice for you already @adiboy

Fundamentally, you are in a place that other businesses find themselves in after 2/3 years, but your're here at year 5!

It sounds like you have underestimated how much of your time is needed to manage the business, and you should be doing what you do well to add value to the business. So either:

1. slim the business down to a core team that you can manage, or
2. pay somebody else to do what you do less well, and manage the employees.

Given your financial situation, I suspect the latter is not a viable option, so do the former.

 

[Scubadog]

Thanks, Ian, I don't deny that I've struggled to manage the team but it would be great to know where you feel I have lacked, as lack of management is a pretty broad term and I appreciate your feedback but I'm not entirely sure what more I can do besides the following:

- Having regular 1-2-1's every 2-weeks with staff members
- Having regular team meetings to discuss projects
- Encouraging staff members to upskill themselves through paid training courses
- Increasing wages in line with the business revenue
- Providing result-driven incentives for the staff members

Am I missing something?

Thanks

None of this is motivating staff. You are wrong to thi k increasing salaries is a motivator....it is not. In fact it actually acts as the opposite. Once they have had a pay rise, they are happy for a few months, then get used to it. In a years time, theg will be demotivated again.

Your problems are your own mismanagement. Why have you so many staff amd so many apprentices? Who hired them? Who gave them the roles? Who manages their tasks? That is the person who is to blame....not the staff!