As an auto repair shop owner, you undoubtedly spend most of your day keeping things running right. You tend to your customers’ needs, first and foremost, while supporting your employees with their assigned tasks. By doing so, you keep the team completing their work on deadline while providing the highest quality of service to your clients. However, what falls by the wayside is the chance to work on your business rather than in your business. Thankfully, it’s easy to achieve balance by deciding to make appointments with yourself. Here’s what you need to know.
Why You Should Make Appointments with Yourself
As you handle your day-to-day operations, you likely have a handful of items on your to-do list that never get your attention. Everything from marketing and auditing phone calls to planning employee meetings and dreaming up new incentives all end up lost in the fray while you focus on bringing in the bacon. Despite your hard work in the shop, you might find yourself falling behind the competition as your marketing results, employee satisfaction, and other metrics hit rock bottom.
To avoid all that, you just have to make appointments with yourself – and it’s pretty easy to do. Just carve out at least one hour a week to step away and handle the tasks that generally stay out of sight, out of mind. You can even do the same for your endeavors, ensuring that you’re caring for every aspect of your life in a measured way.
How to Schedule Your Solo Appointments – and Stick to the Plan
With each day filled with managing your operations, putting out fires, and everything in between, you’re likely wondering just how to make appointments with yourself. Although it might seem like a big challenge, simply follow these steps to make it happen – pain-free.
1. Set Recurring Reminders
To make appointments with yourself and keep them, set reminders using your email, the clock on your phone, or even an app. Choose a day and time that will allow you to slip away for a bit without distractions.
You’ll only need about an hour a week for your solo meeting, although it could end up much shorter as you check off items on your to-do list. Just make sure that your reminders will recur at the same time and day each week, so you can keep making progress toward your goals.
2. Have an Agenda
Like with your employee meetings, you need a clear agenda whenever you make appointments with yourself. So, take a moment to jot down a few things that you’d like to get out of the way a day or two before the appointment.
For your solo meeting agenda, you might want to:
- Handle your marketing, like creating blog posts or engaging with clients on social media
- Review phone calls and plan upcoming meetings with the employees in question
- Audit a few repair orders and take notes on who to talk to about each section
- Reflect on your hiring needs and use Indeed to find new talent for your shop
- Write up your established policies and procedures for your employee handbook
You could even take the time to learn how to be the thermostat instead of the thermometer and set the right tone in your auto repair shop. The sky is truly the limit in how you want to use your time to work on your business.
3. Complete the Tasks
Once you have an agenda in mind, you just have to respond to the reminder about your appointment with yourself. Then, get busy working on the items in your agenda and watch your business blossom before your very eyes.
Be sure to track your progress as you go by checking each item off your to-do list. You’ll get a big bump in motivation seeing the things disappear off your schedule, making it even easier to keep your solo appointments in the future.
4. Reward Yourself
For even more motivation, reward yourself for a job well done. You could sign up for a tee time on the course, go to a movie, or simply plan a delicious dinner out with the family. Whatever you like to do, make it a priority to increase your drive to make appointments with yourself regularly.
Eventually, your commitment to your weekly solo appointments will reward you with better business growth and higher revenues. Your ability to work on your business goes hand-in-hand with working in your business to ensure you quickly hit your goals.
Need Help Seeing Why It’s Important to Make Appointments with Yourself?
Whenever you need a little extra support in working on your business, just reach out to your auto repair coach, Chris Cotton, with AutoFix Auto Shop Coaching. You can give us a call at 940-400-1008 or fill out the form on our website to schedule your call. Either way, we look forward to helping you achieve great success with your auto repair shop, so please feel free to reach out anytime.
Follow this link to listen to my “Are You A Thermostat Or Thermometer” podcast.
