The year is flying by and you notice this the older you get as for some reason time speeds up it seems or that is what it feels like. Today I realized we are already on Wednesday and I know that means literally one more day to get things done before the weekend as Friday is a write off for any meetings with new clients. Trying to grow a new business is never easy and the challenges are the setting up of the meetings to meet new clients and they set the dates and I can promise you now it is never a Monday or a Friday when they agree to meet you.
If you actually work out a normal business week in South Africa no one really wants to see you on a Monday as they are catching up work that they should have done on Friday or has come in over the weekend. Then they do not want to see you on a Friday as this has already for some reason been written off as the warm up to the weekend and now work they should be doing is now shifted on to the Monday. There is no work ethic and we have lost two days of the week without even realizing this.
You do start to wonder how much work is getting done as for most Friday is a day of leisure and the rush hour traffic homeward bound starts at around 2pm and not the normal 5pm. This is something I had never really paid attention to before and this is definitely something that has started in the last 5 years. We used to cook something at work on the last Friday of the month for the staff which meant a simple barbecue that was appreciated as a thankyou for their work efforts for the month but we never finished or knocked off early.
You are literally left with doing all your business on a Tuesday, Wednesday and a Thursday which is basically a 3 day week for visiting new clients. The old existing clients is easy as they already know me and I will arrive whenever and say hello, but that is not growing the business and more about maintaining what you have via a closer relationship.
Currently I have 4 possible new clients I have to go and see and cannot see them tomorrow and knowing Friday is a waste of time along with Monday. They may see you but you will not have their full attention span so it has to be Tuesday being the earliest day available. I guess you learn this over time and find out through trial and error and a little common sense.
Most companies I know have meetings with the staff either on Mondays or Fridays and their focus is no longer on whatever you are going to pitch to them. Tomorrow being Thursday will be all about making appointments for next week avoiding Monday and targeting Tuesday or Wednesday incase any new client opportunity pops up between now and Friday.
Trying to cram as many meetings as possible over the 3 days is not exactly great and it is no wonder the weeks are flying by and you seem to not get much done and feel kind of deflated. I have lots going on I guess and from running an existing business and building and growing a new one that takes much more time and 3 days is just not enough. This is going to take a good 12 months to get this packaging business established with only 3 days a week to see new clients.