I hope you enjoyed last week’s article about the things I learned on my family vacation. As a follow up, this week’s article is about one more thing I learned on our Idaho trip that I didn’t share last week. I held it back because I thought it was worthy of its own article, so here it is…
When I was having coffee with my long time friend, Bruce, he mentioned something that I found to be particularly insightful. It wasn’t new knowledge per se, but it was a valuable reminder of a concept that I should probably focus on more. Before I share the big takeaway, a backstory and a few little known facts:
Bruce has been savvy in business for the 30+ years I’ve known him. Back in the 1990s, anticipating the need for “baby boomer storage,” he purchased a number of mini storage buildings. He predicted a surge in the self storage industry and he predicted correctly. His multiple mini storage facilities have been a fantastic source of revenue for him over the last three decades.
Unless you are actually in the storage business, my guess is you probably don’t know much about it. I sure didn’t, but Bruce enlightened me. He told me that while most customers initially intend to use storage for just a few months, interestingly enough, most end up keeping their stuff in storage for many years.
Because of this, the majority of customers end up spending far more than they had anticipated. In fact, the cost of renting a storage unit often ends up being considerably more than the value of the contents being stored, and in most cases the contents don’t have sentimental value.
So what did I learn from my conversation with Bruce other than some interesting facts about the mini storage business? Bruce explained that every month he receives expense reports from the managers of every facility he owns. He meticulously goes through them line by line…but not for the reason you might think.
He said, “Greg, I pull out my red marker and go through the expense reports for one primary reason… minimum effort for maximum effect. I rarely ever find anything ‘wrong’ in the reports. Nevertheless, I typically underline one or two seemingly insignificant expenses with my red marker. It could be the cost of coffee, or the cleaning service. The variation in these expenses is usually minuscule, but I highlight them in red and ask my managers about them anyway. I want them to know I am watching the expenses and the way they manage my facilities like a hawk.
What happens as a result? My managers watch the expenses and everything else more closely, which I know generates more profits. It’s minimum effort for a maximum effect.”
Minimum effort for maximum effect. This really got me thinking. What are the things I am doing to leverage that concept in my business? While I used to have my hands in most every aspect of my businesses, I’ve learned over the years that the key to minimum effort for maximum effect is teaching others to do things better than me… and then watch closely how they perform. This gives me a bigger gain on less effort than doing it myself.
The concept of minimum effort for maximum effect can also be applied on a personal basis, and that’s where I should probably be more conscious of applying it. It’s become natural for me in business, but not so natural in my personal life.
For instance, tonight on the way home from the office I should stop at AJ’s to pick up flowers for Teresa. It will take five minutes. I’m sure the positive effect on her will be far greater than five minutes of my time. Minimum effort for maximum effect.
My dad, Chubby, used to tell me, “When you think something nice about somebody, tell them right away before you forget.” His point was that these kinds of thoughts are often fleeting and forgotten. It’s an opportunity with a quick call, or these days with a short text, to have a big positive effect on somebody’s life with very little time invested. Of course the complimentary, kind thoughts you express need to be genuine. As long as they are, you’ll likely make someone feel very good with very little time invested. Minimum effort for maximum effect.
Moving forward, I intend to keep what I learned from Bruce top of mind, especially when it comes to my personal life. Minimum effort. Maximum effect. Perhaps another way to look at it is…
Life ROI.
