Snow Day

In most of the U.S., it has been a cold January. We are all bundled up against the weather, the employment news, and the general malaise. Everyone seems to be down in the dumps -everyone except the kids.

Think back to that joyous feeling of a snow day. You wake up late then start to make plans to go out with your friends to sled, skate, or snowball fight. It always amused me that the school thought it was too severe for the kids to wait at the bus stop on these days. Then, the kids all spend 8 hours outside playing. Ah, the innocence of youth.

So, what lessons can we learn for our businesses from the snow day? It seems like businesses these days are acting like the parents on snow days. We are all worrying about how to deal with the unexpected. Instead of daycare, hot chocolate supplies and “Mom where are my mittens,” we are worrying about backlog, quoting activity and cash flows. Sure, every responsible manager needs to be conservative these days. Activity is slowing and the global slowdown is catching up to North American commercial glazing. We do need to think like the snow day parents.

However, I propose we need a little of that kid attitude.

Call your friends to see who can play. That can translate to more outbound phone and email outreach to current and prospective prospects and partners. Can your business provide more value by linking your skills and experience with another company possessing complementary abilities? Like the successful snowball team has fort builders and strong throwers, your glazing business might benefit from partnering with different subcontractors to present a united front to a GC. The first step is calling someone.

Trying a new game. Never tried to ice skate? Kids just get out there and fall on their butts laughing the whole time. It is scary and might hurt a little, but stretching your product offering can be liberating and profitable. You might try to expand into some interior applications, panel, solar or decorative.

Warm up back at home by the fire. Some snow days it is a luxury to sit around the house and just enjoy being with your family. In business, these times provide the chance to look around your operation and see what might need to be improved and changed. Does your shop scheduling need some tweaking? Are all the players in your operation the best available (especially given the number of good people out of work)?

After all, you might get a runny nose, cold toes, or a sore butt from those snow day games, but it sure is exciting.