Instead, let me tell you a story. Almost 20 years ago, I moved to Virginia on a whim. Didn't know anyone there, but I fell in love with 15 acres in the country and off I went.
It was an adventure to say the least! Now I always believe in having the right tools for any job. Since I had three acres to mow, of course I bought a John Deere riding tractor -- gosh I loved that thing! So much fun to mow the yard.
And I bought Snake Away, a granule product to help keep the snakes out from under my house (the mountain that was part of my 15 acres was called Rattlesnake Mountain and for good reason).
That Snake Away is a whole other story, but let it suffice to say that before you use it, you should make sure there are no snakes already under your house, lest you, like me, will one day find a 4' long snake skin in your front yard headed away from the footings of my home.
But the one thing I got that I couldn't wait to use was a small snow blower. I was so excited about that thing and was eager for the first good snowfall. Finally, the snow fell and my driveway was covered! Yay! Time for the snowplow!
I took it outside, fired it up and started to push it -- only to have it throw rocks and snow everywhere!! That snow blower was like a catapult -- wham, bang, crash! You see, my driveway was gravel and it didn't occur to me that trying to pick up snow from gravel would also pick up said gravel. Egad!
Thankfully I lived about 30 minutes outside town in the country with no neighbors nearby so my mortification over being so stupid was fairly personal (until now).
The point of sharing this story is that you must always have the right tools for the job and you must give ample thought to determining just exactly what the right tools for any job are.
As we told you at the end of the last year, we have been in the midst of re-structuring and adding new software features to further enhance our efficiencies.
For those of you who might not know, the software system we use is called Essential Elements™ and it is a data collection system I created specifically for Executive Errands®.
I am not a coder so I didn't actually write the code itself, but all the logic, the designs, the reports and features are mine. For some reason, I have a knack for seeing 'into' software, how it works and can see the logic in my mind. That makes it easy for me to write technical specs that allow our programmer to create all the magic we have in place today.
The first version of Essential Elements™ went live in 2007 and we barely had any functionality other than to collect and track time but over the years we have added more and more features that allow us to do our job for you efficiently and with an ever-present objective to keep admin-type work to a minimum.
All data is there and has been since the beginning. Plus we employ management by exception reporting tools; wherein, using Pareto's 80-20 philosophy, we can quickly determine where opportunity lies for process improvements.
As I write this, I can feel the familiar excitement that wells up whenever I think about creating new logic or features for our employees to make their jobs easier and for our clients who benefit both personally and financially from ever-increasing simplicity in reporting.
Creating this software is one of my life accomplishments of which I'm most proud. Essential Elements™ allows us to track everything accurately and in perpetuity. And not only us, but many other company owners around the country who license the software from us!
Along with new software features, we have added new (or updated) our policies and procedures with several more coming this year. And we also created an abbreviated training video to show potential clients and new employees how we do our home checks.
Our video is called "Follow the Wall" and is about 10 minutes long. While it doesn't give all the details of what we do; it does explain our process for checking homes and how we do our data collection (in Essential Elements™ of course).
Take a look! Click Here to see our Follow the Wall training video. Robin (featured in the video) is my right hand person. She is our Senior Concierge with five (5+) years' experience with Executive Errands®.
Part of our restructure is to transition most of Robin's Ironwood clients to Jennifer so Robin may focus on training, audits, special projects and office support.
We are very excited about 2020. Already we have scheduled several speaking engagements to share our services with others.
If you would like us to come speak to your group, please call us at 760.898.9604 or if you are not yet a client but would like more info about our absentee home care, our rental support services, remodeling or errands, please call or email us
and we'll set up an appointment to discuss your needs.
Remember always use the right tool for the job. When it comes to caring for your home, Executive Errands® is the right tool for your job!
