100% of my current clients own more than one funeral home, and 50% also own businesses that are not funeral homes.
The best example is a client in a small town in North Carolina. When we started working together six years ago, he owned…
- Two funeral homes
- A discount cremation business
- A pet cremation business
- A casket distributor
- An engraving company using AP Lazer
- An insurance agency
- Multiple rental properties
Over the years, he’s sold some of those businesses and bought others.
Some of my other clients own…
- Monument companies
- Limousine rentals
- Restaurants
- Movie theatres
- Banquet halls
- Gourmet chocolate store
- Self-storage facilities
- Landscaping companies
- And more
You could chalk it up to a bad case of the entrepreneurial spirit, but that would only be part of the story. The reality is that my clients, and Funeral Business Builders in general, see opportunities everywhere and are biased toward taking action.
At the most basic level, business is about solving problems at a profit. You don’t have a sustainable business if you can’t do that.
Funeral Business Builders see opportunities everywhere because they see problems everywhere. But rather than complaining about a problem, they turn it around and ask themselves, “how can I start a new business out of solving this problem?”
Families need a low-cost cremation service they can trust – start a discount cremation business.
Your families ask about receptions, but you don’t have space- buy a banquet hall.
Your part-time groundskeeper wants more hours than you need at the funeral home – start a landscaping company.
Where some people see problems, Funeral Business Builders see opportunities. There is certainly no shortage of problems in the world which means there is also no shortage of opportunities if you know where to look.
Another character attribute possessed by all Funeral Business Builders is their bias toward taking action. Of course, this is true whenever they see a new business opportunity, as I discussed above. But it is also true in all aspects of their life.
I’ve never met two funeral home owners who were exactly the same. Instead, I’ve met some who were humble, some who were arrogant, some who were passive, and some who were overly aggressive.
That said, there is one thing that every successful funeral home owner (aka Funeral Business Builder) has in common; They have a bias toward action.
They don’t let ideas die on the vine. Instead, they take action.
That doesn’t mean they are constantly chasing new ideas. Instead, it means they evaluate an idea, weigh the merits, and make a plan for moving forward if it makes sense.
That might mean they pursue the idea right away, or they might add it to a list of projects to complete in the future. Either way, they’ve taken some form of action before the idea dies on the vine.
Seeing opportunities everywhere and being biased toward taking action are two characteristics possessed by every Funeral Business Builder. Here are a few tips for developing those attributes.
Tip #1 – Look for changes
If you want to see more opportunities, look for problems that need to be solved.
If you want to see the problems, look for changes. It could be a new government policy, a global pandemic, or a competitor who wants to retire. Changes often create problems that create opportunities.
For example, one of my clients learned that a large historic home was being rezoned from residential to commercial, so he bought it and turned it into a reception hall. The change was the rezoning, the problem was a historic home that needed work, and the opportunity was to create a reception hall.
Tip #2 – Create action lists
My clients are always coming up with new ideas for us to consider. I always tell them there’s no such thing as a bad idea; there’s just bad timing.
All ideas go onto one of three lists.
Do it Now – these are the ideas we can take action on now, don’t distract from our current strategy, and might even help accomplish our goals sooner.
Do it Soon – these ideas have merit, but we don’t have the time or resources to implement them now.
Parking Lot – these are ideas that may or may not have merit, but we don’t want to lose track of them. That’s why we put them in the parking lot.
One of my clients has often considered starting a discount cremation business. This idea has been on his parking lot list for years. Periodically, we revisit the idea and decide if it’s time to move it to another list.
Cultivate your ability to see opportunities everywhere by looking for changes in the world around you.
Cultivate your bias for action by managing your ideas with three lists. Always remember, there is no such thing as a bad idea, just bad timing.
If you are a funeral home owner who sees opportunities everywhere and is biased toward taking action, reach out to me, and let’s grow your business!
Until next time
John
