Have you ever heard the expression “inspect what you expect” before?

It’s an expression you may want to write down and post on your computer screen, on your calendar or leave on your desk because it could cost you tons of moolah if you forget it.

Let me explain why…

Can you see that no matter what business you’re in, ultimately you’re going to have to work with other people to create sustainable success?

I mean let’s face it….nobody can build a business all by themselves…

Well, if you’ve worked with people before, and I assume you have…then you can probably appreciate that this means that there is fertile ground for misinterpretation, misunderstanding or unfortunately even misrepresentation of vitally important information.

I am going to share a story with you right now that illustrates why you are going to want to make “inspecting what you’re
expecting” a part of your daily business discipline.

This goes whether you opt to hire your own employees, retain contract labor, or outsource to a growing network of ‘virtual assistants’.

Once you have delegated a task, it is essential that you monitor the performance of the task to make sure that it is done on schedule and meets the required level of work quality.

Consider this….

Have you ever had your house painted?

If not, then just play along with your imagination for now…

If you hired a painter to paint your house and the guy shows up to do the job without a ladder, a brush or a drop cloth….and you allow him to do the job anyway….should you really expect to get a quality result?

Of course not!

I know it’s a silly illustration….but believe it or not, I see business owners do what is basically the same thing each and every day….

They leave vitally important matters in the hands of employees or contractors and don’t monitor the results.

Remember, delegation is NOT abdication.

As the business owner you are still responsible for the ultimate results of a delegated task.

You must stay on top of it.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been tripped up by this one.

I am ashamed to admit that I have had what seems like countless instances in which I’ve neglected this vital success principle.

Some even recently….

And every single time I have, it has cost me…and cost me dearly.

Now, you can probably already tell that I am not very skilled technically.

So you may also be able to appreciate that it can be hard for me to effectively assess a technicians ability to do a job I need done.

I mean, I don’t know what most of these folks are even saying half the time and I don’t understand the rest.

So, while it’s clear that I have to hire contractors to do the technical work I need done, knowing what to expect when I inspect is a big challenge.

Well, the story goes that some years ago I had hired a contractor to do some technical work for me.

The person I hired spoke confidently of his ability to deliver what I needed for this particular project throughout the review process.

He knew what he was talking about.

He was able to complete a test scenario I gave him acceptably.

His references checked out.

So, I hired him.

I provided him the information he needed to get the job done and got him underway.

A day or so later he called me to tell me he had completed work and that the system was ready to go.

As busy as I was at the time and trusting that he knew what he was doing I asked just a few clarifying questions and satisfied with the answers told him to go ahead and launch the system.

I paid his invoice and went on about my business.

Well, everything was churning along just as planned.

Before long I was paying pretty good money to accelerate lead generation and was driving a fair amount of prospective customer traffic to the application he had deployed for me.

Each week at my invitation he would attend my project review meeting and report what sounded like very favorable results for the system.

Everything seemed like it was going along fine.

The numbers were good….I did not see any support tickets related to the system….

All’s well, right? (I wish)

One day, months into the project, I had a little extra time on my hands so I started poking around in the system…..

What I found ……What I found was…..(Uhhhhhhhhh, just recalling this story is making me feel ill….)

What I found was that the system had NOT been built and deployed properly at all!

While the numbers being reported appeared as we had expected, in fact better than expected, they were in fact all wrong.

In a panic I checked and rechecked the system.

Each time it confirmed my greatest fears.

I called others on the team and had them do the same.

As they reported back to me I had a sinking, sickening feeling growing in the pit of my stomach and I recall that the back of my head began to ache with a stabbing pain.

In the end, here is what I was able to confirm:

I had been paying significant sums of money for months and months and to my dismay I discovered I had been, in effect,
sending my most qualified and interested prospects some-place into cyberspace…..never to be heard from again.

Oh my gosh….what a nightmare…

Now…whether my contractor knew this or not is a matter of some debate.

I prefer to think he didn’t but frankly it is of no real consequence at this point…Money lost is money lost….

What’s important here is the learning opportunity for you.

Whether he was deceiving me intentionally or not, in the end the responsibility for this horrendous outcome was ultimately and solely mine.

Why?

Because it’s my business and I’m the one who did not “inspect what I expected” of my new contractor.

The entire mess was really my responsibility.

It could have been very easily avoided had I just taken the time to verify his work.

I should have ‘inspected’ what I ‘expected’.

In this case my failure to follow this simple little tenet cost me thousands upon thousands of dollars and an immeasurable volume of lost financial opportunity.

The good news is that I had this experience so you don’t have to.

As I said as I opened the story, I am embarrassed to say that have too many stories like this one to share from my experiences.

And….

This is just one of hundreds of similar pitfalls you’ll want to avoid as you work to create your perfect business.

In ThePerfectBizFinder Program I’ve consolidated nearly 4 decades of experience and learning along with many of the techniques and timeless success methods I’ve learned from my success mentors….many of whom are among the most successful people in industry today.

It is my commitment, my mission, to help you create the lifestyle and financial rewards you expect with your business.

ThePerfectBizFinder Program is how I’m fulfilling on that commitment.

If you want to know how you can find and create your perfect business without breaking a sweat…

If you want to know how you can have me, with all the learning compiled from nearly 4 decades of experience right by your side helping you avoid the traps and pitfalls.

Then go here to learn more:

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Check it out and let me know what you think.

I am standing for all that is possible for you in life and business.

Sincerely,

Steve