“I don’t want any employees,” remarked a plumbing contractor to me in a trade show. “They’re all problems. I don’t want any problems.” Is this you? If so, maybe you should rethink.

Decades ago, after starting a national contractor franchise organization, I took a call from a contractor who received one of my marketing pieces. I quickly discerned that he wasn’t interested in a franchise. He was lonely and just wanted to talk, to pass on a lesson he learned the hard way.

The Need to Grow

The contractor was calling me from bed. He was difficult to understand because his jaw was wired shut. He told me his story. He was a happy single truck operator. He made enough money from his “business” to pay the bills and live a modest life with his wife. His kids were grown and gone. He was content. Then, the accident happened.

The accident was a bad one. The contractor’s van was totaled. His truck stock was scattered. He was in bad shape and rushed to the hospital. When he emerged, he couldn’t work. He was bedridden, recovering. Medical bills (he didn’t have health insurance) and the inability to work quickly depleted his meager savings, forcing his wife to go back to work to earn enough money for them to survive.

His company was gone. He couldn’t run calls so competitors served his customers. After that, they became his competitors’ customers. Even when he recovered enough to work, he would be starting from scratch, rebuilding everything when he was long past the youthful enthusiasm he possessed when he started.

His outlook wasn’t great. Too late, he realized that if he had hired people to work for him, he might still have a business and an income stream. While he didn’t say it directly, he message to me was, “Help contractors grow. Help them to see the need to grow. Don’t let them end up like me.”

Working for Me, Inc.

I’ve never forgotten that phone call. It’s haunted me through the years. I remembered it when I started my next company and was operating it by myself.

“Me, Inc.” was fun. There was freedom because there was no boss. I could set whatever hours I wanted. I could take off any afternoon I wanted, but I couldn’t take off any week. And, remembering that contractor, I knew that “Me, Inc.” was selfish. I had a family. What would happen to them if something happened to me? Growth was always in my plan, but memories of that phone call added urgency to grow.

When the plumbing contractor at the trade show told me he didn’t want any employees because he didn’t want any problems, I didn’t try to persuade him different. After all, few creatures in this world are more stubborn than a plumber whose mind is made up. I did comment, “Well, I hope you’ve got great insurance.”

“Whaddya mean?” he replied.

“What’s going to happen to your family if you get in a serious accident tomorrow and you can’t work for six months?” I asked.

“Aw,” he replied. “I don’t think like that.”

He should. You should. The perils and risk of “Me, Inc.” never abate. The challenges employees represent never let up either, but there’s a bonus that comes from building a team.

Growth Means Freedom

It’s hard work to build a good team. It takes years. You may run through a lot of oysters before you find the pearls, but they’re out there. When you build a team of them, there will come a day when you realize, you not only don’t have to do it all, you only have to do what you enjoy. You can delegate or hire people to take on most of the tasks you don’t like. If you grow to that point, chances are strong that you will have a business that can run without you. That’s true freedom.

When you build a business that can run without you, not only do you have the freedom to take off any afternoon you want, you can take off for a month at a time. Plus, you will have financial security and the likelihood of a lucrative exit, selling to a competitor or private equity.

Of course, you may be one of the stubborn plumbers who refuses to grow. If that’s you, please get some good insurance to protect your family.

CONTRACTOR Magazine named Matt Michel one of the “18 Most Influential People in the History of the Plumbing/Hydronics Industries.” After taking his own exit, he spends his time, writing, speaking, and ranching. He is the author of “Contractor Stories” and “The Business Exit Roller-Coaster,” both available on Amazon. He can be reached at [email protected].