Jeff has spent nine years building his equipment dealership from scratch. He started it right out of college in Nebraska, and the numbers show real progress. The company has done more than $53 million in lifetime sales and is on track to finish this year with just over $8 million in revenue.
But recently, success hasn’t been the problem.
The problem is that once a quarter, everything seems to fall apart.
Jeff, who called into “EntreLeadership” with personal finance expert Dave Ramsey recently, said that a few weeks before, he walked into work on a Monday and realized he was the only one there. One employee had pre-approved time off. The second one had a grandchild who was sick, the third one had a family emergency involving a car wreck, and the fourth was dealing with ongoing family issues.
“It was a perfect storm,” Jeff said.
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Instead of working his normal 10-hour day, he worked 16. He went home exhausted and admitted he was “a complete grump” with his wife and kids. And it wasn’t the first time. He said this kind of full-team absence happens about once a quarter.
Ramsey had a straightforward response.
“Once a quarter is untenable,” he said. “That tells me that coming to work is not a high priority.”
Jeff pushed back, explaining that most of the absences were legitimate, things like doctor appointments, sick kids, family emergencies. But Ramsey said the issue isn’t whether the reasons are real. It’s whether the business can survive them.
“I’m going to turn up the heat,” Ramsey said. “You can’t leave me in here by myself. Your lack of planning at home does not constitute a crisis on my part. Constitutes a crisis on your part.”
In Ramsey’s view, small teams don’t have the margin for repeated absences. If someone can’t reliably show up four out of five days a week, the job may not be a fit, even if they’re excellent when they’re there. “You have to be at work if you want the job,” Ramsey said.
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Ramsey encouraged Jeff to hold a staff meeting and reset expectations.
“We’re not doing this anymore,” he suggested Jeff tell the team. “The purpose of having a team is to have a team.”
He emphasized that in a five-person company, nobody gets to say, “It’s not my job.” Everyone answers phones. Everyone helps customers. Everyone shows up.