I just got off the phone with our friend. We agreed it would be best to keep the family business closed at least part of the week next week in honor of his dad. Monday he’s going to start trying to convert everything over to the computer so he can keep both a digital and paper copy of all records.

I told him I’d be more than happy to help him do all that, and we’ll get everything setup properly. There is 1 filing cabinet that contains all the business records, so after we decided how he wants to do things he’s going to have me do both a database entry and a scan of each record.

I’m going to try to help him keep this business up and running in every way possible. He’s the 3rd generation to take over, and he’s putting his all into it. He just took over at a time when he definitely wasn’t prepared. He’s going from being out in the field to running everything, and he’s scared to death.

I’m going to give him all the time he needs to death with the loss of his father, then I’m going to give him a list of things I would consider doing on top of pushing the office into the 21st century. For example I’m going to suggest setting up some type of employment metrics system that would evaluate his workers on a quarterly basis to make sure they’re doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. I don’t know, it’s just a thought, but I think it’s something that would definitely help keep his business on top. Your business is only as good as your employees.