E287: “The Efficiency Expert” – Jeff Finney Interview

Jeff owns and runs his own wood-working business, which he started in his garage and quickly grew to over 60 employees. He began to evaluate his growth, wondering how he could make better use of his time after a few years. The observations he made about his processes, both as a CEO and as a boss, had him realize that the lessons he learned could be transposed to every business, and help more than just the people in his industry.  One of his mantras is that once you see waste, you can’t unsee it. His life’s work is about teaching people how to run their businesses where they won’t burn out or lose passion for the initial seed of inspiration that got them started in the first place.     KEY TAKEAWAYS- listen to your trusted wing-people about your direction as a business owner. Sometimes they can see things that you can’t.  Delegation can save you time and make you money.  What does your business look like when you’re not in it? That’s its value. If you can start thinking about how it would run without you, then you can see where its strengths and flaws are. Even the things you “have to do” to run your business can become “want to”s. The more “want tos” you have in your business, the more successful you will be. If you don’t have many, you can rethink how and why you are in the business you are in. BEST MOMENTS - “It’s better to do one thing at a time, all the way through those five steps, 100 times, rather than doing it 100 times through each step.  You’ll end up being significantly more efficient at the end of the day.”  “A vision is such a great start because it’s your ‘yes/no’ to every question that comes along. ‘Should we take this contract? Yes or no’, ‘does it get us closer to our vision’…it’s a four-step process once you get your vision, you figure it out, you start delegating…. then working on (the) automation steps that are redundant, then looking at the value of your business…that’s where I need to put your focus.” “There’s something about being an educator…I like being that guy (that other people come to for advice). If the book’s changed someone else’s experience, then it’s made the past two years worthwhile.” “We go through a lot of products…and that product being on our balance sheet all the time is cash. As soon as you cut it up, it doesn’t have a lot of value. That grey area there between the beginning and the end, (we want to make that shorter).”  ABOUT THE GUEST   Jeff Finney is the owner and CEO of Ultimate Cabinets and has over 15 years in the woodworking manufacturing business. Starting out in his small garage, Jeff independently grew his company into a business of 60 employees with a combined 55,000 square feet of manufacturing space. He helps other entrepreneurs regain control of their business and life.In 2018, Jeff was honored as a Woodworking Network 40 under 40 in the wood industry. He is a feature writer for the Woodworking Network. He has also published articles in both Surface and Panel and FDMC Magazines. He co-hosts The Push Thru Podcast.Jeff lives in Oklahoma with his wife and their three children, where he enjoys playing golf in between his kids’ sporting events.        CONTACT METHODThe Push Thru website https://www.thepushthru.com/Listen to the Push Thru on Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-push-thru-podcast/id1330417965 Push Thru on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pushthrupodcast/Ultimate Cabinets https://www.ultimatecabinetsok.com/ ABOUT THE HOST  The ‘Mighty Pete Lonton’ from the ‘Mighty 247’ company is your main host of ‘Fire in The Belly’.  Pete is an entrepreneur, mentor, coach, property Investor, and father of three beautiful girls. Pete’s background is in project management and property, but his true passion is the ‘Fire in The Belly’ project itself. His mission is to help others find their potential and become the mightiest version of themselves. Pete openly talks about losing both of his parents, suffering periods of depression, business downturn and burn-out, and ultimately his years spent not stoking ‘Fire in the Belly’. In 2017, at 37 years of age that changed, and he is now on a journey of learning, growing, accepting, and inspiring others. Pete can connect with people and intuitively asks questions to reveal a person’s passion and discover how to live their mightiest life. The true power of ‘Fire in The Belly’ is the Q&A’s - Questions and Actions section.  The ‘Fire in The Belly’ brand and the programme is rapidly expanding into podcasts, seminars, talks, business workshops, development courses, and rapid results mentoring. CONTACT METHOD https://www.facebook.com/mightypetelonton/ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/mightypete https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/ Support the show: https://www.facebook.com/groups/430218374211579/