When you start a new career as a driving instructor, it is quite natural to focus your attention on what you believe is the most important aspect, the provision of driving training. And yes, that direct interaction with your pupils is undoubtedly important but there are many other aspects to running a successful driving school business. 

When new ADI’s read this, they might under-estimate the significance and sometimes even ignore the advice; thinking it won’t happen to them. And for those business owners, it can be a long, hard experience to realise what they do not appreciate and then discover ways of preventing the issue(s) from having too harmful an impact on the business. 

The two most harmful impacts that occur affect the finances of the business and your time.  

Naturally enough, if we were referring to a leaking hosepipe, or perhaps a poorly insulated window, our minds would place great emphasis on this, and you can reliably predict that those problems would get resolved fast. No-one likes to see water being wasted, or contemplate heat being lost from the house. No one likes to see waste. Morally, most people are disgusted to see wasteful practices. Especially when they can be avoided. 

But with a business, it is not always obvious precisely how the finances are being negatively impacted, and the solution to the problem can be difficult to implement.  

The systems, processes and workflows that your business utilises will directly influence the efficiency of the business.   

The business can lose cash, customers, resources, reputation, efficiency and the output of the business becomes less meaningful. A new business owner would ignore this at their peril for fear of becoming part of the statistic of failed new businesses.  

Joining the BIG TOM franchise means that you don’t have to wait until these horrible outcomes begin to arise – they can be averted. This will reduce issues that cause a headache. There is the reassurance of having protection around your business – to maximise performance. It really isn’t necessary to learn this lesson the hard way. By being proactive you will prevent lost revenue and save many hours that you can choose how you want to invest your time. 

If it helps to provide some context, consider how we attempt to increase safety for our pupils as they navigate rural roads. We teach them about the use of “limit points” to help them judge the severity of the bends. We inform them of the consequences of overloading a tyre with changes in speed and direction. They will be asked to consider the different types of hazards that you can expect to encounter on those rural roads. Emphasis is made of the relationship between less vision and lower speeds. They will be given the chance to practice driving on country roads in the day and night, on wet roads, where they may come across horse riders, cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, tractors. There will be a range of severity of bends to develop the skill of judging the correct speed on the approach. 

When they receive this advice and develop those skills it will ultimately be their choice as to whether they heed the warning. They clearly don’t HAVE to experience losing traction on a bend, overturning the vehicle in a ditch or hitting a tree to recognise the significance of the training given.  

And so it is with a new business owner. You really can affect how well your business performs; you don’t have to wait to experience the downside(s) before joining the BIG TOM franchise.