Pick the Number That Says the Whole Season Was a Win

The problem in one breath

You roll into the busy season with no target past "do more than last year," and you drift all summer chasing whatever's on fire that week. Come October you're wrung out and can't even say if you won — you just know you ran hard.

Why it happens

You've got this week's one number down — you run it in your number block every morning (Module 1, "Move One Number Before the Day Runs You"). But you never lift your head past the week. The season itself has no target, so every week just aims at the loudest fire. And you never climb down off the roof long enough to point the whole company at anything.

The play

Zoom the weekly habit out. One number for the whole season, set on a day you're off the roof.

1. Take one day a year off the roof. Block an actual day — the first slow week of winter is perfect. Look back: how'd you do against last season's number? What worked, what didn't? Then look forward. You can't aim the company while you're swinging a hammer, so get down off it for one day.
2. Pick one number — two at most. One business number that says the season was a win: dollars installed, callback rate, average job size, crews running. Maybe add one personal number. Not ten. The fewer you track, the harder each one pulls.
3. Write the number as the outcome, but write the moves as things you control. The number might be "$1.2M installed by October" — your own starting figure, not a rule. But every move under it has to be fully in your hands — "send eight bids a week," "hire two installers by June" — never "land the Henderson job." You don't control the customer's yes. Moves you control keep the season from stalling on somebody else's decision.
4. Get your foreman's number before you set yours. If you've got a foreman or a partner, have each one write down what he thinks the season's number should be. Then you pick. Hearing him out gets him behind it — but it's your call, not a vote.
5. Post it where everyone sees it, and check it weekly. The season's number goes on the wall. Glance at it during your number block so it steers this week's one number — otherwise it's forgotten by March.

Do this this week

Right now, pick a date for your day off the roof and put it on the calendar. Then text your foreman: come with your number for next season written down. That's the whole start — the date on the books and one other head in the game.

The tool

The season's one or two numbers — one card, posted where the crew sees it, glanced at in every number block:

+-------------------------------------------------+
|  THE SEASON'S NUMBER(S)         Season: _______ |
|                                                 |
|  LAST SEASON we said: _______  We hit: ________ |
|                                                 |
|  THIS SEASON the number is:                     |
|    ______________________  by  _____________    |
|  (a win = we hit this)                          |
|                                                 |
|  MOVES I CONTROL (not "land the ___ job"):      |
|    1. _______________________________________   |
|    2. _______________________________________   |
|    3. _______________________________________   |
|                                                 |
|  Posted where all can see:  _________________   |
+-------------------------------------------------+

If your crew is 1099

Setting the season's number is your own call — that part runs the same either way. One caveat on the moves: you can hand a season target to a W2 foreman and manage him toward it, but a sub lead isn't yours to steer that way — he runs his own crew under his contract. Ask a sub for his read as an outside opinion, but any move that leans on directing crews ("run three crews all summer") only holds for the men you employ; with subs it rides on their availability, not your say-so.