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Archive for the ‘New Work Revolution’ Category
7 Components To Consider For The Next Contractor You Hire Friday, July 1st, 2011
For many businesses, mine included, third party vendors and contractors can be a huge asset. Also like many businesses, mine included, hiring the wrong independent contractor can have disastrous consequences for your business. Unfortunately, I have learned this the hard way more times than I would like to admit.
So now that you know about my failures, I am going to give you seven things to consider before you hire your next contractor.
Component #1: Only Hire People or Firms That You Absolutely Know Will Get The Job Done- This seems obvious right? Almost like a no brainer, until you get caught with your pants down and you need immediate help. Vetting a work relationship takes time but we had a situation at my consulting firm, The Business Blueprint, where we had more work than we could manage.
What did we do about this situation? We scrambled because we weren’t ready for it. We hired a couple of people that we thought would do a good job that we sort of knew but knew nothing about professionally. The end result? We got killed on those projects. Over-budget. Overdue. Client relationship ruined.
In hindsight, we should have turned the work down or set more realistic timelines for the project. Instead we went down the overly optimistic path to failure.
Component #2- Hire Locally. I know some people have great success with hiring overseas but it has never been that great for us. Our best vendor relationships are close to our area so that if we absolutely have to meet about something, we can do it quickly. The moral of this story is that it seems to be much harder to let someone down who you have looked in the eye and made a promise to.
Component #3- Do They Ask Good Questions?- What I have noticed in hiring vendors is that the great ones ask really good questions about the projects that they work on. Intuitive vendors and contractors see problems around the corner that maybe you don’t anticipate and this is because they are good at what they do. Be on the lookout for this as you screen possible vendors and contractors for your next project.
Component #4- Do They Have a Full Time Job?- There are a lot of contractors, especially in the creative realm, that moonlight on the side for others. There is nothing wrong with this but I have noticed that while some of these folks work great, a lot of them have difficulty managing time. Think about it this way. When a contractor who has a full time job has to decide between a project at work that pays the bills and your side project, what do you think they are going to choose?
Component #5- Set Firm Expectation- Set firm expectations for the relationship right up front. Don’t be loose with your agreements either. Make sure you have contracts with your contractors. Also make sure you have outlined all of the other expectations that range from fees to confidentiality.
Component #6- Remember that it’s a two-way street.- A great contractor/vendor relationship is dependent upon building a great relationship. That relationship is built upon solid communication. There have been a couple of times for us where a project got started on the wrong foot and it’s usually because we didn’t communicate need effectively. Don’t make the vendor/contractor have to figure everything out the hard way.
Component #7- Know when to walk away.- The country philosopher, Kenny Rogers, said this back in the early 80s about gambling. The same is true for relationships. My rule of thumb now is that if a vendor or contractor we hire is late on their first project, they are done working with us. There are a lot of contractors that don’t know how to get a project done on time. On the flip side, there are a lot of contractors who do. Don’t settle for mediocre people on your projects.
We have held on to people way too long in the past and we regretted it and at the same time learned a huge lesson about how to handle these situations in the future.
If you have been utilizing a lot of vendors and contractors for your business then you know that it can be a frustrating process to find great help. But great help is out there for you. You just have to know what you want and demand that you receive it.
What are some things that you have used to hire great contractors and vendors? I would love to add to this list.
Is Small Business The Key Job Growth Tool? Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
Is small business the key job growth tool in America? Many politicians will tell you that that’s where job growth starts. My answer to this question is yes and no.
What got me thinking about this topic this morning is an article I read on Market Watch on why we should stop worshiping small business as the savior to all of our job creation needs.
There has always been something humorous to me and many others about what is considered a small business. Business that generate 30+ million in annual revenue being considered small is nonsense. There is nothing small about that size of business. The argument has always been that small businesses create the most jobs when in reality this is not the case.
The Market Watch article talks about the fact that we need to focus on businesses of all sizes and make entrepreneurship the focus of where we need to create jobs.
This is where small business comes in as far as I’m concerned.
We are operating in an ever changing economy where unemployment is higher than it has been for some time and it’s not going to be improved through the use of past techniques that create temporary jobs. The way the economy is going to be changed and the way that people are going to be paid for the work that they do is going to center around entrepreneurship.
This New Work Revolution as I call it, will be centered around small business as many people will look and are already looking to starting a business to get themselves back into the work force. The concern will be around getting these new business owners the help they need to sustain a business and make it grow.
So is small business the key to job growth? The answer is no in that entrepreneurship is the real key regardless of business size. It’s also yes in that as people have been displaced from jobs many are looking towards small business to get going again.
If you are looking at starting a business or have a business that you need some help with a great resource for you in sustaining your idea is our coaching club. Check out our coaching club here: http://thebizblueprint.com/coaching-club/
Maybe You Should Quit Your Job Pt. 3 Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
So I was sitting at my home pulling up my e-mail and enjoying my weekend recently when I ran across yet another article on the state of the American worker. Newsweek is the most recent commenter on how American workers are fed up with the treatment they are receiving at work. Instead of trying to bend your large and inflexible corporation to your will, try this instead….quit.
That’s right the economy is apparently shit and I just told you to quit. Why would I do that? The reason for it is right in this article that Newsweek put out.
The article says that workers are becoming disillusioned with the state of the workforce. Here are some of the inspiration stats that the article has blessed us with:
- companies cut a higher-than-expected 131,000 jobs in July
- Much of the workforce has endured pay cuts, furloughs, and a loss of benefits.
- Eighteen percent of large companies recently surveyed by Towers Watson said they had cut or eliminated the matching money they contributed to employees’ retirement plans
- Companies have been slow to hire new workers, even though corporations, apart from financial firms, have $837 billion in cash, an increase of 26 percent since last year.
- Nearly 48 percent of Americans say they planned to look for a new job once the economy stabilizes.
- Roughly half of those surveyed say they no longer trust their companies or feel like they treat workers fairly
Doesn’t that sound great? I don’t think so either. The reality is that it is looking a whole lot better for large companies than it is for the average worker.
If you want more pay, benefits and respect then go where you are going to get it, on your own. The economy has changed the way the job market works and it’s never going to be the same. The article from Newsweek does in fact correctly state that the employment rate isn’t going to be coming down anytime soon.
The concept of quitting your job may cause you some anxiety but you don’t have to quit your job right away. You can start building your platform on the side and start telling the world who you are and how you create value for them to help your transition. Start thinking about what kind of products and services you could offer. Take a look at the kind of job you have and the company you work for and ask yourself what you would do differently with the company that would be better than what they are currently doing.
There is a work revolution going on out there and it’s time for you to look at how you can grow and do the work you were meant to do because chances are you aren’t doing it now and that’s a shame.
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