Blaine on Business

Alternative Hiring Arrangements

When you are considering hiring someone, another option to think about, is do you really need to hire someone?  There are many other arrangements you can consider before hiring someone.

For instance you can outsource areas of work that are not central to your business. For instance in our business we provide web site design and graphic design services.  To stay in business we must make a profit and to ensure that we do that we need to properly bill for our services and make sure that we receive payments from our clients.  We must also pay our bills.  This is no doubt important to us, however that function is not directly key to us creating new business, so why not outsource it?  We started using another local professional firm to assist us with bookkeeping.

They invoice us for their services and we pay them.  If for some reason it doesn't work out in the future we simply tell them we are not going to use their services and we have no other obligation to them.  Additionally as our business changes we can work with the firm to have help whenever needed, be it weekly, monthly, or just as needed.  No overtime, and no twiddling of thumbs until something comes through the door.

The interesting thing about this, is it seems to make sense, however as a business owner it is something I resist because I believe I can do it myself. I don't have to pay another firm, and that is more money in my pocket, but at the end of the day, if I'm out doing what I do best – selling web sites and making them, then the business would be even stronger.

Another option to consider is strategic partnerships.  If you have a business that works in a specific sector of an industry then there are most likely other companies that work in the same industry, but perhaps a different sector or even just a different niche, or specialty service.  For example if you have a plumbing company that only does plumbing and nothing else, because you are the best at what you do, you could partner with a company that does electrical work.  Now when you have someone call and say they want a whirlpool tub installed you don't have to say well we can do the plumbing but you are on your own to find an electrician.  Now not only can you take bigger jobs, but you are also bringing a new sales force, because when someone calls your electrical partner asking for a quote because the plumber they are talking about doesn't offer electrical services the electrical company can refer them to you and in the end you sell more, and make your client happier.

We strive to make sure that we can meet all of our clients needs.  However at the same time we do not want to overextend ourselves by spreading ourselves too thin, or hiring full time staff for one time projects.  This is where partnerships are great.

The last option I'll mention is using a staffing agency.  While I have not personally used such a company for any human resources needs for my own company, I have heard both good and bad about them.  It seems like the best way to utilize this type of resource is when you have a job with a clear description and a well documented procedure for what to do.  I have been considering using an arrangement like this to do some of the clerical and routine marking tasks and if I do I'll be sure to update how it goes here.

Intellectual Property Legal Concerns

If you have a company that involves any type of intangible intellectual property then anytime you hire employees, or contract with independent contractors, or even have an unpaid internship program it is important to cover your bases in regards to intellectual property.

We use a basic contract that was provided by our attorney that outlines that anything an employee or contractor produces belongs to the company.

Some questions to think about though:

• If an employee is working on a project at the office, but then goes home and makes a breakthrough that can be patented, who owns the patent?
• If you hire a freelance graphic designer to create a custom mascot for your company who owns the copyright to that design?
• If your friend's nephew coins the tag line that you are going to use can you trade mark it?
• If an employee, after hours, using his own computer and tools makes an invention does the company have any rights to that?  What if it was directly related to what you were doing in the lab?  What if the employee used a laptop owned by the company?

The bottom line is no matter what your policy is, you don't want to have surprises.  So everything should be written out and clear to both the employer and the employee and/or contractor.

Resume Writing and Submission

No matter if we are looking for an intern, a part time position, full time, or a commission only sales person we deal with resumes on a daily basis.  Most of these are down right awful.

Some tips for anyone that wants me to read their resume, or items that other would be employers might want to check for as well:

1. Have a cover letter

2. If your cover letter is a form letter then forget it

3. Your cover letter is addressed to “Whom it may concern”.
We are a company of three people.  All of our names are on the web site.  If you didn’t spend 2 minutes to look on our web site and see what my name is then why should I even bother reading your submission?

4. Cover letter is focused on the applicant
While it is great you are telling me about you, I quite frankly don’t care.  I’m trying to run a business and make a profit.  99.9% of people talk about only themselves if they send a coversheet at all.  If you really want to get my attention on a cover sheet focus on talking about me and my business.  Tell me how you are going to help me.  Tell me how you are going to solve my problems and me money.  Convince me that I’m the right choice.

5. Employment Gaps
These always raise questions, however I’m usually pretty open and will at least meet with you to determine why there are gaps.  Many people tend to side on the more cynical side though.  When it comes to drug & alcohol abuse there is no place for that in the workplace and when there is even a hint of problems like that and there are numerous other applicants I can only assume that it doesn’t help your chances.

6. Your resume and/or cover letter should state your objective
I get many resumes that talk about the person’s work history at entry level jobs that are not related to my industry at all.  I would love to talk with you, but when I don’t even know if you are interested in a sales position or a technical position I probably won’t bother to ask you.

7. Answer my concerns
Hiring someone is going to have the single biggest impact on my business.  It is my business and thus I'm going to have many concerns for you.  The applicant that realizes this will tailer their writing to answer the questions I have and make me feel confident that I should choose you.

8. Be truthful
If your resume makes it to me and I like it and I do an initial interview with you and I still like what you have to offer I'm going to start doing fact checking.  I'm going to check everything you say in your resume.  I will call every institution you list you attended.  I will verify all memberships and associations you say you belong to.  If you are a volunteer I'm going to be sure that I can verify that you really did help with the weed pulling and leaf raking or singing to the people at the nursing home.  And while I love hearing that you helped Grannie make it across the street, if she says she doesn't know you when I ask about the event then you are not going to hear from me again.

9. Have good contact information
If you are going to give me your email address it should look nice.  If you give me a email address such as upInFlames@somefreeemailservice.com I'm going to have some concerns about you.  This happens a lot with applicants who are into computer and/or video games.  They will use an address with something like “bigguns” or “masterkiller” or other such made up non-sense.  While I really have no concern about your gaming habits, I would rather not know about them at all.  Especially in this day and age we live in this is a big no no, and not only will I not call you back, but if it came from a local university you can bet I'll be giving a heads up to their career office.

Internships offer Big Benefits to Small Business

As a small business owner you are going to be hiring people, and if you are a small company you are going to be doing most of the leg work yourself.  This is not an easy thing to do.  Being on the other side of the interview table I always wanted to be the boss doing the interviews, but now being on the other side myself I see that it indeed is not a walk in the park.

The problem seems simple enough.  When you company is increasing sales and it becomes apparent that you need additional help then you go out and try to find a new employee.  We started at the perfect time because we were able to partner with Purdue University Calumet and their great career services department.  Working with them and a grant program we were able to offer paid internships to Purdue Cal juniors and seniors.  Having an internship program is without a doubt the single best way to hire people.

The internships are setup with a fixed start and end date, usually a single semester.  If it works out they can come back for another semester or you can hire them.  On the other side if you don’t like their work you simply don’t offer them another internship.  In our experience people would usually leave right away if they didn’t like the job.

The other nice feature of the internship program is Purdue took care of all of the administrative headaches of payroll management by having standard contracts and treating the interns as independent contractors who were then paid a stipend.  This avoided us having to keep employee files on everyone and deal with the additional paperwork burden.

Internships though do require some additional work on your part.  Usually interns are looking at obtaining real world experience, and it is usually best if the intern is paired up to work directly with a mentor throughout the engagement.  The mentor is pivotal in the outcome of the program.  The mentor must be someone who is good at working with others and sharing knowledge and experiences.  You want to make sure that this person has a great personality that you would like the intern to pick up on and work towards, you don't want the intern to have to work with someone that you wouldn't want them to end up being like.

Human Resources Demystified

In any business the most important asset is the people that work in the company.  This could not be truer for service related businesses, where it comes down to people buying the services of other people.  Large businesses have the resources to dedicate a whole department to HR issues, however with small businesses we can’t afford to do that.  Additionally with the small amount of staff we have, each person is that much more critical.  I’m going to spend the next couple of days talking about some HR issues that I have experienced.

New Year Resolutions

On this the first day of 2008 I am resolving to finally take up blogging full time.  I am going to commit myself to writing something for this blog at least once per day for this year.

The blog is something I have been wanting to spend more time doing regularly, but everything else has been more important then this endeavor.  However I realize that for this blog to be useful to anyone I must be able to regularly add high quality content that goes beyond simple ramblings and offers visitors to this site genuine insight into issues related to other business owners.

So lets all raise a glass and cheer to a toast for a new year and a much better blog!  I'll have another post tomorrow...

Bugs can be features

Have you ever had a bad day?  A project gone south?  A home improvement fiasco?

Gretchen Rubin has a good write up on the art and science of "re-framing".  Great technique that I try to use when things happen that are not exactly great.  Even though at the outset it seems like one of those cheesy mind-over-mater things that sound good, but don't really work, I say so what.  If it makes you feel better then who cares how cheesy it may be.

The way it works is you take anything that isn’t how you want it to be, lets say you have too much work to do and not enough hours in which to do it.  That’s bad.  However if you think about all this work as meaning that sales are exceeding all expectations then this negative is spun into being a positive.

Of course I've always loved the extension of this re-framing concept by saying that software bugs are really just misunderstood features.

Client Expectation Management

Today I was reading through my email, trying to get my Inbox (down from 473 emails) and came across a reference to a blog post about managing expectations as a form of customer service. This really struck a chord with me because this is so important, but it is not often talked about. Whenever you hear about sales it seems like you should tell potential clients how your solution, service, or product will allow them to work the 4 hour work week, however once the sale is closed you must deliver.

With our services I always stress the value that we create. If we do not create value for our clients then we have failed, however at the same time we can't make our clients believe that we can make the world perfect for them either. There is a fine balance that must be achieved, like walking along a tight rope.

There is an old adage that I don't know where I first heard it from, but it has always stuck in my mind of "Under promise and over deliver". The way we usually handle this is through ongoing communication. We start with a rough estimate of a project and then as we proceed forward we are able to keep giving updates that have a smaller cone of uncertainty.

Meetings that Matter

When people think about meetings thoughts usually tend to be negative.  That’s because the majority of meetings seem to be a complete waste.  Many of the meetings I have been to I would leave more confused then when I came in four hours earlier.

Is a meeting really necessary?
Many times today we really don’t need a meeting.  If you have a quick question just call the person and instantly the issue is solved.  Even brainstorming sessions can sometimes be handled through the Web by using tools such as a wiki.  Brainstorming over a medium such as that has other benefits such as allowing people to think about the comments of others before adding your own thoughts.

Do the attendees really need to be there?
When a meeting is required to be held it's best to keep the amount of people attending to the bare minimum. As the saying goes, the more chefs in the kitchen, the less work that actually gets accomplished.  Sometimes the same people are always there because that is the way it has always been done.  Just because that was the way it was done in the past doesn’t mean it should continue.

Have an agenda
If a meeting is required, then an agenda should be used to outline what will be covered by the meeting.  Additionally it should be completed before the meeting and distributed to everyone that is going to be attending so they can be prepared.  This helps prevent problems in the meeting where people don’t have the required information available.

Set a time limit
Time box the meeting.  If it must go over then schedule another meeting with only the subset of people that will be needed for that specific item.

Record notes
Have someone take notes during the meeting and save them.  Ideally it should be posted on the internal company intranet so the people who need to see it can.

Those are my thoughts, if anyone else wants to add theirs I’m all ears. Perhaps we can even meet about it…

Space – The Final Frontier of Business?

I’m sitting here writing this entry watching coverage of the shuttle mission on NASA TV.  Space exploration for the last fifty years or so has been the realm of the government.Iin recent years though, the landscape seems to be changing towards the private sector.  Much like early flight seeing contests for R&D development and now seeing this in the space exploration sector is quite exciting to me.  Michael Griffin has a very well written piece on “Why Explore Space” that is a great read.

It makes me wonder what is the final frontier of business?

All I know is that when companies are starting to mine ore on the moon and beyond that I want to be creating cutting edge web sites that help market their ore here on Earth.