You want how many more changes?
Normally you’d expect to read about photography, strictly photography on our blog, but today we’re going to touch upon something different – the business. The staff that you hire, the clients you serve. In this day and age, the hiring process has changed just as much as the delivery of products and services. We used to go through the local newspaper and see what job openings were available, or post in our local papers when looking for someone to fill a job opening. In the age of the Internet almost all job postings and applications are done online, without putting a face to the name, until the candidate is called for one. The process takes longer than ever, and the same applies to getting clients. Neither the employer nor the potential job seeker has time to waste; the digital age has enabled both sides to be more selective in who and where they place their ad and ultimately, who gets past the digital barrier and into a real conversation… then hopefully a face-to-face meeting.
What about those who circumvent that new process? It can go one of two ways: you can gain a great, diamond-in-the-rough employee or a grateful client for whom it will be worth it to you in the end, or suffer immeasurably lost opportunity cost, enough to end operations altogether.
I have a friend; let’s call her “Jenny.” She was hired by a company to help them grow. Jenny has more than the skills, education, and real world experience to get the job done, and she has done so, far beyond the company’s expectations. In the 6 months she was with the company, she grew it from a little, unnoticed fish in a big pond to a prime-time player getting attention from big industry competition and authorities. Now that the company is getting bigger business and more media attention than they never knew possible, they want to get rid of her. “But why,” you ask? Because the CEO of the company made the decision to hire someone with no skill, experience, or or even the slightest grasp of the job itself, all because of a favor to a friend. We all have done and received favors; but is this good business decision?
Especially as a small-to-medium business owner, you have to make tough choices, particularly when it comes to “favors.” But keep in mind you are a business owner, be it a startup or an empire, and as the owner you need to make the best choices for your business and the people relying on you and your decisions. Favors to family and friends are too often well-disguised, and are really the keys to bad business and a quick road to failure. We do give discounts to friends and family when it comes to business but we have also learned the hard way where to draw the line in doing what we love versus doing what we love for free. It goes both ways; when it comes to doing favors for others, think of the asset that you are bringing aboard your staff just as seriously as you would ask yourself what you are willing to give away for free. As photographers, what we often thought were good deeds for friends quickly turned into the realization that we had been taken advantage of. While you’d expect paying clients to be the squeakiest wheels, it’s far more often those receiving the favors that take up the most resources, make the most complaints and, to add insult to injury, proceed to ask for even more “favors” when the original favor has already put the business in the red.
At this point, a business owner is in an even more difficult predicament than when the decision was initially made. Ask yourself these questions:
- If hired, will this person help or hurt the business?
- How much time will I have to spend babysitting or, worse yet, having someone else finish the job at even more cost?
- Am I really doing a favor for someone or being taken advantage of?
- Is this worth it in the end to bring someone on board with less skill and experience?
- How much value am I forgoing to provide this “favor?”
- How much time and money will I lose by passing up more qualified personnel to keep this unqualified person employed?
- How much time and money will I be losing in opportunity cost to provide products or services for free?
As Jenny prepares to leave that company, there’s another side to it. What value is the company losing? All the headway made over the last half of a year will be for naught as that new momentum in the company comes to a quick halt. So, in providing favors to a friend, family or colleague, ask yourself, will that person(s) reciprocate? Will the favor pay off in the end? Will they become a paying client when you’ve helped them get established enough to do so? Or are you hearing empty promises veiled behind flattery, only to realize later how much money, time and resources you could have gained by being a more realistic, pragmatic business owner?
In closing, when a friend, family member or fellow colleague asks you to hire or bring on someone they know as a favor, remember that it is ok to say no, or “I cannot at this time.” The same answer, word-for-word, also applies when it comes to giving away favors – be they as seemingly-simple as free consultation(s), waived session fees, print discounts, etc. Being afraid to say no can be the same as being afraid of protecting your success. The old adage “pay it forward” is just as true as “what goes around comes around,” but so is the saying “the road to ruin is paved with good intentions.” Will the person for whom you did the favors pay your bills or help you at all when your company comes to be in jeopardy?