Category — Thoughts

In a meeting with a potential client today they told about their difficulties with their CMS vendor. “They don’t ride the same day they saddle the horse”, “Nothing happens when we approach them”, “Their new system is only a teenager” etc etc.

Man, wonder what would happen if I put on that attitude towards my clients? Well, I know - or I’m pretty sure I do: I would get a boot the size of Mt Everest in my behind and fly out through the door head first. And rightly so.

Then why doesn’t this happen to bigger vendors? Why can they get away with crappy customer service?

Even though you’re self-employed there’s no reason to dismiss the thought of ever wanting to be a part of something bigger again. It may be that you look towards returning to an ordinary job, or you may in fact be looking towards starting something thats just a little bit bigger than what you can manage on your own.

These days I’m thinking a great deal about the latter option. Yes, I’m thinking about starting a new, innovative and creative company together with some like-minded spirits. We have had the first couple of meetings, and we’re all basically agreeing on the idea, focus and overall strategy of the company. On top of that we have great chemistry and seem to intuitively know where we’re coming from, when we discuss issues.

I can not say anything about the company or its focus yet. And I don’t know if we will be moving the company along towards inception. But I do know that even though you’re self-employed, it always makes sense to keep your mind open towards opportunities that may present themselves. After all you can always say no.

One of the big risks of being self-employed is to become complacent and embroiled in ones own little world. A world where everything is fantastic, opportunities are endless and the idiots are all the people, who don’t understand how brillant you are.

That’s exactly why it is so important to have an outside perspective on things. Not only on the more personal matters but also on work. Where you are going with what you’re doing and why?

Pat Thornton of The Journalism Iconoclast says it’s “good to have non-wired friends”. And I agree totally. Because amid the passion and excitement it’s always good to have someone asking the hard questions.

To me these are my wife and to a lesser extend my mother. They are really good at it. And I’m profoundly grateful that they do it.

Finding new talent is hard. Its a cumbersome proces, and after reading Valeria Maltonis suggestions about job search evolving, I thought I wanted to offer my two cents on the subject.

As I see it there are a number of issues with recruitment today. The worst is the pain of having to advertise a position, wait for people to see the ad, apply and then come by for interviews before you can ultimately pick the person, you pray is going to be right for the job. It’s time consuming, stressful - and yes, a lot of pain.

At the very same time you have people being hired through friends or the friends of friends based on the merits of what they have achieved so far in their careers and (often) a personality that fits into the new org.

Well, why not look towards combining the two? Why not turn the process around and let people advertise themselves not only towards their network and networks network but to anyone looking for raw talent? Let them use Facebook, Twitter or whatever tool to hawk their qualifications, personality and drive. And think of an alert mechanism that will trigger these companies looking for talent into identifying people, who might fit the profile. It should all be well and possible.

The other day a survey showed that about half of all people employed by various companies put up and act, when they go to work in order to fit in with the people, the culture, the tasks etc.

I was a bit surprised, and it got me thinking about how little surprising it is that there are so many bad managers around, when they are in effect dealing with people who are not portraying themselves in a true way.

Then I started thinking about that if on top of this you add all the people who would go to great lenghts to further their own career opportunities at the expense of others by being dishonest, backstapping, illoyal etc., the corporate environment can be a really toxic one.

I am not saying that all corporate environments are like this. Not at all. I’m just happy to be self-employed and thus not having to deal with this.

Late yesterday I got an email from somebody I have never met in real life but who I’m indirectly working on a project with. I had never really heard from him before, and we have never been formally introduced. Yet he seized the opportunity to completely criticize some work I had done in a tone that just struck me like a lightning.

I was amazed because I knew my work to be good enough, so it had to be him having a bad day or just being that kind of person. I was totally put off.

This highlights one of the most important and critical aspects of being self-employed: Dealing with customers, clients and partners - even when you don’t want to.

I am going to finish this product on as reasonable terms as can be imagined. But after that I will do, what good people like Stowe Boyd have always advised: Skip that person and never work with him again. It’s just not worth it, and there are plenty of other and better fish in the sea anyway.

Two things today made me think about whether its time to be getting an iPhone.

First of all I saw the news about Apple releasing the 3G version of the iPhone on June 9. That’s practically the only thing I have been waiting for (oh, and a decent built-in camera). Then I spotted a lady across from me in the train going home. She could be around my mothers age, and not only did she carry an iPod Nano Product(RED) like the one, I have - she was also very ably using an iPhone…

I’m going to the States in mid-June. Perhaps I should pay the local Apple store a visit, while I’m there.

There is one particular recurring time, when I find myself searching for the right words. That’s when people ask me, what I do? I admit that as self-employed this is unfortunate timing. Because if you can’t explain in short, clear terms what you’re doing and how you’re contributing with value, how are you ever going to get any clients, right?

Well, it’s not such a black’n'white issue, because of course I can explain what I do. But people do sometimes get a distant look in their eyes when I start telling them about being on the edge looking for new answers to existing and future challenges for my clients.

So why not stay closer to the core? Why not do newsletters, blog consultancy and SEO like everybody else? Because I’m in love with the edge. I get drawn by forward thinking people and the thoughts they kick off inside my head. And I see the fun challenge in trying to get that to bear with clients, who more often than not are not even remotely at the edge yet.

After all having fun is a fundamental part of my drive. And that is the whole difference.

When you start out as self-employed there can be a lot of cost associated with it. You need hardware, software, business cards, phone, internet access etc. etc. Hence the opportunity to set some money aside for hard times is not very great.

So far I haven’t been able to set anything aside. This hasn’t surprised me since I’m not even 12 months into my career as self-employed. But now I have reached a point where I can start to reallocate money.

Starting today I’m setting 15 % of my gross income aside on a separate account which can hopefully take me through rough times, should they fall upon me. Because nothing is as bad as having little to do AND to have no money for paying the bills.

I was reading Jeremiah Owyang’s six career tips, when once sentence really struck a chord with me:

…you are your own CEO, CMO, CFO, COO, CTO, you’re in control of your destiny. As you can tell, I don’t believe in fate, you are driving your ship of one.

There is essentially no difference between this fundamental truth and being self-employed. The only two differences are:

1. You’re very conscious of the fact that you are your own boss.
2. You need to constantly communicate value in order to get clients and ultimately get paid.

Selling, which is usually the big bad beast in this equation, is actually less hard as you are already doing it day in and day out to justify your paycheck. Add to this that it’s utterly rewarding to free yourself from the corporate stress, and I should think the road should be open wide for you to quit and embark on your own personal adventure. To board your own ship. Wouldn’t you?

Then what’s holding you back.