Recently in doing business Category

After I don't know how many years of using the free version of Backpack I finally upgraded to a paid account. Managing all my business and personal stuff was getting more and more difficult and I tried out various things roughly based on the Getting Things Done system. I came very close to buying OmniFocus but a couple things made me put the breaks on that purchase (only letting me try it for 8 days really didn't help). After serious consideration I decided to upgrade my Backpack account to make it more functional for me. Now that I have I could kick myself for waiting so long.

I admit that I had to get a bit creative about how to make Backpack work most efficiently for me but now that I have it's fantastic. Someday soon perhaps I'll write about how I'm using Backpack and Highrise (the free version for now at least) as a Getting Things Done and well, just, getting things done system.

I'm mentioning all this because I put a button in the sidebar for Backpack as part of the affiliate program from 37 Signals. If you signup for a paid Backpack account using the affiliate code MICHELLEJONES I'll get a tiny referall fee. I figured since I liked it enough to actually pay for it I should formally recommend it and if I was going to do that it would be stupid not to sign up for the affiliate program.

But if you want to signup and use the free Backpack account I won't be mad at you. The free account really did work well for me for a very long time and it's only cause I have such a crazy amount of stuff to keep up that I upgraded. So you know, do what you need to do.

There have been times in my work life that I've not been able to stand by my principles or stand up for things I believed in. Well, it's not true to say that I've not been able to, a more accurate description is that I haven't been willing to face the consequences of standing by my principles. I could have left the job instead of participating in things I didn't think were right, I could have argued more aggressively against attitudes and policies and risked losing jobs. At the time though leaving/losing those jobs/gigs would have brought serious financial hardship to my house and I chose not to do that.

I'm in a bit of a different boat now. Though I'm always trying to make more money (we are trying to buy a house next year) dropping anyone of my current projects and gigs would not throw us into financial hardship. That of course gives me flexibility with the projects I take and the projects I keep. As I mentioned recently I've been quite busy with work. I've been very lucky to land several projects and gigs this summer that have me excited and passionate. It's turned out to be too much work though and I've had and continue to have to say no to a few new projects that I've wanted to say yes to.

So I've been evaluating all the projects I'm committed to and determining which ones I really want to continue and which ones I want to sign off from. Today I'm signing off from a couple one of which I'd actually planned to continue despite some reservations about it.

Without going into much detail I'll say that I've felt a lack of respect from the project manager both for myself and my abilities but also for the actual work and the community that work is part of. I'd describe this lack of respect at being at a low simmer. It's not at a high boil like a lot of the stuff I dealt with in corporate and other job situations but it's very much there. Also, this gig has brought up serious issues/concerns for me regarding the promotion of me and my work and ownership of ideas. Interestingly enough it's not the respect for me and my work or the issues of personal brand building and idea ownership that have me leaving this particular project. Maybe it's some kind of weird self-esteem thing but I was kind of like "well the disrespect isn't so bad and the money is ok so I should just suck it up and stick it out." So I did. But now the disrespect and disregard for the community at large and the "business first, community later, maybe" attitude have me heading for the door.

Even though I'm heading for that door I haven't actually pulled the trigger yet. In my mind I'm going back and forth over how much money I'll be losing, where the line is between principled and petty and wondering how to do the same good work for the community on my own or perhaps with another organization. In other words I've been second guessing myself for a couple days now. The truth is I've been chickening out on doing what I know is the right thing to do because I don't want to lose the money and I don't want to lose the connections and prestige this gig gives me. 

And then today I see Mike Rhode's sketchnotes from the SEED 3 conference. In particular his sketches from Gary Vaynerchuk's speech. Two quotes in particular stand out
 
"True to what you believe in"

"Brand equity is recession proof"

Wow. Just wow. 

I don't even drink wine but I'm now a Gary Vaynerchuk fan because those two quotes speak directly to my heart today.

Could I put my head down and continue working on this project even though I feel myself and the community aren't appreciated? Could I put my head down and keep working even though the organizational attitude and general lack of good will bothers me deeply? Could I say "in the grand scheme of things your issues with this project don't even rate a second look much less losing money and contacts for." Yeah, I could do that. I could do that but in my heart I know it wouldn't be the right thing to do. In my heart I know that standing up for even small principles, whenever you can, is the right thing to do and truthfully the issues regarding community (damn, I wish I could go into details here) are far more than small principles to me.

So? Trigger pulled. I've got to believe that my finances and my reputation/brand can only benefit from removing myself from a project that I can't believe in and can't feel good about participating in without a boat load of conditional statements.

Image by and copyright Mike Rhode.

Another quote from Rhode's sketchnotes that is so applicable: "Avoid 'partnerships' out to steal your mojo."

 

After brunch today we found ourselves in the Sony Style store. What a fascinating place. Gadgets, bells, whistles, humongous tvs, stereos, computers, cameras, mp3 players. It was quite intoxicating. We spent a good deal of time in the television section as we hope to buy a flat panel HDTV before Christmas of this year. The first program on the display televisions was a nature program with stunning clarity and detail. It was simply spectacular. Next came a football game that was more than a little blurry. I asked the salesman who had approached us why the picture was so blurry, surely you couldn't expect that kind of performance on a $3000 television. His answer was "well it really could be anything. We're running a DVD and there could be signal loss there or a loose cable, or anything really."

His answer could very well have been true and accurate but it certainly didn't inspire any confidence in Sony televisions. Or Sony television salesmen. It wasn't the fact that he didn't have a specific answer to give me, it was more the fact that he didn't seem interested in finding a plausible answer. Perhaps that's because he knew I wasn't going to buy today and he didn't want to waste his time with just a browser.

As a freelancer or someone who runs an independent business customer service is one thing that always has the potential to set you apart from the bigger firms, well known competitors or just the generic "other guy." I have clients that I did work for two years ago that still send me emails occasionally asking for my advice or help. Most of the time it's a question I can answer in five minutes and I do. Not because I'm going to bill them for the time it takes to answer their question, not because I think it's going to make them hire me for something else right away. I do it because it's another step in building a relationship with that client. It makes them think of me not as a business entity who is out to get more and more money from them but as a person who has their interests in mind and is willing and able to help them. It's these relationships that make them hire me repeatedly or recommend me to their friends and colleagues.

There have been several situations where I didn't know the answer to a client's question and I've had to be honest and admit that fact. But always when I did so I made sure they knew I was eager to research and learn about the problem so I could give them a useful, productive answer or solution to their question or problem. No one has ever backed out of a project because I didn't know the answer to a question. In fact clients have seem to find my honesty refreshing. Your client knows that you don't have the answer to every question and pretending that you do just makes them doubt you. Translation? You're probably not as good at bullshitting as you think you are.

If you really can convince them that you know the answer to everything then more power to you. But if you can't then it's your job to convince them that you can find the answer, learn the technique, or find an alternate method to accomplish the same goal. You can't possibly know every answer but you can always find a solution. That creative thinking, quick on your feet action is one of your key assets as a small business person or independent contractor. Your clients hire you because they have confidence in you the person, not just your listed or implied skill set. There are five or fifty people out there with the same skills listed on their resume. Making yourself stand out as person of character dedicated to client service will grow your business and your business relationships. It's those relationships that are going to make your bottom line grow over the long term.