No, this is not the way...
Here’s a recession strategy for you, but I can’t guarantee how long it’ll work — you know, with peak oil, fiat currency-induced inflation, asshole politicians, consumerism, mass extinction, global warming and all that. But, it’s been working for me for years, and hasn’t stopped even though my truck was stolen awhile back.
First of all, as far as business structure is concerned I love lemonade stands (aka sole proprietorship). Personally, when I patron a business I like talking to the owner. Plus, I’m an MBA student and we NEVER talk about sole proprietorship because corporations control over 80% of the world’s capital even though they are a vast structural minority. The good news is that I thoroughly believe this will change as the world de-leverages, de-evolves, and decelerates. The era of the sole proprietor Creative is just beginning — good news for a lot of FG readers; bad news for everybody else. Getting an MBA is very useful in that you can easily identify what is worthwhile by what is not talked about.
Due to about 100 years of an aggregate of wasteful, undisciplined, degenerate assholes, the word “business” sort of has a bad name. Profit has been equated with destruction and marketing has been linked to mind control. If you’ve been following FG for any length of time you know we love beating the shit out of financial engineers, accountants, marketers, and CEO’s. But, I digress.
There are ways to make money and not fuck everything up. In other words, there are plenty of businesses out there that I love even if they are rare, and I rarely talk about them. For instance, I love farmers who are fundamentally business people (and mechanics, and welders, and veterinarians, and barbers, and meteorologists, etc) who grow crops to sell it at a market. In the US, each citizen became a business the instance they figured out the System does not give a fuck about them. In other words, you are your own private corporation, and you work for yourself (YOYO = you’re on your own). I don’t like this system, but I believe it’s a fairly simplified depiction of reality in terms of how most “advanced” economies views its productive citizens. In a Plutocracy, it’s worthwhile to understand the fundamentals of business regardless of your moral stance.
When my truck was stolen, I thought I was done as a mover, but I am still working mostly because people keep calling me even though I haven’t advertised in over two years. This proves to me that running a business is mostly a mental strategy and has more to do with how well you can solve a problem than how well you can sell something. Each time I get called, I figure out how to approach the problem of not having the right equipment to do the job, and sometimes even engage the client in coming up with solutions together. Sound strange? Well, I consistently get paid more than I ask for, if you can believe it. Start thinking, “if I really had to get this done, what would I do?” I’ve borrowed, rented, and test driven my way into solutions.
When people don’t know what to do, they will pay you money to solve their problem. It’s really that simple. If you are convinced that you can solve the problem, and convince others that the problem is solvable, then you will succeed even if there are days you fall short. If you continually charge forward under the assumption, “for every problem there is a solution” then you can do business.
Now, if you think moving and scrapping in NYC is easy, think again. In this capacity, every job is a blow-by-blow adventure that sometimes boggles the mind with complexity in the volume of stupidity soup that must be waded through. I love moving and scrapping because nobody else seems to. I continually follow a few principles that seem to work out over time for nearly every job I’ve ever done:
- Never be late. In fact, you should always be at least 15 minutes early. In NYC, this will shock nearly everybody.
- Be polite. People pay other people money because they need something, and they probably don’t need your attitude.
- Take charge. Every job is different and fluid. You should have a decent idea what the fuck needs to happen. Don’t stand around waiting to be told.
- Make the customer your family. If you treat people like family, everything else is easy. I have taken next to nothing for plenty of jobs because the client really needed the money more than I did that day.
- Have fun (refer to #4). Realize that this doesn’t have to suck unless you make it suck. Moving a sofa bed up a 6-story walkup in Brooklyn is supposed to be a good time, right?
Believe it or not, running a moving business without a truck is a lot more fun than jumping out of helicopters or being deployed with a bunch of pissed off people. The freedom involved with determining your own fate is a lot more satisfying than simply accomplishing mission after mission with no clear meaning.
Do you have a rule to live by when making money? What’s your attitude on the job?
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Rule:
Get to a place where all parties are content that the deal struck is fair. No one should walk away feeling like they have been shafted, not you, me, or the other guy.
I achieve this by simply stating that this is my intention and asking if they are happy. Most people can smell insincere bullshit a mile away, so this only works if you mean it. Most people respond in kind – with honesty and fairness. I like fair.
Attitude:
If a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well. Yet never ‘too well’, i.e. don’t get lost in a quest for perfection. A good job in time is better than a perfect job too late.
The only rule I can think of right now that you didn’t already cover is this:
If you borrow something, bring it back in better condition than you got it: even if that means just bring it back with more gas than you got with it (unless it’s a two cycle mixed-gas engine: always run that until empty before bringing it back or they gum up).
Borrowing someone’s car? Scrape the bugs off the windshield, etc.
My daughter is starting to look at college materials. She asked my wife (who has one), “What kind of job do you get an MBA for?” DW had no answer for her.
I suggested that the answer is, “You don’t get an MBA to get a job. You get an MBA to get a promotion when you already have a job.”
Head nods all around.
In that light, there would be no reason to discuss sole proprietorship in an MBA program because an MBA program is only designed for people who work for someone else.
“He assumed that universe-destroying paradoxes would ensue” Spock
Many times I do a small job for a neighbor or old customer gratis. It’s usually something that is much simpler than they realize, takes me a half hour on the way home with little or no material expense. Of course, these are the people who will chase you down to the end of the earth to pay you. “Don’t worry about it” I’ll say, ” maybe you’ll be in a position to help me out sometime.” Which will prompt them to say” What could I possibly have to offer you?”
“You never know, friend, life is funny that way.”
I’ve tried to get involved in things like Habitat for Humanity, and it just doesn’t fit for me. Don’t get me wrong, they are a good organization. It’s just that, they are an organization. I may not be helping the homeless, but I am helping people who are walking that fine line. And every dollar saved goes directly to the cause. It’s just between them and me, and it make my day complete. Can’t ask for much more than that….
Slightly off topic, but I wanted to share anyway. We have a local guy who is living out of his car and collecting scrap and recyclables from around our neighborhood. I’ve seen his car piled almost as high as that picture. I have no idea how he’s managed to evade the local cops and snobs just waiting to complain about the ‘eyesore’. I admire his entrepreneurial spirit.
Steve: you should let them pay you. I let a lot of things go when I help people, but I find they are happier if they feel they have given me something right away, rather than leaving the payment hanging. Like you, I used to say, “Don’t worry about it, I just hate to see a grown man cry.”, but I find that some closure is necessary in any transaction. Some cucumbers from their garden, a couple of bucks, etc, is enough to give them satisfaction that they don’t owe you some unknown amount. Pick an hourly rate for yourself and start with that. Adjust accordingly to the job and the customer.
Here are a couple of additional thoughts:
1. Always give your work your FULL ATTENTION.
2. Work with LOVE. Give it the best you’ve got or don’t do it.
3. Find ways to add value – to go beyond what was promised or agreed upon. Give more than is required (as long as it is a GENUINE, thoughtful contribution that adds value to the outcome).
4. Give freely and without expectations (beyond what was the initial agreement).
5. Price you services fairly. Be responsive to the market, the client, and your unique role/contribution. If the work is more or less intense or demanding than expected, requote/rebid the project adjusting the pricing up or down accordingly. If the work requires an increase in time/cost, discuss and clarify what/why in advance – then negotiate the increased amount. I always provide a written quote describing the services to be provided and the corresponding cost.
6. Write a thank you note (handwritten on a card or special paper/stationary). The personal touch is always appreciated.
7. Ask for feedback within a week or two of completing the project. Ask “What could I have done to improve or enhance the work I did for you?”.
8. Ask for referrals. Folks who are happy with your services are happy to recommend you to friends and family.
Do read one of my personal favorite viewpoints On Work written by – by Kahlil Gibran (I LOVE his work…he is my inspiration):
http://www.katsandogz.com/onwork.html
On Work (excerpts from)
Kahlil Gibran)
You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.
And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, “He who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil.
And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet.”
But I say, not in sleep but in the overwakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;
And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.
Work is love made visible.
Rule:
Be the best at anything I do.
Attitude:
Money is never the most important part of anything.
I wish people would stop writing “But I digress” when they are not digressing. It has become very pretentious. Just replace it with “however,” and the otherwise good article flows quite nicely.
Shout out to the middle aged Virgo. He did digress actually (see below).
But more importantly, so have you. You have digressed from the main subject of this post, and from the theme of this blog. This is a place to build a sense of cohesion, of community. This is a place to contribute constructively.
Never-mind ‘pretentious’, getting haughty about other people’s turns of phrase on their own blog is just plain obnoxious. I believe there is a name for you, and it is troll.
digress [daɪˈgrɛs]
vb (intr)
1. to depart from the main subject in speech or writing
2. to wander from one’s path or main direction
[from Latin dīgressus turned aside, from dīgredī, from dis- apart + gradī to go]
digresser n
Auntie, you make a very good point. What these folks do pay me with is referral. The kind of advertising they provide me I can’t buy. I charge them well for the substantial jobs; the small stuff is customer service. I can either spent my time that way, or spend it handing out fliers. I seem to get a better class of clients the first way.
P.S.
I probably should have mentioned I am a contractor…