The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Part VIII

For too many years I allowed a friend/employee to manipulate me on several fronts - from forgiving multiple infractions in the company to lending money I did not have. When Sue quit, leaving the entire New York office crippled, I had to find a way to pick up the pieces and move on. It was a shaky drive on an unstable road - clients have stayed, and some have gone - but I survived.

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You’re reading the eighth (and final) part of a series. For clarity and flow, start at the beginning. Names in this article have been changed.

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I could say that you should never hire friends nor become too friendly with your employees, and in a way, I’d be right. But I don’t like the idea of working with someone where there’s no mutual respect or care about each others’ lives. No, I’ve resolved that one has to really know and be willing to separate business from personal. Had I done that, things could have been addressed years before, and perhaps the end result would have been the same, but heck, I’d be a lot further ahead right now.

If I had only… It’s taken me quite a long time to stop blaming myself for everything. Even longer to accept the fact that it is actually okay if I make mistakes, so long as through experience I learn what they are and how to fix them. When we wrapped up the finals in New York, I looked to my father and thanked him heartily. He looked back at me and said, “So long as you learn from this.” There were no lectures or “you should have”s - it was all about supporting me in my discovery, and, quite honestly, nothing he or anyone else could say would have made me feel any worse than I’d made myself feel having allowed such things to happen. But I’m over that, now.

I used to envy the entrepreneur who hit a home run first time out and now lives in comfort and stability, having never tarnished his credit report due to a lack of funds, or merely forgetting to pay the bills on time. Now, I realize that these types of business folk are few and far between, and they’re missing one heck of a ride! (pun partially intended) I wonder what they’ll do should havoc rear its ugly head. Will they even have a clue?

It is actions like Sue’s which put companies out of business. Had I not been so passionate about my work, that very likely would have been the case. I consider myself fortunate because I was able to find ways to juggle money around when necessary, even if it did, many times, come out of my own pocket. I know, bad business sense though it is, I have always been determined not to work “for the man”.

So, what have I learned? A great deal. And this entire series would be a true waste of time if I didn’t share my thoughts, even if many are self-tailored. On a personal level, I do not resent myself, and no longer blame myself. I was responsible for letting things drag on, but I certainly wasn’t deserving of the blows inflicted on me. I have forgiven myself my flaws during all this, and for me, that’s a huge step in the right direction. I am, at this point, a better person.

As I re-read all I’ve written about “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”, I can’t help but think that sharing my ordeal has helped some others just as much. If anything, we’ve all learned that we are capable of overcoming the roller-coaster ride of juggling several jobs at once, and still finding a way to pay the bills.

Many things have changed in the company since Sue’s departure. Realizing the availability of assistance in learning how to keep books, and through software automation, I spend just ten minutes each morning myself importing daily totals. I pass the books to a professional periodically - it’s their job to run the numbers and find all the tax breaks.

My family stepped up to help. My mother is a wiz at finding great deals for travel, and my father helps with checklists of current and upcoming reports I need to file. They each lend me about an hour a month, and to think I was paying someone full time to do the same thing. Best of all, on this front, the three of us definitely recognize the “drawn line” which we are not to cross - and we haven’t.

I used to dread getting the mail and hitting the bank, but I’ve found that the three days each week when I take the hour to do it myself gets me out of the office - something I hadn’t done in years - and which gives me a breather. So, I’m actually healthier, seeing that fresh air is supposedly a very good thing. As is the laughter and conversations I have now that I’ve come to develop relationships with the tellers at the bank and the postal employees. Might I also add that assistance with the bank accounts is just a phone call away, and the mail carrier has no qualms about coming right up to the door to pickup packages? Personal contact really pays.

This is not to say that small business owners should be doing everything themselves; I still have someone in the office to handle customer service, as well as designers and developers. I found that the books aren’t that confusing because the inflows and outflows here are quite simplified - another advantage since I’m not retailing hundreds of tangible products that have to be shipped.

What I’m saying is simple - pick the tasks that are right for you, that you are comfortable doing, and make sure there’s a little fun thrown in. Otherwise, what the heck are you working for?

I’ve received many private messages while chronicling my business adventures, some asking for advice on how to simply avoid all the issues I faced. In all honesty, you can’t avoid them all, nor could I tell you exactly how. In a way, some of those little mistakes can be a blessing. A former client hit the nail on the head when she said what I’ve endured is “one of those life-changing experiences that presents an opportunity for tremendous personal…growth”.

There are, however, some key points to make in an effort to squash issues as they arise and be prepared should such a dilemma hit your doorstep. I offer them in hopes that should a similar cloud ever hang over your head, you will take a moment to grab a much-needed umbrella.

• Slot time to check the books. You may be paying someone to do this for you, but the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of your company is yours. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, bring in an advisor to help. It’s better to catch mistakes sooner rather than later.
• Trust, but remain a boss. Every day there are articles published about businesses gone bad due to poor management and shady employee actions. I do believe in trust, but I also know that my impression of most people is exactly who they portray themselves to be, regardless of reality.
• Draw the line, and pay attention to its existence. When working with people you really like (or even love), there needs to be a line. The boss needs to draw that line. The boss, also, has to live by the line and never ignore its presence.
• Friend vs Job? When you’re faced with the dilemma, pick one. If it’s a true friend, then the choice is obvious. It’s far easier to part ways in business - if the friendship is strong, it will survive. Do the opposite and working conditions will likely worsen. Do nothing, and you may as well start writing your own series of articles.
• Long distance? Make your presence known. Probably the best “in hindsight” advice I received is that you can’t employ someone you never actually supervise. While it’s entirely possible to oversee work virtually, time has to be taken to meet face to face. The issues I experienced started not long after I moved from New York and stopped taking regular trips back to the office.
• Some things are not your responsibility, and they shouldn’t be expected. When Sue’s husband first entered the hospital, I did actually consider whether or not she’d receive pay for the time off. The friend in me (despite her actions) wanted to help - mostly because of her teenage daughter. My mother lectured me, telling me that she understood why I wanted to be “nice” but it was in no way standard to give time off with pay on top of annual allotments, and certainly not for a company already experiencing financial difficulties due to that employee’s actions.

  Being sincere and understanding makes a good boss. However, it’s not his/her job to “save” employees.

• Secure overall access. Employees should only have access to systems and accounts on which they need to work. Their passwords should never be identical to yours.
• Be ready to yank it all. Whether or not you’re experiencing problems, you should always be able to cut all access and responsibility of anyone at any time. A simple spreadsheet of all accessible systems and accounts, including urls and phone numbers to call, should be at your fingertips.

These, of course, are just a few pieces of advice you might receive. But they are a starting point - preparation is key. Without even the basic prep I had done, I would have been left standing without a clue as to what to do.

The real question remains: would I ever consider hiring someone to fill Sue’s position? Yes and no. While I’d consider (when it proves necessary) to bring another person on to be my right hand, the job description will be very clear. More so, I already have a detailed checklist (based on what I’ve learned) to be followed and audited on a regular basis. It would also be someone working right in my office, because for this type of position, regular face-to-face contact is quite important.

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While I’m done with the “telling” of my story here, upon request by many, sometime in the next few weeks I’ll post some of the financial issues I’ve uncovered over the past few months. I’ll explain how they were adjusted, as a means to get the company back on budget when it comes to blindly paying for things. There was quite a bit of money unnecessarily wasted, and I bet they’ll prompt you to find some of your own discrepancies as well.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 3:34 pm and is filed under General Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Pamela Hazelton in as ecommerce consultant, trainer and speaker. She is the author of The Official Guide to MIVA Merchant books and additional ebooks on the topics of shopability and security, and speaks at ecommerce conferences regularly. Pamela Hazelton is the owner of DesignExtend.com, a services site with additional focus on the MIVA Merchant shopping cart.