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Continue Reading September 4, 2009 at 1:46 pm Leave a comment
The Headaches of Contract Work
This post won’t change your life.
I am simply trying to tell a story. One that is often told with great anger and frustration. I will not offer any tricks into being a better consultant, freelancer, or contractor. But I will provide you insight into MY headaches and unfortunate series of events that have most recently occurred. In the end, you will hopefully have a better idea of what not to do and what TO do if you are faced with a similar problem. (Names have been changed to protect personal and corporate identifications.)
The old saying goes “Once burned, twice shy.” That easily goes hand in hand with my recent experience as a consultant. I took on a job to write a business plan for a digital advertising start-up, similar to a plan I wrote for an incubator about 2 years ago. When the offer first came to my table, I had a sense of unease. My gut instinct said DON’T take this job as The man (what I will call him from this point on) looked sneaky. So I put out an offer priced well beyond what I thought The man could afford, and to my dismay, he said yes. Well FRIG! I didn’t want to take the job, but I couldn’t say no.
So we started. Initial meetings were great. We were all enthusiastic. Morale was high and people honestly believed that the plan would be completed within 2 weeks…as per the contract. (See picture below)
Although payment was delayed by a couple days, we were still getting paid. So it kept the team confident. Then the meetings started getting more frequent, longer, and less productive. We were getting further from the end the more we met with the The man; Who I might ad was very unorganized, had an extremely short attention span, made rude comments, and openly said to me “You will get nowhere in your current position at company XYZ.” (My current fulltime job) — —> to the young folk, this should be the absolute LAST string and I would highly recommend terminating the contract then. But I stayed on.
Why? Because I had hired two college students to help me out and their reputation’s and money were at stake. I had a commitment to The man and these two students. So I bit my tongue and continued….
Names have been changed to secure the identity of people and corporations involved.
To be continued…
The Face behind your brand
When I say Elmo, you think… Sesame Street.
When I say Miss Piggy, you think … The Muppets.
When I say Steve Jobs, you think …Apple.
…I was in Starbucks this morning getting my coffee and I received an email from a friend who was announcing his resignation from his current job. There was a level of secrecy as he hadn’t made the announcement public. It made me wonder why I was one of the few selected to receive this special announcement. I checked to see who else was cc’d and was rather honoured and surprised at who else was also getting it. Then I realized that these were high-caliber, young, professionals who owned or represented a brand. He was reaching out to us for a very specific reason. It got me thinking…although some of these individuals don’t own the company they are working for, they are the face of the brand. They are the front line go to person. I wondered if these companies made the right choice in choosing such people. Although they are outgoing, intelligent, personable people, I wouldn’t say that some were the right people for the job. Perhaps I am wrong.
If you are a small business owner hiring for a brand rep., PR, community manager, community type position, make sure you select wisely as these people or this individual will be your mascot, the person and face that people will think of when communicating with or about your business. Make sure their personalities match that of your organization and that they will consistently and professionally represent your brand to its fullest potential.
Renée Warren's Blog 