General

Ok, these are the two that are sad but true.

#3 – Never hire friends  or the end of a beautiful relationship.

I’ve seen it happen many times, your friends want to help, you want their help.  They work cheap and you can’t think of anything nicer than to have a friend or partner to work with.  Um, WRONG. What happends in this situation is that your friends may not be able to perform the tasks asked of them at the level you need them to.  Not their fault, really, you hired them because they were your friends and they offered to help out.  They had no experience doing what you needed them to do, but it was okay because they were affordable.

Here’s the scenario – You come up with the next Great Idea and tell your friends about it.  You’re undercapitalized (surprise surprise) so your friends – who believe in your and want to support you – offer to help you out by working for almost no money till you get on your feet.  The first crunchy deadline comes up. Your friends don’t get the same sense of urgency you do, so 12 hours before the drop dead time, the task still is not done.  You can’t really come down hard on the non-compliant “employees” the way you should – they’re your friends. They feel you’re being unreasonable and pushy so then there’s resentment on both sides that simmers and festers until it blows up and nobody likes anybody any more.

No, keep your friends and your employees separate.  You’ll be much happier.  Then you can state your requirements, your goals and, face it, your demands to your employees.

The same goes for family and that brings me to

Law #4 – Family can help out, but they make lousy employees.

See the above paragraph.

Now I know that puts you in a tough spot.  You don’t have enough money to pay employees most of the time when you’re starting out and you need help to deliver a presence in the marketplace.

Sort of brings me back to a joke I read when I was younger – “What does A.F.L.-C.I.O. mean?” Adults Feel Lazy – Call Idle Offspring. (I know, I know, it really means American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations.  It’s must more fun the other way.)

I recommend that you not use your kids.  If you have siblings or cousins, short-term, okay, but hire a stranger as soon as possible.  Until next time…..

Work well, play well, be well

db