Desirable, Enviable, Aspire-able? Not You… Your Company!

Three different ways to get a long / longer queue of applicants and potential job seekers wanting to work for your company in a candidate short world.

1. Make it fun
I only had to see this picture of the slide that employees can use to get between floors at Red Bull London – and I was instantly daydreaming working in the energy drink world.

See also:

http://positivesharing.com/2007/03/12-ways-to-pimp-your-office/ - 12 ways to pimp your office

http://positivesharing.com/2006/10/10-seeeeeriously-cool-workplaces/ - and 10 Seeeeriously cool workplaces (where I found my future workplace)

2. Make it personable
Ebay CEO of 10 years Meg Whitman sat side by side with her employees in the same size cubicle as everyone else (hers is lined with toys, see above).

Walt Disney set the example of picking up rubbish whenever he saw it on the grounds at Disneyland. He wasn’t too big to do it, neither are Disney staff.

Also see a rather interesting article by guru Guy Kawasaki entitled is your boss an a**hole (just a warning - he’s a big boy though so he doesn’t use the **s) http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/02/is_your_boss_an.html

3. Make a difference
For every pair of shoes sold by www.tomsshoes.com they’ll give a pair to a child in need (one for one as they’re so fond of saying). They’ve already given out over 60,000 pairs in Argentina and South Africa.

This comment from on their myspace page (www.myspace.com/blakemycoskie) : “So, I just got an internship with your company. I’ve never been so happy to be a part of something in my entire life. You’re such an inspiration & I hope you realize how much of an effect you have on people.”

Oh yeah – this person is so over the moon and this is an unpaid internship. Most people aren’t this happy to go to jobs where they’re paid bucket-loads.
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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

Ship Shaping Your Partnership

Things to consider when starting a business with anyone other than the person that stares back at you in the mirror:

1. People change.
You and your partners will (not might – WILL) change in some way given the new responsibilities of your business. Stress levels, staff issues, budgeting and all the other fun things that can drive business owners to distraction will play a part in the type of people you grow to become within your business. The saying “nothing is constant but change” is definitely applicable in a business – and if you don’t expect it from your partners (and yourself), watch out.

2. What do you do again?
It’s all well and good to set up a business with the innate knowledge that everyone will work their butt off just as much as the next person, that all partners will put in equal hours and that everything will just be la-di-dah because that’s “what we agreed to”. In my experience however, not having set job descriptions can be one of the major areas in which partnerships come undone. Take the time to plan this aspect of your business to the degree that everyone has a detailed job description which outlines who does what and who has responsibility over what areas.

3. Who decides what?
In an ideal world when there’s a decision to be made within a business – the partners put their heads together, take into consideration all appropriate information, and then – presto, they all agree on one way forward. In reality, this may happen a lot of the time, but there are going to be occasions where you don’t agree. What sort of a plan do you have in place for when there are two directions (or even three or more) and you have different people wanting to go down different paths?

4. Who is the one?
Might I suggest that you break up your business – no matter how small it is now – into divisions such as marketing, product, human resources etc? Work out amongst the partners who is the best fit to manage each department (it doesn’t have to be an even split – decide based on who is best qualified). From there, agree that discussions will be had about all large decisions. However, if there is dispute over direction, the final decision will be made by the head of that division. That failing – decide amongst the group who is most qualified for an over arching CEO type role and have them as the final decision maker. Trust me, it may seem harsh now to appoint one person as the grand decision maker but it will solve so many problems in the long run. Note for the CEO: although you get the glory when things go right, remember your neck is also on the line if the decision you make goes pear shaped!

5. Friends and family.
I’ll keep it short and sweet here, but just think long and hard about whether you’re willing to jeopardise your relationship with your friend or family member by going into business with them. I’ll talk more about the fun and games of employing family members later!

6. More on family.
If there are frustrations at work, or cracks in a partnership, the partner who goes home upset will naturally vent to their family. As we know, there are always two sides to any disagreement, but family usually only ever hear one side (and probably would still be very biased even if they heard both). Be prepared for the impact on a partnership that outside family members can have. The wife saying to the stressed husband “I can’t believe he doesn’t put in the same hours as you” or the husband saying to the dejected wife “She just doesn’t value your input!” can have a huge unseen impact. In some ways, family input can be like a cheer squad for the breakdown of a partnership.

7. Get me out of here!
Before you go into business with anyone, I cannot stress more highly the vital need to have some sort of a contingency plan in place, in case the partnership doesn’t work out. Who leaves, how it is decided, how the business is valued, how a pay out structure will be composed if needed etc. Working it out early can mean you’ll miss out on a lot of sleepless nights and a huge dose of drama. It is definitely worth it for the hour or so it’ll take to sort it out… early!

As complicated as partnerships can be, setting up a business with people who possess complementary and opposing skill sets to you, has many great advantages. Just remember to protect yourself in the ways mentioned above.

Excerpted with permission from Kirsty Dunphey’s new book – Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can.

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By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments

What a hypocrite I am!

I was sitting in my small local neighbourhood beauty salon yesterday filled with dread. I'm not a beauty salon kind of girl but with a friend's wedding coming up I was making the leap.

The dread however wasn't coming from my lack of experience in the beauty chair. It stemmed from some scary words the young girl wielding hot wax at my eyebrows had just uttered. She'd mentioned that she was still in training.

I was at once petrified with the thought that soon I would have to draw back on my miniscule non existent eyebrows with a pencil each day.

Then a thought occurred to me... Was this how people used to feel when I would show up at their doorsteps at 19 to do a real estate appraisal?

I decided I didn't care, I was still going to panic that someone that young was going to be causing me pain, and even more worried at the pain I would soon feel when I looked into the mirror and saw the result.

To my delight however, I've got to tell you that this young lady really wowed me. Perhaps sensing my trepidation she stepped me gradually through every action she was doing, her knowledge and the training she had already done was evident in the way she calmed me. The result was nothing freakish and I left feeling really happy and a bit disappointed in myself for jumping to such immediate conclusions!

I've always said that the best way to counter youth and inexperience is through enthusiasm and constantly increasing your knowledge. It was nice to get a real life example of that yesterday!

By Kirsty Dunphey with No comments