Business Executives

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9 Comments

Comment by Rosanne Ferreri-Feske on August 4, 2009 at 7:55pm

It is the combination of blogging, article writing, frequent press releases, podcasts, interviews on the radio, links left on posts, videos and daily (and I do mean daily) web updates to keep things fresh... that makes the magic happen. Most people are doing 1 thing and expecting spectacular results, or they are doing what worked in 1999 rather than 2009. On of the best books I've read to date on marketing is by David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Don't get stuck in the past...

Comment by Ken Baker on August 4, 2009 at 1:29pm

Hi Steve,

The friend of a friend method has worked best over the years for me. Another mental tactic is that you cannot be afraid to fire, if you have made the wrong hire. Generally, the sooner the better for you and for the employee. Make your best judgment on the hire, but do not be afraid to act if the employee is not working out right.

The 1099 soln can work, but the code must be left in state of maintainability and completeness, which is very difficult to attain.

Comment by Steve Drevik on July 31, 2009 at 9:38pm

For some projects, 'power by the hour' is fine, but in some business cases, continuity of staff is an advantage. In our case, we build a software product that has a 10-year product cycle (believe it or not, that's the industry we're in). If my programmers came and went, it would be very difficult to support, the new guy would *always* want to rewrite the product because "the other guy's stuff is crap," etc.

And, IMHO, the only people who will start 1099 and then would go permanent are the bottom of the barrel. The best people either have to be hired away from a full time job (and won't go contract "to try things out") or go contract and *stay* contract (I have one contractor who I'm sure would never 'settle down' now that he's tasted contract work, and he's good at it). There's still that need to fill a position with a good person, who you want to keep in that position, but...?

So far, 'friend of a friend' referrals seem to be the best solution.

Comment by Jay G. Hodgkin on July 31, 2009 at 6:28pm

if possible hiring as a 1099 and paying by performance or peace rate is an idea. It encourages production and allows the employer to quickly exit the relationship if things are not working out.

Comment by Steve Drevik on July 9, 2009 at 10:30am

Topic2- vetting employees and consultants. We're not specialized HR people, and HR people don't always root out inflated resumes either. The risk to a small business of not getting what you need is higher. Using someone on contract first is a good solution to reduce the risk, but what else can a small biz manager do to avoid hiring the wrong person?

Comment by Peter Ullrich on June 24, 2009 at 7:26am

I am down to about 65 hours a week. Before marriage and kids I did close to 100 hours a week. I you love what you do then it is not work, it is LIFE!

Comment by Steve Drevik on May 20, 2009 at 11:26pm

anybody ever added up the day and night working hours and weekends? I would bet I log 70 to 80 hours a week easy.

Comment by Leonard Knight on August 26, 2008 at 7:49am

Great idea for a group!

Comment by Ken Baker on August 11, 2008 at 9:58pm

Welcome. I thought it might be nice to have an area for discussion of issues related to life and management of business executives. Enjoy.