One of the side effects of this, however, is slightly problematic. Because the contractors are in the same business as their clients, providing a similar set of services, the contractors will want to pursue their own clients. Normally, this would not be an issue, since a standard non-compete clause would protect the employer from losing their own clients to their workers. Here, however, that may not suffice.

Any time the contractor brings on another client, a question must be answered as to whose client that person is. Does is belong to the contractor, since they operate independently of the employer, or does it belong to the company to which they are contracted to?

The advice below is a suggestion, and is not intended to be taken as legal advice. Please consult a lawyer before implementing any of the suggestions below.

One strategy I’ve seen implemented successfully is to create a limit on the size of a client the contractor can take on, and request full disclosure. For example, a company that builds large websites might allow its employees to take on projects under $2000 because they would not pursue such clients in any case. Larger than that and there may be a conflict of interest in addition to creating a distraction while the contractor is supposed to be working for the company.

The catch here is the disclosure – by having employees report all business they are doing on the side, it creates a legitmacy to their side business. At the same time, however, many employees may be reluctant to hand over their project list like that.

The second part, therefore, is in regard to when the employee does in fact bring in a client. Since there is a referral here, it should be treated as such. There should be a known rate for referring a client – either a percentage of the project, or a flat fee on a schedule based on project size.

Whatever the case may be, if you find your employees working on side projects behind your back, beware. Make sure you have a known policy in place that’s fair to both you and the employees, and that it is documented and enforced.

Related posts:

1. A Preferencial NDA Clause
2. Project versus Hourly Pricing
3. Trust is Earned when Given

In response to that, this article is intended to provide food for thought when thinking about negotiating for your next raise.

Timing

When asking for a raise, try to time it so that the request coincides with a recent success for the company that you were critical in pulling off. While those thoughts are fresh in people’s minds, it’s easier to convince others of your value to the company. The success should be in proportion to the nature of your position and the amount of a raise you are trying to get.

Additionally, some companies have policies they follow when giving raises – they may only be granted at certain times of the year (often coinciding with an annual performance review). Make sure you are familiar with the policy, and work within it. If they are tied to performance reviews, you may want to negotiate for an early performance review instead of negotiating directly for the raise.

Last, don’t forget the person you are actually negotiating with. Book a time with them when you will be able to present your case for a raise. Make sure that you won’t be interrupted during your meeting, and that as far as you know, the other person has not been having a bad day. If you feel they are not in the mood for such a discussion, ask to reschedule your meeting for another day.

Value

If you’re asking for more money, it’s only right that you prove that you’re worth the additional cost. Remember, the boss is not in the business of supporting other people, they’re in the business of making money. As such, if the increase in profits is marginal as a result of your work, don’t expect more than possibly a marginal increase in pay.

One thing that is often difficult for people to understand is the inherent value of the position they hold in the company. An employee doing a certain type of work has a value that is measurable. At the end of the day, the maximum value of a given employee is a function of the cost to replace that employee with one or more other people. A job well-done is not enough to merit a pay increase, but a job done in a fraction the time budgeted is. The reason for this is that employees are paid to do their jobs well, but if they can increase their productivity without sacrificing quality, then they’re worth as much as the increase in productivity.

Entitlement

The only thing an employee is entitled to is what’s stipulated in their contract. In regard to pay, that amount is fixed. Any negotiation that starts with the words “deserve” or “entitled” or “fair” are unlikely to succeed. Present your case why you’ve earned a raise, and then let the boss decide to give you what you deserve, or what’s fair. At the end of the day, if you truly believe that you are not being treated fairly, you can choose to go elsewhere to find employment, somewhere where your value will be appreciated and rewarded.

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1. Importance of Happy Employees
2. Your Word is Binding
3. Motivating Employees

As I have continually advised people, it is wise to run your life as if everything you do is known by everyone. That is, assume you are completely unable to keep a secret, nor is anyone around you able to contain a secret. With such an attitude, you will rapidly discover that your choices, when it comes to ethics, become a lot clearer. In this age of information freedom, there is a strong likelihood that the above attitude is correct in any case.

This applies to all aspects of life – spouses having affairs, students cheating on tests or assignments, employees thinking about placing their hands in the till.

I don’t claim to be perfect. This way of thinking, however, has motivated my methods of working – keep it honest, play it straight, and don’t even think about bending the rules. With that backing, it’s much more difficult to find yourself in a situation where you may be embarrassed by having taken certain actions.

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The first thing I noticed was that businesses with only a single person involved in the decisions tended to limit their own potential. The reason for this seems to be a function of egocentricity, in that the manager of the business does not have someone to bounce ideas against, nor are they forced to recognize their own fallibility in their decision-making processes. With multiple people involved in making decisions, more thought is generally required of any decision made, thereby preventing certain errors from being made.

The second thing I noticed, which I found to be more interesting, had to do with the division of the management team. In a business with longevity in mind, a part of the management team must concern itself with the long-term plans for the business, while another part of the team must concern itself with the short term planning. The way I’ve come to look at it is the strategic and the tactical divisions of the management team.

In the tactical team, the key components of a perfect team include the ability to complete given tasks, to look for rapid feedback, and to execute plans of one to two years in length. The tactical team is not concerned with what happens to their work in the long-run, rather, that in the short-term, they prove to be as useful as possible. This may be in the form of becoming cash-flow positive as quickly as possible, the completion of short-term projects, or getting feedback as effectively as possible.

On the strategic team, the key component is vision. The management team here must look to the future of the company, five or ten years in the future, and where they would like to position the company in that time frame. They can then break that down to a sequence of short-term goals, which would be given to the tactical management team to execute. The strategic team would place controls over expenditures in the short-term, they would set goals and milestones for the company to ensure it will reach their vision.

On occasion, a company will have only two or three people managing the company. While this is perfectly normal, what they must be aware of is whether the members of the team have a tendency to focus on the short-term or the long-term. If the answer is the former, they should be made part of the tactical team, if the answer is the latter, they should be made part of the strategic team. Certainly, some people will cross both teams, which is important, but each person should have a primary area which they treat as their home-turf.

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Your network is basically a big family, like the mafia families of the stories, in which some things are expected of you from time to time, and in exchange, the family will stand by you when you need their help. That is, a well-cultivated network can be an extension of your family, with people you’ve helped over the years who are glad to help you when you need it, much as you helped them when they needed it.

Cultivating your network means slowly growing your network by always looking to bring people closer to the center of your circles, and increasing the number of people in the outer circles. In the book Make Your Contacts Count which I reviewed following a networking event last year (Getting Started with Networking), the author describes 5 levels of your network, from an acquaintance you barely know to an ally who will stand by your side. Your network will grow by moving people through those circles as effectively as possible.

Growing your network, which I describe in the afore mentioned article, involves more than merely increasing size, but doing so in a manageable way. That is, you can meet many people and make them acquaintances in a relatively short period of time, but also slowly cultivating relationships with a few people from each group, such that the groups grow slowly but surely.

Additionally, maintaining your network will involve work, to constantly connect with the people you already know, to not disappear for long periods of time. In this, websites such as LinkedIn and Facebook provide an excellent service, facilitating regular contact. That is, of course, provided you still maintain the in person contact that you would have used prior to the development and growth of these sites.

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1. Mixing Family and Business
2. New Definition of Social
3. Preparing to Attend a Networking Event

What I discovered was that many people start networking when they lose a job, or start a new business.

From my experiences, that’s much too late.

The best time to start networking is when you don’t need anything from the people you connect with, and ideally, when you have something to offer. Networking is not about telling everyone how great you are, or how desperately you’re looking for work. It’s not about telling the world about your latest product and how much better it is than the alternatives.

It’s about making connections that are mutually beneficial. While you can certainly do this when you need something, it’s so much easier to focus on giving when you don’t need anything. When you attend a networking event, you should be looking for people that you have something in common with, or people that you can help out. You should try to be the connector in the room, linking up people who might otherwise not find each other to their mutual benefit.

What you will discover is that by helping other people, you establish a strong network of people who have come to respect you for focusing on their best interests. True networking is reciprocal, but not necessarily within a single connection. If you set out to an event with the plan to help make 10 connections between other people, maybe only one connection will be of value to your own needs. However, in the long run, that one connection can often prove to be of equal value to the other 10 connections you made that have no direct benefit to yourself.

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The question I get asked most often, though, is how I know what I know, why anyone should listen to me. The answer – I learned, and continue to learn from my experiences, and I’ve been exposed to the issues they’re facing.

Much of what I learned came from working in a mid-sized (1000 employees) corporation, and seeing what works, what doesn’t, and why they do things certain ways.

Change Control

Large corporations have process for doing pretty much everything, making rapid change difficult, if not impossible. The reasoning is that by having a proper process, it can help mitigate the risk of a change being bad for the company by ensuring that the proper people are aware, and that quality control can be enforced via the process.

The catch, of course, is that process for the sake of process doesn’t accomplish this, and a long, drawn-out change control process will only work to mitigate risk if there are similar processes for quality control and communication management.

Communication

Little happens in larger companies that doesn’t involve copious amounts of communication, with meetings and emails flooding in-boxes and calendars. The benefit of this is that communication by volume reduces the risk that someone with key relevant knowledge will miss something from a project or change. Since everyone is invited, or notified, about everything, little slips through.

The catch, again, is that with all this time and effort being devoted to communication, it’s easy to become side-tracked from the real work that needs to be done. Too much communication slows things down to the point of inefficiency.

Documentation

If it happened, it’s been written down somewhere, using a standard format. The creation, and enforcement of usage, of documentation can help a business learn from its experiences and avoid repeating mistakes. Having standard documentation processes means that people don’t struggle to figure out what to write, where to write it, or whom to notify.

The catch is that a poorly designed documentation process can create useless paperwork that is never read once it’s been filed. If the document doesn’t make sense for the purpose it exists for, then people will resent filling it out, as they will know that the document is doomed to be lost in the filing records, never to be referred to again.

What do you think? What are some lessons you would take from a large corporation? How would you describe them, both in terms of the need the lesson fills, and the risk of doing it wrong?

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Other companies have taken a different route – they identify a need, a consumer, and then build a product or service to fill a void. The vision is clear, the goals well-defined.

Which is correct? Both, and neither.

Building a product with no vision for market means that the product is likely to be built well, since there is little pressure to get it to market sooner rather than later. However, since there is no market, it’s a distinct possibility that the product has no market, and therefore will never see revenue. As well, since it is not fulfilling a real need, it’s possible that the product will be found to be lacking in key areas that customers are concerned with.

On the other hand, selling the product first means that there is external pressure to complete the product as soon as possible, which can have negative impacts on quality control. Additionally, there is the risk of unachievable promises, with features being sold without an ability to build those features.

Like many things in life, the best route is that of a compromise. No vision isn’t good, but too much vision can blind you to other options and alternatives. Waiting to find a customer means time is wasted that could be spent developing the product, but ignoring customer acquisition means that you can be headed into a dead end long after you could have realized that there’s no future in the product.

Do you ascribe to one of these two concepts over the other? Why?

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Recent discussions with a variety of office managers led me to the conclusion that perhaps, in a desire to have an open and comfortable environment, the lack of protocol in the offices exacerbated the issues with motivation. Protocol has a variety of components, including accepted arrival and departure times, accepted socializing, and dress code. While these and other aspects of office protocol are important, the one which is the subject of today’s article is dress code.

Some might say I’m not the ideal author of a policy on dress code. The average day will see me wearing dress pants and dress shirt, even when working from my home office. I’ll occasionally wear a polo shirt, or khaki pants, but rarely if a meeting with a client is anticipated. With a personal preference for more formal attire, I am certainly biased in that direction. However, I will attempt to justify my preference in such a way that you may gain insight from my opinions.

When showing up to an environment which tolerates apathy toward personal appearance, it is difficult to motivate yourself toward success. When your appearance reinforces the indifference of the office toward appearance, the appearance becomes the reality. After a while, when difficulties are encountered, it becomes increasingly difficult to find motivation.

While perhaps formal attire goes overboard, and certainly if employees are not being exposed to clients it becomes difficult to put an emphasis on dress, it is, nonetheless, a valid point of protocol. People looking at themselves in the office should see pride in their appearance, should exude a professional image.

They should also see work as a place that is not home.

Employees should be comfortable in their work environment, but that does not extend to include total indifference toward appearance. They should be aware, at least, that they are in an environment that has expectations from them, which does require their contributions to the best of their abilities. They should be aware that indifference and apathy are not desired traits, and that efforts are being made to reduce those.

Finally, if the office is suffering from a lack of motivation, changing the dress code can serve as a constant visual reminder that changes are underway, provided, of course, that other changes are being made. The visual reminder can put an emphasis on the new, an emphasis on the future.

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Before working exclusively for myself, I worked for a few years at a company with about 1000 employees. I thought I was taking the safe career route – regular paycheck, nice benefits, regular work schedule feeding a healthy work-life balance. How could I make the jump to work for myself? I needed regular contracts, 20-30 billable hours per week. I needed to promote myself, chase after prospects, close deals.

I then acquired a client who committed to 2000 billable hours over the course of a year, or 40 hours per week. This was what I had been hoping for, and it gave me the final push out the corporate door to enter the world of self-employment. Yet, I was still taking a risk, as I lost my benefits, and still don’t know what will happen at the end of the year. The security was suddenly gone.

Then I came to a realization that finally I had actually reduced my income risk by working for myself. As an employee, not only did I have less control over my career and job, I was also poorly equipped to handle a sudden change in my employment situation. Were I to have been fired, I was not trained to seek other employment, as this is something employees try not to do very often.

As my own boss, however, I have been forced to learn the skills of finding clients, chasing prospects, and closing deals. I’ve had to learn to make work appear on a regular basis. Were one client to disappear today, I’ve learned the skills to find another. Marketing myself and making sales? I’m getting it done. Finding sources of income? I know how to do it.

Basically, being self-employed has reduced my risk by putting myself in the driver’s seat of my career. I now control my own destiny, control the direction my work will take me. Where will I end up? Only time will tell, but now I can help time bring me to where I want to be.

Is it for everybody? Certainly not. But for some people, who can learn these skills necessary to survival as your own boss, the risk is likely not nearly as profound as you might otherwise think.

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No, this isn’t about me having a sedentary lifestyle (though I don’t exercise nearly as much as I should). Nor was it about the fact that I don’t spend much time hanging out with friends anymore.

It was about the fact that I work too much.

That’s not to say I’m a workaholic, but rather that significant portions of my day are occupied with work. If I’m home for the evening, chances are I’ll spend most of it in front of the computer finishing off projects for clients, writing proposals, or doing work-related research. My life revolves around my work, even when I’m not actually working. If I get together with other people, sooner or later the conversation moves to work.

This isn’t particularly good for anyone, and hence the return to the arena. A casual game in which conversations are limited, time relaxing afterward, mostly talking about the game, anything but work. Plus, I get in a good amount of exercise that evening, which gets the week off to a good start.

How about you? Do you find your life is revolving around work too much? What are you doing to take your mind off your growing business?

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I’ve been with Telus for seven years, and have always had a positive experience. With the onset of no contract plans and removal of system access fees, coupled with the influx of unlimited plans in Toronto, I felt I could do a bit better than what I was currently getting. Every month, I would worry that I was about to go over my minutes, and quite often I would, resulting in me paying over and above my budgeted amount.

When I first got my plan, it was considered to be quite good, and really serviced my needs, with its unlimited incoming feature. I had a land line available to me, so I could cut the number of outgoing calls to a minimum. Now that my new office doesn’t have a phone, though, my cell phone is my line to the outside world during the day.

I called Customer Loyalty and Retention and explained my new situation. I explained I could get everything I need from a slightly lower quality provider for about $35 per month. I asked what he could do.

He looked at my usage, and figured out how many minutes I would really need, then added some for padding. He gave me early evenings to cut the time that I would rely on my minutes. He tossed in voicemail and caller id. He tossed in a new phone (standard with a contract, I know, but with the other provider, I would have had to buy a phone).

In short, he gave me what I needed, at a price I was okay with paying. He worked with me, and so Telus not only retained me as a customer, but gained another as I switched another account over to them because of the good service they provided.

Why does this story merit a mention here? Simply because it’s important to realize how customers feel when they are treated well, and to laud those companies which learn to treat their customers right.

Are you treating your customers well?

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What struck me as interesting is that there are two types of questions, leading to particular types of answers. On the one hand, there are questions posed which are carefully crafted to avoid leading the answers. On the other side are the questions in which the author has a clear opinion, and is leading the answers down a particular path.

A side effect of these two general types of questions is the nature of the question itself – how well does it indicate to the reader what the true question is?

As an example, a question might be posed regarding ettiquette of exchanging business cards (I asked this question a few weeks ago on Linked In) and the answers to this question will be diverse. The question posed a particular situation, and the answers, for the most part, stayed on topic with people not only saying what they might have done, but also explaining why.

On the other side, I asked another question regarding networking styles, both online and offline (also on Linked In). The answers to this question were not what I was expecting – while they all were connected to networking, they didn’t answer my question. I later went and added a clarification to the question, hoping to get the information I was really seeking.

Does this mean I don’t always ask good questions? Perhaps. Except that I’ve noticed that I’m not alone in seeing this situation.

Does this mean that people aren’t good at expressing themselves well when asking questions? Certainly a possibility.

What I think is the true issue has to do with the first statement I made regarding the two types of questions. When we are being truly honest with ourselves and seeking information, we will try as hard as possible to not bias the answer. However, we can often be a little too good at that, resulting in a loss of information that would help clarify the question to the audience.

When asking a question, there is going to be a balancing act happening between the not cluttering the question with irrelevant facts, and providing sufficient information so that the audience understands what is being asked.

So, if you’re looking for something you can teach others, try teaching people how to ask questions. It’s a need that, when satisfied, will help people communicate that much better.

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• Goals provide a way to measure progress over time. How else would you know if your business is successful or not, if you aren’t working toward something in particular?
• Goals assist you in making decisions. Any immediate question can be addressed by first determining which of the various available options would best help your business reach its goals.
• Goals provide motivation, in that they stay ahead of you, always pushing you to reach just a little further.

By the same token, it is important that any goals you do set follow the SMART system:

• Specific: Having a goal which is vague might be of some use, but you can’t use it as a benchmark, and it is easy to change it at will.
• Measurable: If you want to measure progress, goals, and how you approach them, can be a great way to do this, if, of course, the goals are measurable.
• Attainable: We all want to reach for the stars, but if you choose goals which are not attainable, they are more likely to discourage you than motivate you.
• Relevant: Goals must be relevant to the environment to which they apply.
• Timed: Without a time in which the goals are to be achieved, procrastination will rule the day.

What are you doing with your goals? Are you any closer to reaching them now than you were 6 months ago?

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Their communication skills, however, leave something to be desired.

The problem he has is convincing them to improve their communication skills, without making them think that he has any issue with the rest of their work. That is, how to critique part of someone’s work without having them extend that critique to other areas of their work.

In some work environments, this is already handled through performance reviews. The review is often structured such that each area of an employee’s responsibilities can be addressed, and some will be praised, others, critiqued. However, the decision to have performance reviews in the first place is difficult, since they are often resented by the subjects of the reviews as being inherently biased.

That being said, perhaps the other approach is to lead off each critique with a compliment. For example, “Your quality of work has been fantastic, and you’ve been great at bringing in new clients. However, your expense reports have not been completed properly, so we have a hard time budgeting. Could you please try to fill them out properly in the future? If you need a copy of the guidelines, I’d be happy to email them to you.”

While this might be reminiscent of the opening scene of Office Space, in which Peter is approached by several bosses because he forgot the cover sheet on his TPS report, there is a difference.

First, the reason for the comment should be included in the critique – that is, answer the question as to why this issue is important.

Second, don’t dump extra information on the recipient of the critique, but make sure they’re aware that you would be happy to provide it if asked.

Third, make sure that one and only one person is responsible for making that communication.

If you have any other suggestions, I’d be happy to share them – just let me know!

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What truly is amazing, though, is not the fact that such programs exist. There are no end to the number of people willing to make a buck by taking advantage of other people (the only people who make money in these systems are the ones selling the courses).

If, however, people would take the trouble to investigate these programs, they would discover something very simple – the programs themselves are a study in dishonesty and contradictions.

For example, it is well known that the greater the reward, the greater the risk. However, the corollary to this is that you might fail, ergo the risk. Yet, in many of these courses, that fact will be conveniently forgotten or glossed over. In fact, the extent of the risk itself might be so well hidden that the unwary audience can easily fall prey to losing everything they own.

Granted, people should do their own research before taking a risk. However, there’s no excuse for hiding the truth when presenting material for your own gain.

That’s the dishonesty, and the price paid for this can go well beyond the money paid for the courses.

The issue with consistency has to do with the fact that the promoters of these programs are salesmen, not business moguls. As such, the content they create is sub-par in general, which leads to contradictions in claims. Additionally, verification of any claims made will be limited, if they exist at all. This leads to a collection of material which is difficult to disseminate because it was not designed to be purchased, it was designed to be sold.

In a few days, I’ll be writing an article here that will guide you to making money online, and no, it won’t be a quick and easy system. But it will work, and it won’t cost you anything to read it. In fact, you don’t even need to sign up for a mailing list or anything like that – because this information is already public, and I have no need to take advantage of those who might not know where to find this information.

On a side note, if you have a program that you’re considering signing up for, and are curious as to its legitimacy, or the fairness of its price (there are many courses out there that ARE worth paying for), please send me some information about the program, and I’d be happy to give you some direction for your research.

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There was a problem, though. One of the subjects was mumbling. I tried to hear what he had to say, and I had a hard time following. It made me wonder about the choice of subjects for the video.

Clearly, when delivering a message, you want those with the best story to be doing the telling. If you’re trying to show a lack of bias, you pick anybody.

In reality, you need some bias in your selection. If your message can’t be heard, it doesn’t matter how good it is.

This applies to any area – when you try to deliver a message, make sure that it is easy for your audience to hear the message. If that means you have to pick an example that isn’t quite as powerful, so be it. At the end of the day, the powerful message that’s heard by no one is not nearly as effective as the okay message heard by thousands.

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How do I know you won’t just take my idea and build it yourself (leaving me out of it)?

A valid concern, unless you’re actually in my business.

A typical day for me is as follows:

• Get to work by 8:30 AM
• Work for 8-12 hours for various clients – this is what I get paid for, so I have to work on projects that I’m being paid for or I won’t be able to pay my bills
• Get home, eat dinner, spend some time with my wife and daughter – this time is strictly family time, so no working on projects
• If I feel up to it, put in a couple hours on writing articles here and on my single pet project
• Sleep

First, there isn’t really any time for me to work on your idea unless you’re a client. I won’t get paid for it, so the only slot left for it is during my project time. I already have a project that I would like to complete, so even if I decided your idea was better than mine (and many times this is true), I would still want to finish my current project before starting another.

Second, there are all the reasons to keep you involved. You thought of the idea, and probably have some vision of how the entire project will work. Building an application is only part of it – you still need to define your target market, and reach out to them. I could spend time figuring out an angle, but you are likely far ahead of me in that direction. You also have likely thought of how the business will grow, something you haven’t told me about. So I can only guess in that direction.

Third, it’s not my business model – at all. I’m in the business of helping clients build their ideas into realities, not running those businesses for them. A perfect client to me is one who has a good idea, needs some help getting it off the ground, and plans on running the project themselves once it is built. Running an online business can be more than a full-time job, and it’s not what I’m interested in doing. That’s what my clients like doing, and I help them get the technology they need to make it happen.

Fourth, it’s really bad for business. If I took even one client’s idea and executed it on my own, word would quickly get out that I stole the idea. I would lose the trust of all my current and potential clients for a potential momentary gain. It’s not even a guarantee – no matter how good the idea is, there’s never any guarantee that it will be profitable.

Am I saying that an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) is unnecessary? No. You should still have one signed. But it’s not so much as to enable you to protect your idea as it is to inform the other party that you intend to execute the idea, and whatever you tell them about it should be considered proprietary.

Is it enforceable? Probably not, in most cases. But it does make it clear that you consider the information given to be privileged.

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3. From Idea to Capitalization

Until, that is, I was explained the social aspect to golf.

On a typical golf course, people go out in sets of four to play each round. Because there needs to be a gap between players, the clubs will generally insist on this amount of grouping. When a pair shows up and wants to golf, they will be asked to wait until another pair arrives, and then they can golf as a foursome. As a result, you will end up spending a couple hours with people you are now meeting for the first time.

If your clientèle is of the type to play golf, then this can be a great way to gain an introduction to some people you would otherwise have difficulty locating. Not only that, but you will also have the opportunity to spend a few hours with them, making your 30 second elevator pitch into a two hour discussion about their business and how you might be able to help them.

In golf, unlike many other sports, it’s considered acceptable to discuss business while playing. Not only that, but social etiquette on the links frowns upon the use of cell phones (no one will be happy if your phone rings while they’re in the middle of lining up their putt). As a result, you are expected to hold conversation with your fellow players.

This is one of the best ways to network. You get to enjoy some time in the sun, perfect your golf game, meet new people, and grow your business all at the same time.

I looked up the price of membership out of curiosity.At one club, the annual membership is about $5000, while others did not list prices. This, however, is the price of exclusivity, and a worthwhile business expense. While I’m not rushing out to get a membership right now, it’s certainly in my list of potential places to continue my networking efforts.

Related posts:

1. Time for Work, Time for Play
2. Business and Social Media – Part 1
3. Business and Social Media – Part 3

An accounting firm had recently acquired new offices, and invited over their clients to see it, essentially, an open house for the new office. One of the clients made a comment: I guess your fees are about to go up.

This was not a comment made in jest, nor was it a complaint. It was an expectation of what would likely become a reality.

When a client sees a nice office, with a receptionist at the door and paintings on the wall, there are a few thoughts that go through their heads. First, that the firm must be well-off to be able to afford those items. Second, their fees must be high to make it all worthwhile. Third, that they must have some clients already who think the firm is worth their fees.

When a potential client walks into an office, they will be taking a look around, to see whether or not they should be trusting their business to this firm. In this case, appearances are extremely important, so much so that firms will spend tens of thousands of dollars just to get the look they want. The justification is simple – they can sign more clients, at higher rates, on account of the favorable impression that the office creates.

The actual decor is not really relevant. I’ve worked in corporate gray cubicles for a few years, which I find depressing. At the same time, they are neat and clean (or at least easy to make look that way). My personal preference is for stained wood furniture, as I find that look to be more welcoming. Others prefer chrome and glass. It doesn’t matter so long as the look is balanced and professional.

It doesn’t have to be expensive either. You can buy desks at Ikea along with chairs, a series of bookshelves to create private spaces, some potted plants to bring life to the room, and have outfitted a dozen work stations for less than $2000.

How would you justify such expense? Or do you feel that this really is worth it, in which case, why not?

Related posts:

1. Why the Decor can be too Expensive
2. Finding the Right Price
3. Developing a Personal Brand