Comments
Why Risk it?
I’ve taken chances in my life. I’m the kind of person who just wants to get stuff done and wont let a few risks get in the way of doing it.
The only problem is, those risks are real and I’m tired of working with people and ideas on the basis of just getting it done, only for it to backfire big time.
I never wanted to turn into someone who cared about the legal, emotional or financial risks of doing stuff. I strongly want to believe that all people are inherently good and that 99% of the time things work out well.
Either I’ve been exceedingly dumb, or I think 99% might be a bit high.
I don’t want to have to sign contracts every time I start working on a project
I believe communication and good intentions work far better than a formal legal contract. However, when you run into some idiot who is out to take advantage of a situation, I now suppose a contract is at least a basis for discussion.
I’m still sold on the fact that nothing I work on is big enough to ruin us if we just walk away when someone gets too difficult to work with, but am I just a lawsuit waiting to happen?
Give trust and get results
Or is it give trust and get used? I am, in this way, so lucky with who I have worked with. But I have been let down BIG TIME. When you put your name to someone else, and they muckup, the blame falls on you. That’s a massive responsibility and one that your ability to control only goes so far. It hit me in the last week, that anyone in this company (be it me, employees or contractors) has the power to really hurt my personal and business reputation. When you look at it like that, letting anyone in is a major risk. Huge. And sometimes doesn’t seem worth the rewards.
Why am I writing this?
Last year went smoothly. This year I wanted to make serious advances and as of yet, I haven’t really got anywhere far. I feel like I’ve spent the whole year fighting fires and trying to set us up so we can get rid of these issues and get on with doing cool stuff. It’s painful, it’s hard and totally discouraging most of the time. Sometimes I feel like the attitude of battling through might be the wrong one, and maybe it’s best to just give it all away and do my own thing.
At this stage, that’s not going to happen. But what is happening is that I’m turning into the person I promised myself years ago I would never be.
Maybe it is just growing up, but I know today, I’m making decisions I never thought I would make. It’s probably nothing, normal, but I think I’m a little worried I’m losing my complete faith that 99% of the time it’s so worth it that the 1% of the time doesn’t matter.
Hello, my name is Natalie, I have a business called 
June 10th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Hey Nat
sounds like your business may be hitting puberty and might need some help with the growth spurt.
When doing bits and bobs for people to get going, a simple purchase order is usually acceptable; the problem with that is it is one-sided with all the benefits and privileges going to the purchaser. The other side of the same coin is the ‘vendor’s contract’, which anyone who has read one all the way through (maybe 10 people in the world who aren’t vendors’ lawyers,) will tell you are 100% biased toward the vendor. Hitting an acceptable balance is all about being up-front on what risks you will run, what rewards you expect for your work and what risks you expect your client to accept.
I have, over the years, managed to develop a document that I like to title “Memorandum of agreement on what we will do if we disagree”, and make it a simple legal-stuff thing with a bit bigger definition of exactly what is being bought as an appendix. By wording the legal stuff in simple English, and offering it up as a balanced thing with ‘reasonableness’ as the key factor in decisions, I have usually avoided the deep legal hassles that some small businesses go through at the beginning or end of a relationship.
If you fancy a wine (or whine for that matter) sometime I’ll give you a walk through some of the salient bits. (I think Jim might vouch for my ’safeness in meeting in very public places’ (-_-) lol
June 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
PS
Your number 1 question to answer is “do I want to do the business or run it?” The answer to that will give you a great insight into what tack to take to resolve the major conundrums you face.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yeah, unfortunately interpersonal ethics all too often heads out the window because “it’s business, innit”. I’ve never personally had to clobber someone for breaking a contract but that’s generally only because the existence of the contract makes it, basically, bad business sense to do so. I’ve had to make it entirely clear that I *will* once or twice though.
For a small (but expanding) web design business I would get a standard terms of trade either “off the shelf” or drawn up by a lawyer. Make sure it includes late payment penalties or their more polite cousin, the “on time” discount. If absolutely everybody signs exactly the same terms of trade then nobody gets offended. AND someone unwilling to sign is hoisting their own red flag.
As someone who’s entered into risks and lost on (seemingly) too many occasions I’m afraid my advice would be to, on each occasion, look at what happens if you get it wrong and make sure that it’s going to be OK. I never bet the farm, but at least I still have it.
June 19th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Hi guys,
Yeah I think terms of trade might be a good idea. Actually most of the time you’re right, you can do a risk analysis, but sometimes you despite your best efforts you can’t predict or fortify against some things!
And Dave, Sometimes I don’t want to do either, I just want to run away! :)
June 24th, 2009 at 10:15 am
So run away for a day – eat, drink and be merry! Onethe benefit of being the boss is you can do that now and again.
Remember the motto
Nils illigittimi carburundum