Growing a Business

[billbenson]

A year ago a friend who is 60 and a career salesman was unemployed. He's also the type that doesn't like bosses. I took him on as a partner. I'm still the business owner so there is no legal contract. That's because I still am way in debt to are supplier, but that is shrinking. For those that don't know, I'm still way in debt because I lost my career in the 98 dot com crash and still have a lot although I've cut that in half in the last year. It would not be to his advantage to become a legal partner and take on that debt. Still I consider him and treat him as a partner. I just bumped his salary so he is being paid what he is worth. If I have a slow month he is willing to cut his pay for that month, understanding our debt situation.

I think having my partner has increased my profits by about 70%. Coming from a different industry, but also a technical industry he has provided new ideas that have definitely increased profits. It's a year into this and we still get along professionally and personally. We know each others skills and faults. One of the things that makes this work is he brings a lot of money into the company and is good at accounting sort of stuff at which I suck. I know a good deal about web design and marketing of which he has no knowledge. If he were to leave I would take a big hit in company income and he couldn't duplicate what we are doing because of the web stuff on his own.

So now this year. Another friend has had a rough time financially and in personal life. He's working a retail job where he had been a network security expert for a major newspaper. Having been through this sort of thing when I lost my career (going from a 100k plus salary to $15 per hour) I can really identify with him. Knowing that he can do programming, knows databases (very professional knowledge in these areas), and can easily set up a word press site (again, not a designer or developer), I can really use him. He could put together a website for me that I could send to my web developer to perfect. Again, this is a perfect marriage so to speak. If all goes well, I can work him up to a salary that he is used to. If it doesn't work out, I am helping him out of a time of crisis.

So this is how my business is growing. I thought some of you might be interested.

[Wozcreative]

Knowing that he can do programming, knows databases (very professional knowledge in these areas), and can easily set up a word press site (again, not a designer or developer), I can really use him. He could put together a website for me that I could send to my web developer to perfect. Again, this is a perfect marriage so to speak. If all goes well, I can work him up to a salary that he is used to. If it doesn't work out, I am helping him out of a time of crisis.



Programming is developing. Developing is the new term to use for "programmers". So I'm confused when you say he knows programming but doesn't know development. Do you mean website development? Anyway I suggest you put these two together on the project from the start. No developer enjoys working on a project that another developer put together on their own. The reason is because theres a thousand different ways of doing something. The second developer will need to then go back and "fix" aka basically re-develop everything the first developer has done. This is what's happening with Obamacare website. They hired 6 different developers and no one's talking toe each other and the site isn't working! Don't ask another developer mid way to take over.. please. What a nightmare for both you and the developers that will be.

[billbenson]

My terminology may not be correct, let me give you an idea on how the backside of my business developed:

I got a distributorship for the product I sell. Probably 2004 ish. Before that I had seen the trend for online sales and went through some dummies books including PHP / MySql. I wrote an oscommerce site that is still active today although I'm very close to cutting over to a site VG has developed for me.

So I started out doing quotes and orders in excel. Very time consuming. Most people use quickbooks for entering orders. I didn't realize that at the time and developed a bunch of programs and a database to generate quotes, invoices PO's etc.

This is kind of a no no. Two databases with similar info; Oscommerce and my custom database. But this is no different than Oscommerce and Quickbooks. The real difference being the Quickbooks db is proprietary.

So, as time progressed I developed programs that would take the information from Oscommerce and put it into my db with a couple of clicks. Easy. A lot of other custom programs that help me with preparing state sales tax reports, look for past orders by part number, anything that would further automate my work. This is really only possible through a custom system. Amazon isn't using Quickbooks...

A side benefit of this approach is that I can more easily migrate to a new ecommerce program. I can write a program that will output a report of products, prices etc in a format that can be used for the next ecommerce I decide to use. Maybe you can do that with Quickbooks, I don't know. But if I have everything I need in my custom database, the information is there for any report.

Your statement 'Programming is developing' IMO isn't really true. Developers don't generally have a MS in Computer Science. One of the beauties of something like PHP is novices like me can write code that works. It's not the most elegant code, but it works. And I've also tried to improve the quality of my coding over time. I'm still a wannabe programer. But I've written hundreds of programs that work, some just for a one time report I needed.

Another thing I disagree with. Lets say I come up with an idea for a product I want to sell. I put together a WP wesite selling it to see if it is a viable idea. I could do this or I could have my 'programmer' do this. I would need to manage it from a marketing standpoint in either case. If it proves to be a profitable online business, I give the wordpress site to my developer. Would you rather have this or some guy saying I'd like this and that and changing his mind. In a post a while back I said for good content I would write it and give it someone like Dan to refine it. Dan's response was I love it when people do this.

So, my friend can:

- learn a highly technical product in an obscure industry

- create reports and programs in my custom db

- create technical web pages that are accurate for my web developer to modify into a good web page

- modify my custom database structure to be more efficient and be able to produce all the reports I need.

- add, correct etc. the database for obsolete, incorrect descriptions etc.

- put correct images for products - I have 4k items in the db, but I have actually 13k items that should be there. A lot of time in that one.

- 'No developer enjoys working on a project that another developer put together on their own. - BS. Everything I have mentioned above makes my developer's job easier.

[billbenson]

A year ago a friend who is 60 and a career salesman was unemployed. He's also the type that doesn't like bosses. I took him on as a partner. I'm still the business owner so there is no legal contract. That's because I still am way in debt to are supplier, but that is shrinking. For those that don't know, I'm still way in debt because I lost my career in the 98 dot com crash and still have a lot although I've cut that in half in the last year. It would not be to his advantage to become a legal partner and take on that debt. Still I consider him and treat him as a partner. I just bumped his salary so he is being paid what he is worth. If I have a slow month he is willing to cut his pay for that month, understanding our debt situation.

I think having my partner has increased my profits by about 70%. Coming from a different industry, but also a technical industry he has provided new ideas that have definitely increased profits. It's a year into this and we still get along professionally and personally. We know each others skills and faults. One of the things that makes this work is he brings a lot of money into the company and is good at accounting sort of stuff at which I suck. I know a good deal about web design and marketing of which he has no knowledge. If he were to leave I would take a big hit in company income and he couldn't duplicate what we are doing because of the web stuff on his own.

So now this year. Another friend has had a rough time financially and in personal life. He's working a retail job where he had been a network security expert for a major newspaper. Having been through this sort of thing when I lost my career (going from a 100k plus salary to $15 per hour) I can really identify with him. Knowing that he can do programming, knows databases (very professional knowledge in these areas), and can easily set up a word press site (again, not a designer or developer), I can really use him. He could put together a website for me that I could send to my web developer to perfect. Again, this is a perfect marriage so to speak. If all goes well, I can work him up to a salary that he is used to. If it doesn't work out, I am helping him out of a time of crisis.

So this is how my business is growing. I thought some of you might be interested.

I'm going to bump this thread since it was immediately highjacked in post two and I was dumb enough to go along with the highjack.

This is simply how I am growing my business and has nothing to do with web design or development. There have been many posts on this forum about turning the hill and growing your business. I thought some people might be interested in the way I am approaching it.

[huggytree]

growing a business by hiring your friends......very interesting stuff....sounds like you found the right partner if his idea's can increase your profits by 70%...that's got to be a rare thing

I strongly recommend being 100% prepared at all times for the partnership to end.... maybe you guys should spend 1 hour a week at a relationship councilor hugging to keep your relationship strong........in your case it sounds like you really choose a good partner

[rob0225]

I say you help him out. You know what it's like to be in his situation and you have the means and ability to help.

[huggytree]

I would personally never hire friends.....you lose much of the boss/employee relationship....some/most friends would take advantage of the situation..whether they are trying to or not

most employees hate their bosses...even despise them--- some is envy and some is thinking they are smarter than the boss...that's exactly how I always felt about it...I always thought I knew how to run things better and I always was jealous of their cars or vacations

there's something unnatural in not hating your boss

[Wozcreative]

I would personally never hire friends.....you lose much of the boss/employee relationship....some/most friends would take advantage of the situation..whether they are trying to or not

most employees hate their bosses...even despise them--- some is envy and some is thinking they are smarter than the boss...that's exactly how I always felt about it...I always thought I knew how to run things better and I always was jealous of their cars or vacations

there's something unnatural in not hating your boss

My boss became a really good friend, he promised me a lot because I busted my ass to get his approval all the time. When his business wasn't going well, that's when **** hit the fan and I left. I resented him for years... let's just say he's the only person that told me "freelancing isn't all design you know, you have to deal with clients, it's not easy". He didn't believe in me. I basically work my ass off now to prove him wrong. I still have a lot of respect for him because of what I learned in the business. I wouldn't be here if he didn't throw everything at me all the time. And I certainly wouldn't have the drive if he didn't tell me I couldn't handle freelancing. In 2013 I made $40,000 more Than what he paid me. Can't do it on my own, my butt! Pffft! (as you can tell... I'm very resentful but still happy I had the opportunity to use that as an experience and to learn from LOL)

[MichaelWallaroo]

I'd say that if you're bringing on friends as "peers", you shouldn't lose the respect that you might if they were "employees". If you trust your friends/acquaintances that much, go for it.

Something that has helped build my business in the past: social media, good product/service videos on YouTube, partnerships.

[billbenson]

I'd say that if you're bringing on friends as "peers", you shouldn't lose the respect that you might if they were "employees". If you trust your friends/acquaintances that much, go for it.

Something that has helped build my business in the past: social media, good product/service videos on YouTube, partnerships.

Michael, your characterization is correct. At the moment my partner is a contractor to me. That is because I have so much debt that he isn't going to want to be tied to that. When that debt disappears I want to make the arrangement formal and legal. Meanwhile I pay him a good salary (he invoices me), and treat him as a partner.

One of the things that is happening here is he has skills that I don't have and I have skills that he doesn't have. If he were to leave, I would go back to where I was before him. Sales would drop, but I'd be ok. If I were to leave, he would have no idea on how to handle the web side of the business which is the core of the business. In short he could leave and I would survive. However, I have an environment that he doesn't want to leave.

My most recent 'employee' is also a contractor. He is just in a bad situation but has a lot of skills. He may always be a contract employee. Still, he is a known entity. If he can help me out on my databases and my website for now that's great. If he grows into being a larger portion of the company that is great as well. If he gets a great job, I told him to take it. Salary’s are low in this area so he may want to continue contracting with me. He is very tied to this area.

I think the key in all of this is making it more advantageous and enjoyable for contractors or employees to stay with you than leave.

@Huggy: You are in a more difficult situation as your employees or contractors would be doing the same thing you do or learning to do it. You need to figure out something where your employees are better off with you than going out on their own.

That probably comes down to your marketing and business management skills. If things like your website drives business to you, your employees aren't going to have the advantage of those leads. That holds true for your other marketing methods. I'm just brainstorming here but: Make sure they make more money than they could going out on their own. Market for plumbers outside of your area to keep them busy. Have plumbers who are willing to do the 24/7 thing and emergency. In short, become a plumbing marketer rather than doing everything yourself. Just a thought.

[WhiteRhinoMedia]

So, you are basically hiring people who have a skill-set your business needs? That is called employment.

You attach an emotional story to the 'why' you hired them, but I am not sure that has anything
to do with your growth. As of the term 'partner', if he does not have any financial obligation
to the business he is 100% not a partner. I would use caution in allowing him to think it so.

Bill Gates says he would have never got to where he was without surrounding himself
with talented people. Whether they are hired guns you swipe from another business or
someone down on their luck, they must have an attribute your company needs.

It is a nice bonus if there is a love story behind it, but many billion dollar businesses
got there cold and hard.