Help Wanted

Combination manager-stock clerk to take full charge of new firm. Must like people and hard work. Duties include management, purchasing, production, books, payroll, marketing, personnel, shipping & receiving, customer complaints, government & public relations, janitorial and sales. Must be available 24 hours daily, 7 days a week. Furnish own transportation. Salary and benefits depend on profits. Failure to meet goals may result in forfeiture of personal residence, repossession of car and furniture, destruction of credit rating, loss of health. No vacation likely for a minimum of 2 years. Good opportunity for nervous breakdown and marital breakup. No previous experience necessary but all experience might be helpful. Apply in person. An equal opportunity employer.

Any takers?

Michael Ross

This ad is not real. It's meant as a joke as it describes a likely ad for a business owner.b

> Combination manager-stock clerk to take full
> charge of new firm. Must like people and
> hard work. Duties include management,
> purchasing, production, books, payroll,
> marketing, personnel, shipping &
> receiving, customer complaints, government
> & public relations, janitorial and
> sales. Must be available 24 hours daily, 7
> days a week. Furnish own transportation.
> Salary and benefits depend on profits.
> Failure to meet goals may result in
> forfeiture of personal residence,
> repossession of car and furniture,
> destruction of credit rating, loss of
> health. No vacation likely for a minimum of
> 2 years. Good opportunity for nervous
> breakdown and marital breakup. No previous
> experience necessary but all experience
> might be helpful. Apply in person. An equal
> opportunity employer.

> Any takers?

> Michael Ross

Hi Michael,

Well, when you put it that way.... Where do I sign up? ;)

It sounds so mouth-wateringly enticing.... ;)

On a more serious note, it's a serious issue, it can be a business trap!

You can build up your list of regular customers, but while freeing you from a job (since your customers give you regular work), it can also free you from also being able to take a decent vacation when you need it, since you have to be there when your customers need you. If you stop working for a short while, you'll lose those customers who have come to rely on you!

I have a friend, Tammy, who got a degree in chemical engineering, and she went straight out of university to become a consultant. It wasn't because she had so much initiative that she started her own firm; no, she joined a firm which then on-sold her services as a consultant. The firm's clients paid the firm a huge fee for her consultations, she only saw a small portion of that as her salary, BUT.... People were also paying for the firm's brand name and the "guarantee of quality" that came with it, and the assumption that they were supervising her when she did consulting work to ensure the high standard of quality....

Many people who get "stuck" in a business have built up an incredible "brand name" for themselves which is their own personal name.... People are paying for that "brand name" which guarantees a certain amount of quality. What they should then do is start to build up the brand name of their firm, and get people working for them (as consultants etc. as well) who can work under the firm's strong brand name. This way, the business owner can free themselves from being trapped and can take the occasional holiday!

Hmmmm.... I'm starting to think like a manager, but there really is something to all this management stuff. Must be those books on delegation I'm reading.... ;)

- Dien