work

Thoughts About Work on Labour Day

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments Tags: , ,

I spend a lot of time thinking about work – not just running my consulting business but how work gets done and the ways to make things more efficient and productive.

Inspired by Jay Baer’s post on six takeaways from 23 years of consulting, here are some thoughts from nearly three years of consulting:

1. The pedal is always to the metal: When you eat what you kill, the pursuit of business never stops. While working on projects, the hunt for next project is happening in parallel.

2. There is a constant battle between doing and selling. When I’m doing work, I’m anxious about not selling. And when I’m selling, I’m anxious about not doing work. It’s the reality of being a sole proprietor in which you’re the cook, waiter and chief bottle washer but a constant balancing act.

3. Listen to your gut: You can analyze an opportunity from a variety of different angles but at the end day, my gut usually leads me in the right direction.

4. Don’t take work that isn’t in your wheelhouse. As a consultant, there is a temptation to take on any and everything, even if it’s on the fringe of your skill-set. I learned the hard way that accepting work that isn’t your thing is a recipe for disappointment and failure. It’s the reason that I’m clear with potential clients about what I do (content, communications, social media) and what I don’t (SEO and PR)

5. There is power in referring business to other people who are better suited to do a job that comes your way. We work within an ecosystem/community so the more bonds you can build through referrals, providing advice and introductions and networking, the better. In the long-run, it will generate plenty of dividends.

6. In working with clients, it’s “we” instead of “you”. It’s a healthier relationship you talk about the project “we” are working on, the decisions “we” have to make, etc. because it means you’ve embedded yourself as opposed to simply being a gun for hire. If you really want clients to succeed, you need to be completely on their side.

7. Focus matters: With only so many hours of day – some of which have to be spent on sleeping, eating, family, exercise, etc. – focus is a huge issue and challenge. This is particularly relevant for anyone who is digitally engaged or who make a living in a Web-related way because being connected is part of the game. That said, it is important to focus on the task at hand, which means turning off or ignoring other things such as social media.

Career 2.0: Life After the Newsroom

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , ,

A couple of weeks ago, I appeared on “Career Buzz”, a radio show on CIUT-FM hosted by Mark Franklin. The show is focused on exploring how people select and change their career path.

It was an interesting opportunity to talk about what I’m doing and, as important, reflect upon some of the major changes my career has undergone over the past four years since I walked away from being a newspaper reporter.

What strikes me most of where I’m at now is how the path has been full of zigs and zags, and that even bad jobs and experiences ended up being positive things at the end of the day. For example, I never planned to be an entrepreneur until a friend, Mark Walker, approached me in 2000 about doing a start-up with him.

At the time, I was a technology reporter with the Globe & Mail, which was an excellent job. I told Mark that I would join him if he raised financing but I never thought he would actually do it..but he did. In many ways, it was the start of my next career path, which has been a fascinating journey over the past 10 years.

Here’s a podcast of the show.

It’s About Doing What You Love; Not the Money

By Mark Evans in Social Media 8 Comments Tags: , ,

Jason Falls, a popular social media consultant, had a thought-provoking post yesterday about when, why and how much he charges clients. In a world where few people talk about how much money they make, it was an interesting behind-the-scenes glimpse of a successful entrepreneur grappling with the challenges of having a lot of demand but a limited resource (himself).

For Falls, it often comes to down to deciding when he should do things for free because it’s the right or nice thing to do, and when he needs to charge people. This is a common problem (albeit a nice one to have) faced by many one-person operations in which the product being sold is you. The upside is you sell a product that you believe in; the downside is there is only so much of you to go around.

If you have no interest in expanding, this demand-supply problem will always be an issue. It means taking on what you can handle, and passing up the rest. The alternative is becoming more than a one-person operation, which involves another set of opportunities and challenges.

Another consideration is determining how much your time is worth and, as important how much clients are prepared to pay for it. Even after establishing a price, the price isn’t always the price because potential clients have different budgets. For some clients, providing them with a lower price makes sense if there’s an opportunity to work on an interesting or exciting project. It comes down to your appetite to work with a client and how much you’re willing to leave on the table to do it.

Since starting ME Consulting in January 2009, these are issues that I have encountered and worked through with advice from friends, family and colleagues. While this may seem an odd take on the world, I believe the money isn’t paramount. While it’s obviously necessary to pay the mortgage, put food on the table, etc., if you’re driven by money, work is just work.

To me, work has to be more than work. It has to be something that’s stimulating, exciting, interesting and/or challenging. It should be something that makes it easier to get up in the morning because you can’t wait to get going. During my professional career, I have been extremely lucky to have had jobs that provided these things. When I was a sports, retail and technology reporter, I loved every minute – even when I was making $13,000/year as a wet behind the ears sports reporter at the now-defunct Brampton Daily News. Having a job in which every day is different and you get to meet new and interesting people made the money, in some ways, secondary.

Today, I love what I do. I enjoy the work-life flexibility, the challenge of eating what you catch, and working on different and interesting projects. As someone who spent a long time as a good cubicle-dwelling corporate soldier, including three start-ups, my only issue with the current gig is why I didn’t do it sooner.

What I find encouraging is seeing a growing number of friends have decided to take the same entrepreneurial plunge. They’re at a stage in their lives where they have worked hard to establish their networks and credibility, and now seems like the right time to roll the dice and do something different. Every time someone announces they are doing their own way, I get the entrepreneurial pom-pom out to do a little cheer.

I guess my advice would be to focus on doing something you love and enjoy. If you can find or creat a job that achieves these goals, the money may materialize or not but the upside is work won’t be “work”.

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