Sometimes Employees Might Be Good To Have

I'm what you might call a micro business, well below what one thinks of as a small business. If I get any smaller I'm out of business. Dan Light Consulting without Dan Light closes the company. I'm not complaining mind you, I decided on a one man firm when it all started in 1990. Since then I've had the standard complaints about the peaks and valleys and lack of respect because some people equate capability with size but by and large I never wanted employees. Wednesday was one of those rare occasions where I second guess myself.

I got out of bed Wednesday ready to face my average day and until early afternoon the average was, well, average. Plenty of work to do at a slightly less than hectic pace but nothing unusual. Then the call came. It was a client in Puerto Rico and they needed help starting yesterday. The race had officially begun.

Now at any pace the work load increased drastically. I had to meet all my commitments for this week and set things up so that I could meet the future two weeks commitments without having all of my normal resources at my finger tips. The there was the new work and I had to make travel arrangements. Everything shifted into over drive.

After wrestling with shifting airline schedules, hotel reservation desk that didn't speak English and Hertz having no cars available I finally arranged to be on site the next day. Little did I know that things were going from bad to worse starting with my trip to the airport the next morning. Coming toward the finish line I'm officially operating in hyper drive.

At 4:00am I was up and ready to taxi to the airport. In all fairness let me say that the taxi company and my driver were local so I can't rant about foreign natinals, unless you count Warrenton, Virginia, 50 miles outside of Washington, DC foreign. In any case, the taxi was late, the driver wasted my time and money sitting in the drive way trying to attach his GPS to the windshield. As we approached the airport I thought I was dreaming when I heard someone ask if I was arrival or departure.

After thinking of a wise ass response I found I was too sleepy for all that fun and informed the driver that I was departing. Getting out of the taxi I found that the driver was also unfamiliar with the concept of receipts. What else could go wrong; NTS. I checked and headed for my gate but security stood in the path of progress.

I always set the alarm off with my artificial hip but I don't always get a total moron as a screener. After wanding me he had to pat me down because he couldn't trust his instrumentation. I didn't bother to ask why we didn't go to the pat down in the first place. Once through it was on to the plane and a nice first class seat and treatment.

The flight went well, for me anyway. Unfortunately, it wasn't as uneventful for my luggage. I couldn't find my non-stop flight so I settled for on stop. What could possibly go wrong? As I stood at the baggage carousel until I realized I was alone and my bag wasn't going around in circles. Fortunately the bag was located when I was only half way to my final destination so I went back to get it.

Back on the road I learned that the GPS and I had a different understanding when it came to turn right. I thought it meant turn right now not later. I was lost in the wilds of Puerto Rico for over 7 hours.

When I go to my hotel I thought, "It sure would have been nice to have someone else to send on this trip or to make my travel arrangements. Fortunately, this isn't an every day occurrence. I wonder what will make me want employees the next time. I don't think I can go through this again.

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Confusion: What should I do now?

Today confusion rules in the corporate offices of Dan Light Consulting. I just read my Coach's/Mentor's article on branding, yesterday I studied the data available from my web service and the day before that other bell-weather indicators of the state of Dan Light Consulting. It appears that people are traveling to my web site but I can't figure out why? Over 4,000 people have opted to receive periodic articles and tips from me via email but very few head the call to action. Can you see my source of confusion?

What should I do now? Should I revamp my web site, alter my emails or just be satisfied with the status quot? Some learned people say give things time to work and I've often been the first to criticize people who continually tweak a process without giving it time to succeed but I'm an agent for change. My motto at times is "If it ain't broke brake it and put it back together in a more useful, efficient and more cost-effective configuration." When do you destroy what's working in hopes of putting something that works better in its place?

Can I get away with saying it depends. It depends on a lot of things. How long has the old way been working? Has it been working long enough to become stale, too well known or taken for granted? Has the law of diminishing returns caught up with you? Is it really working as well as you think it is? What's your tolerance for risk? So many questions, so many options. What's a poor business person to do?

I'll discuss my issues with my trusted adviser tomorrow morning. Who will provide you with an unbiased sounding board? Try my web site or emails, I have time available for a few new clients. Let's talk.

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Social Networking

Seems there is no way to avoid it, if you ain't networking on line you ain't networking. Recently I met someone who earns their living teaching people how to maximize the return on the time they spend networking at sights such as LinkedIn, and Twitter, just to name two. As luck would have it, the subject came up again later in the same day and I was able to make a referral. After all, isn't the whole idea behind these sites to generate business?

I have used LinkedIn for several years and, with over 4,000 direct connections, I've found it to be very useful. I admit that I haven't gotten any business from using the site but I've been able to ask questions and get advice that has, if nothing else, provided information that increased my utility to my customers which I hope has resulted in additional business and income. I've made referrals, helped with connections and provided advice that I hope helped someone else do the same. I think the time was well spent.

I now have an account on Twitter that is definitely a horse of a different color. I always thought it was strictly for those chatting frivolously with no intention of doing any thing useful and probably couldn't even spell ROI. Boy was I wrong!

There seems to be something on Twitter for everyone and I haven't even scratched the surface. I'm still a neophyte but I'm beginning to catch on. Certainly don't follow as many people as I have LinkedIn connections but who know what might happen tomorrow. Will this be more that just a means of finding out whose changing their socks or will it be the first rung on a latter to online success?

If you want my answer you'll just have to keep your finger on the pulse of online networking; I just might show up.

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