culture

Do you have what it takes to be your own boss?

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Are you sick and tired of working for someone else? Putting in long hard hours just to benefit the owner of the company and shareholders? Working the 9 to 5 grind week after week with no end in sight? Yup, we’ve been in your shoes. We know how it feels. Depending on the culture of the place you work at, you feel like just another cog in the wheel. So, are your finally ready to be your own boss and start your own company? GREAT!

The first thing you need to know about being your own boss is that it isn’t all rainbows, glitter, and unicorns. It is liberating and exciting, but it has its pros and cons just like anything else. Before you ride off into the sunset to start your own company, make sure you know what you’re in for.

Setting Your Own Schedule. I think this is one of the biggest draws to being your own boss. You have the freedom to create your own schedule. However, you may find that like so many other business owners, you are working longer hours than you anticipated. You still have the flexibility to determine when your day starts and ends, when you take vacations, and handle all your personal obligations.

Creative Freedom. You determine what your products and services will look liked, when they will be available, and how you want to deliver them. If something isn’t working, you have the power to revise those offerings to ones that customers may respond better to or terminate them if they no longer interest you in providing them anymore.

Creating Your Own Core Values. You get to set the tone for how your company is see. What’s most important. You can align it with your own personal values and infuse it into every aspect of the company.

Money. You don\’t draw a regular paycheck, not like you would if you were an employee of someone else. You get paid with what is left after expenses, taxes, etc. And you are solely responsible for generating your income. If your business idea flops or you don’t follow the right steps to create a successful business, you could lose your entire initial investment. BUT you also aren’t limited to what you can earn. If you work hard and set yourself up for success, it\’s possible to generate great wealth when you run your own enterprise.

Tax Benefits. Business owners can take advantage of a range of tax benefits despite paying higher Social Security and Medicare rates. They are allowed to accelerate or delay particular expenditures, hire family members and write off a greater variety of business expenses. These options can dramatically reduce the tax burden.

Health Benefits and Retirement. You’ll have to pay for your own health insurance unless you have a spouse who works at a company who provides them. If you are purchasing them yourself, you’ll find that you are paying higher premiums vs. what you paid as an employee. You’ll also be responsible for contributing to your own retirement account without any employer match.

Being your own boss can be both satisfying and terrifying. If you put in the hard work and dedication, you can achieve success in being your own boss. Just remember that it does come with its advantages and disadvantages – and you have to look at them all. The best way to make sure you start out on the right foot, is to have a mentor or coach, who can help you set yourself up for success and make sure you are ready to take the leap. Being your own boss can be far more rewarding than you can imagine.

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Working from the Road – Remotely!

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I’m penning this article while sitting riding in my RV through the hills of West Virginia enroute to Kentucky. I’ve created a work scenario for myself that allows for this type of flexibility. “Back in the day”, very few people could work remotely unless they were writers and had typewriters, a travel luxury. Today, more and more companies/organizations are allowing their team to work from virtually anywhere. Now, as Jenn at Red Barn would say, it’s not all roses and unicorns this remote world I live in – but, it’s pretty darn close. Why I LOVE IT

  • I work on my time. In the end, as long as all the work gets done and clients are happy, does it really matter when the work gets completed or where? Absolutely not. In fact, I am far more creative when I’m not sitting in my office surrounded by stuff. Put me in my RV (I wrote 4 magazine articles this morning before 10 am), or outside in the woods and I’m creative as all get out!
  • Change of pace. Going back to the creative piece, sometimes different scenery can inspire or the lack of the stifling office piles of papers (well in my office anyway) gives you some freedom to think better. For me, getting away always improves my work output.
  • My team is huge, costs are low. I can have employees all over the world and I don’t have some massive brick and mortar to pay for. I can also give my clients a more competitive rate and pay my employees more and even offer them more perks.
  • My employees are happy. Happy employees mean happy customers means happy business owner. If one of my team members wants to take their laptop and go sit at a park for the day, they go. The only “No” is if there are scheduled staff meetings or meetings with clients. Although we’ve been known to have more than one meeting outside or even via Skype.

The Challenges

  • Sometimes you miss people. Now today, I’m in the RV with Dave – so I have people! But there are days when I don’t have any client appointments and I’m just tired of no human interaction. Same with my staff – good news is we are all conscious of that challenge and work with it. We may all get together at my house or all grab lunch – just for some humanizing!
  • Staying Organized. Big challenge for me, not my forte but I force myself. Between project management tools, lists, and cloud based everything, I seem to keep it together. You must embrace technology if you want it to work though.
  • Not everyone is a good remote worker. I learned this the hard way when hiring my team. I’ve learned that some people just love a cubicle (Gasp – not for me at all!).
  • Discipline. You should be disciplined working remotely – especially for me in the RV! I set work time and stick to it. But once my work is done – I’m done, I don’t sit in front of my laptop from 9-5 because I’m supposed to.
  • Getting away from work. When you don’t go to an office, your office follows you around. My discipline challenge is not working all the time vs. not working enough! At home, I leave my office and don’t go back in. The RV is a bit more challenging! I put away my laptop and papers into my bag and that’s me closing the door for the day.
  • Security. Making sure our data is secure in multiple locations has its challenges, but we just have processes to ensure we are internally compliant! So far (fingers crossed) we’ve done very well!

Business owners who allow their team to try working remotely might be pleasantly surprised of the outcomes! Happier employees, better productivity and increased revenues!

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To Dress Up or Not to Dress Up – Halloween Costume Office Tips

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Dressing up for Halloween can be a lot of fun, especially when you work in an office that\’s cool enough to celebrate the annual festivities. And while we don’t have an office to parade our costumes around in, enjoying the fun is certainly on the agenda in each of our respective home offices!

If you work outside the home, however, it’s a fine line between a fun costume that shows off your personality, and wearing a costume that makes everyone you work with feel extremely uncomfortable.

Here are five rules for celebrating Halloween at work that will ensure you have a good time – without becoming the office fright show or clown:

The boss sets the tone. If you ask the boss and the boss says no, then the answer is no. If the boss says, \”Hey everyone, let\’s have a costume contest!\” then it\’s probably in your best interest to put on a wig, or witches hat, and go for it. If Halloween is your thing, but Suzy in Accounting despises it, don\’t harass or tease her until she agrees to play along.

Keep your costume politically neutral. Even if you have strong political views, keep them out of the office – trust me – it’s just not going to end well.

Keep it classy. Although the typical office dress code might be taking a vacation day, it’s still a good rule of thumb to stay mostly within the guidelines – leave the Daisy Dukes and Richard Simmons outfits at home, and opt for something that’s more office appropriate.

Keep it functional. Don’t wear something that prevents you from being able to do your job. Wearing vampire teeth all day might be amusing to you, but if your co-workers and customers can’t understand you, then it’s time to ditch them.

Don’t be disruptive. Having a parade around the office at lunch time is perfectly acceptable, how else are people supposed to judge your costumes? But avoid creating your own haunted house in your office or cubicle. It can get distracting to those trying to work around you, and even hinder your concentration.

One last tip, if you work with someone who has a deathly fear of spiders, clowns, or snakes, don\’t be a jerk and show up to work in a Halloween costume that will cause a panic attack. Some people do have very real phobias that they can\’t contain.

Celebrating the spooky season at work should be fun and light-hearted, not the cause of a heart attack! Have fun and make sure to send us some pics!

So, tell us, what’s your Halloween tradition at the office? Yea or Nay?

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The kind of workplace culture employees want

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One aspect of my job I particularly love is how much I get to interact with our customers. Obviously we talk about their marketing, but the conversations roam in many directions, which for me is part of the charm of working for Red Barn Consulting.

Our clients range from more corporate institutions like banks, insurance companies, and healthcare facilities, but also entrepreneurs and small businesses.

What strikes me is that no matter the business, and whether it’s based in Connecticut, the other side of the country, the need to “get it right” when it comes to workplace culture is crucial to retaining key employees, the ones you really can’t afford to lose.

As a whole, the job market is really tight. Employers are struggling to fill positions and hang on to good employees. Salary, benefits, and growth opportunity are obviously a huge part of the draw, but “culture,” often intangible, plays just as key a role.

When it comes to that je n\’ais se quoi of workplace culture, what are your potential employees looking for?

A seat at the table — Even junior level staffers want to know their contributions are valued. This doesn’t mean the CEO has to carefully consider every idea the greenest guy in the building has, but it does mean providing opportunities for employees at all levels to have their voices heard. Millennials especially do not want to just show up, keep their noses down, and go home. Being able to contribute is a strong motivator for quality employees.

A good mission — Whether your organization sells widgets or helps the homeless, it should have a strong mission that serves as a rallying point for your troops. More than just words, the mission needs to be reflected in your company’s ethos. Feeling good about what the company does and how it does it means quality employees will give 110%, with pleasure.

A comfortable environment — Starched shirts and rigorous enforcement of policy “just because” it is the policy are out. Good employees are looking for a workplace that feels positive and comfortable. When you’re spending 8+ hours a day there, it just makes sense!

A flex policy — Good employees are happy to give it their all, and not just 9 to 5. They are willing and eager to stay late when needed, to handle something off hours, to contribute when helpful to projects far outside their functional area. At the same time, good organizations provide flexibility in return. Need to leave early to catch a daughter’s softball game? Need to work remotely while the plumber fixes a leak? No problem.

A team worth supporting — “I want my employees to work collaboratively, to help each other.” The good news is, your employees want this as well! The key though, is building a team worthy of helping. It’s vital to pay attention to culture and overall “fit” when hiring. One bad apple can indeed spoil the whole bunch. You are building an army of sorts, and you need every member to feel invested in the success of everyone else.

What are some important elements in your workplace culture? I’d love to continue the dialogue.

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How to Attract Top Talent for Your Business

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When your company is expanding, hiring the right people becomes more important than ever. In order to keep up momentum and reach the next level, every seat has to be filled with just the right individual for the job. If you’ve been recruiting for a while, sometimes it feels like there are slim pickings out there. Finding candidates that match EVERY requirement are hard to come by. And to make matters worse, sometimes the people you do hire prove to be not a great fit for your company culture in the long-run. So how can you leverage your current resources to find the right player for the team? Consider these tips!

Turn Mixers into Interviews
Use every networking event as an opportunity for recruiting. Tradeshows, mixers, and marketing events are common places to find professionals you want to partner with. As a hiring manager, go in with an eye-open for your next recruit. Having this intention in the back of your mind will encourage you to listen a little harder when the people around you talk about their experience. Find ways to plug their expertise into your business. In many cases, the people you meet may even know someone who could possibly be a good fit for your vacancy.

Create an internal referral program
If your employees know that you are hiring, they may be open to sending you recommendations for the gig. Who better to choose a good fit for the company than an individual who is actually involved in the day-to-day. By setting up a generous sign-on incentive you will increase your chances of finding a recruit via your current staff. To attract the best talent, add a clause to this program that says new hire must last 30-60 days in order to receive full incentives. This will ensure your employees remain selective.

Write a detailed job description
In many cases, we will still have to use online job boards to generate a nice pool of applicants to choose from. Make sure your job description is detailed and accurately reflects the culture of the company. Those small details will attract candidates who align with your values and discourage those that don’t. Take some time to craft a meaningful job description that gives applicants a precise view of what their duties will be. Spell out the requirements clearly differentiating between mandatory qualities and qualities that re just pluses.

Make the job worth it
The small pool of top talent has top notch requirements to match. Make sure the position has perks and a salary that is competitive and worth their time. Things like flexible work schedules, lenient dress codes and work from home hours excite applicants looking to feel empowered. The best of the best is not likely to settle for or even apply to a job that doesn’t make them happy. They’ve earned their right to be selective.

Last but not least, congratulate yourself on your business growth! By following these simple steps you’ll be one interview closer to building your dream team. Good Luck!

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The Employment Offer Letter – When to Send it, and Why You Need it!

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It’s been a long and grueling search to find the perfect candidate who’s not only qualified for the job opening, but also fits your company culture, embodies your Core Values, is within your salary range, and is ready to hit the ground running. So, what’s next? Making them an offer of course!

Most people will call a candidate on the phone and share the good news with them. It’s the perfect time to lay out what the initial offer will be and allow them to ask any immediate questions. Since you already know the candidate’s salary requirements, and most companies address the benefits of the job beforehand – there really should be any sticker shock on either end.

A simple, and easy way to follow up the conversation is to then let the candidate know that you will be sending a formal offer letter via email. This allows the candidate time to process all the information, review it with a spouse or trusted friend, and not be pressured to make an immediate decision.
While a handshake may have been the preferred method of acceptance in the past, you should require your new hire, upon final negotiations, to sign and return the offer letter back to you. Here’s a few items that we suggest you include in any offer letter:

  • Congratulatory/celebratory comments. Express your excitement about them joining the team.
  • The company/organization. Include the specific company name or department that the new hire will be working for along with their official title.
  • The job requirements. Briefly touch on the key requirements again for the position.
  • The supervisor. Who will the person report to, and what is their title.
  • Conditions of employment. If your company performs any drug or background checks be sure to indicate that employment is contingent upon the results of these checks.
  • The pay and benefits available. Is the position full time or part time, temporary or regular, and exempt or non-exempt? Make sure to clearly list these along with the hourly or weekly pay. Also include any guaranteed bonuses, overtime eligibility, and what benefits the employee may qualify for.
  • Hours and where to report. Clearly lay out the expected working hours and where the employee should report to for their first day of work.
  • At Will Employment. Probably the most important thing to include in your letter is a statement of “At Will”. You do not want the employee to believe that your offer letter is a contract for employment.
  • Conclusion: Let the candidate know what to do next. List the start date of employment and when you require the candidate to accept the offer by. Also provide them with instructions on where to return the signed letter and any next steps.

A job offer letter allows you to itemize the facts about the offer, outline the job’s responsibilities and highlight relevant details about the company. Candidates may be uneasy without an offer letter and might wonder about the organization’s commitment to them in the long run if they are not even willing to commit at the beginning.

Creating an offer letter doesn’t need to be a daunting task. Simply create a template so that each time you want to make an offer of employment you can easily fill in the specific/unique pieces for the candidate. By using an offer letter, you can convey to your new employee that they are joining a professional organization.

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Who you REALLY want to work with

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What is the Target Client Profile – or TCP?

The Target Client Profile (TCP) is the criteria that makes up your ideal client. Clients who meet the following 5 criteria are the clients you should be on the look out for. We get it, not all your clients right now probably fit into this mold, but it\’s something to strive for. Hey, at the end of the day, having clients who fit into your TCP will make every one happier.

  • You need to have a strategic plan on where you want to be.  If it isn’t necessarily the clients you have now, it’s the clients you WANT to have. Who are they, where do they live, how much do they make, what do they like to do, are they conservative or not, what do they wear, what do they eat…you need to get that granular.
    • Find a picture in a magazine of your perfect client and start adding sticky notes around them that describe them.
  • You need to like them. This is so important. If you meet someone and you just cringe or think I’m going to hate answering the phone when he/she calls. Don’t do it.
  • Don’t be a slave to the almighty dollar – see #2
  • They need to be able to afford you. I never haggle on my price. EVER. I may reduce services, but my brain is worth something. Hell, 55 years of “stuff” in there has value. Don’t haggle or sell on price. If you do, you are training your customer that price is the point and you are a commodity. People will pay for things they see value in.
  • You have to be able to bring them value. If the prospect doesn’t drink your Kool-Aid – you will never bring them value because they will always be questioning your actions. The trust factor has to be there.

And there my friend is the TCP. When you start out you are going to take clients that don’t fit – hey, you have to eat. But if you can afford NOT to do that – you are in a great space. Taking clients that are not in your TCP suck the life out of you and then keep you away from working with your TCP.

Want some weekly advice and brain food? Join my Thursday email list HERE!

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PTO – take every last second. That’s an order.

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I think we can all agree that having Paid Time Off (PTO) is a huge perk for employees. But if your employees aren’t using the time off, then it should be a red flag. Years ago, most companies thought that employees who didn’t use PTO were more productive, but after some research, it was determined that the opposite is true. Not taking PTO can take a physical and emotional toll on workers, and potentially make them unhappy and unproductive. In contrast, well-rested and recharged employees may view their workplace more positively. High employee morale has a positive impact on the workplace, company culture, and the bottom line.

Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage and Before Happiness and founder of the consulting firm GoodThink, found that when \”the brain can think positively, productivity improves by 31 percent, sales increase by 37 percent, and creativity and revenues can triple.\”. The U.S. Travel Association’s Project: Time Off found that employees who take all their vacation time increase their chances of getting promoted and getting a raise by 6.5 percent, compared with people who leave 11 or more days of paid vacation unused.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t use all my PTO – even though Cindy tries to make me. Surveys discovered that the reason many employees don’t use all their vacation time is because they worry that no one else can do their job. Now, I’m not saying no one else at Red Barn can do my job, but I have a tough time giving up control. Before you start rolling your eyes thinking I’m a moron for choosing work over a Margarita and the beach – I do take at least 2 vacations a year. I just may sneak in checking my email at least once or twice a day.

A few companies made the news a year or two ago when they decided to offer their employees unlimited vacation. You might remember hearing about it, but you may not have heard the results on how it went. The company Mammoth decided to give it a try, and while the employees ranked it as the third highest employee benefit, each employee averaged the same amount of days off as when they had an accrual system.

But that’s really not the important take away from the vacation policy. It conveyed three things to the employees:

1. The company views its staff holistically–acknowledging that employees have demands and interests beyond work that can’t always be scheduled in advance.
2. Unlimited vacation policies convey trust, and put the responsibility for making sure the work gets done on the employee before they take time off
3. Unlimited vacation treats employees as individuals. Time off is a personal issue – everyone needs a different amount, and it changes from year to year.

While you might not be ready to go down the unlimited route yet, encouraging employees to take their allotted time off to relax, reboot, and enjoy some time away from the office should be on the To Do list.

Curious what sparked this blog topic? Shoot me an email and I’ll send you some photos from the island paradise I just returned from!

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If You Can’t Keep Top Talent, It Could Be Your Culture

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You posted the perfect job ad, read through dozens of resumes and narrowed them down. You shortlisted some great candidates, interviewed them, and found a standout applicant — You knew they could take your business to the next level. So you hired them, with high expectations and excitement for the future.

Six weeks later, they’re in your office with a resignation letter. Through your disappointment, you ask “Why are you leaving?” They respond “I’m not sure I’m a good fit.” Translation — Your company culture might not be working, and you need to do something about it.

What is company “culture?” Lots of experts talk about company culture, but what does it actually mean. Think of it as the “default emotional state” of your company. It’s how working in your business makes people feel. Does their business environment excite, motivate, and inspire them? Does it feel oppressive and authoritarian? Does it present the right mix of challenges, problem solving, and support?

Why does culture matter? Culture matters because it has a huge impact on how your people feel. It impacts morale, productivity, hiring, quality of work, autonomy, and so much more. In fact, the better a company’s culture, the more it contributes to your bottom line. The University of Warwick found that, “Happy workers are 12% more productive than the average worker, and unhappy workers are 10% less productive. In fact, unhappy employees cost American business over $300 billion each year.”

Ask your employees what they feel the current company culture is. You probably already have a pretty good idea of how the company culture feels to you, but you need the perspective of the people who really matter — Your employees. If you’re concerned about your culture, talk to your people about it. Discuss it in one to ones, let them know that whatever they say is fine. Don’t assign any blame — Listen, and understand.

Understand where your company culture comes from. Lots of things go into building a company culture, but the main one is this — It mainly comes from the people at the top of the business. If they’re exciting, inspiring, and approachable, the culture will be too. If they thrive on conflict and authority, that will permeate down through the business. It’s called Leadership and you need to lead from the top down.

That means if you want to change the culture and make your business an awesome place to work, change has to start in the leadership team. It’s a bitter pill, but a necessary one.

Talk to your team about what they want the culture to be. Once you understand how your staff currently see your company culture, and where it comes from, you can work to change it. Talk to people about what their ideal company culture looks like.

What would motivate them to enjoy coming to work more? What changes do they want to see in attitude, approaches, and management styles? How can you make doing their job easier and more pleasurable? Listen to all of it. No-one knows how to improve culture better than your people.

Create a plan. Now you know what your people’s priorities are, you should get a plan in place to change things. You’ll need strong commitment from your leadership team, a project manager who deeply understands culture change, a project team who can get things done, and a review and feedback group who can check actions are having the desired impact.

Actions you can take might include:

  • Improving employment perks — Give your employees the right benefits — Healthcare, time off, retirement planning etc.
  • Give employees control over their time — The ability to work from home, a sensible work / life balance, autonomy to work how they want.
  • Build confidence and trust — Encourage an “open door” policy, positive feedback, and collaboration within and across departments and teams.
  • Provide a better working environment — Relaxed, informal break spaces, a flatter management structure, a relaxed working environment, fun team events and parties.

Enhance your culture. And now, it’s a case of just getting that stuff done. Make changes to your culture, get metrics in place to measure success, track how you’re progressing, and see employee morale and productivity improve.

That way, the next time you spend thousands of dollars on hiring and training, you’ll have the reassurance that your employees are more likely to stay, and your company is likely a “good fit.” And that’s great for everyone.

If You Can’t Keep Top Talent, It Could Be Your Culture Read More »