August will shock me with the sixtieth anniversary of my introduction to this planet as a living being. This past year has been one of contemplation, ill humor and realizations.
During the past year, I realized that while many people take the bullet train to maturity, wealth and success, arriving almost before they have begun the journey, my own path to adulthood has followed an old, rutted dirt road filled with mud puddles and hazards where I have slowly picked my way along, often following detours or getting completely lost. I certainly won't be skidding into the end of my life, although I know that a good shower will be required before I meet my maker.
My youthful dreams of a private jet and millions of dollars have eluded me. In fact, my business has never reached a million dollars in sales. Team Mates is twenty three years old on November 2, 2014. It has provided my family with a modest income, a home or two, a couple of cars and part of the educations of my children. It has not, however, provided me with retirement savings. In fact, I imagine that my company has been my traveling companion down the old country road, reaching toward profitability as I have wandered toward maturity. It is clear that neither of us is even close to our respective ends.
It became obvious during the past year that my company would provide me with enough income to live a decent, if modest life for as long as I worked. If I hired a replacement, the cost would be higher than what I cost right now. Selling the company would result in a high tax bill, a very low net gain and the requirement that I continue to work. I might as well stay with Team Mates.
As a former accountant, I was very capable of calculating all of my unattainable financial goals. As a human being, I was depressed. Not even a million dollars would be enough for retirement, even if I was extremely frugal. I would never, ever be able to quit my job or do 'what I wanted to do' or live the carefree life that I have so often seen my friends living because they managed to do what I have not been able to do; they worked and saved and acted like adults with their money and with their lives. They were able to retire.
One day, I looked up and saw the rutted dirt track meander into the distance and smiled. Retirement is out of the question and there is so much that I want to do. There is working with my horse, working with other horses, gardening, making wine, writing and reading. There are my children and grandchildren. The list is endless. I have so many hobbies and desires. I have a limited attention span. Call it ADHD for Adults if you wish. Add to the mix that I work full time. Is there any wonder that I am never finished?
I realized at that moment that in a way, I already find the time to do what I enjoy. There is already enough time. I rarely find that there were not enough hours in a day. There are, in fact, exactly the right number. If more are needed, they can be borrowed from the following day because there are always more after that. In fact, borrowing days is essentially an interest-free, non-repayable loan that renews at the end of each day.
This led me, of course, to the idea that I don't have much in the way of savings. On consideration, though, I recognize that I have very little debt. Whatever I absolutely need, I usually pay for very quickly, except the new or used truck needed for hauling the horses, which I can't actually buy at the moment. As long as I work, I can pay for the things that I need.
So while retirement is out, life will be fine. I'll pick younger friends who are still working. That way I don't have to feel badly about not sitting around playing bridge in the afternoon. Or commuting between Minnesota and Arizona and never really knowing what season it is.
In the meantime, I'm leaving the shop at five today, driving home to a quick glass of wine. Then I'm tossing a saddle on Sam and we'll go riding down to the power plant where we'll pick a few raspberries and do some circles around trees. When we're done, we will go back home where I'll put Sam in his paddock, wander through the gardens and maybe come up with a plan for burning the big brush pile this weekend.
That's far enough ahead for now.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
It's a process
In the interest of disclosing as little history as possible, which would make this a novel rather than a short commentary, I'll just say that I have a strong interest in horses. It all began about three years ago when one of my sons and his wife enticed me with their horses. As with all things that capture my starving, attention deficit mind, the interest blossomed into a full-fledged need for a horse, a place to store him and some sort of ability to ride him.
I have little experience with animals. Cats have been a part of my life for many years, if they are actually considered participants in lives other than their own. Oh and we have some koi. I've never owned a dog although my dad had one once, a long time ago. The dog only lasted about six months. He really wasn't suited to our house when I was growing up.
Buying a horse was really easy. We traveled south for three hours after seeing one on Craig's List, discussing the fact that you should never ever buy the first horse you see. Three hours and fifteen minutes after starting south, my checkbook was lighter and I was the proud owner of two horses.
That was when my learning began. Having a horse is an investment of time and money that probably is better spent on other pursuits, like beating oneself about the head and shoulders with a large piece of lumber. Vets have to make housecalls because we don't simply load them into the van for a checkup, hay has to be bought early in the year, before supplies run out, sufficient land has to be available for running, grazing and manure (never ever think that manure gets rid of itself). And there is a time commitment or else you wind up with pasture statues who consume every dime you have without giving back a darned thing.
I love my horse. He is amazing and magical and the only reason a person these days ever needs to have an equine partner is emotional and not even remotely logical or rational.
Horses are wonderful teachers. They are. No, they don't hold classroom hours and the tuition is high but not impossible. The lessons, though, are all about management and learning and understanding. I have, in fact, learned much about managing my company and employees. I've learned about patience. I have learned how to do something absolutely without expectation of reward, because a horse completely lacks the capacity to 'like' people or things. They can't joke around, enjoy kisses and hugs, look forward to petting or any of those things that dogs and cats can do. This is scientific fact, by the way. Horses have an extremely underdeveloped frontal lobe which is where reasoning and love and playfulness are found.
Assuming that I have now upset every horse owner who truly believes that their horse loves them, we shall move on.
Teaching most subjects is pretty darned black and white, except history which apparently no longer exists. Okay, I'm an older person so I'll say that it used to be black and white. Some of this Common Core crap covers the whole color spectrum and will be eliminated from this (and any other) discussion. Moving on here.
Teaching involves facts, not emotions. It assumes logical answers to questions. One answer per question is helpful. Horses are totally reactive and non-emotional. They don't reason their way through things, they just answer. Wrong answers are deadly in the wild. If you learn to think like a horse, you remove the emotional value from your thought process and the answers, especially when it comes to managing a company or a person, are much more clear. Rules make more sense. Systems and processes are much easier to follow.
I'm stopping right here. That way there might be more to write in another blog. Continuity, right? Speaking of which, I'll have to say something about community again one of these days.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Community
I love epiphanies. When one occurs, it just makes at least the whole day better, and sometimes even carries over for a week or so.
Yesterday I had one. It didn't involve work, at least not directly.
It went something like this: "It's time to recognize that we are no longer on our own."
We used to live in the suburbs. We had our four tenths of an acre, surrounded by trees, sitting across from a park filled with baseball and softball fields. The street was noisy and there was lots of traffic. We had gardened the plot until there really wasn't much more to be done and the inside of the house was going to be next, just for something to do on weekends.
We didn't know a single neighbor. Not one. I could wave at one guy, whose name is Arthur, as I drove by his house. Aside from that, nothing. Oh, there was also Lance who lived behind us and hated us because our fence had been located on his property for twenty years. He would have a few beers and come out once in awhile and rail at me over that. I didn't really care. Minnesota has beneficial use laws, so technically the property was mine. I found out that Lance had died, although I only found out after we moved.
We lived there for fifteen years. And knew absolutely no one.
Two years ago, we packed up and moved to the country. We bought five acres that had a house, a barn, a second large garage and then acquired two horses. We moved in our own and spent the first few months waving at the few cars that passed by since we knew that most of the drivers lived on our gravel road. One or two waved back. What a thrill!
One day, not long after we moved in, a couple of the neighbors rode their horses up the driveway to introduce themselves and meet our horses. Then we started getting invitations to various places for drinks, barbecues and so forth. And then we found ourselves offering help when needed. The ladies down at the corner needed some hay brought down from another barn. Someone else was looking for hay. Somebody needed a little extra shoveling help. The list of friends grew, even though we couldn't even see most of our neighbors' houses.
Yesterday, I was looking at Facebook pictures of the neighbors all helping each other stack hay. We couldn't help because we were borrowing a trailer from one of the neighbors in order to pick up two hundred bales that I needed for our own horses. I did realize, with a sigh, that I'd be called on to do something down the road. In fact, we're helping to take care of the petting zoo and kennel down on the corner over the coming weekend.
That's when the epiphany arrived. It was a negative at first. "If the ladies down the road couldn't take care of themselves, then they need to hire some help instead of relying on the rest of us to pitch in." No, it doesn't sound nice. And yet, that's what the suburbs and cities do to us. "Leave me alone," is the standard neighbor cry. "I never ask for help and never want to be asked" is the statement of the day.
Then I realized that the truth is, we now belong to a community. People work together to make their lives better. None of us is rich. None of us has the resources to carry on alone. We do our best to manage our own acreages and don't actually have to have contact on a regular basis. The thing is, we do it anyway. We borrow stuff from each other, we return it when we're done, we pop on over to the neighbor's to mow or shovel snow or load hay because we know that they appreciate the help. That's how communities work.
We are no longer on our own. We have actual neighbors in an actual neighborhood. It is a little bit tiring on a social level because my community-serving muscles are atrophied from years of living in cities and hiding away. Working them just takes a little time, though. In the meantime, having neighbors makes me smile.
Yesterday I had one. It didn't involve work, at least not directly.
It went something like this: "It's time to recognize that we are no longer on our own."
We used to live in the suburbs. We had our four tenths of an acre, surrounded by trees, sitting across from a park filled with baseball and softball fields. The street was noisy and there was lots of traffic. We had gardened the plot until there really wasn't much more to be done and the inside of the house was going to be next, just for something to do on weekends.
We didn't know a single neighbor. Not one. I could wave at one guy, whose name is Arthur, as I drove by his house. Aside from that, nothing. Oh, there was also Lance who lived behind us and hated us because our fence had been located on his property for twenty years. He would have a few beers and come out once in awhile and rail at me over that. I didn't really care. Minnesota has beneficial use laws, so technically the property was mine. I found out that Lance had died, although I only found out after we moved.
We lived there for fifteen years. And knew absolutely no one.
Two years ago, we packed up and moved to the country. We bought five acres that had a house, a barn, a second large garage and then acquired two horses. We moved in our own and spent the first few months waving at the few cars that passed by since we knew that most of the drivers lived on our gravel road. One or two waved back. What a thrill!
One day, not long after we moved in, a couple of the neighbors rode their horses up the driveway to introduce themselves and meet our horses. Then we started getting invitations to various places for drinks, barbecues and so forth. And then we found ourselves offering help when needed. The ladies down at the corner needed some hay brought down from another barn. Someone else was looking for hay. Somebody needed a little extra shoveling help. The list of friends grew, even though we couldn't even see most of our neighbors' houses.
Yesterday, I was looking at Facebook pictures of the neighbors all helping each other stack hay. We couldn't help because we were borrowing a trailer from one of the neighbors in order to pick up two hundred bales that I needed for our own horses. I did realize, with a sigh, that I'd be called on to do something down the road. In fact, we're helping to take care of the petting zoo and kennel down on the corner over the coming weekend.
That's when the epiphany arrived. It was a negative at first. "If the ladies down the road couldn't take care of themselves, then they need to hire some help instead of relying on the rest of us to pitch in." No, it doesn't sound nice. And yet, that's what the suburbs and cities do to us. "Leave me alone," is the standard neighbor cry. "I never ask for help and never want to be asked" is the statement of the day.
Then I realized that the truth is, we now belong to a community. People work together to make their lives better. None of us is rich. None of us has the resources to carry on alone. We do our best to manage our own acreages and don't actually have to have contact on a regular basis. The thing is, we do it anyway. We borrow stuff from each other, we return it when we're done, we pop on over to the neighbor's to mow or shovel snow or load hay because we know that they appreciate the help. That's how communities work.
We are no longer on our own. We have actual neighbors in an actual neighborhood. It is a little bit tiring on a social level because my community-serving muscles are atrophied from years of living in cities and hiding away. Working them just takes a little time, though. In the meantime, having neighbors makes me smile.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
I just woke up
I feel almost as if I've been in hibernation. It seems like only yesterday and here we are, four years later. My first blog in that long. Huh. I'm feeling a bit like Rip Van Winkle. Look at all the options you can put into your blog now! There are new pictures, new ways to post, new themes, new, what the hell are these gadget thingies?
All right, this is dealt with. I'm adding nothing. You're right. If the writing stands on its own, who needs pretty background colors or soft, floating music? We're here to impart information, aren't we? At very least, it is time to muse for my own amusement.
FOUR YEARS LATER:
Team Mates has changed a lot in four years, too. It is often said that a company is a reflection of its owner. It is also said that husbands and wives morph into twins if they stay together for long enough. We'll stick with the company image, though. Much more palatable.
I went through a metamorphosis about four years ago. I learned, through the commission of many errors, that emotions are unnecessary within a company and that a certain amount of detachment is required if one is to manage effectively. There are many clues available to the thinking person. I should have read them. The clues consist of things like, "The whole shop goes quiet when the boss walks into the room." There are many. "People find excuses to be elsewhere when the boss is around." "Employees make lots of mistakes and then won't admit to them." "People arrive late and leave early." "Deliveries are not on time." There are, as I say, a lot of clues.
I blew up for the final time one day about three years ago. In my head it was this totally logical argument. "The employees need to hear that I am angry and upset, so I'll go out and yell at my shop manager in the middle of the shop floor. People always straighten up for a few weeks after I get angry." So I stomped out, gave my best impression of a baby with diaper rash and my shop manager walked out the door. She quit.
It took a few days to realize what I had done. I wound up begging her to come back by the way. We talked. I made her a promise that I would never do that again.
She came back to work. I have not yelled since then. I haven't even felt the urge to do so. Our shop runs better than it ever has. It is built on service. We are honest and we get things done. I have the best staff ever and they've all been with Team Mates for a long period of time. Many have been here for over five years, in fact. We deliver on time. We focus on quality. We work together. We talk together and work out issues in reasonable and fair ways. Above all, when walking in the door in the morning, I feel happier and even successful.
A company is a reflection of its owners. From 2009 until today, I have seen that particular statement as it really is. More later.
All right, this is dealt with. I'm adding nothing. You're right. If the writing stands on its own, who needs pretty background colors or soft, floating music? We're here to impart information, aren't we? At very least, it is time to muse for my own amusement.
FOUR YEARS LATER:
Team Mates has changed a lot in four years, too. It is often said that a company is a reflection of its owner. It is also said that husbands and wives morph into twins if they stay together for long enough. We'll stick with the company image, though. Much more palatable.
I went through a metamorphosis about four years ago. I learned, through the commission of many errors, that emotions are unnecessary within a company and that a certain amount of detachment is required if one is to manage effectively. There are many clues available to the thinking person. I should have read them. The clues consist of things like, "The whole shop goes quiet when the boss walks into the room." There are many. "People find excuses to be elsewhere when the boss is around." "Employees make lots of mistakes and then won't admit to them." "People arrive late and leave early." "Deliveries are not on time." There are, as I say, a lot of clues.
I blew up for the final time one day about three years ago. In my head it was this totally logical argument. "The employees need to hear that I am angry and upset, so I'll go out and yell at my shop manager in the middle of the shop floor. People always straighten up for a few weeks after I get angry." So I stomped out, gave my best impression of a baby with diaper rash and my shop manager walked out the door. She quit.
It took a few days to realize what I had done. I wound up begging her to come back by the way. We talked. I made her a promise that I would never do that again.
She came back to work. I have not yelled since then. I haven't even felt the urge to do so. Our shop runs better than it ever has. It is built on service. We are honest and we get things done. I have the best staff ever and they've all been with Team Mates for a long period of time. Many have been here for over five years, in fact. We deliver on time. We focus on quality. We work together. We talk together and work out issues in reasonable and fair ways. Above all, when walking in the door in the morning, I feel happier and even successful.
A company is a reflection of its owners. From 2009 until today, I have seen that particular statement as it really is. More later.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Global forces?
I'm listening to an audio book and reading another book right now that are really making me think. The audio book is "The Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell. The reading book is "The Post-American World" by Fareed Zakaria. Both are really good.
Mr. Gladwell's book discusses the basics of personal development and he traces several phenomena regarding some of the wealthiest people in the world, some of the successes of the really famous people like Bill Gates and Bill Joy (Sun Microsystems and the writer of Java) and how they 'happened' to get where they are today. Coincidences abound. Expertise is another strong topic. He talks about ten thousand hours of practice to get to become an expert at something. He discusses the relative merits and advantages of genius versus average and above-average intelligence. It's really interesting and gives one pause to consider the sheer number of hours we put in, especially as independent businessfolk, and just how we've spent our time. In seventeen years, I wonder if I've managed finally to become an expert at business.
Mr. Zakaria is as interesting, if not more so, regarding his analysis of the developing global economy and the United States' past, present and future positions within it. His book is fabulous. His analysis is relatively straightforward, logical and not filled with opinions or conclusions so commonly dropped into supposed historical comparisons. He simply gives facts and allows us to create our own opinions.
Both books are incredibly fascinating to me. Both give me reason to hope, especially in these currently troubled times. On the one hand, the United States remains (and will most likely continue) as the strongest economy and global influence on the planet. Zakaria's logic is really quite strong and I see all sorts of proof of this in every aspect of my life even at my current lowly level. At the same time, we have to work hard to continue to achieve this incredible dominance but we need to accept the fact that the rest of the world is indeed catching up. And as far as capability, each individual truly is. The persistence required to become an expert is the only really big thing stopping us.
What are the messages here? That we need to be efficient, positive and inventive. We need to be competitors. We need to be strong and aggressive in all of our work. Oh, and, according to Malcolm Gladwell, I coulda been Bill Gates. Well, at least I was born at just the right time.
Team Mates has been that way during the past year. We've actually been working toward this particular goal of aggressive efficiency (to coin a phrase) for several years, but we are seeing the fruits of this work pay off. I'll try to explain that a little bit more in the future but for now, suffice to say that we work hard to encourage everyone in our company AND all of our customers to push ahead, suggest, badger and work more efficiently in order for us to keep costs down, keep the damages down and keep deliveries on schedule regardless of the deadlines we set.
As we improve, we market. We work to sell our particular skills to the rest of the country and hope that there are enough people who haven't heard of us who might just want to get embroidered goods. I continue spreading the message that someone else is out there adapting to changing times, working within the changing business community to continue to survive and sell and prosper. It is, after all, what we have to do. I really really don't wanna go back to working for someone. It just doesn't sit right with me.
Mr. Gladwell's book discusses the basics of personal development and he traces several phenomena regarding some of the wealthiest people in the world, some of the successes of the really famous people like Bill Gates and Bill Joy (Sun Microsystems and the writer of Java) and how they 'happened' to get where they are today. Coincidences abound. Expertise is another strong topic. He talks about ten thousand hours of practice to get to become an expert at something. He discusses the relative merits and advantages of genius versus average and above-average intelligence. It's really interesting and gives one pause to consider the sheer number of hours we put in, especially as independent businessfolk, and just how we've spent our time. In seventeen years, I wonder if I've managed finally to become an expert at business.
Mr. Zakaria is as interesting, if not more so, regarding his analysis of the developing global economy and the United States' past, present and future positions within it. His book is fabulous. His analysis is relatively straightforward, logical and not filled with opinions or conclusions so commonly dropped into supposed historical comparisons. He simply gives facts and allows us to create our own opinions.
Both books are incredibly fascinating to me. Both give me reason to hope, especially in these currently troubled times. On the one hand, the United States remains (and will most likely continue) as the strongest economy and global influence on the planet. Zakaria's logic is really quite strong and I see all sorts of proof of this in every aspect of my life even at my current lowly level. At the same time, we have to work hard to continue to achieve this incredible dominance but we need to accept the fact that the rest of the world is indeed catching up. And as far as capability, each individual truly is. The persistence required to become an expert is the only really big thing stopping us.
What are the messages here? That we need to be efficient, positive and inventive. We need to be competitors. We need to be strong and aggressive in all of our work. Oh, and, according to Malcolm Gladwell, I coulda been Bill Gates. Well, at least I was born at just the right time.
Team Mates has been that way during the past year. We've actually been working toward this particular goal of aggressive efficiency (to coin a phrase) for several years, but we are seeing the fruits of this work pay off. I'll try to explain that a little bit more in the future but for now, suffice to say that we work hard to encourage everyone in our company AND all of our customers to push ahead, suggest, badger and work more efficiently in order for us to keep costs down, keep the damages down and keep deliveries on schedule regardless of the deadlines we set.
As we improve, we market. We work to sell our particular skills to the rest of the country and hope that there are enough people who haven't heard of us who might just want to get embroidered goods. I continue spreading the message that someone else is out there adapting to changing times, working within the changing business community to continue to survive and sell and prosper. It is, after all, what we have to do. I really really don't wanna go back to working for someone. It just doesn't sit right with me.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Social Conscience
Yes, yes, it's been a long while since I've posted. (confessional here?) Strange, especially since I love to write.
Of late, though, I feel the distinct need to jump on the 'recession bandwagon' and through out about a nickel's worth of verbiage. It all has to do with the title above. Well, this particular tome will address social conscience in any case.
I've been with Team Mates for seventeen years. One of the things that we did originally, when we started doing contract work (doing work for sales people and distributors who then sold directly to client companies), was to protect our customers. At the time when we started doing that sort of work, embroiderers were sometimes prone to go direct to the customers and discount their prices in order to steal the customers, increase their sales and basically be direct competition with the folks who were bringing work to them.
I found this way of doing business to be incredibly unethical. As we grew, quite often companies would come to us directly for bids for embroidered shirts and hats and so forth and occasionally those companies were doing business with one or more of our distributor customers. Our first reaction in each and every case was to call the distributor (if they were our customer) and let them know that their pricing was being shopped. Of course, if they didn't care, we would bid the work directly, but more often, our distributor customers would thank us and get back out to sell to the companies.
There was a direct upside to that sort of process. Our own clients became more loyal. We sacrificed a few opportunities along the way, but we did increase the amount of decorating that we were able to do over the long run. Most importantly, I slept much better at night.
Today, there's a recession. Right now. At the moment I write this blog, it is happening. It is global and it is no longer possible to ignore. I'm pretty sure that it has affected every single person who is presently alive. Business is down, credit has crawled under a rock and there are programs proposed, and passed, by many governments that are designed to assist all of us in some way or other to survive and maybe to get us back to work again.
Social Conscience, though, seems not to be considered, at least not as often as it could be.
Life and business are competitions. In life, we compete for the girl, we compete for jobs, for better homes, for space on the treadmill at the gym. We send our kids to play sports, which are ALWAYS competitive. We compete for time and recognition in expressing our opinions.
In business, competition is the same. Most of the time, more than one company competes in an industry for market share, for goods and services, for employees and for customers. Each business survives through its own ability to compete, whether it be through efficiency, pricing, great advertising or just plain hard work.
Social Conscience, though, is not always considered.
As parents, we try to teach our children that when they go into the cookie jar, they are not allowed to take all of the cookies. They are taught to share. When the kids are old enough to play sports and have a game against an outclassed opponent, they are taught not to run up the score and they are also taught that everyone gets to play. It has always been that way. We teach these values because even though the temptation is there to take it all, to beat someone to death or to simply humiliate them, we are taught that the social consequence is most often a negative reaction, both personally and publicly. You just don't beat someone when they're down, unless you're a really bad person.
So what happens when a credit card company starts raising its rates to cover the large numbers of defaults it is having? And why does the credit card company locate its offices to states that have no usury laws? Why do the heads of the largest corporations in the world insist on taking bonuses that make the lottery look tiny, even in the face of the kinds of adversity that require them to go to the government for bailouts? Why, in fact, do unions (not to leave anyone out) continually negotiate higher rates, permanent jobs for every member, regardless of ability or willingness to work when the non-union employees are forced out of work because the unionized companies are going broke?
I have lots of those questions. And they all relate to Social Conscience. The basic question that leads to the ones in the preceding paragraph is this: "When is enough enough?"
We are all members of a society. We are fast becoming a global society, a global economy where competition creates a need for efficiency and cost-awareness. It also creates the possibility, especially in 'Free' markets, that people can become incredibly wealthy. They can also become extremely poor.
Trouble is, whether one allows for the global concept or insists on making their society local or national, more than one person participates in that society. That means, naturally, that there are competitors. In any competition, the Winner Takes All concept doesn't mean that you get to take everything including the winner's life. Humiliate a foe once and you either make them murderous or you make them go away. Either way, you both lose. Your society loses and eventually, even if you own your market or are the richest kid on your block, you end up with a situation where people hate you. They won't allow you to continue or, if you start making up your own laws, they'll revolt.
It goes back to that social conscience thing. We need one. I can't imagine where it seems to have gone but I see government bailout programs handing out cash like there's no tomorrow and many say it is not enough.
This goes to the high and the low ends of the economic and social scale by the way. We are all expected to take what we need. We are also charged with taking no MORE than what we need. We are not supposed to gouge, steal, vote ourselves corporate cash-gutting bonuses or golden parachutes, nor are we, if we receive unemployment or welfare, supposed to take more than what we are able to survive on. We are certainly expected to go back to work as soon as possible.
So what happened to the cookie jar here? I see a lot of companies and individuals with their hands out and their mouths open and they seem to be taking an awful lot of cookies, stuffing them in their pockets and forgetting about them. There's enough to share, you know. And we ARE all in this together.
Social Conscience. Fairness. There already IS a law about that. Or maybe it's a commandmant. Something important anyway.
Of late, though, I feel the distinct need to jump on the 'recession bandwagon' and through out about a nickel's worth of verbiage. It all has to do with the title above. Well, this particular tome will address social conscience in any case.
I've been with Team Mates for seventeen years. One of the things that we did originally, when we started doing contract work (doing work for sales people and distributors who then sold directly to client companies), was to protect our customers. At the time when we started doing that sort of work, embroiderers were sometimes prone to go direct to the customers and discount their prices in order to steal the customers, increase their sales and basically be direct competition with the folks who were bringing work to them.
I found this way of doing business to be incredibly unethical. As we grew, quite often companies would come to us directly for bids for embroidered shirts and hats and so forth and occasionally those companies were doing business with one or more of our distributor customers. Our first reaction in each and every case was to call the distributor (if they were our customer) and let them know that their pricing was being shopped. Of course, if they didn't care, we would bid the work directly, but more often, our distributor customers would thank us and get back out to sell to the companies.
There was a direct upside to that sort of process. Our own clients became more loyal. We sacrificed a few opportunities along the way, but we did increase the amount of decorating that we were able to do over the long run. Most importantly, I slept much better at night.
Today, there's a recession. Right now. At the moment I write this blog, it is happening. It is global and it is no longer possible to ignore. I'm pretty sure that it has affected every single person who is presently alive. Business is down, credit has crawled under a rock and there are programs proposed, and passed, by many governments that are designed to assist all of us in some way or other to survive and maybe to get us back to work again.
Social Conscience, though, seems not to be considered, at least not as often as it could be.
Life and business are competitions. In life, we compete for the girl, we compete for jobs, for better homes, for space on the treadmill at the gym. We send our kids to play sports, which are ALWAYS competitive. We compete for time and recognition in expressing our opinions.
In business, competition is the same. Most of the time, more than one company competes in an industry for market share, for goods and services, for employees and for customers. Each business survives through its own ability to compete, whether it be through efficiency, pricing, great advertising or just plain hard work.
Social Conscience, though, is not always considered.
As parents, we try to teach our children that when they go into the cookie jar, they are not allowed to take all of the cookies. They are taught to share. When the kids are old enough to play sports and have a game against an outclassed opponent, they are taught not to run up the score and they are also taught that everyone gets to play. It has always been that way. We teach these values because even though the temptation is there to take it all, to beat someone to death or to simply humiliate them, we are taught that the social consequence is most often a negative reaction, both personally and publicly. You just don't beat someone when they're down, unless you're a really bad person.
So what happens when a credit card company starts raising its rates to cover the large numbers of defaults it is having? And why does the credit card company locate its offices to states that have no usury laws? Why do the heads of the largest corporations in the world insist on taking bonuses that make the lottery look tiny, even in the face of the kinds of adversity that require them to go to the government for bailouts? Why, in fact, do unions (not to leave anyone out) continually negotiate higher rates, permanent jobs for every member, regardless of ability or willingness to work when the non-union employees are forced out of work because the unionized companies are going broke?
I have lots of those questions. And they all relate to Social Conscience. The basic question that leads to the ones in the preceding paragraph is this: "When is enough enough?"
We are all members of a society. We are fast becoming a global society, a global economy where competition creates a need for efficiency and cost-awareness. It also creates the possibility, especially in 'Free' markets, that people can become incredibly wealthy. They can also become extremely poor.
Trouble is, whether one allows for the global concept or insists on making their society local or national, more than one person participates in that society. That means, naturally, that there are competitors. In any competition, the Winner Takes All concept doesn't mean that you get to take everything including the winner's life. Humiliate a foe once and you either make them murderous or you make them go away. Either way, you both lose. Your society loses and eventually, even if you own your market or are the richest kid on your block, you end up with a situation where people hate you. They won't allow you to continue or, if you start making up your own laws, they'll revolt.
It goes back to that social conscience thing. We need one. I can't imagine where it seems to have gone but I see government bailout programs handing out cash like there's no tomorrow and many say it is not enough.
This goes to the high and the low ends of the economic and social scale by the way. We are all expected to take what we need. We are also charged with taking no MORE than what we need. We are not supposed to gouge, steal, vote ourselves corporate cash-gutting bonuses or golden parachutes, nor are we, if we receive unemployment or welfare, supposed to take more than what we are able to survive on. We are certainly expected to go back to work as soon as possible.
So what happened to the cookie jar here? I see a lot of companies and individuals with their hands out and their mouths open and they seem to be taking an awful lot of cookies, stuffing them in their pockets and forgetting about them. There's enough to share, you know. And we ARE all in this together.
Social Conscience. Fairness. There already IS a law about that. Or maybe it's a commandmant. Something important anyway.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Business as usual?
I've been away. Not having had a huge readership to encourage me to keep pouring out my deepest heartfelt emotions and troubles, it would seem that summer has been much more important. The gardens needed tending. After taking some time to just simply watch plants and lilies grow, though, it is time to start thinking about business again. Re-focus would seem to be the key here.
Everyone needs some time away, even if it is only mental. I haven't taken any actual vacations during the past month but I have definitely allowed my attention to wander a bit while I just did the day-to-day stuff that needs to be done as a person involved in a small business is required to do. The rest of the work, the program and marketing development, the lead generation, the efficiency improvements, the continuing development of our operations manual and the analysis of production have all sat here on my desk while I stared out the window. And tended my gardens (gonna be on tours next year in case you're nearby). And pretty much just mentally vacated the premises.
My youngest daughter brought me back, though. We have a rather odd relationship, but I am finally getting to know her a little bit after about eighteen years of our living in separate locales. And she is eighteen at the moment. Should give you a clue as to the way life sometimes happens.
Anyway, she was walking with me in the yard and out popped the question of the day... "Dad, how come you like to garden?"
I thought about it for a minute and, being rather verbose, I'll just paraphrase the answer. Because it is constantly new. A garden varies not only from year to year, but also daily. There is always something to plant, to move, to weed out, to thing, to transplant or water or just plain enjoy. Every single aspect of it evolves and it is a small environment that is exciting at nearly every single point in a year, even if it is covered in snow.
This, of course, caused me to consider my business. Even though we have established some patterns of sales over the years, we are changing daily as well. Last night, I upgraded our accounting system. It is designed to save time but requires work. We are constantly working to focus our sales efforts and to target customers where we can, to manage our employees and provide them with better benefits. Daily, each individual has a slightly different outlook, a different attitude and even a slightly changed view of the quality and timeliness in orders. Our costs change. Sometimes it feels like trying to pick up the ocean in one hand.
That is the aspect of business that fascinates me. How do we grow steadily, how do we maintain at least a semblance of profitability when we are never entirely in control of our surrounding influences? And why do we keep plugging away at it after all of these years.
The answer, I think, lies in the gardens.
Everyone needs some time away, even if it is only mental. I haven't taken any actual vacations during the past month but I have definitely allowed my attention to wander a bit while I just did the day-to-day stuff that needs to be done as a person involved in a small business is required to do. The rest of the work, the program and marketing development, the lead generation, the efficiency improvements, the continuing development of our operations manual and the analysis of production have all sat here on my desk while I stared out the window. And tended my gardens (gonna be on tours next year in case you're nearby). And pretty much just mentally vacated the premises.
My youngest daughter brought me back, though. We have a rather odd relationship, but I am finally getting to know her a little bit after about eighteen years of our living in separate locales. And she is eighteen at the moment. Should give you a clue as to the way life sometimes happens.
Anyway, she was walking with me in the yard and out popped the question of the day... "Dad, how come you like to garden?"
I thought about it for a minute and, being rather verbose, I'll just paraphrase the answer. Because it is constantly new. A garden varies not only from year to year, but also daily. There is always something to plant, to move, to weed out, to thing, to transplant or water or just plain enjoy. Every single aspect of it evolves and it is a small environment that is exciting at nearly every single point in a year, even if it is covered in snow.
This, of course, caused me to consider my business. Even though we have established some patterns of sales over the years, we are changing daily as well. Last night, I upgraded our accounting system. It is designed to save time but requires work. We are constantly working to focus our sales efforts and to target customers where we can, to manage our employees and provide them with better benefits. Daily, each individual has a slightly different outlook, a different attitude and even a slightly changed view of the quality and timeliness in orders. Our costs change. Sometimes it feels like trying to pick up the ocean in one hand.
That is the aspect of business that fascinates me. How do we grow steadily, how do we maintain at least a semblance of profitability when we are never entirely in control of our surrounding influences? And why do we keep plugging away at it after all of these years.
The answer, I think, lies in the gardens.
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