The Work Thread 2 - Get back to work!

[aayl1]

Passed my initial training so got a 3 month contract extension and a pay rise

Woo congrats, and well done on sticking it out in what must be pretty tough conditions atm

[Green Gecko]

Of course, I do it because I think it will help me develop a rapport with the customer, or just get them to like me and pay for stuff, which is very basically how sales works. I've never in my life just shut down a conversation with anyone. Sure I'm more mutually beneficial than that and I make constant concessions however when I look at the time spent on jobs that equate to under £100 on revenue and it's literally 5, 10, 20 hours. Or whole accounts, sub £500 nevermind £1000, and it's hundreds of hours. That there is a problem.

Can you not:

- Charge more
- Use billable hours for any out of scope calls that arise
- Send reminders and clarify if people aren't turning up for in-person meetings. That isn't normal so I assume if it's repeatedly happening it's miscommunication on your part

Yes

I have a personal weakness where I tend to humour people far too much, and forget this is my job, or it isn't part of my job. I time track the extra time spent on emails and calls etc, but I don't bill them, because I have no framework through which they are chargeable, which is dumb. So all I can do, is try to communicate less, which sometimes creates its own problems. So my costing can be an issue too. What I really need to be doing, is targeting much better clients who value my time and expertise more. After all, I've had a customer in the past for example who complained about the cost of a T-shirt increasing by 1 pound after the course of a year, comparing my quote to her previous bank statements. Wtf. She then wrote "I can see how you spend so much time writing emails LOL" in her email. I fired her.

After working with a client that costs a lot of time once or twice though, I usually know if I need to reassess things like the rates they're on, but it's of course still frustrating in the first instance. If they can't accept a reasonable change for what I'm doing for them then it's "thanks, but no deal". It's really difficult to predict what kind of person you're working with and how much support they need, and sometimes indeed, how little support they actually want.

I'm complaining about things that absolutely have some pretty obvious solutions, but they're still annoying when not going to plan or I pull the rug out from under myself!

That meeting I'm referring too, was literally a "can you meet me tomorrow at X time?" "Yes, I will see you at your premises at that time tomorrow morning and bring the T-shirts. See you soon." I show up. "Hey we have this guy here with some T-shirts for a meeting [handover]. ... Oh sorry, Andy had no idea about that meeting".

And this was someone who told me about 4 times he was just down the road and when could I pop in for a quick chat, instead of reading all the requisite information in my emails

To put things in the present though, I only arrange phone calls now. I book them just like meetings at a mutually agreed time. I also try to cap this to 30 minutes, 1 hour maximum, just like a meeting, because really, what is the difference? I also do this because of my disability, it's an incredibly draining experience for me which introduces a big inefficiency to my business because sometimes then I'm unable to work effectively for subsequent hour or so, sometimes more. That's a big deal.

I also reply to phone calls I miss with a text from a "text only number" asking to email and/or arrange an appropriate time for a call back. If I don't get a reply, well strawberry float them, they're not willing to put any effort into the process. It's not worth it.

Vetting can be a brutal and painful thing to do when you just want to help everyone, but sometimes it's crucial.

Obviously I might need some assistance with sales and conversions in the future but I'm much happier just doing things like Instagram DMs and emails for people who have any patience whatsoever than worrying about 1 or 2 guys who insist on phone calls and hardly spend any more. From a business perspective, what's the point in that? I don't think I've ever, even once, had a "phone" customer who spent more than 75 quid.

[poshrule_uk]

Had my last day at work on Friday
Got some lovely gifts and a great send off, felt very emotional and feel like I have been through a break up

Start new job tomorrow WFH, laptop has been delivered and my power cable came seperately but they sent me the European 2 pin plug Luckily my wife has a power cable we can share until they send me a new one

[Rocsteady]

The Monday morning dread is becoming too much. My work pays very well and I can work from anywhere so I'm loathe to leave it but I'm not sure how long this is sustainable for.

The current job market

[Qikz]

Work hasn't been tooooooo bad so far.

[Green Gecko]

One T-shirt to ship (grateful for that as a it's an original one I did ages ago) and a printer that will slowly die if I don't use it, so lots of marketing and website updates to do. Doing gangbusters here!

At least you guys don't have to plan, and execute, 100% of the work at every level lol

I've a pile of shirts I picked up cheap due to close outs at American Apparel so I can use these to experiment, list and see what happens while I do the edging out my local competitors thing now my methods are demonstrably better in every way, and at the same time, faster too.

I've also got to update my wee sign I made 5 years ago that still says web design on it picked up some aluminium omposite ages ago, need to at least sort out the colours of my soft rebrand and all they key words etc. To put that up. The only people seeing it are those literally waiting for a bus stop and collections but, it's been bothering me for ages.

Since I have five of those panels, and the means to replace it whenever I want erm, maybe I should just do something and "think about it properly" some other time. There's never enough time to "think about it properly", nothing gets done if I tell myself that

[Zilnad]

Not heard a peep from anyone at work today. Always makes me nervous when that happens, like I'm expecting something bad to happen.

[Red]

A member of our team was stopped on their way into Hull last night by the police asking why they were on the road and to justify why they couldn't work from home. That last bit seems like a question for the employer, not the employee.

Anyway we've all been issued with a letter now saying we need to travel and stay in accomodation away from our homes during the week.

[Red]

Passed my initial training so got a 3 month contract extension and a pay rise

Woo congrats, and well done on sticking it out in what must be pretty tough conditions atm

Cheers it's strange times, I move rapidly between resigned to it all, and quite anxious, but overall it's okay.

[Tomous]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

I've had the same before. Do you admit responsibility and reassure them that you will carry out due diligence when signing off in future, or do you say you foolishly had confidence in their ability and you're disappointed to know that you will have to be extra thorough when checking their shoddy work in future?

Your call .

[Tomous]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

I've had the same before. Do you admit responsibility and reassure them that you will carry out due diligence when signing off in future, or do you say you foolishly had confidence in their ability and you're disappointed to know that you will have to be extra thorough when checking their shoddy work in future?

Your call .

We only do a high level check and the mistake was small enough that it would only be noticed if it was reviewed on a line by line basis.

As I am on my notice period, I'm not even going to be diplomatic about blaming them for their mistake

[Victor Mildew]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

[Tomous]

Here he is

[Victor Mildew]

I swear between peep show, partridge and the office, there's a gif/image for everything

[Drumstick]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

If you're the senior person, isn't it kind of your fault for signing off on them and not noticing the mistake (but also the initial staffer's fault for making the mistake)? You're the failsafe.

[Drumstick]

Also, if it were me and I was leaving, I'd inform that person of their mistake but take the blame for them, because I'm leaving so strawberry float it.

Unless that person is a complete banana split.

[Tomous]

Just had someone blame me for signing off on some numbers they submitted because they'd made a mistake in them

If you're the senior person, isn't it kind of your fault for signing off on them and not noticing the mistake (but also the initial staffer's fault for making the mistake)? You're the failsafe.

No, because the mistake is below the materiality I check for.

It would be impossible for me to find under the current process, and also not the reason for my checks. Frankly, the mistake is too small for us to care about, but causes them problems locally.

[Tomous]

Also, if it were me and I was leaving, I'd inform that person of their mistake but take the blame for them, because I'm leaving so strawberry float it.

Unless that person is a complete banana split.

They can be a right arse, so strawberry float em

[Drumstick]

Also, if it were me and I was leaving, I'd inform that person of their mistake but take the blame for them, because I'm leaving so strawberry float it.

Unless that person is a complete banana split.

They can be a right arse, so strawberry float em

Lump on [/Trippier]