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Let me guess: you’re really an entrepreneur at heart; you’re just temporarily stuck in this corporate job, right? One of these days you’re going to bust out of cubicle hell and make a break for the Gen Y holy of holies, owning your own business. And it’s going to be awesome. You’ll be your own boss and you’ll run your company so much cooler than the corporation you’re just biding your time
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Comments
12.29.08
10 vacation days? That's one of the reasons I love the UK. 23 days for new hires... + 8 days bank holidays.
12.29.08
@Anonymous: That's like a month off! Yeah, fat chance of that happening here. I take solace in the fact that I don't work in Japan... yeesh.
12.29.08
Holly-
Your suggestions are not only great for someone already on the job, but they are also applicable when you're interviewing. In particular, being able to clearly and concisely articulate what you do in your current or previous role (no small task for many job seekers), knowing your clients and services (and those of the prospective employer), having a marketing plan, and being able to show a track record of improvements you've been able to make on the job, will go a long way towards landing an offer.
Shawn
12.30.08
Happy Holidays, Holly! Thanks for sharing your personal business philosophy - it's a great way to assess one's value at a firm!
12.30.08
This is a really brilliant post. I'm impressed that you already know what took me 10 years + MBA to discover.
To add to the conversation that you started, I think that the most important things that you highlighted are the 1) efficiency improvements and the 2) knowing your customers.
Before any new resources are allocated, a company will always ask about efficiency improvements first. If you have a track record of demonstrating those improvements, it will be easier to get new resources.
With knowing your customers, there is no more persuasive argument in business than saying "I talked to the customer and they want it."
Tying yourself as close to the revenue as possible is a well known principle but I wonder if it can really protect you. Unless you have the client list, you are still a replaceable cost. When a budget needs to be cut, it's either you or me, the dollars have to come from somewhere.
Holly with your idea of marketing yourself, do you get too many requests? Showing your value is important and it is a good idea, but before really doing it more myself, I wonder if I would get more requests than I could fill and thus dissatisfy my customers?
12.30.08
@Deadhedge: Great! Does this mean I don't need to get that MBA now? j/k.
Tying your position closer to revenue definitely won't protect you if huge layoffs loom. However, I do think that if you can bring yourself closer to the middle of the revenue herd, you'll avoid being picked off on the outskirts.
As to over-marketing yourself, yes, it's possible. I think the important thing is to have efficient systems for dealing with numerous requests in place. For example, when I took over research for three branches when I was previously only managing one, I found an online tool to help my sales execs run their own prospecting lists, when I had been doing it for them myself previously. This allowed me to scale back on that altogether and give myself room to deal with the increase in other requests from my new "clients" or the new branches. It's all about being able to scale. If the structure isn't in place, then it will cave in on you.
And I agree, you can't destroy your "business" in the process. You have to grow apace. If you had saddled me with four branches when I started, there's no way I could've given my "clients" what they needed. After 18 months, however, I'm able to handle it. And hopefully, I'll be able to handle even more sometime in the future. ;)
12.30.08
@Holly,
If you decide to go for an MBA, you can skip the career development classes, that's for sure.
01.01.09
Holly, just wanted to say that I loved the E-Myth point. I read the book a few years back, and that was definitely one of the points that stuck with me.
I'm currently trying to think of things like that while working on a process redevelopment project at work . . . with a little "First, Break All the Rules" thrown in for good measure.
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