Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Sounds like thnigs have turned out ok for you in this case. Good. I agree with the other posts and would like to add something. I believe in the 80/20 rule. The application in this case is that 20% of your customers cause 80% of your grief. Maybe in your case the imbalance is even greater - 90/10.  When I`ve conducted an 80/20 customer analysis for clients they sometimes discover that the 20% who cause the most grief are also the least profitable for the company, especially when you factor in the "extras". I strongly believe in offering extraordinary service to customers, but inspite of the cliche "the customer is always right", well, the customer isn`t always right for your company. That`s the decision you may want to consider if this happens again. 

Hi everybody

I am currently involved in 3 projects/businesses. Each one is a company on itself. The three of them are profitable (to different degrees).

I found that it is impossible to keep up with them by myself. i need to get "captains" to report back to me and manage the day to day, so i can move to the next level.

I hate the idea of stopping one or more of them and concentrate on only one because I will loose momentum that was difficult to build, but at the same time I am in no position to hire the high quality of people (too expensive) any of these businesses will need to manage them.

I feel a little between a rock and a hard place.

So your comments, ideas, suggestions, questions and wisdom is completely welcomed.

The 3 businesses are:

1.      Software development for small and medium size companies

2.      Government Software Consulting/implementation

3.      e-Learning

Each one with its own niche market, team members, etc. Very different one from the other

 

Wow! That is a pretty tough situation. Have you thought about hiring on equity. I hear this all the time. At the same time, you will have go getters.

Ender,

Maybe you could hire a part-time virtual assistant to help with some of the tasks in each company, until you made enought profit to hire the "captains" you need for each company.

Janet

What about looking at some professional headhunter organizations, and doing some sort of executive search? Would these be salaried positions? If so, would the salary be competitive, to provide for a full-time job?

Are there things you can farm out that are ... more incidental?

Like the assistant idea?
Or sales?
Or marketing?
Or all the other things you do when you are a 1-person team?

Maybe this will get you enough momentum to hire someone better.

First let me congratulate you for this wonderful milestone. 

If you`re ready to cut yourself a paycheck, I would inlist the assistance of an accountant to help you do it right the first time.  Then you can copy their example thereafter. 

I don`t know what kind of software you are using for your accounting needs, but most of the programs out there have a payroll section.  QuickBooks Pro has a nice payroll function. 

You`ll need to withhold payroll taxes and pay them promptly to avoid and problems with the IRS.

Good Luck!

Thank you all for your postings and comments that show how vibrant this community is.

 

The three projects are actually created as separate companies/entities and we are currently using legal and accounting services and all government paperwork has been taken care of. The Oldest one has less than a year (the programming company), the next one has about 6 months (the consulting side) and the newest one a little bit more than a month.

 

The first two are operating on positive cash flow already and the new one is too young to do that it started breaking even, since inception.

 

I currently have regular staff for all of them that the businesses themselves pay since I have very little overhead.

 

My problem comes on the profile of the people I need, since those are typical salaries of 120k+. Since we are operating with no external capital, it is difficult to hire a person of such a salary just yet.

 

I like the virtual assistant idea, but in this case I need somebody that could be really involved in the projects.

 

I do not mind giving up some equity if the right person comes alone. Actually I like the idea a lot since they will feel the company as their own, to some degree.

 

Hmmm… I will give that a more conscious thought. Would you guys give me some ideas in terms of how to measure what would be good percentage to offer? I do not want to offer too little or too much, and of course there will be some base salary too.

 

On the farming out part… I love that possibility, especially on sales. I will look into it. If you know of any company that does it, please let me know.

 

Thanks

 

Hi Ender

If it were me in your possition I would sell 49% of each business so as too get a the right type of person involved. 

Just my opinion.

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Regards Michael Clayton (rexiedexie)

My Affiliate Articles & Web Page Traffic

You mentioned,

"I currently have regular staff for all of them that the businesses themselves pay since I have very little overhead."

 

I would suggest "promote from within". Ask one of your pre-existing employees to take on a bit more responsibility along with their existing tasks. Just increase their salary already and make them a Team Lead or sorts that reports to you. I won`t be the all incompassing you might be looking for, but it will allow you more freedom and you won`t have to pay the huge salary. I hope it helps!

 

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Jamie Dufrene
Rajin Enterprises
http://www.jceconsulting.net/