Every once in awhile I get thinking about the future of business as a self-employed individual.
Some of the questions that come to mind are things like: What happens when I’m old? How long can I really do this? Would it be possible for a 50-year old to work at home for himself? Can I really keep up with the latest tech trends forever? What is the “The Next Big Step” and when should it happen?
I have to admit that I like things just the way they are. I mean, I don’t have to jump through meaningless hoops, I don’t punch anyone’s clock, I don’t have to tiptoe around arrogant, self-inflated bosses, I don’t have to put a positive spin on bad news or try to make someone feel good when they are being downright incompetent. I wear in whatever I want to wear. If I’m tired, I take a nap.
If I turn my enterprise into a real business with employees, then I’d have to become the “boss.” I’d have to concern myself with tying loose ends. I’d have to hover over the fledglings in order to ensure the success of the company, and ultimately my own livelihood.
The problem is the lack of control. After all, and I’m sure anyone who has grown a company through the First Big Step can agree: there’s no guarantee that partners and employees will have the same passion that the initial guy does. This leads to micro-managing, mistrust, and major pains-in-the-ass.
And stress was why I quit the 9-5 scene to begin with.
So why is the typical American corporate world barely palatable to someone such as myself? Is it inherently flawed? Perhaps there’s a better way.
Now I come to the crux of this post: Today I read an article that really inspired me. I was saying “wow” in my head while reading it. This article is about a businessman in Brazil named Ricardo Semler who is famous for running what they call a “democratic” business.
Quoted from the article:
Why are so few companies in the world run like Semco?
Ricardo Semler: “Because managers are afraid to lose power and control.”
And there it is. As a business owner I can picture this kind of organization in perfect clarity. Knowing human nature, It’s hard to believe that they don’t have some real problems with it. I wonder if this could be done in the U.S. with a small start-up business? Apparently Ricardo believes so.
This next quote echoes my beliefs almost verbatim on what would happen when I turn the freelance job into a multi-employee business:
Small start-ups often begin in an atmosphere of excitement in someone’s garage, but as soon as they grow, all the pleasure disappears with organization. Anyone with a little talent who can think won’t work for that kind of company, right?”
I have worked for that exact kind of company. It started as a great idea, then went downhill until you had the textbook case of bad work environment and high turnover.
In my enthusiasm, I have to really try not to quote the whole article… but just one more:
How can an organization become more democratic?
“By questioning all kinds of things. For example, we examined how much time our employees spend sitting in traffic. We figured out that they spend a million hours a year getting to and from work. We wanted to cut that down, which means you have to take drastic measures. We decided to close down our head office and start working in small units. In the 21st century, it makes no sense to get people to come to your head office from all over the country—because even if they physically all get together, they’ll still send an email to a colleague sitting two metres away.
“Added to this, if you wake up in a bad mood on Monday morning, you don’t have to come to work. We don’t even want you to come because you simply don’t feel like it and will therefore not make a contribution. We want employees who are ready and willing to work. If that means they only come twice a week, that’s okay. It’s about results.”
The rest of it is juat as mind-blowing, you have to read it for yourself. Head on over to odemagazine.com.
Technorati Tags: business, businessman, freelance, semco, ricardo, semler
February 13th, 2007 at 11:04 am
It’s definitely a subject that’s been on my mind a lot. I could talk for hours about it, but a few thoughts:
* I think at the heart of the decision on whether or not to hire is the answer to the question, “do I enjoy managing people?” The worst managers I’ve had didn’t enjoy managing people. They got promoted, or the business grew and now they have to spend all/most of their day dealing with something that’s not related to their core skills.
* There is very little crossover from being an expert designer or programmer to being an expert manager. It’s important to realize it, and be humble about it so that if you’re serious about being a good manager you work toward learning/growing those skills.
* The pressure to hire in order to be a “real business” is large, but there are millions of one-person businesses that flourish, and there have been millions of them that have flourished since the beginnings of our economy (the Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker).
* There are plenty of great work environments (large and small) in the U.S. One of the best books I’ve read on management is http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684852861 — there are a number of great examples in there of great work environments with little/no turnover and excellent employee satisfaction ratings. Even better, the book answers the question of what makes them that way. Very inspirational.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
[…] My answer to this is not an immediate “yes”. There are a lot of things that I like about being a one-person business, and there are a lot of headaches that come with having even one employee. I’ve had a number of recent conversations about this with a web designer and consultant here in town, and it’s something that (at least for now) they’ve both answered “no” to. (You can read some of Ian’s answer here). […]