Want to Run a Successful Business? Be There for Your Customers

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Just this weekend, the girlfriend and I were discussing where we wanted to go for dinner. We had a pleasant day out and about, and wanted to close it out with a nice big meal.

Problem – it was about 10:30pm.

I figured we could go to a local bar – part of a chain of bars – and grab a nice meal. Bars are open late, especially on a Saturday night. It’s date night – Saturday night.

I called the bar to double check.

“Sorry, the kitchen is already closing, but we’re open for another hour,” said the voice on the phone.

What? Closing before last call? Last call here is not until 1:30am.

We called around to a bunch of places, bars, restaurants – most were already closed, or closing.

Finally, we ended up going to Pizza Hut. Pizza places are always open.

Not the most romantic dinner for two, but still a very enjoyable experience. Good food, prompt service, and they were there when we needed them.

Perhaps it is the never-ending recession we’ve been in, but I remember a time when restaurants and bars were open late on Friday and Saturday nights, because those were the night's people went out.

All the places we called previously lost our business, simply because they weren’t open.

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Want to run a successful business, here’s a tip – be there for your customers.

It’s not rocket science, just be there when your customers are most likely to be looking for you.

This goes for ALL companies, big and small alike. You don’t have to be on call 24-seven, just be there when your customers are most likely to be.

That’s it.

Nothing complex.

No fancy, deep thinking, mind blowing strategy.

Just be open for business when your customers are in need of your services.

You’d think bars, restaurants and clubs would be open until the wee hours of the morning on Friday and Saturday nights.

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When I was a kid in university, Thursday night was bar night – and nothing ever closed until last call.

I'd like to think I'm not THAT old, and times haven't changed that much that people don't go out anymore.

And it's not like we were in a third-world country, or living in the back woods of a small town either.

My girlfriend and I were shocked and bewildered by the lack of places to grab a nice meal and some drinks in one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities of the world – Toronto.

Toronto, is like New York -- only smaller, cleaner and safer. 

No, it wasn’t busy in the Pizza Hut. But it wasn’t deathly quiet either – there were a couple of young families with their kids, some teenagers, and us.

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When you’re in business, any business is good business.

So it pays to be there for your customers.

Sure, have a skeleton staff, close off a section, or even tell customers that you might take a little longer to get something done, because it’s late.

That’s fine – we’ll understand.

Just don’t leave us stranded with nowhere to go.

That’s far worse customer service than not being there at all.

Because if you want to run a successful business, you have to be there for your customers.

Looking for a Job? Any Job? I’ll Never Hire You

I do a lot of networking, it’s key for entrepreneurs – or really anyone – these days. From social meetups to professional ones, to just bumping into strangers at a ballgame, or while out for a bite to eat, you really never know who you may meet, or more importantly, how you may help each other.

Lots of the fine folks I meet are either underemployed or unemployed. Kudos to them for being brave, and when I ask what they do, they tell me directly that they are looking for work.

When I was – well – younger – looking for work was almost shameful.

“I’m in between jobs,” many would say, as they were ashamed, even embarrassed to be looking for a job.

Everyone had a job, and if you didn’t, others would wonder: “what’s wrong with you?”

Looking back, that’s probably not the right attitude, but that was the prevailing way we thought of ourselves, our work, and our lives back then.

There isn’t anything wrong with being out of work. It happens, people outgrow companies, and companies outgrow people. It’s the nature of our human-driven social structure.

These days, more people are looking for work than ever before. Not because there is this sudden influx of jobs. No. Sadly, it’s quite the opposite. The economy has shifted across our global working world, tossing more than a quarter of the planet’s population out of work.

So, looking for a job is no longer a shameful thing, and it certainly is a lot more of the commonality people have at many networking functions.

Being underemployed or unemployed is so common, the immediate standard response to someone looking for work has become: “so, what are you looking for?”

Or at least, being an entrepreneur that may hire someone, or know others that may be looking to hire people, I always ask that.

“Anything,” or “I don’t know,” or “something better, anything better, than I’m doing now,” are the worst possible answers.

Looking for a job? Any job? I won’t hire you.

I don’t have just any job at my company, and I bet most business owners would agree with me on this.

PASSION is one of the most important things I look for in bringing anyone aboard my team. 

PASSION is falling in love with a specific job, industry or career path. Studies show that those who are passionate about what they do, will do it far better than those who aren’t.

Though PASSION is important for many other reasons too.

In creating the perfect workplace, I want to only hire people that WANT to be there. I don’t want people working for me that dread getting up in the morning, because they have to go to work. I want people that leap out of their lover’s arms, because they just can’t wait to get to work.

Well, okay, maybe not that passionate. But close.

People that hate their jobs, bring down the entire workplace. Negative attitudes about the company, the management, the work, or even the furniture are more easily contagious than positive ones. Even to those that don’t agree – because when someone lacks passion for their work, they usually have an abundance of passion against their work.

Negative colleagues spread rumors, talk behind other’s back, mock management, don’t arrive on time, and may even slack-off at their tasks.

And worse, negative colleagues can turn positive, passionate ones into negative ones, so even those that love what they do and where they do it could become slackers spreading stories.

So if we ever meet and you’re looking for work, and I ask you what you are looking for, you’d better have any answer other than: “anything.”

Because if you tell me “anything” you’ll never work for me – nor be recommended by me to others.

We’re not children, I’m not asking you what you want to be when you grow-up. This isn’t recess – it’s life.

And if you really don’t know what you are passionate about, and what you want out of life, you’d better find it – fast.

ATTACKED! How a Drunken Stoned Homeless Man and a Job Seeker Made My Week Hell

I’m certainly glad last week is history, because it was a hell of a week – or rather a week of hell.

It started off well, the usual business of running a business. But towards the end of the week, I was lucky to get out with my life.

Thursday evening I was in the poor, rundown, Yonge and College street area of Toronto for the Wildsound Film Festival. It’s a great little unknown gem of a film fest, where five to six independently produced short films from around the world are shown in one night, and everyone attending gets to participate in the discussions about the films.

In keeping with the ambiance of the magic of movie making, the Wildsound Film Festival takes place in one of the oldest movie houses in Toronto – the Carlton Cinemas. It’s a historic building, one of the first movie theatres in the city, and it’s got a lot of amazing character, with much of it’s original architectural wooden rustic design and charm.

There are also historic movie posters, and wonderful works of art by local artists on display, reminding you of what it was like to watch a movie before the megaplexes of today, with their raked cinema seating, and sticky soda-pop-soaked floors.

Although the theatre shines as a beacon from a time long since gone, when going to the movies was an event, not just another night out, the surrounding neighborhood has become an urban slum.

There are always homeless people lying on the sewer grates and pan-handling passersby from just about every corner, as the crumbling infrastructure of low income subsidized apartments crashes into the skyline of the modernized recently built condos, both fighting for their equal space in a city with a hidden reality.

It’s a sad silent reality sweeping across Canada’s largest city – wealthy building and construction firms buy entire city blocks, while their executives “donate” to politician’s political campaigns, so that their requests to demolish the older, rental units and put up luxurious high-rise condos get passed.

Sure, residents of the rental units get first dibs on the new condos which replace their rental apartments – but think about it – if you could afford to buy a condo – wouldn’t you already be living in a condo? Those who rent can’t afford to buy, and so they end up being tossed out of their homes, so some greedy land developer can make a mint off of their prime real estate.

This problem gets worse, as the numbers of rental units falls, due to the increase in condos built.

As this sad silent reality has been going on for some time, the numbers of people homeless in Toronto has skyrocketed.

And that’s very evident from the horrors which I experienced last Thursday, as we stopped into a local McDonald’s to grab a quick bite before the film festival.

We were standing in line, undecided what to eat. So when our turn came in line, we did a Canadian thing, and politely let the person behind us go ahead, while we continued to ponder over the menu.

The person behind us thanked us, and practically fell over us, barely able to keep steady on his own two feet.

He was a black man, with scruffy dark hair, in jeans and a red jacket, dancing to some unheard beat in his own head. Though he wasn’t wearing earphones, and by his loud and vulgar language when he placed his order, indicated he wasn’t all there.

He acted like someone who feasted upon a recipe of drugs, booze, and who knows what else. And he continued to make a scene as he paid for his burger and fries entirely out of coins, probably from what he managed to cobble together from begging.

With his tray of greasy fast food, he went over to the condiments section, and took massive amounts of napkins, straws, and other things. Mumbling to himself, while dancing to the songs in his drug induced mind.

He freaked out those around him, and was repeatedly told by the staff to take a seat.

Eventually he did, right next to our table.

We quickly got up and moved to another table.

Usually, dinners out, even at a fast food restaurant, are times for enjoyable chit-chat. My poor girlfriend was so scared, she was wolfing down her burger and fries like it was her last meal.

I kept trying to re-assure her everything would be alright.

Then, the homeless druggy came over to our table, put his hand on my back, and thanked me for letting him ahead of us.

My girlfriend bolted to the door, and I tried to escape too – saying it wasn’t a big deal.

He wouldn’t take his arm off my back, despite me trying to get up. He told me he was homeless, and asked me if I had any change.

I told him I didn’t.

He didn’t believe me, said how hard it was to be on the street.

I took out my wallet, and showed him how empty it was – just the usual plastic.

He started pointing to my change compartment of my wallet, saying how that didn’t look empty. And that’s when I just got up, leaving whatever food I hadn’t eaten, and joined my girlfriend who was now almost on the other block outside.

She was shaking like I’ve never seen before. She grabbed hold of me, and pulled me with her, as her flight of fright took her in an almost run anywhere but near that crazy homeless man.

Eventually I managed to calm her down, and we made our way to the theatre and had a great time, sinking into the world of short films, and the engaging discussions.

But I’ll never forget the horrors of the homeless, especially as they scared the hell out of both of us.

And that wasn’t the end of my week of hell.

The next day, I met with a woman, probably in her twenties or early thirties, about a job. She was seeking employment, and we are looking for account managers to handle our advertising sales clients.

Her resume was interesting and read of someone with experience in the marketing world. Her initial attitude and interest caught my eye during our phone interview, and I thought she could apply her background to our advertising sales team.

However, all that changed when I met Seema Doad in person, and she gave me the third degree, challenging my company’s business model.

Hold on a sec . . . Seema, YOU are the one seeking employment from me, and yet YOU are challenging my company’s vision and direction?

Perhaps she was having a bad day and just unleashed her frustrations on the first person in her path?

Being an open, honest, and good-natured person, I attempted to answer her questions, but Seema Doad wouldn’t accept my answers, continuing to argue with me over my corporate vision, our business strategies and although she hadn’t any knowledge of our business plan, she continued to tell me it couldn’t be done.

I don’t want people to kiss my butt – I hate that – but I do expect anyone we hire to believe in our vision, our direction and to especially be respectful of everyone.

Seema, you don't believe in our vision, nor in our direction – and you certainly were not respectful of anyone in our meeting, arguing with the very person who could have offered you a real job.

And that's the kicker, because we always hear how employers force job candidates to do outrageous things to get a job. All I did, as the potential employer, was try to answer your questions, which you tossed back at me, in an angry hostile and very demeaning manner.

Although Seema, you may be in luck, I did see a “Help Wanted” sign in the window of that McDonald’s where the drunken drugged out homeless dude frequents. Just remember if you go off on one of your rants, to ask: “do you want fries with that?”

When Job Interviewees Go Postal on the One Holding the Keys to the Cubicle

We’ve all heard about job interviews that go off the rails, usually caused by potential employers asking things they shouldn’t and forcing job candidates to jump through outrageous hoops just for the possibility of an interview.

What about when a job interview becomes hell on Earth, because of a snippy job seeker?

Last week, a potential employee exploded at me, within the first 15-seconds of the interview. I hadn’t even got off a single question.

I began as I always do, introducing myself, thanking him for his time, outlining the objectives of our meeting, and just as I took a breath he interrupted me saying: “Look, I’ve been around the block a few times, let’s cut to the chase. I currently earn a six figure income, have people begging me to work for them, and really just want to know if this is a contract, if it’s salary-based, if there’s a commission, and when do I start?”

I was completely unsettled by this abrupt interruption, by someone who’s last position on their resume was dated June of 2012.

I hadn’t expected to run into someone working at some mystery company that isn’t listed on their resume, earning a “six figure income” for a job where the industry average is about $60K. 

Nor did I expect to be pushed into a corner by a hostile job seeker that has “been around the block” and has “people begging him to work for them.” Though he did ask when we’d hire him.

I understand looking for work is a precarious and fragile situation. Some may be on their last nickel and dimes literally, as their prolonged job hunt bleeds their bank accounts dry. Others may have gone through the horrendous downsizing that unfortunately has become the new norm, replaced by temporary contractors. They themselves may have fallen into the unstable temporary contractor world, where the only jobs they seem to get are the ones with a start date and an end date.

I understand how horrible all of those pressures are.

But I never, NEVER – EVER – would have anticipated that pressure would explode, unleashing the worst in people – at a time when people are trying to show their best.

I’m not new to hiring people, and I always like to start off introducing myself, the company, the role, and then move into the job candidate’s background. I don’t conduct interviews, I like to think of them as conversations. 

It’s not my management style to lock people in a room and demand action, I’ve always had an open door policy, where I encourage an atmosphere of collaboration and openness.

However, I might reconsider that open door policy, as this hostile job candidate wasn’t the only job seeker to attempt to hijack the interview.

Several others over the course of the week jumped off my traditional job interview course, demanding I hire them at outrageously high salaries, with benefits, because as one job seeker declared: “I’m sick and tired of working on contracts that don’t materialize into anything ever good.”

When I was a kid, growing up, I was taught to always go into a job interview with a freshly pressed suit and tie. I still remember my high school guidance counselor telling our class: “to make sure your socks are pulled up, your shoes are shiny, your hair is perfectly combed and you don’t have any stains on your perfectly white dress shirt.”

I was taught to show up early, give a firm handshake while looking the interviewer directly in the eye and to be respectful and polite at all times.

Back then, the notion of interrupting your potential boss before you even had the job was not even a thought in the most devious of delinquent minds.

Our world certainly has changed for the worse over the past few decades.

I blame recruitment firms, staffing agencies, and the corporate managers gullible enough to think recruitment firms are the messiah of their staffing needs.

Recruitment firms and staffing agencies go in with these slick presentations – I’ve seen them myself – telling employers how it’s not cost effective to hire people anymore. It makes more sense to hire a third-party company (the recruitment firm) to source “resources” (that’s how they refer to people) on a per project-basis.

My biggest problem with recruitment firms is they don’t care about the people resources they deploy. Which is understandable – they are a business, and a business’ primary interest is to make money.

However, they are in the business of supplying people to companies, so it’s ultimately not in their best interests to show such disregard for their primary product – people.

I’ve seen the end result this week – the people that have been shuffled in and out of the meat grinder of the recruitment firm’s temporary contracts become bitter, angry and disenfranchised with the world of work. Because they’ve been spun from contract, to contract, they no longer have any respect for those conducting job interviews.

Again, I get it. I understand the horrors of being bounced from company to company, department to department. One month having a decent pay cheque, the next you are flipping sofa pillows desperately looking for change to buy a loaf of bread as your bank account is negative.

However, I’ll never hire a hostile job candidate.

They don’t give me the respect which I expect everyone in my company to give each other.

And that’s the ultimate tragedy here, because chances are, the hostile job candidate that claimed he was making a six figure income is the guy sifting through his sofa, looking for change, because he’s been without a real job for a very long time.

Struggling to Find Work? Don’t Flip-Flop Hop-Skip and Jump Your Title

I attend many social and business networking functions, and I’m always amazed and saddened by the number of people at these events out of work and looking for their next job.

A handful of years ago, I’d guess fewer than 10% of the attendees were unemployed. Now, it’s more like 80% are either unemployed, or severely underemployed.

What shocks and horrifies me more is the reason why so many people are struggling to find work.

As I go through the LinkedIn profiles and resumes sent to me, I see many have flip-flop hop-skipped and jumped from job to job, to job.

I’ve seen several LinkedIn profiles where each person has worked for no more than four months at any one employer.

Traditionally, a work history with such brief stints at any one company would be a big red flag. A warning beacon about a person unable to hold down a steady job.

Today, it is a sad sign of the new economy, as companies of all sizes hire on short-term project-based contracts, instead of thinking of the bigger long-term picture.

Want a career, with benefits, a decent salary, and job security? Don’t come to North America – we don’t have that here.

Gone are the days when companies of all sizes – of any size really – hire qualified people on staff.

Gone are the days when companies hire people period. Most companies these days don’t hire anyone, instead they just contract out their work to temporary staff

Temporary staff – AKA you -- are only paid for the hours you work, so any statutory holidays you must take (because the office is closed) or you voluntarily take (so you don’t burn out) are unpaid.

The temporary employment agency that recruited you tells you, there is occasional overtime. However, your “employer” (the agency’s client”) tells you that they don’t pay overtime, yet they expect you to put in those volunteer hours on your own dime.

There is no job security. Your contract can be terminated without any notice, rhyme or reason.

And you are constantly lead to the promised land, as both your temporary agency and their client tell you they love your work, and are considering hiring you on staff, with benefits.

That’ll never happen. They tell that to everyone. It keeps you motivated, and makes them appear to care about your well-being, which they don’t.

They didn’t put you on a temporary contract to try before they buy. Nope.

They put you and most of the other unfortunate hard working folks around you on temporary contracts, so that they can get rid of you.

And they will get rid of you.

You’ve probably already gone through this routine, which is why your resume flip-flops and hop-skip and jumps around so much.

Despite my own understanding of this new world of work, I’m still hesitant to hire someone that hasn’t held a job longer than a couple of years.

Perhaps I’m old fashioned in my aging years. However, a piece of me also knows that many of those titles are manufactured just because.

I know people who have created their own one-person consulting businesses. They tell me they are proud entrepreneurs. They’ll never work for anyone else, ever again.

Yet these very same people change their title on LinkedIn and probably on their resume, every time they land a new contract.

That’s not very entrepreneurial – in fact it reads just like everyone else looking for work, as they flip-flop hop skip and jump their titles.

What’s worse, is it shows how confused and desperate many have become. So much so, that they confuse creating their own job, with being hired on a temporary contract.

So long as you are on any form of employment contract with anyone, you are not an employee, nor are you an entrepreneur working for yourself.

Instead, you are a piece of paper, being filed, stamped, and stomped all over.

So long as you are on any temporary employment contract with anyone, you are no different than a stapler, or any other office resource.

And that’s the real problem with our new economy of temporary contracted out people. Because when you’re nothing more than a stapler, and another stapler comes along, willing to work for less than you, you’re suddenly out of work.

Yet you’ve shown your commitment and dedication by updating your social media profiles, your LinkedIn, your resume, maybe even your business cards.

Don’t Flip-Flop Hop-Skip and Jump Your Title unless you really are an entrepreneur and there isn’t anyone that can fire you but you.

Having a work history that changes every few months isn’t very professional, shows a lack of judgement on your part, and could end up costing you your dream job.

And this is coming from someone that understands the new world of temporary work, and goes through a lot of resumes and LinkedIn profiles as I build my business ventures.

How Un-Canadian: Canada’s Big Banks Are Ruining the Country’s Economy

Last year, reporters across the country salivated over the story about Canada’s largest bank, The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), firing long-term salaried Canadians and replacing them with imported, foreign workers.

For the next couple of months, RBC’s public relations team fought back, claiming they didn’t know their policies were affecting Canadians, and that they would take steps to ensure it never happened again.

However, as a former consultant with many of the large financial institutions, I can tell you the practice of importing cheaper foreign workers had been going on for several years, and just like trying to quit smoking, it’s a tough habit to quit.

When I worked in the banking sector for some of the largest banks in the country, it wasn’t all that uncommon to see entire departments – hundreds of people – from outside of Canada, working here on temporary employment contracts.

When I worked for American Express’ technical division, American Express Technologies (AET) in Markham, Ontario, Canada, out of a department of almost 300 people, you could count on one hand the people that weren’t imported from India or China.

A similar situation reared it’s ugly head at BMO Bank of Montreal. When my team was re-located temporarily to the First Canadian Place BMO Tower, we had an amazingly beautiful view from our 52^nd floor window over Toronto’s downtown. And right across from my team, sat about 100 people from the trading help desk – all of them Chinese – except three other people on that team.

I mentioned to my colleagues numerous times that the hiring practices of that team didn’t appear to fit with the written policies and procedures of BMO Bank of Montreal to be a reflection of the Canadian population, and not discriminate based on race.

As with many things at big corporations, I was told not to worry about it, it wasn’t our team, so it’s not our responsibility.

However, when Canadians are put out of work because of unspoken hiring practices, isn’t it everyone in this country’s responsibility to speak up?

According to the Canadian Banker’s Association, over a quarter of a million Canadians work for Canada’s top five banks. The association also claims that 108, 740 people are employed by these banks in other countries. That’s 40 percent of the Canadian banking population NOT being Canadian.

By farming out jobs that Canadians can do to other nations, Canada’s banks are harming the Canadian economy.

Displaced Canadian workers are stuck looking for work, often being forced into short-term employment contracts with no job security, no benefits, and little chance of ever seeing a pay increase.

In fact, when you work on a contract for our Canadian el-cheapo banks, you’re lucky if you keep earning the same amount from contract to contract.

Every time my contract at BMO Bank of Montreal came up for renewal, I’d ask if I could get an increase. Obviously, they liked having me around because they were offering me another term. 

Most of the time I was told no.

Twice my pay actually went DOWN – they told me they didn’t have the budget to keep me at my present wages, so if I wanted to have the privilege of working for them, I’d take the pay cut.

Well, okay, they didn’t quite put it that way – but I did have the choice of two evils – take the pay cut or be unemployed.

What other company in the world rewards it’s team members for a job well done, by telling them they can keep their petty jobs, if they are willing to take a reduction in earnings?

Canada’s big banks are killing our Canadian economy by forcing more people into short-term contracts, creating an unstable society, where only a handful of people can afford to have a life.

The rest can be homeless and on the streets for all the big Canadian banks care.

Just so long as you pay your mortgage, and those crazy service fees to take your own money out of the bank, they don’t give a rat’s ass.

Maybe if we all started keeping our money in our sock drawer, instead of with the evil banks, then they’d wake up?