Posts Tagged ‘problems’

Sorry, this is a bit of a rant.   But I want to talk about train travel in the UK.   Actually, I want to talk about trains compared to cars as an option when it comes to business travel.   I am sure that whatever it is you do, whether you are a contractor, a freelancer or work/own a small business, you need to travel for your business.   And I bet you keep hitting the same old question when it comes to travel – do I drive, or do I go by train.

I see trains in the UK as one of the pointers why the UK is in trouble.    If I wanted to travel to say Edinburgh or Prague (or any other European city) I have a choice of which airline I want to use.  I can compare prices, I can compare rates, I can compare service, and make a choice.   But when it comes to Train travel, you are stuck with the operator that runs the line you need to use for your destination.

But the train operators are pricing themselves out of the market.  

I have to travel from my home office in Hampshire, to Nottingham.   By car, this is a distance of 165 miles.  At current HIGH petrol prices, it will cost me 17p a mile to drive (not including car costs such as car, insurance, tax etc).  That equates to £29 to get there.  Of course I would charge the customer the taxable limit of 40p a mile, so that’s £66 each way.   To drive, it will take around 2 hours 44 minutes.  I get to sit in a comfortable clean car, that’s warm, listen to my music, but I have the downside of wasted time behind the wheel.

For the train, the exact same journey would cost me £69.70 – each way – or £40 more than the cost of the petrol.  The train journey will take 3hours 48minutes – over an hour longer than the car journey.    With the train there are the possibilities of delays, cancellations, and of course a fight for a seat, but it does offer the advantage of possibly doing some work (IF I can get a seat).

It’s a spiral – in the wrong direction.  Train prices go up, so people avoid the trains,  so the train companies make less money, so they have to put the prices up, so more people avoid the trains.  The only solution thus far is to prop up the train operating companies with tax payers money.  But either the TRAIN ‘product’ works, or it doesn’t – if it’s a good product, fast, clean and a better alternative to driving, then people will use it and it will fund itself.  If it doesn’t work – if it’s more expensive, slower, and more stressful than driving, then the product does not work and like any other business with a bad product, it should be allowed to DIE.  Only then will it get re-launched with a set-up and price structure that makes sense.

We have all had those days.  Days when it seems the planets align, the black cats dance across our paths, the gods test us, and we are inundated with problems and screaming clients.  I call them my grenade days – its as if clients spend the morning throwing in virtual grenades into my work pattern either by support issues, problems, emergency changes and the other high priority ‘fixes’.  And for whatever reason, when grenade days arrive, it’s as if all my clients have pre-arranged to make sure I am kept on my toes as problems come in from all directions.

Problems can range from software or products that suddenly, without out input from me, stop working.  Or suddenly has faults that were not there yesterday.  Where there are no obvious problems, I can get emails or calls letting me know that the clients are suddenly not really happy.  This can include calls where they want to spend an hour or so on the phone running through the problems to try and obtain an immediate solution, or that they just want to meet to discuss the problems (without saying what the problems are, resulting in an unpaid meeting).  The worst I have encountered is the 4 word grenade which takes the form “not fit for purpose” – a general ‘it’s all wrong’ call to action.

In case you ever hit such grenade days – either from a multitude of sources or from a single client/project, can I offer you my 5 tips for dealing with these grenades:

Stop and Think
Sometimes, asking them for more information can make matters worse, so the first thing I do is stop and think about the likely causes of any problems described, put them into order or likelihood, and then step through them to see if any are likely.  If so, can any be checked without the customer involvement without too much effort, for a quick win?

What has changed
Products and software do not just stop working or develop faults all by themselves (well, they can, but lets assume that’s not the case).  So the next question to ask is; what has changed?   The common knee-jerk response from customers is generally ‘nothing’, but now run through the list compiled from the thinking stage, and see if anything has changed such as linked products or systems, configurations, data use, etc 

What needs to change
When problems occur, customers will generally tell you what is wrong in fairly dramatic terms, but what they won’t tell you is what they need to fix it.  So ask the question “what needs to change to make you happy again” (or words to that effect).   This puts the issue back on their side of the fence to tell you what to do – you can then decide if the requested action (come to site, fix it so we cant do such-and-such, work out where the data went, etc) is required, urgent and chargeable. 

Remember, they are Human
Humans love stories – and the more complex the story, the better.  Therefore when the customer contacts you with a problem or complaint, it may sound like the end of the world, but it may be fairly small and simple in real terms.   I recall one customer who called to say that the “whole system was reporting rubbish data”, and when we cooled him down and got him to explain in detail what the problem was, it was one figure in one cell of a report which was wrong (and this was down to the data being supplied from another system).  Also, remember that your contact may have the information 3^rd or 4^th hand from their own people, and problems tend to grow in size and importance as it moves up the chain of command. 

Document what is wrong
The final thing I have customers do (after they have finished their rant) is to calmly document the issues in a short (1 page) report which I can respond to.   This puts the emphasis back on them, giving you time to breath.  It is also a great way to make sure that you fully understand the problem, and it gives you something real and tangible to work with.  I have also found that my making a customer go through the document stage, they have worked out the cause of the problem themselves and its something they did.

You remember that girl you dated at school (if you’re a women reading this, it was the guy you dated) – the one you were not so nice to, the one who’s heart you broke.  Well, thanks to the internet she can now find you, track you down, see where you work, what you do, and what your thoughts are on last nights TV.   The Internet, and especially in social media, has made all of our lives transparent.

But you know what else?  That potential customer you have been talking to can also see it all.

I met a freelancer the other day that had a twitter account, and on his feed he was busy tearing holes into all the processes, procedures and systems his last customer used.  Now what do you think would happen if after attending a contracting job ‘interview’ or putting a proposal in front of a new prospect, that person googled him?  Do you think he would get the work?  This is why you need to double-think everything you put into the cloud.

One of my former lecturers once told me that reputations and trust take a lifetime to build, and a moment to destroy.   I would suggest in this internet and social connected world, it’s even faster than that.

At the end of January, I carried out my companies year end.   Using the small business accounting package (Freeagent), I was able to complete my year end accounts in less than an hour, and passed the figures to my accountant for sign off and submission.   Job done!   Then once everything was complete in my year end, I did some detailed year end analysis, looking for trends, costs which could be reduced, small profits which could be nurtured in the new financial year, and any other changes that I could make for the better.

Once my analysis was complete, I then did something which I have never done before – I fired 4 customers!

You see, by using the timesheet analysis in Freeagent and comparing the time spent on the customer against the revenue they had brought in, I worked out that these 4 customers were costing me money to support them.  The effort of support, answering emails, quoting for new work (work which was never taken up) and other day to day maintenance did not meet the invoices I raised against them.   Put it another way, each of these 4 customers was a drain on my company.

Worst than that though – not only were these 4 customers costing me money to support them, but they were actually taking up the most expensive commodity I had – time.  Every moment that I spent on their maintenance, was hours and days which I could not spend on new or more profitable customers.

So one at a time, I called up the principle contact for each of the customers, and as I say, I fired them.  In a nutshell, I said “Sorry to trouble you, but I have been going through our records and it appears we haven’t done any real business in the last year or so.  It also appears we are spending a lot of time providing free maintenance for you in the way of emails and other support, so I regret that we have reached the point we need to terminate our relationship”.  Yes, I know – fairly heartless right??

The effect of the conversations was as follows:

One customer got really upset.   They was some name calling, they hung up on me, and I have never heard from them again.

The next two customers said they understood, they could see my point.  They said that their finances did not allow for any new purchases, so there was nothing they could do.  They asked for a hand over meeting (which I provided free of charge), and they were happy to call it a day.

The final customer of the four was shocked.  He didn’t realise that his staff called on my company so much, and was very apologetic.   He asked for a figure to provide the support to them for a year, and promptly raised a purchase order.  They remain a customer – and I now get paid to answer their query emails, to raise quotes and attend meetings with them.

But the point is, by removing the non-profitable customers from my customer pool, my company has gained some 180 hours or so of extra time a year which can be directed to profitable customers and projects, with no impact on my balance sheet.   Now you can say that maybe I should have held on to them until a new customer came along to replace them, but then where would the 180 hours come from to allow me to deal with the new customers?

I am also in the process of firing a pet personal project – a project which I spend a little time on yet doesn’t generate any revenue or return.   It’s not easy because I have invested time, money and effort into this project, but it’s important not to get emotionally attached to customers or projects.  If they are not working.  Much better just to cut the ties and move onto something which is more fulfilling, responsive and ultimately profitable.

Don’t you think?

As the Christmas adverts start to appear on TV, the shops fill with tinsel, and Band Aid (do they know it’s Christmas) is playing in every shop you enter, it’s hard not to stop and scream ‘You do know there is still two months to go don’t you?!?!?!?’.   But all of these do remind us that Christmas is just around the corner.   And as we move into the winter months, the big question is not ‘Will it snow as much as last year’ but more…. If it does, what will you do about it?!?

Last year’s snow caused chaos!     Cars were stuck in drifts or unable to move from driveways, railways ground to a halt, flights were cancelled and for a few weeks, the country ground to a halt.   This is of course great if you work for somebody else, a few days stuck at home building snowmen with the family is great fun, but when the missed work means loss of revenue for you personally, it’s not so great.  So what plans have you made for this year’s disruption?

But whilst making those plans, why not take a few more steps.  Snow is seasonal – it may affect us for a week or two.  So whilst making those snow plans, why not see if there are other ‘just in case’ plans for your business which you can put in place.

A good starting list for thinking about includes:

Snow Plans
So let’s start with the snow plans.  As I predict it’s going to be bad again like last year, I am going to be stocking up early with salt and sand bags to keep in the garage just in case.  Last year’s snow meant shops ran out in record quick time, so just now – whilst its plentiful and cheap, half a dozen bags can be stored in the garage (it doesn’t go off, so can sit there for years until its needed).  But better than that, I have worked my schedule so during most of December and January I will be working from home, so no travelling for me.   What about you – can you change your schedules to remove the need to travel?

Health Plans
None of us like the idea of falling ill.  Of course, the odd bought of flu or cold will always happen – but what happens if things are more serious?  A broken leg, a broken arm, or something worse?  If you don’t have any plans in place yet, it may be worth looking at private health cover to get you on your feet as soon as possible (you don’t want to be stuck in an 18 week NHS wait queue), and of course critical illness insurance cover for the lost revenue when you are not working.  But please have somebody with some experience read the critical illness contract as some do not cover freelancers, contractors or the self employed.

Fitness Plans
Prevention is better than cure, so are you doing anything to maintain your level of fitness and health.  For most small business owners, they are their own most important asset, so is there anything you can do to stay fit, happy and healthy.   Memberships to gyms can be paid for by your company (although it is a taxable perk), so it may be time to get yourself into shape and protect your investments.

Loss of Assets Plans
What happens if you lost an asset you need for your business?  What happens if you crash your car (is there a spare car you can use to get to those meetings, do you have the number of a rental company to hand)?  What about computers?  Please tell me that you have the data backed up somewhere and you take backups on regular occasions (daily or weekly minimum).  What are the important assets for your business, and what are your backup plans for those assets?  Think about computers, printers, mobile phones, cars, offices, your house and of course your business data.

Loss of Resource Plans
Now what about resource that is no longer available – can you create a backup plan for that?   It’s useful to keep a handful of freelancers or contractor contact details to hand that you can call on when resource is needed.  This includes a backup plan for yourself – you never know when a family member will need your help or you have to drop everything to help somebody out – who can you pass your work onto in an emergency?

Loss of Internet Plans
For most small businesses, the internet is one of the heaviest forms of technology that they use.  But internet connections do go down, telephone lines do get accidently cut by engineers working on roads, exchanges do sometimes catch fire.   What are your backup plans for loss of the internet?  Is there a list of internet cafes you can use in an emergency?   Is there a way of getting hold of the emails that normally go to your phone or exchange server?

General Backup Plans
Then of course there are the general backup plans, plans that cover a wide range of options.  These may include call answering services (to take the calls when you can’t), communication options such as skype (for when communication is an issue or you cannot move), online presentation systems, online storage and backup (such as dropbox) for keeping copies of work.

Clearly, none of us wants anything bad to happen.  But some things (like snow) are more likely than others and having a backup plan means that when the unfortunate does occur, you are not left scrabbling around – you have a plan and you know what you are doing.

Have you ever noticed that when it comes to mobile (cell) phone numbers, that there is no set rules on how you say the number?   With land lines numbers, everybody generally uses the format of 5-3-3 when saying a phone number – so “01256 123456” is said as “01256-123-456”.  Its short, punchy, and it works for everybody (for London, the leading 5 gets replaced with 3 or 4 leading).

But with mobiles, after the leading “07” bit, there is no rules for the grouping – it all depends on the number you have.  But if you group your number one way, and somebody repeats it with different groupings, it’s easy not to recognise your own number.   If my number is “07780123456”, I might say “077-80-12-34-56”.  Someone repeating it back to me might say my number is “07-780-123-456” – it sounds completely different and makes me double check and think about what is being said.

This mixed-format confusion can be used to great advantage when replaying requirements back to customers.  After they are done stating all of their requirements, by repeating their requirements back to them in a different order (either by voice or in an email), the changed and mixed context forces them to think about what they have said, what you have noted, and also if it is really what they want.   I also like to throw in the word “only” (or just) as well here and there, just for good measure.

A requirement of “We want a web application that allows UK students to enter their accommodation details on a form, and this gets saved onto a SQL Server database which we can produce ad-hoc reports from”, when mixed and repeated back, might become…

“So let me check I have this right.  You want to produce some ad-hoc reports from a SQL Server database.  This database will only be populated from a web-based data entry form that we would develop, and would be made available only to UK based students who would use the form to enter just the details of their accommodation”.

I have used it a number of times where the customer has then commented with something like “well, it sounds like something is missing..” or “yes, but we also need…” after they have specified all their requirements.

Using this technique I have saved myself a lot of headaches during project delivery by making sure the customer has detailed everything that is required by double checking what they really want, which has led to more of the work being detailed up front (with a higher price tag) and saves the last minute “oh, I forgot I needed…” conversations on delivery day.

It’s just a jump to the left, And then a step to the right, With your hands on your hips, You bring your knees in tight, But it’s the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane, Let’s do the Time Warp again!

- From the Lyrics of “The Time Warp” – The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The recession is continuing to bite on both sides of the Atlantic.  In the USA, it is more than likely that the government will need to restart the stimulus package and plough more federal money into the economy.  Here in the UK, we await to see the 2^nd batch of public spending measures that will be announced in October, and with the VAT rise due in January, this is sure to lead to further spending cuts in 2012.  All of this is bad news when it comes to securing freelance, contracting or small business customers.

So what can you do when your particular industry is affected and work dries up?  One option that I am looking at is a sideways step.

Over the past few years, I have done a lot of work in the public sector – predominantly in the UK NHS (National Health Service).  But with such major public spending cut-backs, the writing is on the wall and money from this area will be hard to find.   Therefore, whilst I am not completely abandoning the NHS, I will be looking at other sectors such as finance, insurance and private retail.

When it boils down to it, the skills required are almost the same – the technology used is the same, the business skills, the method of working – its just the type of information and terms which change.

Of course, getting the foot in the door can be a challenge; with fewer jobs and more available resources, agents and clients can choose to be more selective.  Therefore as well as a mental adjustment, any documentation (CV’s, brochures, web pages, etc) need to be tweaked to de-emphasise the industries and markers, and instead emphasis the skills, technologies and experience of the markets you want to side-step into.

After 127 freelance and small business posts in this blog, and as it’s the start of a new week (when this gets posted), I hope you will forgive me with this ‘out there’ entry.   But following on from my last entry on how to deal with business problems, I wanted to share with you my own personal way of moving forward through problem or idea walls.

Have you ever heard of a floatation tank?   In case you haven’t, a flotation tank is a big box, fall of salt warm water at body temperature, which you lie in, float, and then the lid of the box is closed.    You float there, your head back in the water, the water in your ears, in the total darkness.   It may sound scary, but the idea is with no external stimulation, everything goes inwards, and you find solutions to all your problems.  I know how it sounds – Just stay with me on this for a moment… ok?

Clearly I am not going to suggest installing a floatation tank in your house.  But I recreate the idea as much as possible at home in my bath.   When I get really stuck, I have a long hot bath, and recreate the floatation tank experience as much as possible by blocking out light from windows and doors to make the bathroom as dark as possible.   I don’t use salt water, but I ease down on anything perfumed in the water – so it’s as neutral as possible.  Then I just lay back, head in the water, let the water in my ears – and close my eyes and relax.  All I can see is black, all I can hear is my own heartbeat in my ears, and all I can feel is the water.

Ok, this sounds all kind of new wave and hippy – I know.  Really, I do.  When I first heard and tried this, I thought the same.   But the trick is once you are relaxed, think of a business problem (lack of customers, money issues, whatever) and then let the thought go, don’t think of it any more – just recline there, try to keep your mind blank.  You may feel daft for 5 minutes, feel the need to switch on the light or grab a book after another 5 – but stick with it.    I promise, with nothing else to stimulate the brain, something spooky will happen after fifteen or twenty minutes – suddenly ideas will start popping.

And when I say ideas will pop, they will come thick and fast – solution after solution, idea after idea – think and fast, lots of ideas to resolve your problem.   For me, this technique never ever fails.   But, there is a tricky part to this – the ideas are really fleeting – get them down on paper or tape otherwise they will evaporate – don’t try to remember them all, after the 3^rd one the 1^st will be lost.    I keep a pen and paper by the bath, and then write them down (in the dark, sometimes its hard to read afterwards) – turning on the light breaks the cycle and the ideas will stop flowing.

As I say, I know how it sounds, I really do.  But trust me, it works.

We all have them – those days that make us just want to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over our head and wait until it’s all just gone away.   I have had some classic bad days in my past, including emails sent to the wrong people (doh!), computers that crash loosing days of work, customers who have totally changed direction a day before the scheduled completion date, and projects which just don’t want to come together and be finished.

So when you find yourself in a tough or unhappy place, or it’s all just going wrong, here are six ideas for you to try:

Brain Storm
I think brain storming is great, either on your own or as a group.   Sometimes, problems can be because we are just too close to the problem, so taking a step back and just coming up with ideas can help focus direction.   My preferred format of Brain Storming is to create a mind map – with the problem or issue in the middle and then branches of possible solutions, options, methods, pros and cons.  This can be done either on paper, or using free mindmapping tools such as Mindomo.

Walk Away

Walking away can either be a temporary solution (go for walk, get away from the problem or situation, calm down and come back refreshed) or a more permanent solution.  My own competitive nature means I have never walked away completely from a project (yet), but if a situation was really that bad, sometimes walking away and dropping the problem is the sensible thing to do – regardless of the cost.

Do Something Else
If you are anything like me, you will other projects, contracts, work, ToDo list items, emails and other things to do.   If so, when you find yourself beating your head against the wall in frustration or desperation, do something else.   The feeling of change, and completion of a smaller task can reinvigorate, and this can lead to more ideas and motivation on the original problem later in the day or week.

Ask a Forum
As per one of my previous posts, Forums are a great source of advice.   Whether it be a relationship issue, a business problem, a technical challenge or your just in need of ideas, Forum members are there to lend a hand.

Use a Support Group
Many regional groups are set up for different industries to provide support.  Some of them charge, some are free, some provide support in electronic format, and some meet for real on a regular basis.   Support groups can provide advice and guidance on your specific issue and area of business, whilst allowing you to see that everybody else has similar problems now and again.   Just Google “Support Groups” with your industry type and geographic area.

Take Action
One of the things that can hurt the human psyche more than anything else is indecision.   When presented with 2, 3 or more options, spending time bouncing between ideas can unbalance us, cause stress, worry and tension.  This is why when asking for a customer decision, I would much rather hear a straight “NO” rather than a “maybe” or “we will see in a few weeks”.   If you are stuck between options, take action on one of the options – use your gut feeling which one to pick – you can always change direction later on if it turns out to be the wrong option.

The Home Flotation Tank (the bonus idea)
As a bonus option (number 7 out of 6), on Monday I will share my own personal method of making difficult decisions, coming up with ideas and moving forward beyond problems.

Being a freelancer or small business owner can be a lonely occupation.  Unless you are working with other freelancers on a project, at a customer site, or do some work in a public place, its very easy to spend entire days with no human contact other than electronic work emails.  Its one of the things I do miss (its actually the only thing I miss) about being a permi in an office working for somebody else – the conversations with other people and the ability to bounce ideas around.

As small business owners, because we are now the managers of our own companies, we will suffer all the twangs of self-debt that are normally reserved for managers of major corporations.  We are the CEO, the MD, the board and the marketing manager.  Any decision we make can make or break our business, and as one-man-bands, we don’t have anybody else to point the finger at if it goes wrong.

So where can freelancers and SME’s turn to in those moments of doubt, or when we have questions we don’t know the answer to, or just need people we can bounce ideas off of?   Here are a number of suggestions:

Forums

My own personal favourite is forums, where you can ask questions and get a wide variety of answers (some good, some bad).    Some good forums that I use are:

Freelance Adviser – UK based forum with sections for contractors, freelancers, accounts and agencies
General Business Forum – UK based general business forum, useful for any general business questions or advice
FreelanceSwitch – US based forum for freelancers
Contractor UK – UK based discussion forum covering everything that is IT contractor related (contracts, IR35, tax, agencies, CVs, etc)

Mentoring Groups

I belong to two mentoring groups – one is a personal goals group, and the other is a business mentoring group.  We all get together once a month, discuss what we are doing and our plans for the future, and are set goals to accomplish.  The best part of the group is that we have a mix of different types and sizes of companies involved, so if I get stuck on an issue or need to bounce ideas around, and can be sure of getting some great ideas and feedback.    I found my group via the LinkedIn Ambitious Owners Managers group, but there are various ways to find the mentor group for you.

Other Freelancers

Don’t be afraid to communicate and meet up with other contractors or freelancers in your social group.   There are several freelancers I have worked with in the past, I make a point of staying in touch (via Twitter, Facebook or email) and try to meet up with them now and again for a meal, a pint and an exchange of problems/ideas.

Old Bosses

Old bosses (from permi jobs of the past) can be great sources for advice and for trying out business Ideas.  After all, they run businesses, and whilst they may be bigger companies than your small freelance company, the problems will all be the same.

Customers

And lets not forget your existing customers as a source of advice.   Clearly, you need to be selective on what you ask and how you ask it, but if you are puzzled on areas such as what new services you should offer, or what your USP is, ask your customers – they will be ideally placed to tell you.