Lessons learned losing £10,000

 

If you're going to maximise the time that you invest in doing the high-value work that only you can do, finding other ways to take care of everything else that still needs to be done is essential.

Remember that:

"You can anything but you can't do everything."

David Allen.

If you're reading this then the chances are that you'll have hired someone else to do something for you at some point in time. Or if you haven't already done it, you're actively looking at that now or at least thinking about it as a possibility for the future.

Of course, there are probably lots of things that don't need to be done in the way that they're being done now, if they need to be done at all. We'll come back to those another time.

For everything that's left there's someone out there that's as good at doing the thing that you never want to have to handle ever again as you are at doing the work that you love to do. All you have to do is find them.

“Finding is reserved for those that search.”

Jim Rohn

Last year I joined the first edition of The Freelancer's Workshop, part of Seth Godin's Akimbo Workshops.

(I've also taken part in The Marketing Seminar, and I'd highly recommend both to anyone who's trying to get their message out there and connect more deeply with their audience. To coin a well-worn but highly relevant phrase "I wish that this had been around when I was getting started in marketing 18 years ago.)

One of the prompts in the Freelancer's Workshop was to reflect on lessons learned from hiring other people; whether that's for one-off projects or someone to work with on an on-going basis. That's something I've done on an ad-hoc basis for at least 15 years now, and much more consistently in the last five.

I had a few difficult realisations going through this exercise. One was a reminder of how much time, energy and money I've lost (easily £10,000+) making bad hiring decisions for projects. I don't want to start contemplating the opportunity cost, it's too painful.

Eliminating Preventable Problems

Thankfully many of the problems I've listed here have only happened once. One of the key strategies I emphasise with my clients is "eliminating preventable problems. " Building your own go-to resource of lessons that you've learned the hard way is a good way to make sure you don't make the same mistakes twice.

But it's not all one-way traffic. In many ways not communicating both sides' expectations clearly and effectively before you start is at the root of a lot of the issues. Ultimately you have the sole responsibility for making sure that something works in the way that you expect and you get a result that you're happy with.

This list certainly isn't intended to be comprehensive. It's not in any particular order and some of these points will be more relevant to you than others depending on your circumstances. Some of these points are definitely things to avoid or look out for; some are observations. Some are certainly open to discussion. It's evolved over time (and will continue to do so).

Some of my clients have been generous to share some of their horror stories too.

Although I've spoken about hiring freelancers (because originally this was done for the Freelancer's Workshop) this applies equally to consultants, coaches, any other sort of professional or personal advisor, and any other company you hire to deliver a project or service.

I've shared this list with some of my private clients and I hope you'll find it useful too.

So what have I learned?

  • Hire people who are at least as good at what they do as you are at what you do.
  • Make sure that you know enough about what you’re looking for so that you can make an informed decision. This goes both for hiring someone and evaluating the value of the result that you get at the end of the day.

I can't put this any better than Perry Marshall:

"You can't effectively hire people to do something you don't really understand. [Being able to ask] very pointed questions will get rid of a LOT of amateur[s]...and intimidate the posers."

  • Don't say yes to a long shopping list of things that you're told you need particularly when you don't understand why. When you understand why (in terms of what you want to achieve) you can make a judgement about whether or not items on the list are necessary or if whoever has put this together is being over-enthusiastic.
    Caveat emptor: "let the buyer beware".
  • The bigger the negative impact of the problem and/or the potential positive impact of the solution, the longer I'll spend looking for someone to hire.
  • My expectations are higher when I'm hiring for something that I know something about or have some experience in.
  • If I don't have the budget to hire someone that I trust is going to deliver a substantially better result than I am (or a similar result but faster), it may be better to do it myself or wait until the cash is available. If I do this can I get a result that's "good enough" for now? I've wasted so much time, money and energy learning this lesson. I also under-rate my abilities to do a particular project myself.*

*I've developed an objective framework for deciding whether or not you should outsource a project or deal with it in-house. Look out for that coming soon.

  • Hire people who can simply get the job done faster so that I can work on more valuable stuff that I can't outsource.
  • It's easy to get caught up in the enthusiasm that comes with finding a potential solution to a problem and ignore warning signs that this isn't the right person for the job. Don't hire someone that you know isn't right just so that you can move forward now.
  • Be careful about hiring people by default if you haven't used them before. Once when I was looking for a web designer I contacted 5. I hired the only one who replied. I put too much emphasis on the fact that he'd replied in the first place and ignored some indicators that this wasn't the best person for the job. The project did not go well.
  • You can read reviews and ask for all of the recommendations you like but remember that these are all someone else's subjective opinion based on their own criteria and experience. There's no guarantee that you'll be equally positive.
  • Good experiences are unusual, great experiences are rare. Putting this list together was another reminder that keeping your commitments is both rare and valuable. Just doing the basics well counts for so much.
  • A red flag for hiring or working with someone on a medium to long term project should not getting a list of deliverables or milestones upfront, for both sides. If I still decide to hire someone like that I need to be prepared to manage the project myself.
  • I need to ask "what happens if this doesn't work?" more often. I've avoided doing this in some situations and regretted it. If they respect you they'll give you an honest answer. If they don't answer the question directly go somewhere else.
  • If someone doesn't have a specific guarantee, it can become an opportunity to create one. Explain the results that you're looking to get and negotiate something from there. This can also be a useful filter; it gives you an opportunity to clarify what you expect and the freelancer a better understanding of whether or not they can help you. Better to say "No, thank you" early and move on.
  • You get the best results when both sides respect, like and value each other. You can like someone but if you sense that respect or value are missing part company. The best experiences that I've had hiring people have been when all three boxes are checked in equal measure.
  • Having a good experience means that I'm unlikely to look for someone else to do the same kind of work again, I'll just go straight back. This may or may not be a wise thing to do. I have hired people because of an existing relationship for projects that have turned out to be outside their expertise. The results weren't good and you can lose the relationship.
  • You need to develop an internal barometer for what you expect to pay as part of your research. If the quote you get is too cheap, don't go ahead without figuring out what the reasons for that are first. But don't automatically dismiss someone who seems too cheap without asking yourself why first. They could be starting out and are building up their experience. You may find that you get a great result and an equally good investment. By the same token, don't assume that someone that's relatively expensive is going to be substantially better. You may be making a costly error.
  • Don't trade testimonials for a discount. Don't hire people who offer to do that upfront and don't offer it yourself. If you want to give or exchange testimonials afterwards, fine.
  • Be careful not to ascribe too much value to media credentials (e.g. "I've been featured on the BBC, Fast Company, and Lifehacker.") I know from experience that the barrier to entry can be lower than you'd expect.
  • In my experience the more valuable the project is, the longer it takes and the more I've financially invested in it, the less the experience has lived up to the expectations created by the freelancer's promise. This is sad but true.
  • The bigger and more painful the problem, the larger the positive potential impact of the solution, and the more certainty I have that someone can deliver, the more I'll invest.

For more on hiring people to work in your company, the Basecamp blog Signal v Noise is a great source of advice.

 
Chris Beaumont