About one year ago I made a decision to take my business in a new direction.
I'd run across some people of varying talents (extraordinary talent, it turns out), and I decided it was time to put together a creative team capable of producing everything from outstanding artwork to voice-over talent.
Sadly, one year later, after fruitless months trying to get all of this together (including online efforts to gain the ear of potential customers), I had to put an end to it all Monday--at just about the time my online efforts were paying off.
Long story short, everyone was to be working on spec, so without a paycheck, I guess their motivation and patience ran out and they ceased to produce anything. Actually, they NEVER produced anything. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Actually, that's not true either. What little they did produce was exactly the opposite of what I asked for, ie, worthless and meaningless product.
Seems they were either sitting at home on the couch for the past 12 months or sitting around throwing the assignments I had given them in the trash and developing completely useless ideas that coincided with nothing I was trying to do.
Admittedly, the leadership (me) was clearly at fault on many levels. I should have put my foot down on day one and told them not to head off helter-skelter in meaningless directions. I should have warned them that working on spec doesn't mean a paycheck every Friday. Maybe that would have changed things. But I doubt it. One guy I did lay down the law on, and his answer was to show up at my shop for two hours every 4 weeks and then complain that we weren't going anywhere.
hmmmmmmmm .... and he is unemployed and has all the free time in the world .... guess someone has to hold down those couches.....
The guy in charge of the artwork fared better. I could ask him to draw a square and he would draw a circle. I'd ask for a circle, he draws a rectangle. Okay.....
One guy got so frustrated with all of it, he just outright said he was done. (He was going to be the guy in charge of ideas, only his ideas were also being ignored.) He and I were on the same page, at least, he just got tired of the rest of the team playing tiddly-winks when were supposed to be playing hardball.
Finally, on Monday, I told them to forget it.
Suddenly they were all downtrodden and staring at the ground like they couldn't believe it.
What did they expect? But it was my call on whether to end it or not, since had I appointed myself leader. But I was a fair leader, as I was open to 99.9% of their suggestions. Trouble is, they ignored 101.1% of everything I said.
Still, I take most of the blame. I should have put my foot down a bit firmer --- like right on their throats!!! But it wouldn't have mattered. I waited 12 months for piece of usable anything from these guys and got zilch.
Then, last week, I landed an awesome little job designing a few proprietary fonts for a small gaming upstart-- for apps and such. I told the team about it, and suddenly they wanted me to hit them up for doing designs, voice-overs, etc.
I told them no. Told them that wasn't what this company was after.
But I wasn't telling the whole truth. Didn't want to hurt their feelings. I didn't bring my guys up in the conversation because they had no portfolio to present and I knew they couldn't be depended on. So I took the money for the font work and ran. But I didn't go away smiling. I went away disappointed over what might have been.
But might have beens don't really count, do they?
So now I'm looking to reboot this situation, and this time around, I'm going to make sure I'm doing my part right. I see a thousand ways I went wrong, and I'm not going down that path again.
Posted by Elaine Beauchemin (Member # 136) on :
{{{hugs to you}}}
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
I bet if you pitched all of us here on Letterville some challenge for some font ideas and threw out some contest winnings, you would be surprised in seeing the results! I have never met a harder wroking and more creative group than right here and we are not couch sitters.
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Michael....I am sorry to say that I never would have worked "on spec".
A bad concept from the start.
That said, I DID start and run a business on spec, but that was up to me to develop and I gained all the profits. Trying to get "employees" to work on spec just doesn't hold the incentive for them.
Posted by Michael Gene Adkins (Member # 882) on :
You are right dave. They didnt understand what it meant to work on spec and i should not have expected them to.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Michael - sorry to hear about this... it had to be rough for you. But, keep your chin up; you're living, and breathing, and tomorrow is a new day. Your talent will see you through!!
PS - I really did LOVE 'Captain America'.... your font! I'd like to pay you for it, even though you gave it away... because I've used it a ton.... tell me how much and where to send it.
Posted by Michael Gene Adkins (Member # 882) on :
sorry this post was so long, everybody -- i was in a hurry and didn't realize i was being so verbose ...
hahahaha -- yer hilarious, Todd!!! You don't owe me anything for the font. Free is free!!!
I will approach things much differently next time I tackle something similar. Lesson learned.
Posted by Michael Clanton (Member # 2419) on :
Sorry to hear about the situation- sounds like it had to be done. I have to admit, about halfway thru the post, I really thought it was a metaphor for all of the bozos in Washington- sounds real familiar-haha
Posted by Doug Downey (Member # 829) on :
Michael I know it is tough but I did it in a recession picked up alot of talent and it has worked OK. I still have some changes to make but we have a great group of talent at our finger tips, and with the internet we can work anywhere!
keep trying! loose the couch potatos!
Posted by Kelsey Dum (Member # 6101) on :
Sorry to hear that. I think some people have gotten a bit lazy with the unemployment thing... or maybe I'm just a workaholic. On the other hand I can always use some work and worked for a company long distance for almost 5 years before the recession hit. If you need anything let me know.
