Business Woes
- Started
- Last post
- 13 Responses
- Mattjanz3n
I've been running my company for over 6+ years with goals to grow it but the last year has been very shitty. There is so much I dislike about my day-to-day that destroys my motivation and ability to motivate. Projects are going off the rails, revenues plummeting and just in a bigtime rut. Has anyone been here before?
- PonyBoy3
Is it just you? Any employees?
- Krassy2
time for a change? pull the plug, cash your chips and reinvest everything, especially your passion and efforts into something brand new?
- and destroy everyone's livelihood along the way? it's not just him, it's a bunch of people he personally hired.zarkonite
- so you suggest he perpetuate the slow disintegration of the company and in turn affecting employees' morale and ultimately still "destroying their livelihood?"Krassy
- better be honest to himself and others, than watch it all get worse and worse.Krassy
- omg2
Just think positive and set new and better goals for yourself.
- moldero0
if it's a home office, and you tend not to leave it on the weekends, make an effort to avoid being home on the weekends.
During the week, before or after work, try doing the same, going for a run or walking the dog
- Mattjanz3n0
We have 1600sq ft office, 4 of 5 year lease. Fluctuated from 8-5 employees this year. I do know we need a proper project manager but that's not exactly billable time that we can absorb.
- Well I think you have two options: find an investor and grow better, or close down. 6 years and you still don't have proper pm... something isn't right.sted
- We grew from 3 to 12 in one year. I owe most of this to our CEO, who has nothing else to do just to deal with the progress.sted
- yep concentrate on what you're good at, get someone to run the business part or other part that's lacking_niko
- sounds like you need some technical business advice, management-wise. Your pm's fees can and should be charged to your clients.zarkonite
- monNom1
Are you the boss? If so, you're responsible for the company and for your employees. If you don't feel like you can adequately do your job, maybe you ought to fire yourself and hire your replacement? - you could become a silent partner who collects a dividend if things are working well.
After a step away, you might find that your passion comes back, or if not, you get to search for your next passion. Win-Win
IMO unless you are coordinating a ton of external vendors, you shouldn't need a dedicated project manager with just 5 people. Have a meeting.
- employees are more relaxed when the boss is not around. it'd help to have a trusting commander-in-chief who can push the buttonomg
- Yeah, you're right. There's sort of a magic number of developers + designers that warrants a PM role and we're not currently there but I want to be.Mattjanz3n
- sofakingback3
oooohhh I quickly read "Business Whores"
carry on.
- Gnash0
Have you dipped your toe in the world of government RFPs? get your company certified and start pitching those contracts. Perhaps even hire someone (a consultant by commission) to do the legwork of getting you on that track.
- formed0
RFPs are a gamble. You can invest tremendous amounts of time and still get nothing. Then there's the bureaucracy surrounding them (our team once got disqualified for 3 words in a 117 page proposal, talk about pissed off and a waste of time - plane tickets, presentations, etc., etc.). That said, there is always money there. Find a team to get on, it'll save you from having to have the paper work (unless you are a DBE, there's not much benefit, imho).
Business ups/downs are just part of the game. Find ways to delegate unwanted chores. Just things like bookkeeping can be a pain and save you time. Try to find more inspiring projects to pursue or create a pet project for experimenting.
Positive attitude, write your multi-year vision down, it'll help you keep focused on the bigger picture.
- spot132
Not sure where in Canada you are at but I'm in the public sector in Toronto and do the outsourcing for website / app development. Send me your details and I can let you know of upcoming projects.
- spot130
The real trick is finding a recurring revenue model to offset the up and downs of custom development. In my last gig, we built a software as a service platform for managing peer to peer fundraising events. This had monthly fees and, while it took a while to build that part of the business, once we had a diverse set of clients it created stable cash flow. Once you have cash flow stability you have more options on which projects because you're not always chasing the next months rent but it's always a balancing act with a small business.