Jun 12, 2001, 11:45pm

Hola folks. Been some weird days around here.

My company is in the process of hiring someone once again. This time not to replace a fired person, but to help out my poor overworked chief programmer (hehe Wayne). To me, it's more payroll worries. But I think we can handle it.

I've been doing a lot of reflection on business over the past few days. See, we're all destined to become our parents, but in one aspect I am quite different from my Dad. My Dad owns a contracting business, dealing mainly with home renovations, kitchens, bathrooms, that kind of thing. Good business if you know your stuff. And my Dad does. But he has one huge problem. He thinks no one else can do his job. I've spoken to him on the subject many times, but each time its like hitting a brick wall. He says he can't afford it. He says the kind of person he would need would cost way too much. He says that he'd always have to be looking over their shoulder. In the end, he just thinks that there is only one way to do a job, and he knows how to do it.

I'm quite different in this aspect. I know how to code like the back of my hand, but I know my design skills, while okay, are not nearly as good as many out there. I also know my extreme limitation in some fields - programming, database, that kind of thing. So I try to find skilled people who know this arena, and can do it well. So far, I've been pretty lucky. I've only had to fire one person because of incompetency, and I have 5 people on the payroll, soon to be six. I'm halfway to my goal of 12 people working for this company.

This is where I think my Dad has failed. He's really good at what he does, but he's essentially in the exact same spot he was 10 years ago - him and a helper doing all the work. That's it. In my case, I'm moving to the point where I've got enough people working that I can disassociate myself from a job and not have to worry about it. Well, I still worry, but I only worry about the quality of our work and getting the cheques so I can meet that giant looming monster - payroll. One of my graphics guys is showing such promise, that I'm considering giving him the ball and running the next graphics-intensive project - something I have always done for the company up until now.

I'm not trying to say I'm better than my Dad here. I'm not. We both have our own individual skills and qualities. In reality I'm worried about my Dad. He's in his later 50s now, his knees and legs are shot, he can barely do the work he has to do, and he's not in a situation where he can retire or ease back. It's work or die for him, and I'm worried that he's going to have to work until he passes on, and the work will speed that event up.

I only wish he'd taken my advice to heart some 10 years ago. But who was I? Some punk 20 year old dishing out the advice...

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Mixelania

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Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
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Canon 5D
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Alzo Digital Lights
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Canon Xsi dSLR
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Canon 40D
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Fujitsu P1610
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Foodsaver Advanced
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Canon 50mm 1.4
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