Business Quick-Tips

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Speedbumps

Ok, so it would be cliche for me to say that "you should except speed bumps along the way; slow down and determine what it will take to overcome them." Although this saying is true, I like to respond to them in a manner different than most; at full speed. "Full speed ahead" seems to be a pretty appropriate response, especially when you can tell that the speed bump is small in nature.

Over the weekend I ran into a few speed bumps, receiving bids for website development that were way too high and also having issues getting my web content uploaded at a fast enough pace to make them profitable. Part of me wanted to take a step back and re-evaluate what the problem was and take time to develop a plan to counteract the situation, but instead I decided to take on the issues on full speed. I declined every single bid that I recieved for web development (citing high prices), and I got on the horn with my content guy and strongly encouraged him to pick up the pace.


Needless to say, I was quite surprised when almost 3/4ths of the bids that I had rejected had been resubmitted with lower prices, and my content guy responded saying that he would have all the content completed by the end of the week (it was originally supposed to be done Sept 6th-ish). Back on track!


I'm not saying that taking a step back to plan is a bad idea. And, is it always good to push people's buttons? No. But sometimes a little encouragement to do better can go a long way. Just don't forget some of the sacrifices that your partners may have to make in order to meet your stringent deadlines and price ceilings, it would be wise (and maybe necessary) to pay them back in kind some time in the future.

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