Free Range Chicken
There are a lot of people setting up their own business for the very first time, often in the service sector. After spending 20 or 30 years as a Battery Hen, it can suddenly seem daunting in the extreme to be a Free Range Chicken.
One of the standard pieces of advice I offer to these people is to look very carefully at exactly how they take their expertise to market.
I recently met the CEO of an Acute Hospital Trust over dinner. He told me that he had heard great things about my leadership work. He wanted me to meet his HR director. The appointment was made but after ten minutes with the HR director, he asked me why I was there.
In the last few months I had diarised appointments with the CEO’s of three Chambers of Commerce to discuss a project that would benefit them hugely. Each appointment was cancelled at short notice with the promise of a rearrangement. I have heard nothing since.
We were tendering for some leadership work with a local Council. We spent two days on the proposal with a valued associate. We were told two months later that they had eight applicants and they took the lowest bid.
Another public sector body in Birmingham asked for a detailed tender document of thirty pages. Two weeks later they sent another form asking us to evaluate the quality of the original tender document.
I celebrate 25 years as a Free Range Chicken soon, but for all these ‘start up’ people I meet there is one piece of advice. Watch out for idiots, watch out for people that have absolutely no idea about the value of time, especially your time.
Labels: putting a high value on your time and not letting other people steal it
posted by Tim @ 2:58 AM
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