Case Study: Dominic

In my whole philosophy of getting independent from the corporate world, I think that Dominic is someone that stands out.

Dominic works in my enterprise.  He works in the telecoms department.  He is the sole specialist of some switches lists of translations for calls to get through... or something like that.  I won't get into any details here but understand that he is a guru in his field of expertise that is in high demand in any large company.

So right there Dominic has been able to ensure his employability to the company.  He has the knowledge that no other has in the company.  So he is indispensable in his department.  He is not un-expendable.  Working for corporation we learn to know that no one is.  But at least he knows that if the company wants to get rid of him, it will have to train someone else for a few weeks before he barely get to speed (not even get to Dominic's level).

This brings a second advantage.  Since no one else can do Dominic's work and that his work is in high demand in the industry, Dominic has an edge in his wage negotiation.

But Dominic was not happy with only that.

In his spare time he decided to start a home business.  He decided to rent portable hot tubs for people who wants to throw parties in their backyard.  He was not able to start that over night.  In the beginning he had a hard time.  He had to deal with the providers, get a place to store the tubs.  At one point in peak periods, he had to hire an employee.  He learned the hard way: his costs went sky rocketing.  So he managed to downsize and finds ways to cut cost, fine tune his processes and do some of the work himself.

It took him two years of trials and errors to get to the current business model he is at now.  And his business is so fine tuned that he can devote to it only a few hours a week and rake in the money.

He told me that at this rate, if revenues continue to grow, he will repay his house loan in about four years!  Not bad at all.

So if I summarize, Dominic has been able in two years to:

1. Become a valuable asset for the company so he is hard to fire
2. Has developed and launched a business that generates a revenue (that he don't need since he has a job)
3. The over and above revenue generated by his business is used to repay his house loan (which means by having no debt he will be even less vulnerable to the corporate world)

Dominic is an example to follow on the road of total freedom.

Signs that you might be in trouble

A few years ago I read an excellent book called Intellectual Capital. This book was worth reading.

There is a part in it that I never forgot on signs that you might be in trouble at work. Here it is for your considerations:

The old trapping of success - a leather chair, your own secretary - are gone. So are the old signs of trouble. Says Richard Moran, a leader of the change-management practice for Price Waterhouse consulting: "The rule used to be incremental promotion every year or two. If you miss one - hmm - that was warning. You don't get the little clicks now." Warnings are subtler - many audible only to you, not your boss or colleagues. If several of these click, wake up:

• Are you learning? If you can't say that you have learned in the past six months, nor what you expect to learn in the next, beware. Says Havard Business School professor John Kotter: "When there's nothing you can learn where you are, you've got to move on, even if they give you promotions." If your job has become easy, someone else will do it for less.

Well on that part I should be very worry. Not only I do learn nothing, but I teach others to do my job. I'm way over paid for the work level I occupy, my job is so easy that I'm bored to death and others get promoted while I'm the one with the more qualifications.

• If your job were open, would you get it? Benchmark your skills regularly. Look at want-ads for jobs in your field. If they ask for skills you don't have - with phrases such as familiarity with Lotus Notes a plus" - get on the stick.

I would probably not get it. Not at the price they pay me right now. I am highly paid for being a mere glorified personal assistant. Others could do... close to the same work I do but for much less money. As per skills, I am over skilled for what I do.

• Are you being milked? When you sacrifice your long-term growth for short term benefits, especially your employer's, you are living on intellectual capital. A salesman who wants to learn marketing but keeps hearing, "You're so good we need you here" or a finance guy who is asked to keep the old system running while others learn the new software - these are people in whom the company has stopped investing.

Well at the point I am I'm not only milked, I've turned cream and even borderline cheese. I'm so good at what I do that I know that if I leave they will be going back 6 months to 1 year in progress. That is why they want to keep me there and that is why they tolerate to pay me so much for so little. I have the benefits of the superstar effect. But this wouldn't last. The day they will hire some young hound with my computer skill for half my salary, I'm doomed.

• Do you know what you contribute? If you can't give anyone a two minutes summary of what you do and why it matters, your boss probably can't either.

Some times people ask me "what do you do for work" and half honest and half laughing I answer:" I don't know really". I told you I am a glorified personal assistant. If my boss asks me to take the blue file on the left and put it on the right, I do it. The next day if he asks me to take the blue file on the right and put it on the left, I execute the order, period. The only advantage I bring is automation of his admin work with my computer skills.

• What would you do if you job disappeared tomorrow? If you can't answer that question, you haven't thought about what marketable skills you have. More and more, you have to sell yourself inside the company.

On that part I do think a lot of what I would do if my job would disappear tomorrow. In fact it is one of the prime thought I have everyday on which I work on. It's also one of my prime strategy that I explained at the very beginning of this blog: being totally financially independent. So if my work would disappear into thin air tomorrow, I would simply laugh at their face, for I won't need them to live my life and sustain my level of life.

• Are you having fun yet? Sure they call it "work", but you'll be less eager for new challenges if your heart's not in it.

Having fun? I'm bored to death and the only time I feel alive is when I work on my business projects.

• Are you worried about your job? Says Moran:"If you are, you probably should be."

I am not worried for my job. And I probably should. But I sleep like a baby at night and I won't die from stress any time soon. In fact I couldn't care less about my work or my so called career.

And you will understand why. Reading this post must have puzzled most of you. But I hope I will make it all clear when you read my next post: Kill your career.

The Parkinson law

According to Parkinson law (nothing to do with the disease), the more a company grows, the more it employs overpaid incompetents. Why is that? The researches tends to show that the current people in power want the good of the company. But they also want to remain in place. Highly paid jobs to be in meetings all day make plans that others will implement, travel... do you blame them?

So those executives, consciously or not most of the time, hire people that they are sure they won't become competition. The best way to avoid potential fights against rivals is to hire people that are technocrats and good at what they do. But not good enough to bring themselves (and the company) to the next level. In other words, they hire incompetent people. This is a safe strategy to stay in place. And once hired, the best way to make sure that they won't shake the can is to overpay them. Therefore the fear of loosing a well paid job for the amount of work required of them will prevent any... unwanted behavior.

There is nothing more frightening in a enterprise than a innovative spirit. I am not talking about start ups here. I am talking about huge well established organisations.

And once again I live to tell. I remember going into an interview for a job at such a big company. At one point the guy (who would have been my boss) asks me the classic question "where do you see yourself in three years in the organisation?" I was young, stupid and innexperienced. And I wanted to show how much I was ambitious. So I answered "I wouldn't mind having your job..."

Baaad answer!

I could see the astonishment in the guys' eyes. I didn't get the job. And a few years later, with more experience under my belt in management and more experience on the other side of the table (aka me employing people)... I can tell now that there were not only astonishment in the guys' eyes. There were fear too.

I'll conclude with this quote from Atlas Shrugged:

"Any man who's afraid of hiring the best ability he can find is a cheat who's in a business he doesn't belong. To me - the foolest man on earth, more contemptible than a criminal, is the employer who rejects men for being too good."

- Atlas Shrugged

The moral of the story. Be careful to select your generals (managers, partners, collaborators) well. Make sure you surround yourself with high achieving people who tends to belong with high achieving people themselves.

The superstar effect

I told in my previous posts that I focus my energy on making money on my own.

Imagine you brain being a computer's CPU. This means that there is more CPU time that are going to be allocated to my own business endeavor and less to the company I work for. Does this means that I am going to downgrade the quality of my work? Absolutely not. It just means that what ever "think out of the box and make it happen" stuff I could develop for the company, I won't do it.

But how am I able to do it? How am I able to to stick to the minimum required and still please my boss? He even proposed my name for the "employee of the year"! My strategy is simple. I developed what i called the "Superstar effect". I became good at something in the enterprise that no one else, or very few people were able to emulate. Therefore my intrinsic value increased and I was able to be praise while doing less brain work for the company. This brain work (CPU time) not used for the company, I reallocated it to my projects.

You should star to develop the "Superstar effect" for yourself. If you work for someone else, you will become priceless. If you work on your own then the word will spread around and you'll have a competitive advantage.

In effect what I did is simple. I know that most people are Excel and Access illiterate. So I became an expert in those software. An expert to the core: I program it in Visual Basic. Then I developed applications for my department. I automatized reports etc... Now my stuff are all around the department.

So how to develop your own Superstar effect?

1. First read this paper
2. Browse your skills. Find what you are very good at. And see how you can male it contribute to your job. If you have difficulties finding your skills, read this book.
3. Apply your strengths to your job. Develop an expertise or software or what ever that is genuine and unique. If you have a hard time applying your skills, read this book.

Then after a while, you will see that people come to you more and more for advices. At times you will feel like you have a halo around you. But never over estimate yourself. Always work to keep an edge at all time.

The MED Concept and some unconventional thoughts on corporations

I encountered the MED concept while reading the Four hour body from Tim Ferriss.

In his book he tells about the concept of MED which stands for the Minimum Effective Dose.

Tim uses this concept in bodybuilding. It is the usage of the minimum effort in order to get the maximum result. Anything beyond that is wasteful.

Then a thought occurred to me. The MED concept can be applied to the work world. When you are working for someone else. You are always paid by the hour. Not on the quantity of work you do nor on the quality of work that you do (respecting a standard of course). So why doing more? For you fellow recognition? For a chance to get the corner office? Is that worth it? What do you really want?

I decided that I will escape from the prison of the corporate world in which the slave has to punch on time in the morning, do what ever the boss tell while he's/she's serving his/her time. And all that for what? For a mere biweekly fix. Just enough for you to go along but not enough to escape from your corporation's influence.

The company then is nothing other than a pusher.

My time is mine. And I will use the concept of MED at work: give the company the work its requires up to the level they require. But nothing else or nothing more than that. The time I will save I will put it on my own financial projects.

Corporations likes buzz words so here is one: it is a win win situation. The company gets the work done with the quality required. And I get to win some hours to which I can spend time on my projects.

In fact the only thing the company would be loosing is the zealous work. If you have been working into an organisation for a while you understand what I mean. You always end up earing the boss say the following: "the company needs you... we require total commitment from our employees... we don't look at the hours made here... with hard work you can... " and just what ever crap they trow at us. And you know what? It works! Most of the people and employees I cross believe that crap! (Or may be they don't. But they let the boss speak so they can get the pay check). Do you know why it works? Because that's the only song they've been earing all their life. Therefore they think that this is it. That's the way it is. Period.

The is a massive representation of Plato's Cave Allegory.

Well. It's time to show another path. MED is one representation of it.

The case of my friend Eric

As you know by now one of my fundamental aim in life is to be totally independent of fortune. I find that if one wants to live strategically, one must not depend on anyone else for one financial survival.

Before Christmas I went to lunch with my friend Eric. And I asked him how it went at work. Then he started saying that he will not meet his sales goals for this year and that he will not receive his bonus. Now he needs his bonus for some stuff he needs to pay. But he won't get it because it is unlikely that he will make his numbers. Why? Because his market are the governmental and municipal software departments. And as of last August, all government and municipal instances had freeze their spending for budgetary reasons. Leaving my friend flat on his belly.

Now that is what I call job dependent: relying solely on your current job to generate revenues. And believe it or not. My friend is no exception. This is the norm! Most people live like that. Lacking the initiative, the will or the awareness that they need to escape from that trap which companies are more than happy to keep their employees. Making them good sheeps. Doing mostly what ever the company wants. Trapping them in the company's logic.

This is what I want to avoid for myself. I've been a cubicle prisoner for 20 years or so. And I say it's enough! NO MORE!

Now. Imagine my friend living my strategy. He is a good seller. And I believe that he should use his skills for himself. For his own purpose. So if lets say, on January 1st 2010, he would have developed his own company. Online store or what ever. And now lets imagine that by August, at the time the budget freeze has arrived, he's making money coming from his company. How would he have reacted? Well at least with a lot less stress don't you think? Knowing that he's able to generate revenues on his side.

Now lets go further, in my friend's current reality. Lets sit with him at his annual review. It will probably look something like this:

Boss: Well hello Eric, sit down would you.

Eric (stressed): thanks

Boss: Now Eric, lets get to the point. You have not met your target last year.

Eric: I know but it was not my fault. It's because...

Boss: Now Eric. Let's not fools ourselves. You had targets. Ones that you agreed to at the beginning of the year. And you didn't meet your target. True or not?

Eric: True but...

Boss: Well that's it. Lets keep it to the bottom line. Your didn't meet your target. Therefore I cannot give you you're bonus.

Eric: ...

Boss: That will be all Eric. And please don't take it bad. I know you are a good and hard working employee. That is why I fought to the board to keep you, even if you didn't meet your target. You will just have to work harder next year.

Ends the meeting.

Now lets take this very same meeting but imagine my friend adopting my independence strategy from January 1st 2010 and his business is going well.

Boss: Well hello Eric, sit down would you.

Eric (relaxed): thanks. (He leans back on the chair).

Boss: Now Eric, lets get to the point. You have not met your target last year.

Eric: That's true

Boss (caught a little off guard): Ok then can you explain to me why this is so?

Eric: Well boss, as you are well aware, because we discussed that several times, there was a freeze on budget dating last August.

Boss: Yeah I know but you understand that we are looking for people who will finds ways, think out of the box... bla bla bla (insert here the fashionable buzz word of the day)...

Eric: I see.

Boss (now not knowing how to handle my friend): Well, you know we expected better and therefore I cannot give you you're bonus. I'm sorry.

Eric (still relaxed): That's ok.

Boss (getting confused because he really don't understand my friend's reaction): Look Eric. Don't take it bad. Next year if you work harder then may be...

Eric (with a very soft voice): Listen. With all due respect. I don't take it bad. You don't have to over do it. I understand your means and I accept it. I like to work here and that is why I stay. Now if this is all. If you don't mind, I have customers to call. (With a disarm full smile) If you will excuse me. And thank you for taking the time.

Now. Can you begin to grasp the endless power one acquire over its employer when one does not need it for his/her financial survival. The employer just plainly loose any edge on his/her employee.

Getting to this stage, the employer will have only two courses of action. 1. He will freak out and fire the employee. Not knowing what to do with it. 2. He will not know how to handle his/her employee. And feeling there is danger here in this unknown, unprecedented situation, the employer will leave the employee alone. And focus on the other employees that shows their fears.

And believe me. I know it works. I live to tell.

Food for thought people.