The top 3 lessons from my conversation with Niels Klabbers.
Peer #48 on De Gebakken Peren Podcast.
1. Are you avoiding doing the actual work?
Some entrepreneurs keep fidgeting with their company name, website, and logo. Because it’s safe.
You get no market feedback. So, in any case, the dream gets to stay alive.
You also don’t have to approach people out of the blue and potentially have uncomfortable conversations.
You also get to do only the fancy work: The talking about starting a company. Rather than doing the work necessary to get it off the ground.
If you’re in it for the glamour, or to be freed up from doing work you don’t like, you might be in the wrong game.
Niels didn’t like all that. He wanted to get straight to the practical work: approaching restaurants and bars as potential clients.
2. But you are not equal
Many entrepreneurs became one because they don’t like restrictive hierarchy. They hate to be told what to do.
That often leads them to avoid any hierarchy.
Which becomes a problem when they hire their first employees.
Because you might want to boss around people, but you still have a special role that you can’t ignore.
You’re the one who gets the last say in decisions because you own the company. You’re the one who decides who stays or doesn’t.
So, you’re not equal. There is a hierarchy, that will come back to bite you if you don’t address it.
What your role could be is to create the right ‘containers’ for people; within which they are free to decide what’s best.
Based on their input, you decide what needs to be accomplished. And you give the appropriate permissions and information to go with it. From there on out, you only coach and own the consequences regardless of the success.
(Note, you can implement Holacracy or build a horizontal organization in different ways. But note that if you’re still the one in charge of hiring and firing, it’s false-flat.)
3. “Wouldn’t you agree that it’s better to pay a little more than expected, instead of a little less than you should?”
Entrepreneurs who want to do right, and don’t want to take the shortcuts that their competitors are used to making, mostly, incur more costs.
To then make a profit, they have to increase their price.
But, when you simply prevent externalities that didn’t affect them before, you still sell to the same buying reasons.
Clients most often aren’t inclined to be willing to pay more for, what is for them, the same.
You have to bridge why how you improve the product is also better for them.
In Niels’ case, a higher investment in getting to know the potential applicants results in better matches and thus in employees who stick around longer.
That saves them money in the long run.
All you need then is to find clients who understand that it’s a bargain and are willing to pay upfront for that.
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