| No Man"s Land |
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| Sunday, 20 April 2008 17:35 | |
 My friend related to me a story about her boss (a very capable and successful entrepreneur at that). Her boss used to have an open door policy so the staff can discuss with him any issues any time. However, recently, the practice was changed. Now, the staff will need to make an appointment with his secretary before a meeting can be arranged. He explained to the staff before making the change. "I can"t have people keep streaming to my room all the time asking me to solve the smallest of problems. Everyday, I"ve tons of emails to read and reply. After that, with whatever time I"ve left, I need to do strategic planning. Oh yeah, I"m human too and I needed my vacation yesterday!" Hey man! I feel you. Currently, I"m stuck in the situation whereby my company is too big to remain small, and too small to become big. This is the period where a company is in the state where it is known as "No Man"s Land". I don"t know how to get out of this rut. Actually, I know. I need more staff but my resources are limited. So I need to grow. If I don"t, my company will be crushed by the weight of its current size. When I started and had few clients, I could handle everything by myself: accounts, filing of taxes, server support, software upgrades, answering emails from clients, sales presentation, long term strategic planning, writing cheques for payment of bills, depositing cheques received from clients, printing invoices, putting invoices into envelopes, putting stamps on envelopes, mailing of invoices... basically everything! But once the number of clients increases, each of the tasks listed above increases. The worse thing is, the complexity does not increase proportionally but exponentially. I"ve grown from a sole proprietor to an incorporated company. Oh! Let"s not even begin on the increased paper work I"ve now! I need to grow but I don"t know how. I don"t know how because I"ve no time to think. I"ve many solutions but which path to take? I"ve no time to think but I must think. I must find time which I don"t have. Darn! I"m tired. Yes, I needed a holiday yesterday too! |