I need Advice!! Help Please

[Rider]

@Rider, what would you do if he was working for you, and you found out that he *may* be taking business from you, or at least thinking about it, because he is out there asking if it's ok? Would you be as upbeat and positive as you are here and now? I'd wager that you would fire the kid, and be mad.

I am just not certain how some people come to the moral aide of people like this. I mean seriously, it's all fun and games, until the shoe is on the other foot, then things change quickly. I don't care what anyone says, but I can not imagine ANY ONE business owner on this board being ok, and not angry with this, should it happen to you.

He asked a question. Would it be right or wrong? Tell him it would be wrong and why and be done with it.

If this young man is not sure of the morallity of a situation it serves me better to politely make my point. He will be more likely to come to me with future issues and everybody is better off for it. If I smack him down he's is going to make his next choice without asking for my advice and we can only hope he gets it right on his own.

This kid had a hunch that it might be wrong but wasn't totally sure. He came to us, folks he respects, for advice. Look at what it got him. He got his answer but at what cost?

To answer your question directly, if I were his employer and he asked me "Boss, would it be ok if I did some work on the side?" I would explain to him why it wouldn't be ok and that it could be grounds for termination. I think I would gain a little respect from my employee. Hell, maybe I'd even offer a small commission for customers he brought in. Win win for both of us. Now, on the other hand, I could fire him on the spot just for asking. Odds are he will seek out my clients and undercut me. What does he have to lose at that point? Now, if I found out he was taking clients from me I probably would terminate him. Let's hope he sees past all the flaming here and makes the right choice and his situation doesn't come to that.

Kudos to the kid for asking. More kudos to him if he calls on us again in the future given the responses he's gotten here. The only stupid question is the question that remains unasked.

Rider

 

[bagellad]

I think this kid is just a troll having fun with you guys. Noone could possibly think this is a good idea..

 

[Doctor Micro]

I think this kid is just a troll having fun with you guys. Noone could possibly think this is a good idea..

You might be right. Unfortunately (for me, at least) he knew what buttons to push.

 

[Rider]

I think this kid is just a troll having fun with you guys. Noone could possibly think this is a good idea..

Maybe you're right, maybe he's trollin. If so, good riddens to him. This isn't however, the first time this has come up. There was a very recent post where someone stated that they didn't get paid much from their employer and they were also considering doing work on the side. There is another active thread where someone is considering selling used items as new. I don't believe those 2 folks mean any harm just as I don't think this kid does. Our morals aren't always as plain and obvious to others as they are to us.

To me red is red and is easily identifyable just as it is to most people. Not so easy to someone who is color blind. We don't know this kids background or upbringing. Maybe he is morally color blind and needs more guidance than others may need. It only serves us positively by trying to steer him down the right path instead of beating him down it.

Rider

 

[frostbyte5014]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cdiz0k0Rudw

Damn, not that video again. It took a week to get that out of my head last time.

 

[Majestic]

He asked a question. Would it be right or wrong? Tell him it would be wrong and why and be done with it.

If this young man is not sure of the morallity of a situation it serves me better to politely make my point. He will be more likely to come to me with future issues and everybody is better off for it. If I smack him down he's is going to make his next choice without asking for my advice and we can only hope he gets it right on his own.

This kid had a hunch that it might be wrong but wasn't totally sure. He came to us, folks he respects, for advice. Look at what it got him. He got his answer but at what cost?

To answer your question directly, if I were his employer and he asked me "Boss, would it be ok if I did some work on the side?" I would explain to him why it wouldn't be ok and that it could be grounds for termination. I think I would gain a little respect from my employee. Hell, maybe I'd even offer a small commission for customers he brought in. Win win for both of us. Now, on the other hand, I could fire him on the spot just for asking. Odds are he will seek out my clients and undercut me. What does he have to lose at that point? Now, if I found out he was taking clients from me I probably would terminate him. Let's hope he sees past all the flaming here and makes the right choice and his situation doesn't come to that.

Kudos to the kid for asking. More kudos to him if he calls on us again in the future given the responses he's gotten here. The only stupid question is the question that remains unasked.

Rider

Well said Rider.

Majestic

 

[Blues]

I think this kid is just a troll having fun with you guys. Noone could possibly think this is a good idea..

It is possible all the more reason to stay professional and give reasoned responses and lead him down the right path. Giving any other answer is simply feeding him what he wants.

 

[Mr I]

He asked a question. Would it be right or wrong? Tell him it would be wrong and why and be done with it.

If this young man is not sure of the morallity of a situation it serves me better to politely make my point. He will be more likely to come to me with future issues and everybody is better off for it. If I smack him down he's is going to make his next choice without asking for my advice and we can only hope he gets it right on his own.

This kid had a hunch that it might be wrong but wasn't totally sure. He came to us, folks he respects, for advice. Look at what it got him. He got his answer but at what cost?

To answer your question directly, if I were his employer and he asked me "Boss, would it be ok if I did some work on the side?" I would explain to him why it wouldn't be ok and that it could be grounds for termination. I think I would gain a little respect from my employee. Hell, maybe I'd even offer a small commission for customers he brought in. Win win for both of us. Now, on the other hand, I could fire him on the spot just for asking. Odds are he will seek out my clients and undercut me. What does he have to lose at that point? Now, if I found out he was taking clients from me I probably would terminate him. Let's hope he sees past all the flaming here and makes the right choice and his situation doesn't come to that.

Kudos to the kid for asking. More kudos to him if he calls on us again in the future given the responses he's gotten here. The only stupid question is the question that remains unasked.

Rider

Totally agree. I've notice in this forum that many people simply like to complain, they're never happy with anything and their answers are always negative. You look for advice and end up with insults. For example, if you're good at computers and want to start your own business, they call you inexpert or pizza tech so they advice you to work for someone else while getting some experience. If you work for someone else and think about the possibility of having your own shop, then they accuse you of stealing clients.

Then I wonder about those that complain about everything and pretend to know everything but never help, how they started their business? Could it be possible that they acquired all the knowledge and experience in 9 months in a placenta, so when they were born they knew everything about repairing a PC and then at the age of 2 daddy gave them the first shop and now you're in technibble complaining about those that were not as lucky as you?

Employees come and go, they are "employees" not slaves so they can do whatever they want (is that fair? hell no!!! who said life was fair? life is hard!!!). When you hire someone, chances are that s/he might leave to work with your competitors or even worst, become your new competitor. It's like saying "I won't date a beautiful women because eventually I might lose her". If your good, you're good. Don't worry about other's businesses, or about craiglist or about pizza techs, you can't exterminate them all. Work hard, focus on how to be better and if you learn something to help a technician not to be a pizza tech, then help!!! otherwise shut your mouth and go on, continue working on your business.

 

[BostonGeek1]

Totally agree. I've notice in this forum that many people simply like to complain, they're never happy with anything and their answers are always negative. You look for advice and end up with insults. For example, if you're good at computers and want to start your own business, they call you inexpert or pizza tech so they advice you to work for someone else while getting some experience. If you work for someone else and think about the possibility of having your own shop, then they accuse you of stealing clients.

Then I wonder about those that complain about everything and pretend to know everything but never help, how they started their business? Could it be possible that they acquired all the knowledge and experience in 9 months in a placenta, so when they were born they knew everything about repairing a PC and then at the age of 2 daddy gave them the first shop and now you're in technibble complaining about those that were not as lucky as you?

Employees come and go, they are "employees" not slaves so they can do whatever they want (is that fair? hell no!!! who said life was fair? life is hard!!!). When you hire someone, chances are that s/he might leave to work with your competitors or even worst, become your new competitor. It's like saying "I won't date a beautiful women because eventually I might lose her". If your good, you're good. Don't worry about other's businesses, or about craiglist or about pizza techs, you can't exterminate them all. Work hard, focus on how to be better and if you learn something to help a technician not to be a pizza tech, then help!!! otherwise shut your mouth and go on, continue working on your business.

You do realize the only people that post here are those that have time to do so? By process of elimination this excludes those that are super successful and always busy. I like to troll here for fun and I'm fairly lazy , plus I like to hear the sound of my own voice so to speak, but if you're posting on here constantly and attacking people personally I would guess your business isn't doing too well. So what do we have? A bunch of mediocres giving out bad business advice ? Catch-22 in full effect.

 

[angry_geek]

First off, we advise people to get experience for good reason. Just because you think you're "pretty damn good at computers" or think you're ready to start your own business doesn't mean you are. Everyone is so impatient to go out and work for themselves. They don't take the time or energy to stop and look at the big picture. Is my market ready for me? Do I have the money for proper marketing and business prep? My family and I own 5 different businesses. All but my computer repair business are llcs (I'm the sole proprietor of my shop). We didn't do anything on a whim. Each one took at least a year of planning and prep. We did market research, consulted with an attorney and accountant, worked out the numbers to make sure we would all still be able to eat, etc. You should not go so willy nilly into starting your own business. A lot of people on here do that, and they wind up asking silly questions because they got into something over their head. For example, I'm now involved in a law suit as a witness because some bozo thought he was "pretty damn good at computers". He wound up destroying a medical database for a doctor's office. Since he never properly set up the backups, the doctor lost 6 months worth of records. The tech also didn't have insurance or a proper business license. Now the doctor is suing this guy and going after his house, his parents' house (since they were helping to finance the guy) and all their assets. All we're saying is stop and think first.

Secondly, if anyone thinks I or anyone else on here is unsuccessful or not busy, here's a challenge. Come on down and follow me or my tech for a week. If you can keep up for 60 to 70 hours and still go out with us on the weekend, then you may be ready for this business. I'll even put you up in my spare bedroom. Oh and make sure you come on a week when I have to pay bills. See how sick it makes you when you see just how much money is required to run a proper successful business. I'm sure some of the other techs you're referring to would extend this invitation. My overhead is quite low, but I still have to pay out several thousand a month to keep things going. For those who are incorporated on here, you can see just how successful they are. Their records are public. As for me, you can ask. However, I'm not likely to tell you all the details about how much I make.

As for this cat, would it be alright if he was a mechanic asking if it was ok to use stolen parts in a customer's car or asking if it was ok to undercut his boss and steal clients?