How To Work With People and Companies

Over the years I’ve used Vladville to put up as big of an a@#hole act as possible because nothing turns away abusive and rude people away quite like another one of their kind. In reality, I’m actually very nice and considerate especially to the people that treat me right but every time I encounter one of the folks above I go the other way. Life is too short and money is not so critical to turn your business into a punching bag for frustrated IT people. There is a way to treat companies and then there is a way to treat people.

Companies

Pretty much anything goes, especially when it comes to being critical of the process, implementations, business models, pricing, support and so on and so forth. Companies are made of many imperfect people who even with the best of intentions tend to do imperfect things from time to time.

Negative and critical things written about companies will actually get you somewhere because people that work at these companies tend to be proud of their work and they appreciate external observations even when they disagree with them.

Sometimes even bashing a company can be the only way to get attention.

People

Take the section above and reverse it. Why? Because corporations don’t throw chairs. People do.

You can talk all the trash you want about the company but once you go after it’s people don’t be surprised if those people don’t want to help you.

As a field exercise, the next time you see Arnie Bellini or Steve Ballmer, tell them their companies and products suck. They might ask what specifically you had a problem with and offer to help or hook you up with someone that can.

Then pick your favorite expletives and string them together about them personally. Note the difference.

Being abusive in general won’t get you far. If you’re in the IT businesses you’re dealing with professional companies, not Subway. You don’t get to yell and holler out loud until someone asks you to come to the counter and remove pickles from your sandwich.

Being abusive and personal, in public, will get you punched.

Frustration

I understand and appreciate the frustration. I really do. It’s normal and it happens.

Business disagreements happen. Business models conflict. S@#% breaks all the time.

You have the right to be frustrated and to be angry.

You pay for the service.

You don’t pay for the right to be abusive when the service doesn’t meet your expectations.

So if you’re pissed off about the server being down or something not working right or not making enough money or not getting the vacation you wanted or not winning the lottery – that’s your personal problem – you still have to work.

And when you’re working with people, keep in mind that you’re not the only one out there they are trying to help and do business with. They are dealing with the crap too. So if you’re nice to them, they will try to help you.

Personally

Ever worked in a company where you’re always being lied to? Under constant fear that your job, department or entire company will disappear if the next round of funding, sales, product release or government grants doesn’t come through? I have, it’s not fun.

When I decided to make OWN a serious business, I promised that we will never be that company. That’s why I answer the phone, give away my cell phone, help my partners when they need help – be it advice, be it financial, be it technical even if I don’t stand to gain anything.

It’s gotten me thousands of great partners that I love to work with and that’s something that doesn’t make us the most profitable company in the world or the most aggressive one. But it’s fun and it’s the best place to work. I can actually go out with my employees every Friday and take them out to dinner and drinks because I genuinely don’t want to kill them. I can also take my partners to dinners and party with them because I really enjoy their company.

There are perfect relationships out there. I married mine. For everyone else, just be nice. If you’ve got to find an outlet for your misdirected rage, go to wordpress.com or better yet – join a gym. At least that way you’ll be better prepared when you say the wrong thing and someone throws a chair at you.

P.S. I credit Karl Palachuk and Andy Goodman for enlightening me on most of this. Back before we were a real company, we took money and abuse from everyone. At the time, that was just business and there were difficult people out there and you don’t want to piss off your clients because they might tell others about it and it will cost you money. Andy and Karl reminded me that I make more money than a McDonalds employee and that all the chairs at McDonalds are bolted to the floor for a reason. As Karl puts it: “We only work with nice people.”