Feb 26, 2009
The Business World
I regularly read Penelope Trunk’s blog — probably more for the entertainment and stream-of-consciousness writing than for actual business advice.
The article she posted today, though, motivated me to comment, which I normally don’t do. Unfortunately my comment is being held in a SPAM or profanity filter (sorry mom), not because I cursed out Penelope, but because I used my usual salty language to describe what the business community is doing to itself.
Essentially my thought is this:
How can any rational person look at our economy/business climate — where it’s not only okay, but widely expected and encouraged, for companies to not pay for services they’ve received — and think that this is healthy or good?
I don’t blame Penelope for doing what she had to do to keep her company and family solvent. I can’t say that I exactly blame the investor who gave her the money with the requirement that it not be used to pay back debt.
I DO blame the business community in general for their complete and utter disregard for honesty and fair dealing with other people. The (real or imagined) expectation of double-digit growth every quarter is causing people to completely lose their minds. Companies cut corners and build unsafe (or minimally functional) products, they cut support staff for those products, pissing off their customers, they cut pay and benefits for their employees, all so they can report that they’ve beat their estimate for the quarter to please some institutional investor to whom the company is just a 3-letter abbreviation and a share price. It’s bullshit, it’s wrong, and until that behavior stops, we’re going to continue the death spiral our economy and country is in.
The not only knowledge, but EXPECTATION, that startups screw vendors over all the time is infuriating to me. I thought the gold-rush, grow exponentially, expand-expand-expand days were over? What happened to slow, responsible, sustainable growth?
The knowledge that I can expect to be treated this way is one of the main reasons I’m so fearful of becoming a freelance anything. How can I willingly risk everything I have creating a new business if I can’t count on the people who contract for my services to pay me? They expect to be paid for the services or products that they provide, right?
I have to say, the ad that Google decided to slip into your feed as it came up on my reader actually drove home the madness that this country is in:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3441/3311084165_408107cb7b_o.jpg
[...] Atomic Wouldn’t have been my first choice for an ad to place on my friend Pete’s blog post about economic troubles, [...]
Here’s what the investors told me when I brought up the argument you make: Startups are very risky. Freelancers who work with very early startups generally do it because they need the work — they don’t have a big contract with a Fortune 500 company, for example. So freelancers understand going into it that they are working with a risky company.
I was a freelancer for five years. And I have to say that I approached startups exactly this way.
Penelope
I have to say as a former freelancer who decided to teach school instead of keep waiting to get paid that I *used* to always be paid. Yes, that’s right, before 2008 no one ever welshed on me. Then I had three magazines go back on promises to pay in 2008.
My husband, who teaches at UNT, says the ethics of the students have changed over the years he’s been teaching, so maybe our corportate “values” are changing too. I don’t know. I think businesses having access to freelancers is based on the expectation that you will pay them. And if businesses stop paying freelancers, freelancing is going to stop seeming attractive.
Thanks for the comment, Penelope. I do love your blog, and I appreciate that you’re sharing the joys and heartaches of starting a business with the whole world.
I’ve been in a weird place lately, what with all the partisan political bickering (which is double-triple multiplied since neo-cons are such sore losers), the economy, and a whole bunch of personal stuff. Thus my visceral reaction to the inherent unjust-ness of the whole situation.
I guess I’m going through a life growth spurt, and it’s been a little painful.
No no stick to your guns Pete. You’re right on the money.
[...] Wann of Cowtown Chronicles writes that it’s important for a business to pay it’s subcontractors,…replying to a post from Penelope Trunk telling how she paid a bunch of freelancers in stock because [...]