Not Easy, Being the Boss

recruitment agencyI’ve been pretty fortunate when it comes to careers. Most people don’t have a business mentor from the age of fifteen, but my dad pulled some strings and I basically got a head start over the competition. Got my first proper job when I was eighteen, worked my way up and now at 22 I own my own company. It’s not a HUGE company, but…it’s mine. I enjoy what we do here. Got a small team, niche area of business and I can see a lot of potential for growth.

But then I’m still learning a lot about stuff as well, like how to properly host a meeting. My first one was awful, not going to lie. I offered the guy a lemonade, because he seemed like a lemonade kind of guy, and he looked at me weird. Okay, so…tea and coffee in future.

Dealing with recruitment agencies is interesting. I needed a marketing person and I didn’t just want to ask Dad or whatever, so I trawled for marketing recruitment agencies in Melbourne. Turns out it’s not QUITE as simple as just giving them a call, asking for someone good at marketing and having them shipped into the office the next day in a brown box. That’d be nice. But no, you have to prove your business credentials, commit to an interview process and then advertise fairly, which is a whole another thing that has nothing to do with the recruitment people. Nah, they’ve been great about the whole thing. It’s just that owning a business comes with a metric ton of paperwork, and I’m still working on getting it all together.

Man, being the boss is tough. Now I need to think about the digital marketing person I want on the team, whether they’re going to gel with everyone else, whether I need a brand manager down the line or whether I can double up on the job of the digital marketing person to save money, which is SUPPOSED to be a bad thing. At least I’m sort of familiar with the local Melbourne recruitment agency way of doing things.

I think I’m getting better at being the boss, but still…no amount of mentoring prepared me for all the paperwork. And now, the interviews.

-Peter

The Changing Apprentice Mindset

ute draw systemsApprentices just aren’t what they used to be. Time was that they were at least keen to learn. I’ve had this one for six weeks and he still doesn’t know one end of a monkey wrench from the other. I showed him the ute toolbox central locking and he looked at it like I was some kind of wizard. Just…come on. This is standard equipment in 2017. Show a bit of initiative and look it up yourself.

And it could be worse; my guy isn’t all that bright, but at least he’s decent. My mate Harry had a guy who showed up late every day and spent half the time trying to check his phone. But if it’s not one thing it’s the other. All these workplace laws we have nowadays just make things difficult, as well. I remember when I started, back when I was only fourteen. The only rule then was ‘you screw up, you’re gone’, and it worked like a charm. It was a plumbing job, and my very first job on my very first day had me crawling through a septic pipe to get rid of a blockage. They didn’t even wait until I was out before they turned on the jet cleaner. The boss said I probably needed a good hose down anyway, which was pretty much true. And then d’you know what happened? I didn’t go crying to the ombudsman; we went to the pub afterwards and had a good laugh about it.

Sure, we might not have had toolbox central locking, and actually ute toolboxes weren’t a thing either. We just carried toolboxes by the handles and dumped them in the back of the ute. But it was a lot simpler, I can tell you that. I learned quickly by getting stuck in and observing. I didn’t go home at the end of the day and have all that knowledge fall out in my sleep.

Ahh, maybe I’m being too harsh. Everyone learns differently, and at least I got a nice guy working under me. Still, a week in and he still doesn’t get custom draw systems? Now THAT isn’t rocket science.

-Geoff

Attack of the Frizz Beast

Melbourne hairdresserFoggy today, isn’t it? I was on the train up at the very front, and it was like we were heading into some kind of otherworldly unknown realm. Good thing I wasn’t driving; I’m a bad driver even without the thick fog obscuring the road! At least trains are on tracks. Though I have to say, has anyone noticed that a cold morning always means a hotter day? It seems to be some kind of rule that the temperature in the morning is totally different to the afternoon.

How am I supposed to keep a coherent hairstyle when the conditions are like this?? My hair is a dream to style on those cold winter mornings- no humidity, you see- and then it collapses into a floofy mess come the noon. Makes me wish I had my own private hairdresser who could be summoned with a click of my fingers. Or maybe a phone call. That’d be nicer. I mean, I work right next to the Melbourne CBD, top hairdressers and salons are on every corner and I couldn’t be more happy! I’d imagine so, anyway. They’re always a bit more expensive, which means they can hire better people and use better products. In fact, maybe I should find one around where I work and just go there on the DL during my lunch break if things get too humid. They can fix me up and send me back to work looking fab for the rest of the day, at least. Oh, you think that’d be a cost?

Well, maybe. On days when I’m trying to save money I could always just go for the boring, practical ponytail, but there are only so many days you can get away with that before people start to get suspicious that you’re a lazy bum who can’t even make a simple hairstyle. So maybe that’ll be my get-out-of-jail free card, once a week. For the rest of the time, I’m finding a hair studio in the Melbourne CBD that’ll make me glam in half an hour. Should stave off the frizz beast for the time being.

-Sandra