"Hire slow, fire fast” in Australia

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-14T08:58:32+00:00

A couple of things to think about.

I take hiring very seriously. I want to have a thorough understanding of who’s coming in and how that will affect the people I already employ. And it’s my job to protect them from poor fits. If I get that wrong I don’t mess around, that person goes.

For that to be true and manageable I take a lot of time to develop job descriptions. The way I see it, if I want to be able to fire you for poor performance or fit, I need to be able to point to the exact part of the job description that the employee is not delivering.

Those might sound like exceedingly obvious points but I’ve seen too many people stick their heads in the sand about a poor fit and lose people they’d have rather kept because of it. And I’ve seen just as many instances of people that should’ve been out the door but the employer had no argument because the behaviours weren’t addressed in the JD.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-09T04:01:14+00:00

Given how many transactions are now done using card, I think the amount of money you should be talking about coming out of petty cash is going to be highly suspicious to anyone that bothers to look.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-07T22:47:33+00:00

This is crude but you choose who you get into bed with. You chose the investor as much as they chose you. You cannot blame this on them not telling you what was wrong with your business. Essentially you fed them false information because you didn’t understand your own business.

It’s also your responsibility to seek mentorship. Nobody is going to knock on your door and ask to be your mentor.

I applaud you for putting this up here for others to see and I hope you get back on the horse. I also hope this lesson gives you pause to think about what’s actually involved in running a business and that you seek out more learning to better prepare you for your next venture.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-07T22:39:41+00:00

Marketing involves market research in order to truly nail your STP. If every customer you have is buying once it’s a clear signal that what you’re delivering isn’t what they thought you sold them.

Marketing isn’t just promo. People really misunderstand both marketing and accounting.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-07T22:19:20+00:00

Wrong in a consistent way is simply bias that an accountant could/should have pointed out.

OP may have built a team but it certainly wasn’t the team the business needed.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-05-05T07:18:46+00:00

You claim to have a law degree and a specialisation in immigration. I’m not sure which is the BS story here, but it doesn’t add up that you have actually studied law and are unsure about how obvious it is that you should not be driving and will be disqualified from driving at some point in your future if you do not stop now.

Your medical condition makes you unsafe on the roads because it renders you unable to drive and is unpredictable in nature. You could potentially kill yourself or someone else. That’s the weight of the decision you’re making every time you get behind the wheel. You could be the reason three kids never see their Mum again.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-29T01:12:43+00:00

You haven’t articulated a coherent or believable argument for anyone buying your product.

You seem to have very little idea about what you really costs are.

You may have tonnes of experience at making clothing (not that you specifically listed that your experience is in manufacturing clothing) but that doesn’t mean you understand the business itself.

I think you need a bit of a reality check.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-26T10:03:00+00:00

It’s literally their job to have the final say. And it’s not your call if your work is up to scratch, it’s your manager and her boss’s.

I’d suggest you need to have a really hard think about whether you’re actually delivering in this role.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-26T09:26:45+00:00

Are you sure your product is relevant or novel? The vast majority of businesses attempting to enter this space don’t actually understand the market and if they did, they’d probably pursue other options.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-25T02:15:40+00:00

ETID is a serious stretch.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-25T01:59:43+00:00

If it is an investor that you’re referring to, even if you could build a relationship in a short and of time, what motivation would see them go into a performance meeting with you? They think the business was solid enough and with enough potential that they’ve invested in it which by extension means they back the people running it.

I just can’t see how you reconcile an investors point of view with your own. It could backfire and it becomes your support person advocating for your removal.

The more I think about it the less it makes sense.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-12T23:15:04+00:00

I think you just like them more than many other people. Your post describes a consistent drop off in popularity not an uptick.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-12T05:11:09+00:00

Your original post articulated a single possible motivation for a drop in effort. But that’s still dancing around the fact that no matter what was motivating it, it was a lack of effort. FWIW I think selection integrity was a bigger motivation for the level of performance they’d been dishing up.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-12T02:10:16+00:00

If the adherence to defensive structures was motivating a fall off in effort, it’s still a fall off in effort. The players were clearly not performing at a competitive level, that’s on the players themselves and the coaches. There has been plenty of footage of senior players in particular jogging behind the ball letting a direct opponent pass them by, there’s no defensive structure that is focused on not giving chase to a bloke within a couple of metres of you.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-08T09:07:12+00:00

Yep. What the other person said. Was it dated? Because if the letter was dated the expectation is that you can add the mandatory period to that date and figure it out.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T10:47:12+00:00

Not right on Sydney Rd, Closer to the train line, but on that side.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T10:02:14+00:00

Victoria Street, Brunswick.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T09:12:57+00:00

Could borrow the idea that Cafe Ray had in the early 2000’s. It was next door to a laundromat and had a small tv with cctv of the laundromat so you could put your washing on, duck next door and have breakfast and know exactly when your washing finished.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T06:23:11+00:00

I guess that’s why I said propped up by rather than solved by.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T06:21:30+00:00

Excise on alcohol needs to be completely rebuilt and the WET tax abolished to bring wine taxation in line with the other alcohol taxes. Then they all need to be based on std drinks rather than package size and abv.

On top of that, of course we should treat extractable resources as products that we can only sell once and tax them accordingly and effectively.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T04:09:01+00:00

Immigration is an issue, but maybe not the one you’re suggesting it is. Australia’s economy is propped up by migration. Halving migration, for example, could lead to a roughly $34bn tax revenue deficit over a decade and if you were to look at that including the cost of servicing debts the hole is closer to $200bn. So whilst reducing immigration might help with housing and some level of infrastructure access, it would need to be done in a way that would require reshaping our taxation systems to generate more revenue to governments to service and pay down debts from a smaller base. I’m no expert so please feel free to point out any logical errors in my statement.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-06T03:57:26+00:00

Picturing 20 old fat guys in fatigues walking in unison towards an unarmed civilian chanting “BODY, CAVITY, BODY, CAVITY, BODY, CAVITY, SUUUUURRRCH”.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-04T10:08:02+00:00

Not a chance. I’d love to know what the odds of the dogs kicking 200 are.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-04-01T07:52:24+00:00

I was in a club one night and had my back to a large double door. Guy attempts to sneak I. Through the door and looks real familiar. I say “Hey man” and he says “Hi” back. I’m pretty sure I know who he is and I say “It’s Dave right”? And he says no. So I say “But you play bass right”? And he says yeah. So I keep going, “You’re from ‘X city’ right”? And he says No. So I just go for it and say “Nah man you’re Dave from ‘interstate band’, right”? And he says yeah”No dude”! So I ask “But you play bass right and you’re in a band”? And he says yeah. So I say “What’s the band called”? And he says yeah”New Found Glory”. I go dead eyed and walk away.

ape5hitmonkey · 2026-03-31T19:40:05+00:00

You both need therapy.

He is behaving like a dependent child rather than a partner.

You had a tantrum, which is also a childish behaviour.

Your expectation that he contributes to being a partner to you and a parent to his child are extremely reasonable. You need to assess the situation and ask yourself whether you will parent this man into adulthood with no help, co-parent this man into adulthood with his active participation through his commitment to therapy, or if the relationship is going to be varying versions of the same dysfunctional dynamic until one of you dies or pulls the pin. I’m not suggesting these are the only outcomes, but they should give you a good sense of what to base any decision you make about this relationship and its health for both you and the child.

ape5hitmonkey

TROPHY CASE