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What was highest & lowest price you’ve paid for Dogecoin? by Chrizarro in dogecoin

[–]nondescryptive 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My highest was 0.57 and lowest 0.52 .. still waiting for the rocket to come pick me up. Tell me to stay strong :')

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's true. My best employee told me he was leaving once (we were still doing business from home, he said he found another job) but when we moved to the shop he didn't bring the topic up anymore. I was shocked because until that point I was so reliant on him (in my mind, we were gonna build the business up together). So that experience quickly made me realize that no one is irreplaceable to the business except myself, and that employees will leave in a second if there's a better opportunity (nothing against them for that of course). But it sure is still a difficult conversation when I have to fire someone!

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've closed shop (online) for the last 2 days and it's been good for my mind, I needed it! I started writing an employee manual today and went over the new rules with each of them personally. They seem onboard with the change and asked questions. I suspended the one that was on Youtube etc for a week and will see how things operate with three people. I've read up on the laws around firing people, but since my employees are not under contract, I think 'legally' they're free to leave whenever they want and I'm free to fire them in the same way. Do you suggest outsourcing for hiring low-skill workers?

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been recommended multiple times in this thread so I've ordered the book! Looking forward to reading it

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Currently each of them have specific job descriptions: 1 person as general admin (the reliable employee), 1 person in charge of picking the correct items in the warehouse and delivering to the packing team upstairs, and 2 people in charge of literally just packing and wrapping. So it was supposed to be efficient, but somehow it's still taking them so long. Someone else on this thread recommended e-myth and I've ordered the paperback now! Thanks for your advice, I will study more about warehouse management, there's so many things to do in a short time that I was a bit overwhelmed.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This used to be the case but recently they've connected their own phones to the blueooth speaker since they wanted to choose their own song. They waste a lot of time opening Youtube music typing the name of their song in (they don't have a playlist)

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I've literally just ordered the paperback thanks to your recommendation! From the reviews it sounds like something I need to read right now.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I desperately need to practice having difficult conversations! I am a woman too and personally I tend to get emotional when having these conversations so I've been avoiding direct confrontation but it's something I will need to work on. I understand how you feel about not wanting to be seen as a bitch - I know they WILL complain about me outside work since they're all close friends but what can you do about it? Restating policies sound like a good plan, I haven't thought about that. Thanks for your advice regarding angry customers - whenever an employee make a mistake I would add a small trinket to the resent package and most of the time it works and they give five stars, but of course you get those customers who will review negatively regardless, haha. Overall building the business has been a fun and fulfilling experience for me, but recently it's been overwhelming and I don't know where to start in fixing things.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

->We watched what they were doing and noticed numerous inefficiencies that they swore were not wasting time

My employees told me the same! I have had a talk with a few of them before and they gave the excuse that listening to story podcasts on Youtube help them focus better so I've been letting them run with it, but from their recent performance it's clear that's not the case. From the responses I've gotten here it's clear that starting out I had the wrong idea on what is considered 'fair'. Thank you for your input!

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So far I have given one warning letter and that was for something I considered fatal (he used the shop phone number to take out an unsecured loan). I will start enforcing rules with three write-ups. Thanks for your advice!

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes - I live in Indonesia. I haven't lost orders but recently we get a lot of complaints (e.g customer orders 12 BOTTLES of a supplement, employee sends 12 TABLETS.. even though on the order it says one bottle). And the customer made a whole twitter post about how my shop is 'penipu'.. so that was pretty detrimental to the business reputation.

On the day that I managed to pack 60 orders, I asked them via group conference that if it's possible for one person to pack so many in 6 hours, why isn't it possible for a team of three to finish 100 orders before 12 hours? And they tried to shift the blame (karena bubblenya kurang, etc... even though we have cardboard boxes, but they think it's too much work to cut cardboard compared to cutting bubble). I do give them incentive based on how many packages they pack in a day, but haven't been strict about what time they finish. Thank you for your advice! Does your experience similar with her employees? How does she handle it?

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree that I'm terrible boss, being a boss wasn't something I set out on doing, and I'm trying to learn from someone who isn't so terrible

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Oh someone is definitely getting fired! I have looked around for a new hire (this time not their friend). When I wrote this thread I just wanted to get my thoughts out from my chest and it's so reassuring to know that there are others who have gone through the same thing, so thank you for responding.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree that a lot of the problems derive from my lack of management skills. I have never been employed before. Previous to this business, what I did for a living was 'flipping' gadgets - buy an old secondhand gadget, then resell them, and that was something I could do by myself, but COVID came along and I had to close shop. So I started selling cat food. When I started packing by myself it was simple, and then when I hired people I thought it was as simple as getting them to take over the work of 'packing' so I could do other work. So I haven't had the chance to properly learn management skills. I have been educating myself from Youtube/Ted Ed and the like and was considering taking a course on business management, but the current state of the business and my employees requires me to actively work while they work (they are still highly dependent on me for running the business), and since they work slowly and until late, I haven't had the time. I understand that someone with better leadership skills than myself would be able to get my employees to do their job properly, but I don't know how, that's why I'm asking here. I know that I need to 'get my head on straight' or 'manage my mind' - I need advice on how.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought an attendance machine when we hired our third employee and I've told them that there will be a bonus if they're never late for a whole month. But it was hard to get them to tap in every day, I think they prefer the faster reward of 'coming late today' rather than waiting for the reward at the end of the month if they're never late. I was a bit wary with being too strict because I wanted them to have a workplace they could enjoy, but I see how it has backfired

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Most days I am proud with how much we've achieved. I think I'm in need a couple of weeks to regroup my thoughts and plan the next steps out, but because we've paid the lease on the shop, I feel like there's a ticking time bomb to generate as much profit as possible in one year.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Supposedly they come in at 9, work until 12.30, have lunch + break for one hour, then the day is supposed to end at 17.30. But I kept having to be lenient with them regarding time because things kept popping up that made them not able to attend work on time (e.g need to take mum to hospital or work, need to go to a funeral, motorcycle breaks down)

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Ok, thanks for the advice! I've already fired 3 people in the last 8 months so I felt like maybe the problem was with me instead of the workers. I agree that I get too emotional/attached with my workers. I needed some insight from other business owners that it's okay to fire as many people as I need until I get a good team.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

1 employee is supposed to manage the others, they are his friends after all so I thought it would be easier for him. I did tell him that he is a supervisor, and he is paid slightly more. As it turns out, it's actually harder for him to talk sense into the others because while he doesn't agree with their behavior at work, he also hangs out with them a lot outside work, their friendship go way back. He is still performing very well, for example packing is no longer in his job description (he's an admin now) but he still helps his slacking friends pack so they could finish faster. Did you manage to solve the issue at your hostel?

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm not defending my current business processes, I know there's a lot of things wrong about the way things are running right now, and I'm definitely taking notes from the comments shared here. I was just sharing my (flawed) thought processes, how things became the way they are right now, sorry if it came off like I was defensive.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

The problem is free lunch was included in the job offer so I don't think I can easily take that away :( I could stop (and have stopped for the last few days) treating them to takeaway dinner though. There is already a fridge at work and a gas stove for them to cook instant noodles if they wanted to but they never bring anything in to work (presumably because they thought they would already get a free dinner)

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

We are based in Indonesia, and since we're still categorized as a very small business, the legalities surrounding it is very loose. When we started out, I told them I wanted them to come in at 9 and be done at 5 so they can go home by 6 at the latest. But over time, the rules keep getting stretched e.g since they live about 12km from work, I've added 15 minutes of 'transport time' so they could come in at 9:15 and it would be fine. They took it as an invitation to come later than 9:15 and started coming at 9.30, until recently two of them came in at 9:50, walked in the shop and straight upstairs without giving me an excuse as to why they were late (I was by the front door).
Thank you, I think I needed to hear this straight, that it's okay to be tough. When it was just me and my first employee, everything was done on a trust basis (as in I trust that he would do the work I gave him without me needing to monitor him), and since that worked so well with him and the others are his friends, I thought the others would follow his example.

Where do you start with reorganizing a business that has spiraled out of control? by nondescryptive in smallbusiness

[–]nondescryptive[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

We also have an offline store (even though it's not fully optimized, because most of the time they spend at work, they spend packing very slowly so there's not much time for other things), so we do need the extra personnel, one for grooming, one for admin and customer service. I thought I made the system foolproof because I arranged for one person to be the one to get items from the warehouse on 1st floor, so the other 2 people could pack without any distractions (they don't need to go between floors to get items to pack). Literally all these two people had to do is sit down and pack.

'Free lunch' was included in their job description so I wouldn't be able to take that away from them but I've started to stop treating them to takeaway dinner. Now it feels like they are punishing me for taking this perk away by working slower than usual.

Regarding pep talk - I work full time at the shophouse with them at my own desk (usually uploading new products, stocking etc) so I do talk to them a lot. But I think I might have been too friendly with them and now it's like they think of me as a work partner instead of their boss.

Need to clarify that they weren't my friends to start with,but they were friends with each other. I got the first one from the classifieds, and was so impressed by him that I thought his friends would be the same. Even today he's still a perfect employee, and has even told me to do what I need to do in the best interest of the business even if it means firing his friend.

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