I had a little scare the other day. An old client called to say that a newsletter my company designed for him five years ago may have included images that were not licensed. Stolen, in other words. The owner of the images was now demanding payment from my client.
Uh oh. I outsource design and had no idea if the images were licensed.
So I called my designer. And I called my attorney.
The good news is that the images were in fact licensed and we were fine. But it got me thinking… thinking about the importance of having a great team behind me.
I like to say that “I work alone.” But it’s not quite true. Yes, I’m the only employee of my company, but when I took score the other day I realized that I work with a designer, attorney, accountant, financial planer, business coach, web technician, IT support, and several copywriters.
I also realized the other day how important it is to have an “all-star” team of players. My designer had an immediate answer; my attorney told me just what to do. Specialists who know their stuff and who are available and can be counted on when I need them.
So I guess the lesson is this: Don’t skimp on these people. I don’t like spending money on “overhead” and my team isn’t the cheapest (by a long shot). But they sure are good.
When the phone rings with a problem — at 3 a.m. or otherwise — make sure you’ve already put your team in place.
You can say that again!
The urge to skimp or cut corners where it really counts, in business or in life, just tends to have a far bigger cost attached to it that we might think.
Its just that the longer the consequence loop the less apparent it seems to be (and the easier to ‘fudge’ ourselves into thinking all’s right n well when it really isn’t).
Thanks again for talking ’bout the stuff that matters!