Archive | Business Frustrations

Life, and work, go on after hurricanes, personal tragedies, etc.

The idea that life goes on regardless of circumstances is an old one, and one covered in the world of entertainment – in music, on television. Sometimes it is stated as “the show must go on.” Working as a trial consultant, not entertainment, is the context of this post. Perhaps it is apropos that I’m […]

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Ironically, I am writing my part of this post on a day when south Florida is anxiously awaiting Hurricane Irma. At the time of this writing, we do not know where it will make landfall, however, we are going to prepare regardless of its exact location. Equally ironic is the fact that we have a […]

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It’s Okay to be Different

My dearly departed Mother would be happy to know all of the things she taught me have been put into practice.  I was listening to what she said, often, over and over and over, and now I find myself saying, “Mom was right!” many times.  On numerous occasions, when I would petulantly state to Mom, […]

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Most entrepreneurs have an “it’s okay to be different” mindset.  As entrepreneurs, doing business our own, different way is usually a part of filling a niche` or providing customized services.  So, the lesson Melissa took from her mother works to the benefit of our clients in our focus on each case as different, unique, and […]

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Passing the Baton

A mental concept that I utilize in our trial consulting work is one of that of passing a baton, as in a relay race. The flow of our engagements is such that we function as a team, with much of the work being done by one person at a time. Engagements usually begin with me […]

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I like David’s analogy of passing the baton as it relates to the work flow in our office.  David gets involved with 100% of the potential clients and 100% of these clients who become paying clients of our business.  I rarely become involved with any of our clients until we have been retained for our […]

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Blaming Me for Others’ Mistakes

I make mistakes. Everyone does! But, while everyone makes mistakes, not everyone admits having done so. In fact, some people excel in blaming other people for their mistakes, in an attempt to avoid accepting responsibility for the negative consequences of their actions. Recent events in my office prompted this post. As almost everyone who works […]

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In my opinion, in the scenario which Melissa describes, the situation was not so much blaming her specifically, but her/us as a company, for having a tangled, cobbled together computer system that evolved over the past 25 years of so we’ve been in business.  We/she had, and have, some specific ways we want things to […]

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Do what you say you are going to do!

I have recently been reminded of how one simple courtesy makes a big difference. That courtesy is doing what you say. If you say you will do it, do it. If you have no intention of doing it, don’t promise. Two contrasting illustrations will make my point. First, to the positive, I was recently been […]

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People who make promises they fail to keep cause many problems for those who are relying on them. One of the worst things that happens in my many years of working as a trial consultant relates to recruiting research participants. The company Magnus hires to call potential research participants for our mock juries and focus […]

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Off the Grid

At the time of this writing, my office recently underwent (or, more accurately, suffered through) an email conversion. There was nothing wrong with the old email system, at least as far as I was concerned. My email was working just fine and, being the type of person who prefers to leave things alone, I agreed […]

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For the record, there were a number of reasons that the email system needed to be updated.  But, in general, as “rigged” as our old system had become, it was working and, like Melissa, I am always apprehensive about making changes.  I am not “afraid of change,” but will admit to being “afraid of chaos” […]

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Not all weekends = fun

Weekends can occur on any day of the week. Depending on one’s work schedule, a weekend can be on Monday and Tuesday instead of Saturday and Sunday. Although I have had varying days off in my work life, since my time in academia, my weekends have been Saturdays and Sundays. Like most people who work, […]

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When Melissa and I first met, I worked as a freelance photographer.  Then, as today, I worked when there was work to be done.  I kept regular office hours Monday to Friday, unless on an assignment, but many of these assignments turned out to be on weekends.  Saturdays were often work days – family portraits, […]

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It doesn’t cost, it pays.

I was speaking with someone recently who was lamenting about how cost is a factor in decisions, sometimes, with a penny wise and dollar (pound) foolish approach. This person quickly related a story about when he was buying a piece of equipment for his office and asked what it cost. The astute salesperson said, “it […]

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There is a common maxim, “If you have to ask the cost, then you probably can’t afford it.” Some of Magnus’ clients are more cost conscious than others and, in fact, some of them are more concerned about cost than quality. When I am asked, usually by someone in the audience at one of my […]

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Get it right the 1st time

I am careful, meticulous, and detail oriented.  I like to consider all of the options before taking a particular course of action.  I dislike making mistakes, especially when there is a monetary cost involved in a mistake.  In effect, I like to “get it right the first time” instead of going full speed ahead, doing […]

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I have a memory from decades ago when I attending an open house at a trucking company with my father and seeing a sign that said “If you don’t have time to get it right the first time, when will you have time to get it right?”.  That stuck with me and, like Melissa, doing […]

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When there are no rules – for entrepreneurs

Continuing my series on entrepreneurship, I wanted address a strange issue that we face as entrepreneurs.  That is, sometimes, there are no rules.  I don’t mean rules meant to keep us out of trouble, I mean the rules we need to follow to succeed, to get the job done, to meet the clients’ demands and […]

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David is right about entrepreneurs having to write the rule book as we go about our business. When we founded our company, Magnus, for example, we had no policies and procedures manual. We had no employees at the time, but knowing that, one day in the not so distant future, we would hire people to […]

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