The Rupee Mentality

August 14, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: India | Tagged | Leave a comment

I used to watch every penny
When I was younger and poorer, I used to watch every penny. People would make condescending remarks about my frugality. But, what could I do? I had to conserve the little that I had. As I grew older, my appetite for spending grew. I realized that I would have to make more money — a lot more money. So, I worked and worked and worked. I kept finding better ways to get ahead and succeed. Success is a difficult path. It is like forging your way up a steep mountain with many snakes, mountain lions, enemies, disloyal friends, pitfalls, and no marked trail. In any case, I started doing a lot better financially about ten years ago. I am still struggling to get ahead though.

I started being a big spender
A few years after my income picked up, I started wanting to experience the joys of life that I could never dream of before. I sampled fine wines. I ate great steaks. I even engaged in rum tasting. My cholesterol went through the roof, and my liver started complaining tremendously. I had to cut back. But, I had become a big spender. At least I was no longer frugal.

My five trips to India
A strange phenomenon took over me whenever I went to India. I developed what I call, “the rupee mentality.” I watched every rupee, and was very conscious of who was trying to cheat me out of a rupee. I took the train instead of a plane to save one or two thousand rupees. Why did I care? In American money it was pennies that I was concerning myself over. On a brighter note, whenever I came back from India I had lots of savings because my business was making money, but my bills for lunch and dinner were only a few dollars going to the best restaurants in my part of town! I got my web programming done for pennies too.

Fighting over 35 cents
The worst part of my rupee mentality was dealing with rick shaw guys. They always try to cheat you at a train station by asking for triple or quadruple what a fair should cost. From the train station to Dekkan in Pune costs about 60 rupees, but they were asking for 200 or 300. I told one guy 100, so he could rip me off a bit, but he kept bargaining with me all the way to my hotel for 120. I told him 100 fixed. These guys are desperate for whiskey money, so they’ll do anything for a fix. I now see why one of my friends always takes cabs and won’t get in a rick shaw unless she has to. It is a hassle dealing with these crooked and rude characters, not to mention dangerous being in such an unstable tiny vehicle. If a truck hits you, you’re done! But, why did I care about 20 rupees extra. It was only about 35 cents in the USA. The minute I’m back on American soil, I never think about such small amounts of money.

What is it with me. Why do I think big in America, and small in India? Am I picking up on India’s national attitude about money which is watching each fraction of a rupee no matter how rich or poor you are? Wherever you go, you pick up on the consciousness. Maybe this is what happened!

Twitter Analytics; For every 1000 I follow, I get 3 clicks to my site

August 6, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Analytics, Social Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Ladies and Gentlemen — this might not sound like much, but if I follow 1000 relevant people on Twitter, I get 3 clicks to my site. Since I do a lot of following and do it very quickly, I get many clicks to my site every month from my addiction to following and unfollowing people. What you need to remember is that a click to your site from Twitter can become a regular follower. You might get a lot more blog visits, and you might get retweets on a regular basis. It is difficult to assess the value of a single click, but a click that turns into a repeat visitor is very valuable to me. I have noticed that clicks from Twitter tend to result in a lot of reading and thus could be deemed “quality clicks.” A blog click can be judged by how many minutes they stayed on your blog and how many pages they viewed. But, a click to your site from Twitter is a little different. Since I don’t know how to assess such a click, I often just meditate on it and the answer comes to me.

But, putting aside the value of these clicks, that is another side effect of following people on Twitter that adds value to the time you put into it. Not only do you get more followers and a base for retweets, but you also get visits to your site which will make you popular on Google!

Do you have: “Damn It, Damn It, Damn It” moments in business?

August 1, 2010 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , | Leave a comment

I think we have all had plenty of damn it moments in our businesses. The key is to understand how they happen, and how to prevent them. What is the root of a damn it moment?

When you are relying on someone and they quit, don’t follow instructions, or keep you waiting — then you have one of these unpleasant moments. The key here is to avoid giving large responsibilities to people you are not sure about in the first place.

Do you hire people who quit?
Do you see the warning signs? I do. They stop getting back to you. They stop being available to talk to you. They don’t do all of their work tasks anymore and only give you their 70%, or in one guys case 20%. People who start off being dedicated and disciplined slack off too in the several months before they quit. As an employer you need to be watching for this like a vulture. If you have a way for your employees to invest in their work and their performance rather than just getting a fixed wage, you might have less quitting going on. How do you get this investing to happen? You could offer a deferred bonus if your hiree doesn’t quit, and doesn’t slack off on their work. They get the bonus a year later (perhaps.) Or you can pay employees for achieving certain goals. If they fall short of the goal at the time they quit, they lose out on a huge bonus. If the contract with your client is reflected in the contract you have with your worker, they might be more helpful to you achieving your goals.

Do you not have proper backup?
People quit all the time, particularly young people. If you don’t have backup or good back up you are sure to have a head banging session after your star employee leaves. A backup is not a backup if they are not tried and tested. You need to really use lots of people to determine who is the best, who is the most yelpful, loyal, or easy to reach. If you are not sure about the reliability of someone in a particular task, it might be better to have three part time people rather than one full time person. You can fire them if they slack off, and if they quit, you already have redundant back up.

Not following instructions?
You really need to test people for following instructions before you hire them, and watch for this early in their employment. Many people just don’t follow instructions and you really cannot put such people on critical tasks unless you are watching them at every minute.

Ability to learn?
As an additional note — if your company needs people who are good at multitasking, their ability to learn is much more important than their current level of skill. If they stick with your company, the fast learners will be pros after a few months while the experienced people who are slow learners will continue being the way they were whe you hired them

Be a vulture
Keep your eye out as a manager. Become a specialist at seeing the signs and watching for them. If someone loses interest, stops communicating, it is time to get your backups reved up as you might need to fire someone fast. Timing is everything when you work with millenials because they lose interest so fast, their replacement needs to be ready for action at a moment’s notice!