Great Ideas for your Small Business: Work with People You Like
John chuang, founder of boston-based Acquent, matches candidates with Mac and Windows expertise with companies that need temporary support. He has some contrarian advice for entrepre- neurs growing their businesses.
“You’ve heard that two things you never want to do with friends is lend them money and go into business with them,” said Chuang. “But the reality is that people who go into ventures with people they know and trust are one step ahead of the game.”
Chuang attributes the success of his high-tech professional temporary agency to the fact that he went into business with friends from college and graduate school. They set out to serve a small base of computer-literate customers in Boston, but ended up creating a business that now has offices from Atlanta to Tokyo and places about 2,000 temps a week.
Chuang said working with people you know lets you work around their strengths and weaknesses. You also communicate better with people you like, and this can be a real advantage over working with strangers, he said. “Hiring trusted friends cuts down on the time spent interviewing and screening,” he said. “You know who you trust, and it takes some of the guesswork out of the process.”
Sharing the same sense of humor can also help you ride the entrepreneurial roller-coaster. “We used humor to weather the tough times,” said Chuang.
Best of all, “if you have to work late, you’d rather be with your friends than a room full of strangers.”