This week I received an email from someone looking for marketing help. First she texted, asked if I was interested to learn more, I said absolutely, and so she sent an email detailing her current business and goals moving forward.
What she also included in the email was a detailed rundown of her business model, including her fixed costs, variable costs, revenue and where she wants to be doing better.
Let me repeat that. Someone asking for my help, asking me to put together a consulting proposal and pricing for helping, laid out all her financials for me.
There wasn’t any cryptic messaging about “tight budget” or “not sure what you charge friends.” Just numbers and honesty.
And my first thought was, This. This is how it should work.
We shouldn’t need hours of TED talks on how to negotiate our worth. Or articles on how to valuate a potential employer’s company when they won’t tell you what they spend money on. If we want to work together - we should trust each other with the critical information necessary to make the best decision on working together. We should be transparent.
Public companies publish their financials frequently. Funded companies have to discuss theirs with investors often and openly. But there are so many small and medium businesses living in the gray area - convincing employees and consultants to work for them for less than they’re worth, without helping them understand why.
If you’re an employer, and you’re having to furlough employees or hire employees during or after this COVID madness, tell them why. And how you’re going to change how you do things moving forward. Even if that means admitting your mistakes. Remember employees are humans too, and they understand mistakes, and pandemics. They understand that not every CEO (okay, many) are not financial wizards - and instead are really brilliant visionaries who may not have prepared financially for this mess. Did any of us, really?
If you’re an employee, quit accepting “because you’ll learn so much here” as a reason to accept half of what you’re worth. (And for God’s sake quit working for free. An “intern” title is no excuse.) Make the employer sell it to you, ask for their budget and revenue numbers. Ask where they’re struggling and how your position is funded. Whether they give you numbers or not, the way they respond will be telling.
Imagine how much more loyal employees would be if they went into a tough situation with open eyes. Imagine if employees were empowered to help you through financial situations instead of being victims to it. Imagine if prospective employees demanded either transparency or more pay, that might accelerate the honesty. I believe if you lay it all out there, the right people will work for you anyways.