How Is Adam Savage as a Boss?
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- čas přidán 28. 10. 2023
- Is Adam the kind of supervisor that shows you how to do something, or lets you learn from your mistakes? How should a freelancer calculate rates for friends? Any strategies for self-employed makers who are ADHD? In this live stream excerpt Adam answers these questions from Tested members Samples & Tests, Shane Shellenbarger and Christian Karling, whom we thank for their support! Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam questions during live streams: / @tested
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Based on the thumbnail I thought we were going to get Jen Schachter's point of view on working for Adam, but still great answers to the questions.
Here is one way to build something for a friend: charge only for parts & materials and not a penny for labor. Instead, have him come over and help with the build. Do it together. Then have a good time with a barbecue, or beer, or whatever.
Best way to do it definitely! My master mechanic worker buddy definitely wants to help me but also make me learn, as long as I got the parts he would just watch and help out when needed
That works well if it’s a hobby project. If it’s something to help with client work you labor needs to be fair as it will be passed onto the client and your deserve compensation.
Yup. Whenever i do something with acquaintances, they bring the food and an arm to wrench. Fixing cars is my hobby, it's not a job, and i do all the maintenance for family cars and a select number of friends, they're always politely invited to work with me. A couple have learnt enough to do their own work, but for the rest, they show up with good food and the "patient" and we span some spanners and wrench some wrenches after which we eat. Don't involve money between family and friends. A sureway recipe for disaster.
@@mwwhitedI’ve reached point I charge just like I would any other customer, may be some discount but it is what it is. I’ve basically been like if your boss asked you to work for free or discount would you?
I never charge friends, nor do i reject a payment. Took me a while to understand that rejecting the payment is about me, not them, and taking it makes them feel good. So, i swallow my pride. I don't expect payment, that is made clear. I charge for the materials, unless i happen to have some on the shelf that is there to be wasted.
My friend owns a machine shop and is a very skilled fabricator. He would gladly make things for free for me, but I respect his time and effort and want to reciprocate. I’ve paid cash in the past, but the best dynamic we’ve landed on is since I’m more experienced with electronics and wiring than he is, anytime he needs some kind of electronic project built I do that for him, and he does any kind of machining for me.
It’s also a bit different when he’s made parts for me to sell. In that case, I’m clear that he’s not really making parts for me, but my own clients, and I pay him a stated rate for that work. Any personal work is just reciprocated in kind like Adam described.
I'm a retired maintenance worker with HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc, skills. My neighbor friend owns several rental properties. I help fix things at his house for free, he helps me at my place also. I charge him for work on his properties, he makes money on them, so I should too.
The piece about letting workers ask questions about a project is good advice, just make sure to listen. I was on a new job where I had to jackhammer some concrete. I had never used a jackhammer before and asked my supervisor if there were any tricks I should know about that would make the job easier and quicker because of that and he said no, it's pretty straight forward. I went to work and about an hour later he came to check on me and asked why it was taking so long and why was I doing it the way I was then said I should be doing it this certain way that would make it easier and quicker. When I asked him why he didn't explain that to me at first when I asked how I should do it his response was he wants to see if his workers are smart or not. I told him then he should have realized from the get go that I was smart because a dumb person wouldn't have asked beforehand how to best use a tool or do a task that he had never done before. I decided right then that he wasn't a very good supervisor and after working for him for a little while longer found out that I was right.
Second this. I prefer the guy that asks questions over the guy that assumes everything is easy and jumps in without any knowledge. Knowing when and how to ask questions is a skill all by itself.
"Look at that bird. PUPPIES! It's July." Adam, that has been my life for almost the entirety of my sixty-two years with ADHD.
I've mentored many young developers over the years. When I started 20 years back I would give them a detailed lesson with step-by-step. Sadly that doesn't work and most people don't learn it. Over the years I've learned to ask the person "how would you like me to help you?"
Some people need more, some need less and some need none. The key for me is to treat it as a learning experience. Even if I've mentored 30 people, the next person could be completely different.
I wish my bosses would have told me when jobs are hard. It would have made a huge difference because the feeling of not understanding why you’re not “getting” something quickly is very very discouraging and makes me want to give up.
Same! I understand something being "hard" can be relative, but a "good" boss should have an understanding of what level you (or whoever) are at and be able to make a related judgement..
Also, thanks for confirming that I'm not the only person who feels like this!
I teach High School math, and I tell my students regularly when things are hard. Like, no one needs to get solving for x the first time through. But you gotta keep trying, so you can get it eventually. ❤
You must be aware that your boss has less experience than your peers, their job is to lead and have the workload even between the persons in the team. Ask your peer instead. The boss may be the person who says who you should/could ask and the boss must set aside this resources for you. A boss that "knows all" is to nitty picky and loses the oversight of the teams workload and development.
As a on the floor trainer and industry vet in my field but not a true manager because I didn't deal with th HR stuff I got asked a lot of questions from our team during a day. Because I wasn't true management I wasn't sitting in all the meetings but my friend would fill me in later. Any time there was a policy change I made sure to ask the management team at our stand up meeting to clarify the changes even though I was already privy to them. This seemed to baffle my friend/manager because he knew I knew the answers but I forced them to explain to our team partly to save my time.
I'm probably in the minority, but if you have a boss who you admire and whose work you admire, I love it when they give you an impossible task that they don't know how to solve but they just casually give it to you without mentioning how hard it is, and then week by week you hack away at it at and you eventually solve it and by the end of it they're like 'how on earth did you think of that solution'.
Sometimes knowing a problem can be solved, gives you enough motivation to solve it (which you wouldn't have if they told you how hard it actually is). And then you have the feeling of realizing you solved it which can last a lifetime which IMHO is worth it for a couple of weeks of stress.
Adam just described why I dont work for friends and family and will usually pass them along to people I trust to do whatever it is they’re asking. Also why when I lend money to friends I just go in expecting to never get it back so I dont go in with any drama - all my friends I have ever lent to have always given it back as planned but that’s always something that just makes it easier on me
my trick is just always say "this is what I would charge normal people but I don't want you to pay that so just pay me what you think is fair"
Usually they pay reasonably close and it also lets them know what the value of the work is.
I just had a brainwave after listening. A lot of stuff others do that they seem to be good at is not necessarily easy for them, so when I do something and suck at it and think something's wrong with me, I fail to consider this. This might be the most selfish use of genuine empathy I can think of and I absolutely love it!
The worst thing is when your client clearly doesn't know how hard his project is but acts like it's super easy and demands quick turnaround. On my last project I had that experience and he even decided to cut half of my agreed payment just because I did more iterations for him and in shorter time than he expected. I had to stop my work mid project because I saw he was pushing for more changes without paying more for them. This is the lesson a lot of people have to learn. Some people just want to squeeze you to the last bit. You need to learn how to protect yourself and know when to stop working if normal negotiations are going nowhere. You either tell them to pay upfront for your work aside from the initial agreed terms or just stop the whole process and cut your loses. Remember to be fair and always try to find a solution for clients requests but also take care of your business because no one ever will. Be assertive.
Did I miss something? Where's the question about Adam as a boss? I was hoping to hear from Mel and the others as she was in the thumb.
Adam investigated his supervision practices and found no wrong doing ;). J/k. Too many LEO vids today
@@thejoker-pd9df 😁
As an engineer who has worked with thermoplastics and transparencies (F16/EA-6B canopies and various other smaller windows for military aircraft), making two oval bubbles, that deep, with decent clarity and lack of flaws, that are close enough to mate AND only do it with 6 pulls, is quite the feat. The process for the canopies took a ton of time to develop. The time, temp and pressure used are all finely tuned, but they still use touch feelers to ensure they get it just right.
Doing the rim would also be quite a pain, even if the transparencies are flexible.
I swear, you are always answering the questions I have each week. Also, I feel like i resonate with you as a maker a lot. It's encouraging to see work on projects. I'm... not sure if that makes any sense, but thank you.
It’s wild how every time I’m struggling he has great advice
As a general rule I have them pay for parts and materials, maybe buy lunch if it takes some time.
I ask for the same terms.
I find that money between friends and family can be a very thin line to walk.
I really appreciate Adam's life advice as much as his technical advice. Thanks for the perspective.
"Adam demands us to build one lightsaber a week for his collection. If we miss this quota, he will test the late product on one of us. We thought he was joking until Todd from Accounting went too far with one of his jokes and...well, we don't talk about Todd from Accounting anymore."
Poor Todd. 😂😂😂😂😂
Was that Todd the Wraith? If so, the lightsaber test might have gone sideways, real quick.
Adam, I love the person you are, it makes learning from you that much more enjoyable. Love the way you think sir :-)
“Kicking/paying it forward” is the best way, so long as the work for a friend is both mutually understood AND reciprocated a/k/a “fool me once/fool me twice…”
Thank you for the advice Adam!
Trying to get my business off the ground has been an adventure. This can get my priorities straight.
Have usually been diffident with taking time to watch these Q&A.
But this, this is an order of magnitude best I've seen. A lot of good thoughts here, plain humanity alongside the wisdom of experience. All well said and a good selection of questions. thumbs up emoji.
Thank you for this video.
I manage a little over hundred people and everyone is different. Not everyone responds to the same kind of management. It's funny, but obviously we are all made different but there is only so many different personalities. As you gain experience in managing people you start classify them in whatever group and you begin to understand how they will respond. As I train them and take them through my 5 day class to get them ready, I like to write a dossier of sorts on each person. It helps me begin to find the right way to manage that person and after awhile I no longer need that information as I have become intimate with that individuals needs and personality. It's really a neat thing...we humans are crazy and wonderful
Adam never ceases to be a prime example of how we, as people, should be! When you have knowledge, don't hoard it just because it'll give you a leg up... _Share it freely,_ because it's a big world now and giving away some of your secrets *is not* going to hurt you in the long run!
On the contrary, I suspect his kindness pays dividends, because he's helped so many and they want to return the favor!
Please thank Adam for me, for being such an inspiring and great person, as we would all definitely be lesser without him! 🍻
Exactly this. I always figured that if I helped someone else learn how to do what I was doing, I could get on to something else more interesting.
@@mstreich Such a great point... You get to feel good about helping someone, as well as in knowing the job you passed on still got finished, _and_ probably better than it would have otherwise if you hadn't shared your tips. 🤘🍻
The first question was very helpful. I've been into ring making as a hobby for a couple of years now, but have only made a couple of dozen rings. I try to sell them as commissions, but few college students have the money to buy a ring (even under $50). So I'm always upfront about the fact that I only charge for material use and maybe a couple of dollars for profit. But a lot of times they'll give me a couple of dollars more than I ask for. It takes several hours just to make one ring, yes. But I don't have much experience, thus my time isn't worth much.
As a side note, the biggest downside to ring making (especially in the style of Patrick Adair Designs) is that experience cost a decent amount of money for each practice ring.
I have stumbled and struggled with ADHD my hole life and being organized is the hardest thing thing. And the worst part about it is that the organization parts of our brain affects EVERYTHING. From building to billing to keeping your self on task. The phrase, squirreling or being a ADHD kid in a shiny factory, are real things. But as chief Engineer of several high rises , The best thing that I have done for myself is at the beginning of my day I make a list. And his list is going to consist of things that I am going to accomplish. And then I try very hard to stick to my list. Sometimes you get it all done and sometimes you don’t put the simple fact is that you have written it down and you know where your list is at so you can keep yourself focused when you complete a task and being able to move onto the next task.
A bit of advice I was given when dealing with "friends" as in non-profit organizations, or groups that you want to support, is to give them the entire bill at your normal rates with a discount you can live with. They know the value of what you have provided, and then later on if you are not in a position to give a discount, they have the ability to go to donors to fill in the gap or work with someone else, but you have not short-sold yourself. You can even justify a change in the discount based on how busy you are, or how business is going. I also learned to never volunteer and work for the same organization. Even if they have the best of intentions, it's either or because boundaries will get pushed. The only way around that is if you had two very different tasks, like say you were a prop builder and a lighting op for a theater, you might build props per contract, but op lights as a volunteer, that could work, but if you also start also doing stage sets as a volunteer, then pretty soon you are using billable hours to build for free. But as Adam said, friendship before business, and some friends you should just not do work for.
Building something for friends and discussing payment or value has been so difficult for me. I've built custom models for friends in the military, and these friends have also given me some unique opportunities. I've had one friend bug me, telling me I am not charging enough.....which is fair, but I hate the feeling of possibly ripping friends off. My outlook has always been that I'm building a model that represents a period in time, during their military career. I honestly get more satisfaction from knowing that, as well as the reactions when I give them their model. Even then, I have had some of those friends send me money over and above what I had quoted. I charge for the model kit, materials and my labour, but my labour is well below the local minimum wage. I don't think I will ever find a real balance to be honest. lol
Personally, the way ive dealt with it as the person asking friends is that i pay all materials and a reasonable labour - but in return im just the best customer you could ask for. If a project comes in and your charging it the normal rate, push me back. If times are slow and you want something different, spend some time on my item. They just let me know when its done, and i dont chase them for completion.
It works for me, as it allows me to get things id need to pay silly money to do otherwise - and it works for them, as they get a little side project to work on whenever they want without feeling committed to it. I just make sure if i am asking a friend, i dont need that item any time soon - and broadly that works for me. Hell, its even worked with some businesses who i wouldnt consider "friends" as they put my item on display for a few weeks whilst they work on it.
My experience isn't everyone's but still wise to be cautious. As the guy who's always been the "buy me lunch or fulfill some other genuine need, and I'm happy. Anything above that is just an appreciated bonus," I've still lost people. Associates are one thing, but the one that still hurts was someone I joked about being friends with before he existed (our moms were best friends too before his passed when we were kids) and helped along with his dad for the last few decades. After his dad passed leaving a large but messy estate and asking why some random guy had suddenly taken my place, I never expected someone I thought was my best friend to brush me aside with, "I thought you'd ask for money."
They did you a favor. You were a friend to them. They weren't a friend to you. A friend would know better.
I'm in a position where very few people understand what I'm doing, so when there's relatively few things for me to do, it makes them think I'm slacking when I'm really planning for the next project and replenishing supplies.
That also means, there's no one who can ask me if the job is kicking my ass, because they have no clue.
Thank you for the advice!
i needed a lot of that... I want to do a R&D business but it looks more like artsy one shot appliances... like a dragon that hags from a vaulted ceiling housing radiant heating coils in the front edge of its wings that upon back to the wing to be reflected to where the heat is wanted...
I think that's awesome. Letting someone know that what they are doing is definitely difficult.
Grats to Jen for being on the cover of Make Magazine!
When you said “Maybe you could help me with this later”, I thought of Vito Corleone calling in a favour! 🙂
My mind went straight to that too but I also use it a lot in real life.
@@Elwaves2925
Ever hide a horse’s head in someone’s bed?? 🤣
@@jimyeske8498 Hee-hee. Don't tempt me.
With people learning under me, I like to give a baseline of where to ask for help, establish check ins and then let them learn at their own pace with the warning to let me know as soon as they get stuck. Some will come running at the earliest hurdle and you need to instill some self reliance gently so they don't swing to the extreme of not asking for help. Others you catch getting stuck at the check ins and gently nudge in the other direction. And of course the check ins are known to them so it's just a status report rather than something to fear. It's important that they know ahead of time that you aren't looking for a specific level of progress at the check in but to make sure you aren't letting them get too off course while they've learning.
One thing that helps me with complex things is to do 1 (only one) really easy thing first to get you motivated and to get everything flowing. then tackle everything else from hardest to easiest.
I personally won’t work for friends any more, but I will go out of my way to connect them with people that I trust.
Wow... your sharing of the time you borrowed money from a friend brought back vivid memories of the first time I needed to go to someone for a significant amount of a loan.
In my case... it was for my first car and I needed it in order to take a job that was in a city and I lived in a small town.
In my case... almost the exact same conversation was had except a little different. My uncle and aunt sat down with me when I asked them... and my uncle's condition was simply this.
"I am giving you this money. If you pay me back... or you don't pay me back... there will be the same feelings from me. But... understand this one thing. If you don't pay me back... this is the last time I will be able to be there for you financially if you ever need it. My love for you wont change... and I will not give it another thought. But understand this one thing."
It was the most unconditional but conditional thing ever done for me and I am forever grateful they did what they did. It helped me and also taught me a very valuable lesson.
On the billing question for a friend. I am super open with them as a Software Engineer. I tell them what my normal hourly is, I know in my head what my break even is. So I tend to charge them break even +25% which is a decent discount from my normal hourly rate. I will also do fixed bid work for friends and I *never* (here is a tip to any other people doing my line of work, never do fixed bid) do fixed bid work professionally. They get to feel like they are paying me, I get to feel like I am helping a friend, its a win win.
For the last question, find a good friend to help. I make wood scrollsaw puzzles and other decorative items to sell at local markets. I LOVE the woodworking, but am an introvert and have problems with the sales/human interaction side at times. Fortunately, my best friend is a wonderful, outgoing person, who helps me set up, deal with customers, etc. If someone has questions about the type of wood or finish, I can handle those. And Renee makes everybody feel welcome in my booth.
A very good friend.
Very touchy subject (doing work for friends) as a long time self employed metal fabricator I’ve made it known that friend or not everyone gets charged the same hourly rate of $165.00 I may however I will round down the hours when doing work for friends so one hour fifteen minutes might become one hour and that’s the best I can do. I’ve learned that if you do things for free people have a tendency to take advantage of that ( human nature) but if it cost them some money and it’s known then they are not as likely to do that!
I did a job for the father of a friend. I gave him a slightly lower price because it was a two-part process of which I had done each part but never together. I explained that I was viewing it as a training exercise for me with him getting the result. I covered costs plus added a little for my time but gave him a big discount on the time side.
Yep, being the youngest and being in charge can be weird and frustrating. I encountered this during a lifeguard class. I was a month younger than my youngest student, and 30 years younger than my oldest student. The oldest student was the only problem, most of the rest of the students just did a doubletake upon realizing I was younger, but didn't actually care.
Is it weird that Adam saying that he doesn't know how to program a CNC machine is somehow extremely motivating to me to make stuff? Like I know how talented he is, far FAR beyond what I am and yet it's like being reminded that you don't have to know absolutely everything to make stuff.
I think the key is to know what you need to know to make something that you are doing. And if you don't know you will learn and find out if you have to.
I've been in that position of "is this hard or am I too stupid?" a lot, I really did appreciate when they told me it WAS hard.
Doing the work, is so much easier than running a successful, profitable business. No matter how talented you are as a craftsman, you must focus on being a good businessman, like it or not.
For my leather business I always consult with my friends who are able to build tools for me or do labor for me up front before agreeing to do it or not. I have done small things like sew up a project or help them design a project at no cost, they often return a favor at some point whether it’s with a lunch or otherwise. There are no expectations on my part, if they don’t do anything, I won’t be upset.
Adam, if you ever need a leather guy for your shop projects, my shop is over in Burlingame.
Great video sir
love the video Adam .
What I've tended to do with "mates rates" is to come up with a figure that covers any costs for materials, and then add my own time at whatever rate I think is fair. Probably around minimum wage here (about $15/hr) if it's a favour or particularly fun project, or various percentage discounts on my day-job rate.
As for my take on the first question. I usually think of what I would take for a normal costumer. And then I give a discount on it based on several factors, like the degree of friendship, a close friend wil get a lower price than a distant one. Secondly is parts, bits and bobs and the overall experience for me. Keep in mind, I usually do work as a handyman, I do basicly whatever you ask me to if I know how to do it. Jack of all trades etc.
It's tricky, usually get them to provide funds to cover materials up front, and then we negotiate labor rates based on the nature of the job. If it's time sensitive, then the rate has to go up, cause odds are I'm putting off other projects to prioritize theirs.
One of the things about working alone is not having someone else to bounce things off with someone that can relate. You have so many decisions to make. You can get decision fatigue, regular mental fatigue and physical fatigue. I'd lose sleep. I would get paralyzed by anxiety when it came to billing for my work. It's like the whole working for a friend - mental gymnastics. Then your supposed to be productive and work long hours getting things done. You don't feel like you get paid for running the business side of it, but you don't get paid without running the business part of it.
If I get someone new in the shop I like to show them how I do something, then let them try it themselves. I ask them to try my way first, then they can play around and try different approaches. Sometimes what works for me doesn't work for someone else.
As a small business owner (gardening business) I would say one strategy to consider when trying to keep your business organised is to set aside a specific time each week to tackle the jobs that are not your day to day work I.e filing invoices, receipts, checking supplies etc I personally find it way to easy to let invoice paperwork pile up and not enter them onto a spreadsheet/ file them away, before you know it you have 6 months of paperwork to deal with!
@1:42 -- the process I've used in the past is to tell them what you would normally charge, and then you can negotiate around that rate.
I just started a new job, most of the people in my department are younger than me but I bow down to their experience and listen to them....most are shocked but I explained it and they thought it was cool, however as for energy....they can't keep up.
Adding on about doing business with/for friends - I give them the invoice as I would any actual client/customer. However, in that invoice, I line item clearly the discounts I'm going to give them. What this does is establishes my rates. Marketers will call this anchoring, but I like to call it transparency (my work has a Cost of Doing Business). From there, because they are friends, I'm happy to do the work for them, but I will bill them as a matter of formality and include the F&F (friends and family discount). That discount can be 100% or 50% or whatever. The real part of this is to show them your rates, and the bargain they are getting. The best part is if they question your rates - you can you walk through it. If they complain, you can always recommend someone else and just say you don't want work to get in the way of friendship.
When i do work for good friends i just charge them time and material. You got to remember though there are friends and their are acquaintances.
I love how the hat is chilling back there on the machinery 😂 ❤
I always encourage people to learn by doing, not by watching. I’m always by their side, and won’t let them do something dangerous or go down an avenue they can’t reverse out of. But I know I remember the wrong thing to do when I’ve done it. I’ll impart my wisdom and share my mistakes, but otherwise, just let them carry on. I’m not here to teach, I’m here to help.
My lending money to friends rule is: Don't lend them what you can't afford to let them keep without being paid. Once I lend the money, I never bring it up again, even if they don't pay me back.
"Do the hard stuff first." This is the lesson I was taught by my dad. His actual quote was "Do the hard stuff first and the job gets easier as you go along." This is the best advice I have ever been given.
I find this actually makes it worse. I tend to slog along getting more frustrated to the point I don't want to do anything anymore. I spend so much time trying to "just get through it" that nothing else gets done. What I do instead is to set blocks of time like from 8-10am I do something interesting, 10-1130 I might do something harder, then another block of "fun stuff" with breaks often. Lots of times I will be partly thinking about the next fun thing that the hard stuff doesn't emotionally weigh me down where I come grinding to a halt.
Amazing
Adam, you are such an amazing teacher, mentor, and philosopher. You have shown me that I, too, am a maker in all my roles as manager, teacher, and musician, as well as my many hobbies. And to hear you say that your inner voice can be critical, too -- in spite of all your amazing talents and know-how -- wow! I will never again think of myself as a failure because I can't figure something out. Thank you!
For me, I can either deep-end into a project, or gear-switch between projects. The two seem to be mutually exclusive.
To the degree I’m deep-ending, gear-switching blows my stack. To the degree I’m gear-switching, I can’t really deal with detail in any one switch.
The caveat to "letting people finding their own way" is when there is a time crunch to the job, as is usual in the industry. And with makers not being able to handle the business side, I can fully sympathize - I am a prolific maker, but can't be hard headed enough to put a realistic price on my finished pieces.
I like to work on my car and sometimes friends ask me to do stuff on their cars too.
I find that a good way to address the subject of cost is to start by saying (after some research, if necessary) something like "Well, that job would cost you [price] if you took it to a mechanic, BUT..." and then I'll break down roughly what the parts will cost, how long the job will take and what a mechanic would charge for labour.
That works well because it avoids the awkward times when, at worst, somebody's expecting a job to be done in return for a case of beer when expensive parts need buying and it also creates options where, perhaps, the owner can buy the parts and then I'll just charge, say, $100 for an afternoon fitting them.
I guess it's slightly different for a creative project, where it's harder to quantify the value of the work, but I'd still suggest starting off with an evaluation of the cost of materials simply so the client understands where the "hard deck" for pricing is, and is awrae of how much/little you're actually getting paid for your time and expertise.
For car stuff I never buy parts for friends. This is opposite of how I would buy for the shop as I would not allow a customer to bring in their own parts and for surprisingly the same reason - defective parts. A random customer would complain that you did a bad job when it was defective part and your friends might think you bought cheaper parts so that you can make more money off them. You can say to your friend that they should at least be there when selecting the parts to order so they can't say "why didn't you buy brand X" later. For regular customers my goto answer is I stand by my work, the parts I buy, and the price for parts and labor. It's 2 different relationships.
Bill full price, then calculate a % discount. So they see the full value but understand the friends discount.
I liked your story about how your friend delt with money. I may adopt that.
My approach has been... I don't loan out money unless I'm ok with not getting it back. For the record all of my friends and family have paid me back that I recall. But in a similar light... I don't want money to come between a friendship. So if I loan and don't get it back.. I don't care. And the friendship is preserved. If I don't want to loose the money than the answer to the friend is no in that case. I won't. And that might be hard to hear. But I think it's important and healthy for friends to say no to each other occasionally. If your friendship cannot survive an occasional no... there probably wasn't a solid basis to the friendship anyway.
My above rule doesn't work well for very large sums, but I don't really have that anyway. Nor has someone ever asked for something ridiculous like 25k. I'd probably treat that differently. But never had to. Probably never will.
I just found out I have ADHD last week at 47 years old. The psychologist told me to try Pine Bark Extract, and I found research saying ginsing and guarana can help as well. These things seemed to work and my mind was focused this morning for a couple hours and I came up smart phone smart case solutions I'm going to make open sourced. If anyone thinks they might have ADHD get tested and some help, that motor revving up in your head is a powerful tool if you can put it in gear and steer its course.
for your friend who is managing the team of older people have him ask them why they do it the way they do it and it starts a conversation or at least it should.
There's a balance between allowing people to fail and learn vs instructing them on HOW to do it. I once had a jr team-member come to me and ask "How can I organize and track this work to ensure it was all completed?" In complete exasperation i responded "I don't know, how will YOU do it?". Good supervisors won't always "allow you to press the easy button", but they SHOULD be watching (ie supervising) to help you when needed. Often times the "smart people" not only figure out how to do something, the teach YOU something new in the process.
Sounds like your a piss poor supervisor. Your job as a good supervisor is to help your subordinates complete the job at hand. In your case, you had a subordinate that recognized your experience and valued your input. You had a perfect opportunity to teach a willing person something and you didn't recognize it and therefore failed as a supervisor. But more importantly, you failed your subordinate and you showed the rest of your team that you were either a)incompetent, b) lazy or c) just a plain jerk. In any case you failed.
A good supervisor is part leader and part teacher. You should have recognized that. Maybe I'm not understanding your post correctly, or maybe I'm just getting tripped up on the fact that you were exasperated by your subordinate coming to you. But I know as a supervisor my job is to teach as well as lead. I see myself as a mentor first. If I'm unwilling to teach, how can I expect them to do the job to my standards? If I make them afraid to come to me then I'm not only setting them up for failure, but I'm setting everyone up for failure. A true leader has to be flexible and willing to learn as much as willing to teach. A subordinate asking you for your input is not them "pushing the easy button."
Geniall!!
For stuff for friends I will charge parts and materials and ask them if they want to help if yes then labor is 0$ and we get to hang out and build something. If the answer is no my next question is how quickly do they need it if it's a "oh when ever is fine" it's off hours work for fun and practice so 0 for labor and I let them know ahead of time. If it's something they need right away or would like the job to be a priority I'll usually do 1/2 - 3/4 my normal rate depending on how quickly they need it. And I explain everything to them so there is no misunderstanding. (they usually bring the fun/interesting/ challenging build anyways so it ends up improving skills more than whatever I come up with.) So even then it's never wasted shop time, and I don't loose money on materials. Though sometimes if its near their birthday and its a small project I'll make it their birthday present.
Oh yes I remember the creation glass on an astronaut's helmet. It was great . Find a solution yourself. For two glasses. Sharing experience is a help for everyone 👍👍👍👏👏👏
Set a specific 'Friends & Family' discount that you apply on the invoice & on all invoices so no one feels different. Maybe its a percentage on smaller invoices & a dollar amount on larger ones?
Re: friends, for my guitar tech work I have a "family" price that applies to certain close friends (here we're all expats/immigrants here, we have no actual family in this city). That indicates them the esteem I have for their friendship and I still get paid a reasonable amount for my time.
I just make sure I cover the cost of what I spent if I do a friend a favor, unless I owe them one, or I know they can be flaky sometimes.
8:35 One quote that always comes to mind for me (I can't remember by whom) is: "If it's not your nature, maybe it can become second nature".
Excelente
Unless I see something dangerous, notice someone really struggling, or they flat out ask for help… I prefer to allow people to find their own way. Then I may provide suggestions for the future after they are done.
Hmmm, I get your thinking but they may not ask, may not find a way, dig themselves deeper and never get it done. I'd offer the possibility of help if they wanted it, without outright asking if they do. Just let them know that I'm there and available.
the best method to that is just charge for mats and if you think thats still too much then take a % off that feels right but don't go overboard.
Honestly, the easiest way to order something from a creator friend is to just do it through a proxy so that your creator friend never knows it was you until after it's done.
That way there's no stress or fracture in the friendship.
If I were given the opportunity, I would have Loved working under Adam Savage as my Boss. And I'd give it my 150%. Also it'd be an honor if/and whenever he scolds at me 👌
Thumbnail got me expecting to hear from the crew, how Adam is like as a boss.
Start with making sure the other person knows what the full no-discount price is that you'd charge other people.
It's pretty common for people to have no idea what you charge for things. You might give them a really good price and that price may seem high to them. Which leads to them thinking you're charging full price. So always start with what full price would be and then show the discount you are given them from there. Your invoice should be a full price invoice with your discount for them shown on it. As far as the discount amount goes. Charge full price on materials and maybe 50% on labor.
"Someday, and that day may never come, I will call on you to perform a service for me..."
It needs to be done as a strict business relationship. What if there is a problem with the delivered product ? How is rejection of the product or the cost of rework handled ?
Example I know of. A is redoing kitchen. B does wood work and says I will make you counters at near cost. Amount is agreed on. Then when counters are finally on site some don't fit and rework is required. A does not want to pay anymore as the cost of the job was agreed on. B does not want to have to pay for the new materials.
I 3d print for friends and family. I charge them by the rolls of filament instead of my usual rate.
When i purchase things from friends, i will always pay full price.
in my joinery days. I ended up saying most time, you buy the parts, I do the work as a favour, then next time I buy the parts, you do the work.
I always used to keep it to a day or half days favours though. So if I worked 3 days on it, I'd get 3 days of favour back
As a freelance 3D artist. I'm having a harder time than ever finding work. The forums I used to go to have dried up and most of my regular clients have either retired or moved on to other lines of work.
Sometimes it's worth it to bring in a helper just to help on the business end.
You should state it like this "I normally charge XXX for this work. What would you be comfortable with?" Just be honest with the amount. It is either fair for ALL your customers or you might want to rethink your pricing structure.
The mechanics way of doing work for friends is to charge for parts and labor is paid for by pizza and or beer.
Exelente
IMO you should pay whatever the cost usually is for customers. Support them fully.
I feel like if you want to do something for a friend and they want to pay, figure out what you would charge a stranger or new client. Then, charge your friend between 60-80% of that amount.
asking a friend what do you normally get paid would also help
When will the suit from The Martian be completed?