Too Thorough

Recently, I received an email from a client, the gist of it being that my work was too thorough. 

She didn’t come right out and say it that directly, but reading between the lines made the point. 

The problem, I was told, was that I, in providing editing services, was finding and fixing too many types of problems, and that I should just focus on problems relating to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and the client’s style guide. 

In my twenty-one years of editing professionally, this was the first time I’d ever been told that I was being too eagle-eyed, too detail-oriented, too … thorough. 

The root cause of concern was the amount of the previous few invoices I had sent to the client for my editing services. The billed hours were straining the client’s budget and making it difficult for the client to control costs. 

To me, the simplest solution to this client’s concern was this: tell your employees to search for and correct the simple problems in their documents before they are sent to me to edit. The fewer problems I find, the fewer hours I have to bill, and the lower the amount I have to charge. 

I suggested this to the client, but based on the number of problems I found in the documents the following month, I concluded that the client was unable or unwilling to put this simple solution into action. 

Despite not liking it, I have done as this client asked. I now confine my corrections to those involving spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style. Of course, I’m still spotting other types of problems as I work my way through the documents, but now, despite my instinctive drive to always do my best for my clients, I just ignore those other problems. 

Despite the frustration, it has been a learning experience. I have learned that I can no longer assume that a client wants me to be thorough in my work. Each time a new client hires me, I ask them, “How thorough do you want me to be?” Six months ago, that would have been a silly, pointless question for me to ask a client, and might have even made me sound lazy. But I’ve learned that assuming I know the answer could be too much of an assumption. 

PJW

Paying the Cost to Be the Boss

Being the boss at a business, whether as the owner or manager, is great. You declare what you want done, and how, and when, and people make it happen.  You don’t hear “no” very often and your wishes are not often challenged, perhaps because an employee fears being fired or simply because an employee sees his or her role as carrying out your directives, not judging how prudent they are.

This is why, as the boss, you have to constantly challenge yourself. You have to be the one who second guesses your own instructions, policies, procedures. You have to be your own loyal opposition…because your employees may not feel comfortable in that role.

Being the boss is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you get your orders carried out without question. On the other hand, you get your orders carried out without question. And when your decision produces a negative result, you have no one to blame but the man or woman in the mirror.

And before you complain too much about how difficult it is to be the boss and how no one really understands what it’s like to stand in your shoes, consider the words that many a boss has said to a disgruntled employee: “No one’s forcing you to work here. You can quit anytime you want.”

The same thing can be said to you, the boss: “No one’s forcing you to own a business. You can sell it anytime you want and go start a completely different business, or go to work for someone else, put in your forty hours a week, and let some other poor soul deal with the headaches of business ownership.”

The satisfaction, prestige, and control over one’s destiny that comes with owning a business brings with it challenges, inconveniences, frustrations, and setbacks, and when you complain about having to deal with them, you’re really complaining about having to be the boss.

PJW

An Easy Advantage

Despite eighteen years of communicating with business people as part of my job, I’m still surprised at how poorly many of them are at expressing themselves in words. I wonder how these people were able to ascend the ladder of success to become the executive director of this or the CEO of that. As a child, I was told that people are judged by their ability to speak and write well and that without the ability to express themselves well, they’ll never succeed in life.

Clearly, this isn’t true.

In business, particularly one in which the product or service is highly customized to the client’s preferences, clear communication is key to a smooth, efficient, productive and satisfying experience for the client (and for the service or product provider, too).

If strong writing skills are not necessary to succeed in business, then the conclusion to draw is that there’s really no penalty for possessing poor writing skills, and no incentive to improve them. After all, it isn’t keeping anyone from landing customers and making profit. However, consider this question: how much MORE business would that person have done if his or her written communications were stronger? How many potential customers did not become PAYING customers because the salesman’s, manager’s, or owner’s poor communication skills turned that potential customer off? Poor business-to-consumer communications undercut whatever image and credibility are established by an expensive website, a slick brochure, an active social media presence, or a polished sales pitch.

In an economy where businesspeople are fighting for every advantage over their competitors, one of the easiest ways to gain an advantage is to consult a writing and editing professional. This ensures that the salesman’s, manager’s, or owner’s written business-to-customer communications are as strong as every other aspect of his or her brand image and customer outreach.

PJW

I'm Honored

Recently, I found out that Polish Classic Desserts, a cookbook I copyedited, has been awarded a 2013 Gourmand World Cookbook Award in the category of Best Eastern European Cookbook in the USA. Next, the book will compete with winners in the same category in other countries for The Best in the World. The results will be announced on May 20-21, 2014 at the annual Awards event in Beijing during the first “Beijing Cookbook Fair,” May 19-21, 2014.

I'm very honored that Peter and Laura Zeranski gave me the opportunity to play a role in making their wonderful book a reality.

PJW

Challenging from Below

When you work for someone else, that person is the boss and the boss sets the standards. If you are unable or unwilling to meet those standards, it leads to conflict and, eventually, your unemployment.

But what happens when the employee has higher standards than the boss? It can still lead to conflict. For example, an employee risks looking like a slacker (or for an hourly contractor, an invoice-padder) if he or she takes longer to complete a task than the boss thinks is necessary - even if the employee's sole purpose is to complete the task properly, thoroughly, and to ensure customer satisfaction.

When an employee has higher standards than his or her boss, a struggle often ensues between the employee, who pushes for improvements in the business's products, policies, or procedures, and the boss, who pushes back to hold the status quo. Eventually, one of three things happens: the boss gives in to the change; or the employee relents in the fight to bring change, left to gripe and grumble in private to sympathetic coworkers, friends and family; or the employee leaves or is fired.

Many bosses might be more open to change if they were more closely involved with the actual hands-on creation and/or delivery of their product or service; however, most are simply so overwhelmed with their own responsibilities in the business that they can't take the time to view their businesses from that level. That's why they hire employees whom they trust. Part of that trust, though, is granting those employees a certain latitude in serving the customer - even if that means taking a little extra time with the customer and the customer's project...and bending policies and procedures to do so.

Ultimately, it is the customer whose needs must be first and foremost* if a business is to be successful, and a business's policies, procedures, and products must be designed and implemented toward that goal. That's a standard on which both bosses and employees can agree.

PJW

* Of course, certain policies and procedures of a business must truly be first and foremost; otherwise, there will be no business in existence to serve the customer! A successful businessperson must always distinguish a clear difference between going the extra mile for a customer and allowing the customer to dictate how the businessperson's company is run.