On Monday, we’ll welcome another member to our subcontractor staff—a process manager, traffic manager, editor and all-around organized mind: my daughter Maggie. I know, you’re thinking I could be asking for trouble because of the mother-daughter conflict thing most mothers and daughters have. You might be thinking I’m blind to the faults she has, not to mention those of my assistant/writer/digital marketing manager/son Edward’s faults. Will I be too hard on them, you’re thinking, or not hard enough?
I’m fully aware of those potential issues. I have to admit I’m happy to not have to put out RFPs for subcontractors I don’t know. But in this case I really don’t think I’m taking the easy way out. I can’t argue with myself about the wisdom of my last two hires.
Both times, it happened naturally. I was getting bogged down with details right before I hired Edward, and he just happened to need a new situation. Working nights was messing with his health. In addition to easy-but-time-consuming daily tasks I needed help with, I was desperate for someone else “in-house” to take the burden of some writing.
Lo and behold, Edward wished he could find a job that required writing. So Foster Writing soaked up him and his skills, and expanded like a sponge.
About a month ago, I began to get bogged down with management of our increasing number of projects. We sometimes now have as many as six or eight other writers working at once. Keeping track of them, managing deadlines, making payments and writing assignment emails was keeping me from three extremely important activities: marketing, planning and training writers.
Lo and behold, I received a call from Maggie, who was looking for a new situation. She really wanted something in an office, related to her degree in English. It just so happens that Maggie is the organized one in our family. She is a perfect process manager and editor. She would rather edit than write! Voila. Soaked up those new skill sets in her, and the sponge further swelled.
I look at the addition of the writers in the same way. It’s like a game of Katamari Damacy. We just keep rolling around serving our clients, picking up pieces along the way, gradually growing bigger.
I’ve realized the bigger we get, the more we’ll pick up. It’s going to take some deft marketing, planning and writer training to keep the ball rolling. It’s a good thing both extra desks in this office will be full come Monday.
