Growing Pains: Building Your Impressions with Lessons Learned-Part Three

Learning never ends. Growing pains don’t either. The latter breeds the former. I’ve had my share of both over the years. As I look back over my quarter century with my sign business, a number of these experiences stand out. Here’s one of them:

Time to Grow Up

Early twenties is young, but old enough to start growing up. Firing my best friend helped me see and learn this lesson.

Who better to hire than a friend, right? Not always. In my case, I hired a buddy based on solid business-principled qualities, not entirely on friendship. But social behaviors were not considered. He wasn’t quite ready to grow up yet.

We had lots of good times outside of work together. When the good times began to negatively effect the business, though, I realized it was time to make changes, put some limits in place, and grow up. So I did. He didn’t.

Conclusion

I’ve hired many younger people into the sign business over the years. I truly enjoy the energy and fun young employees provide. At the same time, as an employer you have to be able to detect unacceptable immaturity and provide guidance for growing up.

To read Part One of Scott’s “Growing Pains” series, click HERE.

To read Part Two of Scott’s “Growing Pains” series, click HERE.