0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

200 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
Even if you aren’t using an executive search firm, consider working
with a relocation consultant to collect vital information about schools,
real estate prices, and quality-of-life issues in your town. And always look
locally and regionally first. You may be able to hire a wonderful person by
offering a higher salary, rather than paying all the relocation expenses to
hire an out-of-towner.
Remember, you are not just recruiting one person—you may be recruiting
an entire family.
GREAT
Work with People You Like
John Chuang, cofounder of Aquent, a talent agency for
IDEA
creative professionals, shared some contrarian advice
for entrepreneurs starting a business. “You’ve heard that two things you
never want to do with friends is to lend them money or go into business
with them,” said Chuang, who founded the company in 1986 with friends
when he was an undergrad at Harvard.
“But the reality is that people who go into ventures with people they
know and trust are one step ahead of the game.” Chuang attributes the
success of his high-tech professional temporary agency to the fact that he
went into business with friends from college and graduate school. They set
out to serve a small base of customers in Boston, but ended up creating a
business with offices around the world that places thousands of temporary
professionals a month.
Chuang told me that working with people you know helps you work
around their strengths and weaknesses. You also communicate better with
people you like, and this can be a real advantage over working with strangers,
he said. “Hiring trusted friends cuts down on the time spent interviewing
and screening,” he said. “You know who you trust, and it takes some of
the guesswork out of the process.”
Sharing the same sense of humor can also help you ride the entrepreneurial
roller coaster. “We used humor to weather the tough times,” said
Chuang.