The Office Supply Fairy does not exist…
A while ago, I met a woman at church. We agreed to go out to lunch and I met her at the bank where she works. She graciously offered to take me on a tour. One stop on the tour was to a magical room where there was a never ending supply of pens, paper, paper clips, etc.
She walked into the room, grabbed a few pens from the box and handed them to me. "It’s advertising," she said. Sure enough, the bank’s name was on the pen. (A few months later, when the bank changed it’s name, I realized the reason she and others needed to get rid of the old pens.) She then spent the rest of the tour trying to recruit me into employment at the bank.
I must admit, I was intrigued by the prospect of working somewhere that would allow me to believe that the Office Supply Fairy does indeed exist.
I’ve been self employed for 9 years now. (I’ve been running "free" way too long to go back to serving 8-10 hours caged and confined.) It’s been almost a decade since I experienced visiting the "office supply room" a magical, mystical place located in virtually every office with more than 3 employees. The "office supply room" (or cabinet in the case of one of my employers) was the place where there was always an ample supply of pens, paper, pencils, paper clips, etc. Those were also the days when the copier was jammed or out of toner and it wasn’t my problem. It was someone else’s job to go find an unlucky intern to address the situation. My responsibilities ended when I notified the office manager of the situation. If the magic room or closet was getting low, I could lodge a complaint and get on with doing my job.
Now, I experience the joys of being "self employed." That means when I run out of pens, I make a trip to Staples. When the copier jams, I get to figure out what is wrong. When my email doesn’t work, I get to diagnose why. When my computer acts up, I either fix it or buy a new one. Oh, and I also still have to get "my" job done as well.
Many, many of my clients are recent refugees from the corporate world, and as such they find themselves lost when it comes to such simple issues as setting up their email. Back in "corporate" they could just make a phone call, and someone from the IT department would walk them through the process, or better yet, come up and do it for them. The reality of the fact that there is no such thing as the "Office Supply Fairy" often hits hard and often during their first few years in the world of the self employed.
It’s been a while since I believed in the Office Supply Fairy. Just as my view of Christmas changed when I learned "the truth" about Santa, my view of business has radically changed as a result of being "the employer" instead of "the employee."
Just last night, my son and I were driving through construction. My son commented on the signs along the road denoting "bumps" and wondered why they were there (because they certainly weren’t placed in a manner to warn you about the serious bumps in the road). I replied, "It was an excuse to pay someone $30 an hour to do something." My son exclaimed, "THIRTY DOLLARS AN HOUR! Is that what they make?"
"No son," I explained, "that is not what the employee sees in his/her paycheck. He/she sees $15 an hour. As an employer, I SEE $30 an hour because I see the unemployment insurance premium, the FICA match, the health insurance premium, the worker’s comp premium and the cost of hiring someone to administrate all of that, all wrapped up in what that worker costs me per hour."
If you’re just getting started in running your business, and you’ve come from working for someone else, there will be lots of reminders that the Office Supply Fairy doesn’t exist. However, given enough time, you’ll find yourself with a whole new mindset, one where you recognize that YOU are the catalyst that makes things happen and THAT is a good thing
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