You might be an entrepreneur if…you have to begin interviews of potential employees by saying “I need you to understand that sometimes I won’t be able to pay you.”
This one is more of a joke. In reality I would never tell a potential employee they might not get paid. I prefer to lie to them.
It’s actually true, I have said something like this to certain employees when I’ve offered them a job. I don’t think I’ve said it for a year and a half or more, but there were times when I felt like sharing the risk with the employee and being completely open with them.
So am I lying when I don’t tell employees they might not get paid, and then they don’t get paid on time? Well, it’s like George’s character on Seinfeld said “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” And believe it or not, there have been more times when I thought I wasn’t going to make payroll and I did than times when I thought we would make it and didn’t. I feel that I’m pretty open with potential employees. I often tell them how much money we bring in on a monthly basis, what our cost structure is like, when the last time was we were late on pay, etc. I don’t try to sell anyone something I don’t believe in myself. I may say something that turns out later to be wrong, but I try to be honest based on the information I have at the time. Trouble is they keep changing the information…
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