Our session Saturday was about Human Resources. Candace Wasacase-Lafferty was the guest presenter. She was hilarious. Engaging, funny, making us talk and communicate and participate. It really felt like she wanted us to succeed and she was interested in what we had to say, what we were aiming to do with our businesses.
I really enjoyed the talk and came away with the idea that until I am a bigger company and can hire other people to do my grunt work (aiming for the day when I’m so busy that I can hire an intern/summer student to do the paperwork, mailing, emails, etc.) I must be able to fill in the gaps myself. Be a better business manager and know all the weaknesses so I can then teach others how I want things done. In a very small nutshell, and only applied to my business.
HR is one of those things that can mean different things to everyone.
I really want to say more about this. How can I explain how beneficial this is to me? On one hand, it’s very intimidating and sometimes slightly boring. There’s budgeting, research, timelines, databases, business writing (bleck). But then when I apply it to my business, it’s all very personal and the numbers start to mean something.
Basically, we created a business, a business plan, submitted it and went to a city for a week. In 2001, it was Winnipeg. In 2002, it was Montreal. It was fun. We talked to “potential customers”, created a booth for a “tradeshow”, then presented with PP to our peers. The learning experience was amazing.
And yes, there are parts from that program that I can apply to this current challenge. The idea of a business plan doesn’t completely freak me out. It’s the research behind it that does. But I figure, the more prepared I am on the business front, the more time I have for working the artistic front.
