titles are for books, not people
My latest client is an organization called The CFO Alliance, which is a very nifty group of accounting and finance executives in eight markets across the country. Yes, those of you who know me are no doubt laughing out loud, as it’s no secret that I can’t add without using my fingers and I’ve never even attempted to balance my bank account, but hey, they didn’t hire me to do math, they hired me to develop a brand strategy, conceive a public relations and marketing plan and come up with some brilliant content for their upcoming online community. Get ready, CFOs!
Working with start-ups means that you often find yourself doing things you don’t necessarily love or know how to do. For example, I’ve spent most of my week designing ads for upcoming CFOA events. Luckily, I’m married to an art director, because I’ve never designed an ad before in my life. And today I helped out by making follow-up calls in preparation for an event in Connecticut next week. 57 calls, to be exact. Good times.
As a consultant, I’m hired to do a specific job. All of the details get ironed out in a written agreement before I start a project, but there’s always the expectation that things are going to shift and change a bit during those weeks or months. There was nothing at all in my contract about designing ads, making phone calls or preparing Powerpoint presentations, but these are all things that needed to get done. Sometimes the right thing to do for your client (and the future of your business relationship) is to say yes. As for those other times, a conversation is definitely in order to avoid feeling taken advantage of or disrespected. It’s happened to us all at some point in our careers, which is why I can sit here and sound like I know what I’m talking about (don’t even get me started about the time I was expected to clean up and take care of a girl who got drunk and pukey at an event I was helping out with).
Maybe you’re the President of your company. Maybe you’re a staff director or manager, or you could just be getting your start as an assistant or intern. Call yourself whatever you like (I’m fond of Your Royal Highness, but that’s just me) but don’t take your title too seriously; everyone’s job requires cleaning up messes and dealing with other people’s trash at some point, which essentially makes us all janitors, anyway.
Meditate on it.
