My Father is not your Baba & other Funny Stories: WE ARE NEGROS!

So I have to give the typical, “ahh so sorry I’ve been away” schpiel that is also unfortunately true. I do apologize, not to you, but myself. I was on a good roll blogging and it’s now been over a year. I have 10+ drafts of posts I haven’t been motivated to complete. So I need to do better for me

Business is good. It’s really good. So much so that the first and last thing on my weekend agenda is to typically lay motionless for most if not all of it. I have many stories and lessons to share, but let’s first start with laughter:

We have outgrown the hatch patch ass accounting and tortuous payroll hell that has evolved over the years that I need to stop doing. When there are a few people, it’s manageable. But now that our staff has grown to 12…I can’t be bothered. Taxes are becoming more foreign, new opportunities, funds, and contracts have come up. We needed to hire people more knowledgeable than ourselves. So, we began shopping for CPA firms and encountered three tropes: the big shots, the hearts, and the clown. It felt like an Old Testament fable.

The first was too big, not small enough; the second was perfect but needing context, and the third…the third was as such:

There are about 5 current financial goals we have before the new year that we expressed and discussed with the three firms we visited. One of these goals, which I have had for YEARS, is to get Minority Business recognition by the state of Maryland. The advantage this will bring is access to competitive government contracts. With how health insurance has evolved, this would be a fantastic respite from the rollercoaster that is healthcare.

Well, the CPA asked how we could be minorities if it was owned 100% by a man. Now, another goal we have is to become partners. My father will maintain majority ownership and I minority. So I thought maybe this may have been miscommunicated with him. I asked him how he could ask that? He asked if I would become 51% owner or…

…

I asked if he had dealt with this sort of thing and he said he had. So I asked how he thought we could not qualify as a minority business without my having to be a majority owner. He gestured to my father and said well yea because, “He is Indian. And so you could only qualify as a woman…” I kept repeating that even if we are Indians we are minorities. Indians are minorities. Asians are minorities.

Ignoring my explanation, he goes on to explain that there are three ways to be recognized as minorities: you can be black, a woman, or Hispanic. My father interrupts and says he is African.

The CPA continues…“Okay so you guys would be SBA not a minority business.”

…

After what becomes the most awkward mix of silence and nervous laughter my father explains that he is Ethiopian.The CPA is still perplexed. At this point I have to mention that earlier in the meeting he said he knew we must be related because after looking at the website (WHICH LOOKED AMAZING***) he saw and compared our names. And not that people of different races can’t be related…but…like…

We are almost an hour and a half into what is supposed to be an introductory/exploratory appointment and so I had little patience left. He finally asks what I am then, I tell him that I am African American. I didn’t know any other way to explain that I was black to this man. He looked like he understood what this new terminology was. So then I proclaimed, “WE ARE NEGRO!”

At this point I was over the situation. I needed to leave. This was a major red flag that I had no interest in trying to paint white. I want to give my business to people who have some education on race and ethnicities. We are a black business. It matters.

So I ask again if he has had experience with minority businesses because…and he interrupts and says.“yes, I’ve worked with negros.”

Just like that. What a schmuck.

Suffice to say we went with our perfect fit. This was the confirmation that they were right for our size and needs. Cultural sensitivities and all.

I shall endeavor to once again resume The POTT. I may sometimes falter in faith but never in works. So, I’d like to continue to share my lessons so that my ignorance may be someone’s wealth.

Until then, I wish you laughter in your business or whatever endeavors move you.

***the company site is very sexy, praise me: www.prhsinc.com

Entrepreneurship is a Love Unrequited

Imagine giving your all; your nights, your weekends and even your sleep to something and not seeing your return for days, weeks, months, or even years. You spend the dreams of your days and nights working, thinking, and re-imagining dilemmas, new approaches, and ideas for this thing. But, nothing gives. All that stands is what you’ve given and there’s no take off. There will sometimes be a glimmer of flight, but then it doesn’t sustain. So again, you go back to the drawing board and think, where’s the damn love?

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” – T. E. Lawrence

Business ownership is often touted as possible for everyone, withstanding through time, passion inducing, exciting, and even sexy. But, just like that ex, it’s got no love for you. A small business does not care how much time or energy you’ve given. It doesn’t care that you’ve told everyone you love about them. It doesn’t care that you have given the most precious thing a human can: time. It does not care that you have the education, experience, network, capital, or drive. It’ll take, and take, and take and look at you like any parasite does: pathetic.

About two years ago my father and I prepared for two weeks for a major bid submission. It was two weeks of 12-14 hour days mulling over contracts, cost analysis, vendor research, and combing through verbiage. I ended up sick during this time and between the piles of tissues, stacks of documents, and going cross eyed we treaded on. By the end of our submission we were wiped. We stood back and looked at the marvel. We felt so proud. This bid was our baby and we just loved the damn thing.

A year later that baby looked at us brand new and rejected us. Yes, sir. We did not win that bloody bid and we felt so defeated. We gave it our all; our snot, sweat, and tears and we lost. How? I mean, we were perfect for it, in every possible way. It was going to be our major break. We prayed over it, our family prayed over it, our friends did as well. And there it went: our time, energy, and hopes. In the weeks following we heard of other competitors who won and couldn’t help but wonder, “but they couldn’t love or treat you better than we could”. Ha!

All jokes aside, we heard that the bid was a bust and that those who won were being paid very little and being enforced by rules and regulations that were strict and daunting. Reimbursement for services would allow most to break even and the demographic was not necessarily desirable. In the end, the loss was a win. All that time and energy we put in, the several months after we remained faithful and envisioned a future with this win, and in the end it served us better to be without it.

The moment we let go other opportunities and contracts became available. And, because of the crash course we experienced, we shaped up our own policies and procedures. The experience made us better, and in the end we were rewarded with better opportunities because of how we grew from the experience. It’s funny, because now, if offered to us on a silver platter, we’d kindly decline that bid. Maybe not kindly, but we’ve got better having to do less. So, bye.

“Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference. Perhaps this is why we always love madly someone who treats us with indifference.” -Cesare Pavese

I believe, this is often why so many business go bust within the first few years. You cannot unwaveringly love someone without knowing them to their core. In business terms you’ve got to know the industry, you have to know the market, you’ve got to offer something new or different, you’ve got to have the startup or be willing to work for free, and finally have the kind of focus and ethics that will ingratiate you to not only your consumer base but any partnerships you forge within or outside of your business. Just like you know that love like the back of your hand, you must have a command of your industry. You know who that person may be seeing or have an interest in; know your competitors and what they offer. You know that your ex is a compulsive liar; market on that weakness and market integrity as your leverage.

The business itself has eventually learned some reciprocity. The toxic relationship it once was is now turning a bend and offering a return for our tireless commitment. But it’s a love not meant for everyone. It’s an endless endeavor that carries you beyond the computer screen and into your bed. It’s there in the meals you miss, the social activities you cannot go to, the bottles of wine you empty, and arguments you regret. It’s there, a pit in your stomach, that you cannot pass. Entrepreneurship is for the unrelenting; for the kind of formidable force that will not recoil at “no” and retain hope in the face of seeming failure. It’s an endeavor not for most for it’s a love that even when seemingly won, requires constant attention.

If in the face of failure you leave and look elsewhere, a 9-5 working under Bob or Sue may be better for you. Otherwise, if picking back up and taking failure as leverage excites you like the sadist you are, entrepreneurship is an adventure to eventually grip the reigns of. A love to not see as hopeless, but always on the horizon.

My Father is Not Your Baba (and Other Funny Stories)

Inevitably, when working with your family, there are going to be cringe worthy moments of either complete embarrassment or disaster. Before embarking on joining my father, I wasn’t sure what to anticipate as far as our work relationship was concerned. Would he be a totalitarian and dictate to me how he wanted things? Are we going to fight over every important decision? Will we think likeminded and maintain professionalism? How would our work and home life balance?

Suffice to say, working with my father has probably been the easiest part of this experience. We discuss and analyze options and directions logically and try to maintain compassion for our customers/patients without getting personal or taking anything to heart. This doesn’t mean faux paxs and mild arguments don’t occur. Sometimes we do take work home and to the dinner table. There have been times I haven’t spoken to him and vice versa at home, but upon entering the office doors, we resume communication. But really, he’s probably the easiest person I’ve ever worked with.

Honestly, the best anecdotes are the funny or embarrassing ones. The very first incident being the story behind this post title; which I think I may turn into a series where I compile all the embarrassing, cringeworthy, and/or funny moments I’ve experienced working with my father.

For around the first two years of my joining the business, it was only my father and myself. We did everything. From my scrubbing the toilet to interviewing hires, to him visiting his patients to going to business meetings; it was just us two keeping the ship afloat. As such, the environment was more familial than professional. I got used to yelling across the office, “Hey Baba, did you get a chance to…” or, “Baba, I thought we were going to…” In turn he’d respond or call for me by my full name: Kalkidan. It was, after all, just us.

As business grew we made our first hire. This person has come to be an important part of our team, but at the time was simply an employee who was neither kin or kinfolk. Simply put: she’s a white woman. Okay? So, she joins our team and we begin to build our workflow and rhythm for our day-to-day. Well, one morning she knocks on the door to come in for the day and my father opens it. All of a sudden I hear her say, “Hi Baba, thanks for opening the door.” Maaan. We definitely had a good laugh.

I no longer call my father Baba in the office, but by his first name. And because my full first name is not used by Americanas, he started calling me, “Kallie”. There is a lot of intimacy in language and this was a lesson we both had to learn for the sake of professionalism. Not that my full name is unprofessional, or that my father should not be called endearingly, but that the way you communicate with one at home is not for your professional world to be invited to. If you can’t pronounce Kalkidan, don’t try because I’m not amused. And don’t call my father Baba, because he ain’t your daddy.

Moving On Up (…To the West Side)

For the past four years, we’ve been operating out of an office nestled in a large, cozy house. It has seen the business grow from one full time employee to four. The house kept us at a low overhead and considering my father owned it, we were renting at a price that allowed us some financial cushion. The house fostered an environment that reiterated that at its core, our business runs as a family. But, as a baby outgrows a crib, we have outgrown the home. And so, we move.

We need to hire more employees and this humble abode will not do. How exciting is that, though? Business has grown so much that we need more staff, but do not have the physical space to accommodate them. Pretty good dilemma to have. And while it sucks having to go from renting for little, and also renting smart by essentially being our own landlord, it’s a move that we have no choice but to oblige.

In our search for the perfect location we used five criteria: cost, location, space, environment, and accessibility. An important element to our cost analysis was that we wanted to see the promise of the expansion of business either through a new contract or referral source. We needed to know that an increase in rent would never pose as a constraint. Because we were able to, just recently, secure a lucrative insurance contract, as well as a few more dependable referral sources, we felt comfortable in our financial cushion. Profit growth was just about guaranteed.

An important element in determining our location was not wanting to stray from the general vicinity where we had established a presence both with patients and with insurance providers. Because much of our competition exists in other cities, we wanted to maintain a service area presence that is otherwise not being served. Often referrals come to us simply from the distance of a patient’s home, and considering our proximity to Baltimore City; this is important. We also wanted to be certain the area fit our professional vibe and was safe.

Space, for us, was important in two regards. The first being space for employees, both old and new. Secondly, we needed warehousing space for our ever growing catalog of medical supplies. Ideally we wanted a space that was slightly too big and thus would allow for us to grow into. We want to avoid another move for at least five years, so we imagined what our potential for employee and product line expansion would be and if that space could house us at maximum capacity.

Having worked in stuffy office environments before, I felt it important to have as much clear and open spacing as well as sunlight available to the majority of staff and potential patients, customers, or visitors to our office. I also wanted to have as much of an open layout as possible for internal staff, with enough private spaces for patient consults and one-on-one meetings. Following our familial ethos, I think it’s important to have a communal environment where employees can easily consult with one another and work in enough proximity to feel encouraged to work as a team.

Finally, as we are located right off of the beltway and in a corporate park; ease in finding our location as well as ample parking space were important for the obvious reasons. While most of our business actually occurs outside of our office, we still often welcome walk ins. Commute for our staff and ourselves was also important as we wanted to avoid any issues of getting to the office as quickly as possible and/or in case of an emergency.

After having visited various locations and assessing options such as leasing versus purchasing; we settled on a location that hit all our markers. And while ideally we were looking to purchase a property, the right fit could not be found. So, we settled on a location that did meet our mark with the exception of purchasing. It was one hell of a search, but eventually we found the right space.

Today is our last day in this home. As much as I’ve nurtured this endeavor, I’m overwhelmed by how much it has grown. Our once cozy office cannot contain the behemoth that is burgeoning. It is officially a season of harvest and our piece of the pie is in sight. We’re finally moving on up and out…to the West side!

Payroll for Employers Who Remedial Math Was Enuf

Admittedly, I skirted taking the more challenging mathematics courses throughout high school, undergrad, and grad school. I think I shot myself in the foot because basic math gets me feeling like “the big one is coming”. (#FredSanford) It becomes a whole ordeal and I become moody and dramatic. It’s just stressful as hell!

So, when we hired our first employee, and then a contractor, and then another employee, and so on, I found myself having mini panic attacks when it came time to filing taxes and payroll. It got to the point where our tax lawyer had to break things down like I never learned how to count beyond ten. We currently use QuickBooks, but when you’ve got only a couple employees (or yourself), that can be expensive. And, honestly, not necessary. I got away with not using QB for years using some free tools and maintaining a diligent schedule that allowed for me to check, re-check, then check the numbers one last time.

This website came in pretty hand, and free: http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/

QB has their own free tool, as well.

See attached for an excel sheet that our tax lawyer provided to calculate payroll. It’ll also help with tax filing as well. This spreadsheet is not specific to Maryland, as it only has the current rates for Social Security (6.2%) & Medicare (1.45%). So you will need to have the numbers for Federal & State taxes. That’s where the above links will come in handy.

Always make sure that you are maintaining the most current exemptions for your employees, as these can change (by their request) at any time. I keep my state’s (MW507) & the Federal (W4) forms handy. It’s not uncommon for a person to change their filing. It’s also not uncommon to make mistakes, so I often reference those documents to confirm if someone is filing married, single, and the number of exemptions or allowances. And, depending on your State, income tax may not be collected. Do confirm your State’s guidelines to avoid any filing mistakes.

All of this changes if you have hired a contractor or freelancer. They file as a 1099, so while you don’t have to worry about calculations for each pay period, the headache will come at the end of the year. This is a good option for hiring those who don’t necessarily keep hours and have a bit of autonomy with their schedule and day-to-day tasks. For an example, when hiring a salesperson, you may offer payment per referral or sale. It may not necessarily be feasible to maintain an hourly or salaried rate, especially if their work isn’t best quantified by hours put in.

For keeping record of contractor payments, a simple spreadsheet with the date paid, amount, and check number should be sufficient.

Even if you are not involved with payroll, it’s incredibly helpful to have some cognizance of calculations and method as your employer may make mistakes on calculations that could result in owing taxes. Ultimately it is your responsibility to pay the government what it is due, and while your employer is liable, they won’t be helping you pay the IRS for a few miscalculations.

I may make this a two part post because monthly federal, quarterly withholding, sales & use, unemployment, etc all give me hypertension and I felt so incompetent (and still do) filing them all. I should also warn that I’m not an expert, so do check and double check with an accountant, any methodology you employ for payroll and tax preparation.

I’ll leave you with a bit of word (Matthew 22:19-2, NIV):

“Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

My point is even Jesus said to pay the Man what’s his, so do it right and stay encouraged!

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) a master leaves his three servants for a journey; and with them he entrusts his wealth. He leaves one with five talents, the second with two, and the last with one. A talent was an ancient Greek unit of measure used for gold. Upon the master’s return he asks each servant what they have each done with the talents given to them.

The servant given five talents, doubles his money. The servant who was given two talents, also doubles his to four talents. When the master asks the servant given one talent what he has done with it, he tells him that he was too scared to do anything so hid the talent. He presents him with the same talent that was left with him. The master chastises him for not in the very least leaving the talent in a bank to collect interest.

It’s no coincidence the word talent comes from this unit of currency. This parable, even beyond its biblical facets begs the question: what are you doing with your talent? Whether God-given, genetic, or by chance; what are you doing with what only you have? In the story, the master was not more excited by the servant who was able to make the larger profit, because he knew what he gave to each and each held their own measure. The only one who was a disappointment was the one who hid the talent and did nothing with it.

In around 2011 my father started to explore a talent of his own, that he had dreamed of exploring easily almost two decades prior. He has been a practicing respiratory therapist for about as long as I’ve been alive; and always working for someone else. He loved it, though, because he enjoyed helping and treating people. He hated working for them, too. So he decided to finally pursue building his own durable medical equipment company; one where he’d continue to practice care but also be his own boss. By 2013 he was fully operational, but business grew at a glacial speed. So he continued to work full-time as an RT at a local hospital, while simultaneously trying to build his business.

By this time I had moved back home to Baltimore from a stint at NBC in New York City, and faced an inquiry of what I was doing with my talents. My father needed help, and I had the capacity to do it. I had worked doing sleep studies back in undergrad and grad school; so I had the clinical understanding of respiratory care. I decided to pray about whether this was a talent within my capacity to grow and so for the last three years or so I’ve sown, and sown, and sown. And things are growing. Through my own mistakes, pitfalls, and stumbles; business has more than quadrupled, we’ve hired staff, and are looking to move to a bigger office. Business is good.

cb4560d2-7c7f-45ad-89cf-e0393eb0b4f1 — My father and I at a Ravens game.

Are there times where I wish I had hid my talents like that third servant? Yes. Every day. In fact, there are some days where it happens several times within a single hour. I’ve cried at my desk and have been very tempted to quit often. But through this process, I continue to grow and I believe I have some talents to show for it.

And so here is a space to grow talents; both for our small, family business and for my own ambitions. A POTT (see what I did there?) with which to share stories of other small businesses, lessons, and information on entrepreneurship.

Here’s to prosperity and the growth of many, many talents.

Parable of the Talents

A Small Business Blog

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