Who Are You Working For?

| By Dave Whalen | 

Back in 1999 I was working as a clerk in a department store. I was working 12-15 hours a week, barely surviving, and my prospects weren’t looking that great. Of course, I had well-meaning managers who would give me advice on how I could get ahead a little. But what did they know, they were just the people who had the job I wanted. Looking back, I was pretty lucky that I had people around me who wanted to see me be successful. 

After about a year of being a complete slacker I decided that it was time to make a change and act on some of the advice my bosses were giving me about work. About a year after that I had gone from being that slacker clerk kid to being in management, and converted, officially, from being part-time to being full-time… And it’s the only case of that happening that I’m aware of at that store. I’d even gained the trust and confidence of the store director to leave me in charge when he was unavailable.

Early in my audio career… Apparently not fully translating the lessons learned as a department store clerk effectively, I fell into the same trap. I was super concerned about the projects I was working on and getting the best product I could, but I did it ultimately from the perspective of how it would make me look. And while it yielded me some results for a while, it didn’t serve me very in the long term.

So what happened that turned it all around for me?

It comes back to the advice that my bosses were giving me.

Coincidentally, I was inspired to write this piece when I heard some very similar advice from Kevin Churko on the URM podcast. It all really boils down to this:

Who do you work for?

For a long time, I was convinced that I worked for me. After all, the reason I needed to work was so I could eat and have a roof over my head. As it turns out, that bit of food and maybe a roof was all I’d ever have with that attitude… Because other people weren’t nearly as interested in my selfish desires as I was. What they are interested in, however, is themselves, and what you can do for them. What this means is that, ultimately, you need to serve your clients and serve them well. Not just from the perspective of how it affects your business, but from the view of how you can help your clients thrive and prosper.

Now writing vague platitudes which lack definition and purpose is easy – I know, it’s what I do.

“Who do you work for? I shouldn’t work for me? What the hell do you mean by that anyway?”

Well, I’m glad you asked, because working for the right person, when done well, manifests itself in some very tangible ways:

Serve others well

This point is possibly the hardest to define… Possibly the most important thing you’ll ever do… And is 100% a matter of your frame of mind. It’s important to note that every interaction you have with your potential, current, and former clients will start with this as the base. Serving people well actually isn’t a “tip” so much as it’s a worldview. With enough conscious practice, you will eventually approach all your interactions with people with the intention of serving them well, and that in turn will serve you well.

If you want a good primer on this I recommend reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Bring value to your boss

Back to my days as a clerk at the department store, this is the advice my bosses kept giving me. I remember one boss in particular – Ray – told me that if I want to get ahead I needed to understand what he wanted, and take that off his plate. He wanted to know I could be trusted to make his job a little easier so that he could focus on other, more important things.

This is much like (in my mind) what Kevin described when he talked about going to work for Mutt Lange. One of the first things he did was to fix the tape machine so it would sync correctly with Pro Tools… A problem Mutt had been having for weeks. Kevin also described reading through the Logic manual so he would be able to competently operate the software when necessary. This is an exceptional example of adding value, along the lines of what my boss Ray told me. Kevin understood exactly what his boss needed, and made sure he didn’t have to worry about it.

If you’re wondering if you’re bringing value to your boss, you can ask yourself this question:

“Am I making him money, or am I costing him money?”

Show up

Many people don’t fully grasp this concept (I know when I was younger I didn’t), but you can’t serve people if you don’t show up. Back to the department store, when I thought I worked for myself, I cherished all my time off and was giving it up for nobody, especially my work. If they wanted me there they should have scheduled me.

The other piece of crucial advice my bosses had given me was that if I wanted more hours, I needed to wait by the phone and say “Yes” every time they called me. I thought, “of course I would get more hours, but that would interrupt my plans of playing video games all day. You should be more considerate of my feelings.

One day though, I got real tired of being broke, desperate and stupid, and I resolved to do just that. I showed up absolutely every time they called, every time I went in I did my best to deliver for them…

And within a year I was running the crew almost every evening.

If you’re going to be successful, it will have to be the same for you. If you want to make an impression on your employer or your clients, you have to answer that call… at least at first… even if it means altering your own plans or cancelling them outright.

Keep at it

Most of all, don’t get discouraged. Make small advances every day by chipping away at the tasks you’re wanting

These concepts don’t just apply in a department store or to a career in audio…

They apply to every aspect of life.

The more you apply them, the more those parts of your life will be more fruitful.

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