In my greatest moments of faith I’ve had the feeling that IES’s mission is already complete and has been. I’ve had the feeling that I’ve got nothing to do with it, that there was a solution before there was a problem, that the people who are now struggling have already been helped. This, more than ever, I now know is true.
It’s like a few weeks ago when John came bursting into the office wrapped up in a Tissy. “Where’s Tyrone!?”
“I don’t know,” I said. (John is Tyrone’s ride to work).
“Where is he!?” John demanded. I had to convince John to wait for Tyrone until the last minute, until he could wait no longer and make it on time. This was torturous for John, because he likes to be everywhere early. His face contorted. He paced, he sat and then stood. His eyes darted from side to side. He walked outside, looked up the sidewalk, came back and threatened to leave.
Then my cell phone rang. It read, “Tyrone.”
“Uh, I just wanted to let you know,” said Tyrone, “That I got another ride to work.”
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About a week ago I did a sales call. I visited the same company 8 times, and finally the manager decided to sit down with me. I really like the guy. He is an interesting person, and I talk about him now knowing we’ll most likely interact later. He told me a couple of things that stuck with me. First, he told me he could make me a millionaire. Second, he told me that if I really wanted things to take off, I was going to have to find a way to make customers call me instead of me having to call them. Third, he told me I had to see it. “If you can see it, it will happen. If you can’t it won’t.”
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I was initially wrong about the idea when it was first suggested to me, but the truth is very few people care whether many for profit temp agencies succeed. But a lot of people care about whether IES succeeds because of our mission. I’ve been trying to figure out how to use this to our advantage, and last night it clicked. Our supporters care about us, and they’ll also care about what customers support us. Publicity is the bargain chip we offer that no other temp agency can.
I’m attracted to this idea because it flips staffing on its head like so many other pieces of our model. Temp agencies depend on secrecy (I read this somewhere when trying to figure out how the heck these things work). Any other temp agency’s worst nightmare would be a competitor gaining a list of their customers and then going to them and offering lower prices. But we’re about to make our list public.
Why?
Because: For our future customers, the benefits our supporters bring to their business will outweigh another temp agency doing the work for free.
So it clicked. Maybe this doesn’t click for you, but it clicks for me, and that’s all that matters.
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It’s like John wrapped up in a Tissy just to realize everything had already been taken care of.
And, no. I told him I’d be really happy with $60,000 a year and seeing IES work. He said that would be okay with him too.
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It’s been said and done, and I know this: Everybody who is willing to be helped through IES has already been helped. Everyone who isn’t but might change their mind has too. It’s impossible to know the details of what we’ll see in the coming days, but I know we can see it. All the struggle, all the trials, just to realize it was simple. It was spoken before time. And I know whatever will happen, it’s already been said and done.
Oh, and once we make the page, like us on Facebook.
