Gene Marks on Choosing the Right Candidate

 
Hiring a new employee can be tough, especially when there are many good candidates to choose from. Business expert Gene Marks offers suggestions on how to make that decision.
 

Video Transcript

People talk about work/life balance when it comes to running a small business. Small businesses are romanticized in this country. People think that you go into running a small business you become an entrepreneur and it’s some type of blissful, you know, existence. Um, and it’s not. It, it is very difficult and a very cold hearted world and a tough world to be in. But, when I look at one of the, the greatest benefit of running a small business and why I would never want to do anything else but run this business, is because of my work/life balance. It is because I worked at a large international accounting and consulting firm and I quit that job to go and start this business – go into business with my dad, and then eventually start this company that I’ve been running since 1994, and because of that I’ve had three kids, all very close in age. I’ve been able to a lot of work from home. I’ve been able to change my schedule around. I’ve been able to be a lot more flexible. I don’t think I’ve worked any less hours but I could choose what hours I wanted to run my business. Now I’m not saying every small business is like that. I mean, you go in the restaurant business, you’re in there – you’re stuck. You know, you go into some types of businesses and the customer’s really driving where you’re going to be spending your time. But one of the biggest advantages, if not the biggest advantage of running a lot of small businesses, is that you really can pick and choose when you’re going to spend certain time. You don’t have that, that one boss that’s sort of breathing down your neck, and you have way more control over your life. You can choose the customers that you want to work with, assuming you’ve got the cash flow to help you make that choice. So working like that’s extremely, extremely important for me and, and it is, it is the biggest reason why I chose to start this company.

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