When Should You Do It

Too many times we make big decisions based on trust. If the ‘other party’ is a close friend or family member then asking them to sign something can seem mean spirited. However with other people we shouldn’t give it a moment’s thought.

In business the costs of not being able to prove that a colleague has followed procedures can be huge when things go wrong. There is a whole document management industry based around ensuring staff read, understand and sign key documentation.

A bit closer to home the temptation is not to make a fuss. However, most people will be glad to see you making the effort to ensure everything is kept above board.

If things go wrong and you have to prove that what you say is the truth, without evidence to back you up, you are unlikely to win, and even if you do, your legal fees are going to be far far higher.

You wouldn’t buy a television or computer and walk out of the store without a receipt would you? No, of course you wouldn’t. Apply the same logic to any agreements you make in daily life.

Obviously if the value of the agreement is only worth a few pennies then you can afford to lose them without problems and so can afford to ignore this advice. However once you are talking about any sort of agreement that you can stick a decent value on, get it in writing. 99 times out of 100 you will never need to produce the written agreement again, but one time in 100 you will and that is when the rewards will show themselves.

Even if you never need to use the written evidence again, you will gain a priceless reputation for being contientious, honest, trustworthy and someone that others can do business with.

When should you quit your job? The easy answer is ‘as soon as you can’. However, the ‘can’ is full of worms. Can you afford to quit. Can you imagine what life will be like after you have quit. I believe you need a game plan with goals before quitting your job. The plan needs to be in place before you even consider telling anyone that you might be thinking about quitting your job.

When should you outsource?

Good, you are thinking about asking for a raise. This is a great idea since most requests are actually the start of a process that does end with a bigger wage packet. Yes, read that again.  Most people who ask for a raise get one.  So, as long as the boss is in a good mood and the company isn’t currently going down the pan, then tomorrow will be a great day to ask for a raise. Why tomorrow rather than today? Because you will need to spend some time writing down a reasoned case for why you deserve a raise and how much it should be. Bosses respond so much better to reasoned arguement than whinging.

Let them know what you have done to merit the raise, what the going rate for your role is and whay exciting plans you have to improve your productivity in future. Make a raise sound like an investment that will bring them greater rewards.