Best Practices

It’s standard for me to be available and ready for action as much time as possible.

When entrusted with leading a project or business operation – one should be on high alert most of the time. It’s like war – when not being able to respond when needed – can lead to negative consequences.

Having todays technology allows me to be online most of the time, even when blackouts happening left and right. What I did when russian missiles started hitting energy infrastructure in Ukraine? – Grabbed myself a Starlink and a powerful generator, so my projects never left unattended.

In terms of communication – being open and crystal clear always prove to be the best choice for me. I’m willing to bring on not only successes but also issues, because once discussed – we can do something about it.

Provide best care for what I’ve been entrusted.

When I see something needs to be done, I wont sit silent about it.

Examples include:

Receiving a notification at 5PM Saturday – saying “auto order fulfilment software catches a bug and cannot fulfil orders no more”. In such situation most employees will postpone it and get back to it when they are at work next business day. In my case, I grab my laptop or even use my phone, and engage in solving of this problem asap, so losses in profit are minimised. Can’t allow it to hang.

Company wanted to completely give up on a refund case, a shady supplier they entrusted their order. I continued to fight for 2 more months and managed to get a $10,000 refund. My time on this case costed company less than $1,000.

Noticed web developer company hired – been charging 10x from actual work he did, also work were delayed a lot. Confronted him with evidence and fired him. Found replacement next business day.

I’ve seen a lot of overcomplicated things in multiple businesses.

Wrongly chosen software for business processes

Unnecessary transitions to more complex software solutions

“Automations” which later bring on more manual work than company experienced before

Bunch of obsolete tasks and tags in project management software messing up processes

SOPs written in way which drove newcomers crazy

Hundred random spreadsheets. 90% of which are non functional

Company files storages last cleaned in previous century

The list goes on.

One of my goals is to prevent, communicate and get rid of over-complications at any project I’m on.

I’m confident in what I’m doing.

I can prioritise and decide what needs to be discussed with partners, CEO or stakeholders beforehand or if its not worth their time and I can proceed with my own action about certain things.

Examples include:

$50,000 order unexpectedly at risk of being void due to consolidation and shipment issue. I make decision and efforts of rearranging the shipment to consolidate at different location, in the end completing the order, only shaving 10% from order profit.

Alibaba supplier, company signed contract with – manufactured bad quality product. Refused to refund. Due to slim refund terms – Alibaba stood on the side of supplier, denied our refund right. After 1 month of communication – company decided that case is lost and gave up. I kept fighting for 2 more months providing quality control tests and finding small details which can show Alibaba that we are eligible for refund. As a result this case costed company ~$1,000 but I managed to get a refund of $20,000.

Customer returns an item he broke, demands refund. Customer support doesn’t want to refund him asking me what to do. I decide to refund it – listing rating worth much more than what item costs.

Hiring a developer for website design and CMS migration I have 2 options, one for $800 and one for $1,400. After communicating with both I understand – the one cheaper will result in more than $1,000 worth of company time in QA when one for $1,400 will not. Proceed with hiring more experienced developer.

When most employees tend to not “see” the issues and maybe thinking those will go away naturally – I bring up discussion on issues once I see those, and plan to fix them.

Examples:

One of important tasks which are crucial for legal business operation in EU – gets lost after company migrated from previous task manager. Instead of legal dept bringing this up – I notice something off as we have not received docs as year before. After brief investigation and action taking we submitted necessary docs just in time, avoiding legal problems.

Company initiated product development and ordered 3D designs – skipping important first stage of research, probably due to previous manager mistake, and everyone was cool with it. I do the analysis and turns out this development shouldn’t even start based on data I got, further research proves my numbers and development gets suspended saving company from burning a hole.

I see a seller central account with thousands of inventory operating without setting “minimum price” failsafe and no one bats an eye. I immediately set minimum prices as this issue can drive company into the ground once one of employees set wrong sale and/or discount parameters.

Company staff eyes gets blurred from day to day activities – employees might not see when theres something which can be improved right in front of them!

Once I engage into a new project I try to see what can be improved to make company operation better, more profitable and efficient.

Some examples include:

SOPs analysis

Listings analysis

SEO

Sales

Ads

Website analysis

Finding something which can be improved and making an action plan is the right thing to do.