State of Michigan OTJ/JET/PYT Programs

The State of Michigan has some FREE programs available to help small businesses.  As seasoned business owners, you all know about needing HELP.  Any business owner that has tried to do business on their own for a while has come to some point knowing that they need someone else to help them service their clients.  You may have had an excellent marketing campaign run and now all those new clients that you closed MUST be serviced.  Or maybe, you need some help with someone making phone calls to your target market or just need someone to answer the phones while you go do what you are best at (i.e. making your widget, tinkering with something, inventing something or baking the most delicious cake in the world).

Getting help, though, is easier said than done.  You must have enough customers closing in the first place to justify hiring someone.  Then you must also have separated your job descriptions out (you may be  performing all the duties but realistically, you are probably performing the duties of 3 separate people).  Then, once you realize the number of people necessary to do the daily or weekly tasks, you will want to calculate the hourly amount you are willing to pay versus what you should be paying.  [You can use a service like salary.com  or payscales.com to look at what similar positions are paying in your area.  Now, you ask yourself, how can you ever afford to have to pay!  The answer is easy…if you live in the State of Michigan and you have a viable business that is creating jobs you may be eligible to participate in certain state programs that can place displaced workers looking to re enter the workplace in your business.  WHAT’S BETTER?!  The State of Michigan actually pays the hourly wage for these workers for a period of time.

There are several programs that I have utilized at QT Enterprises Inc.  I have utilized the Youth Paid Training (YPT) program.  This program placed 3 Youths between the ages of 18-24 for up to 3 months for FREE for my business.  Of course, you have to train them because they may never have had any experience working but if the job is to answer phone calls and enter data into your CRM application, how hard could the training be?  I also have hired participants of the JET Program.  This program placed a displaced worker with my company.  Of course, I had to pay the hourly wages, however, the state reimbursed the company for every hour paid.  Yet, another program I have used provided by the State of Michigan is the internship program.  On this program, experienced displaced workers were placed in needed positions at my company with up to 8 weeks of on the job training hours paid for.  Lastly, there are certain agencies that have placed a particular target in my over for up to 6 months.

Needless to say, the state has saved me a lot of money is continuing to help my company grow and create jobs.  Its like getting a grant for your business from the State!  If your business has grown to the point where you need assistance and you are a viable Michigan business, let the State of Michigan assist you with some of your staffing and support needs.

Tina Williams 248-233-4071

http://www.qtenterprises.net

I had been in business for a while when it happened, an employee slipped and fell while on duty. Now, the employee did not fall while in our suite, but fell in a conference room in my office building. This employee also received a small cut on the top of the foot due to the footwear that was worn which did not cover the skin on the top of the foot. The employee told me that he/she was alright but was more embarrassed rather than hurt and went home for the day because it was in front of several people at a workshop we were doing.

Also, this person came to work the next 2 days without any limp or anything. Then I was asked if they could have the day to go to the doctor. I was then asked if I had workman’s comp insurance. Then I was asked if I should go to a certain doctor. Well, of course I had workman’s comp insurance but this was the first time anything like this had ever happened. I was a newbie and of course this person probably thought this was an opportunity to get some free massage therapy…on me.

To make a long story short, I did not know that I was supposed to take an incident report immediately without letting the employee leave and think about what they are going to say at the doctors office. I also did not know that I was supposed to send them over to my doctor to get checked out immediately and that most places, like Concentra bill my workman’s comp insurance directly.

In the end I learned a valuable lesson… make sure you HAVE workman’s comp insurance because it could have been a whole different story if I didn’t have it. Also, make sure you understand why you even have it at all and what you are supposed to do if something happens. In this case, even though I was told the day of that it was nothing…it turned out to be something. The insurance paid for the physical therapy and loss of wages while the employee was out but it could have went a lot smoother if I had known what to do in the first place. Maybe I am wrong but when I am selling something I explain everything in GREAT detail so that the client is truly clear on what to do and what should happen. I think my insurance sales person should have went over that process.

Just something I was thinking about.

Tina Williams
QT Enterprises Inc
http://www.qtenterprises.net
248-233-4071

I am a business owner that did it BACKWARDS!

Everyone is talking about social media.  Even President Obama has done interviews televised from Facebook.  I have always thought that I am hip and savvy but I have quickly learned that I needed some help.  I have done radio and TV ads for the last 6 months and BOY can I tell you…. IT WAS PAINFULLY EXPENSIVE!  Even though most of our advertising dollars came through advertising lines of credit which allowed us up to 90 days to use the advertising and pay later… the thing is YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY LATER!  As an ex banker, business loan officer and lender, you really learn the tricks of the trade so getting funding is the easy part.  Our advertising bills piled up to $30,000.00 in just a few months with just one type of media.

Yes, I have to say that TV and radio have their place in some marketing plans, including mines so I will never let that type of advertising go.  However, I have learned a key lesson when advertising… make sure that the promotions you do promote YOU and YOUR business instead of sponsoring another show that has nothing to do with your business and mention very little about what YOUR company does in the sponsored ad promo.  Also, there is no need to sign a long-term contract.  BIG THING… make sure you truly, truly, truly understand your target market so that the people calling in for services actually fit your criteria or you will have a bunch of people calling in wasting valuable hours of your employees time that YOU are paying for (hourly) with very little return on investment.

I am now just getting acclimated with various social media advertising and finding that it considerably less expensive.  I had always thought that if you spend more money, you will make more money and to a certain extent, that is true.  On the flip side though, if you spend more money, you also spend more money (which I think all of us are trying to avoid).

I’m not really a blogger so you may not see too many posts from me to start, however, I’m sure once I get the hang of this I will have a lot to tell on this journey and I will let you know in a few months how the internet marketing thing is going for me then.

Tina Williams  of QT Enterprises Inc

http://www.qtenterprises.net