Make Money Mondays: Encourage Twenty Percent Projects
Google is famous for its twenty percent project initiative which encourages employees to spend twenty percent of their time experimenting with their own ideas. Other behemoth tech companies like LinkedIn, Facebook and Apple have adopted their version of similar programs. But so too have smaller businesses outside the tech space, reports Forbes , describing the experience of craft beer company, Oskar Blues which has:
boosted its revenue from $100 million to $120 million through side projects, including a device to make to-go cans for draft beer, using beer cans to package coffee beans, and starting a cattle farm that uses spent grains from the brewery to feed cattle used for beef at the company’s restaurants.
Twenty percent projects can help solo and small law firms make money too. For starters, just the very act of asking a potential job applicant to identify a twenty percent project as part of the application process can help you find and hire go-getters willing to take the initiative. When I advertised for a new associate at the end of last year, I asked candidates to propose a twenty-percent project. Shockingly, only about 25 percent did – which at least made the selection process easier. And of course, if the twenty percent project succeeds, you’ll enjoy the financial benefits – and retain better and more motivated employees in the process.
You don’t have to design a twenty percent project with an employee’s interests in mind. For example, what about asking employees – associates, interns and administrative support – to devote twenty percent of their time to marketing initiatives? Could be starting a blog, taking colleagues out to lunch or attending seminars on new marketing practices and implementing them. And even if you don’t have employees, you could implement a twenty-percent project for yourself, but setting aside one day a week to devote to marketing or creating systems for your practice.
Have you ever tried a 20 percent initiative in your business? Share your experience in the comment section.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock