Just last week I fired my assistant Holly.
And yesterday...I fired just about everybody else on my staff.
Why? What the hell happened?
Well, it turns out that my assistant Holly was padding her payroll with extra hours, overtime, and -- perhaps worst and most financially damaging of all -- bonuses/commissions that she wasn't due at TWICE the rate we agreed upon.
It turns out that several other employees were in on the scam. So, they all lost their jobs yesterday in the blink of an eye...standing before me completely stunned and slack-jawed as I told everybody to get the f*** out of my office.
Forever.
Yesterday, by far, was the WORST DAY this entire year...and maybe the worst day in several years, actually. Never did I consider for a moment that I'd wake up and go into the office, firing everyone in sight in less than an hour after they all showed up.
So...what happened? And why was my assistant fired last week...a full week before everyone else was terminated?
Well...that part is a lot more complicated. Holly was supposed to attend the 5-Day Duo Bootcamps with me from September 13th through 17th in Vegas. Without going into detail, she had a major personal issue which disallowed her from attending...AT THE LAST MINUTE, putting me in the awkward and precarious situation in rounding up staff to assist me with this event.
The two events turned out absolutely fantastic...and it seemed as if everything was back on track.
Until Holly left the office early on the last day of the event without my knowledge or permission. I relied on her and my in-office staff to assist me with administrative duties while in Vegas. So...when she left at 3 pm and never returned, I assumed she quit. She told me she was taking a lunch break...for almost 2 hours! And just never came back to the office.
She then told me she had something personal to attend to the next day, telling me that she wouldn't be there in the morning. I told her not to bother coming in at all all anymore.
I asked the rest of my staff how often Holly would abuse her role as office manager by leaving early, coming in late, etc. They all told me that she did that all the time. I scolded them all for not telling me the truth.
Now I know why they didn't tell me about all the unscrupulous activity with Holly. You see, they were ALL on the scam of being on payroll to take huge amounts of undue commissions and bonuses on sales they didn't even make. So, since they were all in on it, they knew it wouldn't be beneficial for them to rat out the very person who was running the payroll for all of them: Holly.
This payroll sham has been taking place since early June. And it cost me over $60,000 in financial damages.
Live and learn.
What did I learn exactly?
1) Trust nobody. Ever! Just when I least expect it, I get stabbed in the back when I do extend trust to anyone.
2) Always write and sign my own checks. And always run my own payroll.
3) People mostly suck. But there are some rare gems out there. And I have since quickly figure out who is on my side (and who isn't) when the sh** hit the fan.
So...what happens from here?
I dry my tears and I move forward. I have to re-calibrate everything almost from scratch when it comes to operations and admin...but that's okay. I've done it twice already in the past 18 months. So...the third time is a charm, right? The benefit of having been in business for over 20 years is that it allows me to roll with the punches no matter how grim things seem to be.
In the meantime, since I did have such a kick-ass event, I want to offer you a special bonus because I (unlike others) am a GIVER and I give all that I can to create value for you, my dear loyal student.
CLICK HERE and I'll explain to you exactly what I mean.
See you at the top!
Your mentor,
Monica Main
