I hire a lot of people with and on behalf of my clients.
And while there are a lot of traits I look for, the biggest one is being easy to work with.
That usually means being open-minded, collaborative, willing to find solutions to tricky problems, adjusting to changing scope or requirements, and a variety of other examples.
I remember reading in a magazine many years ago that Harrison Ford was wonderful to work with.
He was quoted as saying something along the lines of “I just try to be easy to work with.”
For who knows what reason, the line stuck with me. Maybe it’s in part because he’s been acting for 70 years—you don’t go that long without being easy to work with.
So much of business is based on interpersonal relationships. It’s about doing good work, caring about your clients, and ultimately, being easy to work with.
That doesn’t mean being a pushover. You have your way of doing things, you have to say the hard things, and you don’t need to tolerate mean people (it’s not worth it).
But in general, the easier you are to work with, the longer clients will stick with you, the more referrals you’ll get, and the better your reputation will be.
Being good will get you far. Being easy to work with will also get you far.
But being both will set you up for life.
—kevin