Business Advice - How To Do More With Less

July 1, 2010

Interview with Nancy Lublin, author of the book Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business

_______________

Mike Carruthers:
Not for profit organizations and charities have often been criticized for not acting more like a real business.

Nancy Lublin:
But I also think businesses need to behave more like not for profits. There are things that we do to stretch a dollar and stretch our team that businesses could really learn from.
 

Nancy Lublin, author of the book Zilch, has spent her career working for not for profit organizations.

For example - titles. Job titles are free so making a more innovative title that gives someone a greater sense of purpose and a little ego boost – they’ll take that over pay raise almost everyday.

If you work in an office building with other businesses Nancy has a great way to save money and office space.

I love when you’re in a giant hallway and every single office (and it has only has 10 people in each office) and they each have their own copy machine or their own coffee machine. Why not create one joint area for all the offices on a floor way. This is how not for profits think all of the time.

And companies can save a lot of money by utilizing their employees for things they would otherwise out source.

Ah it makes me crazy when I see companies spend bazillions on outside consultants to come in and create a whole new tagline or a logo. I don’t know why people don’t do a competition within their own company for family members and friends of the company to come up with what should the new tagline be for our company. And instead pay one of your employees 500 bucks for coming up with a tagline. You probably just saved a couple of zeros there.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here