+1 On Jan 7, 2015 11:39 AM, "Tyler Treat" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Yes. Wish I would have learned this sooner. > > ___________________________ > Mangled by my iPhone. > ___________________________ > > Tyler Treat > Corn Belt Technologies, Inc. > > [email protected] > ___________________________ > > > On Jan 7, 2015, at 11:29 AM, Chuck McCown <[email protected]> wrote: > > One more thing: > Fire people. > > Do not suffer with a problem employee. Screw up your courage and take > care of the problem, do not let it fester. That does not mean you have to > be an ass about it. Things you can say: > > It is just not working out, sorry. I will give you a letter of > recommendation. > I am inviting you to find your happiness elsewhere. > We are eliminating your position (chicken-shit way to do things but > sometimes it is somewhat true). > > Once in a while: > Here is a box, pack your stuff and leave. John will escort you to the > door. > > > *From:* Chuck McCown <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 07, 2015 8:39 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] New WISP > > Things to do: > > Pick the right radio the first time. I am partial to Cambium products. > This is like getting married and having a bunch of kids and having a bunch > of inlaws move in with you. Don’t screw it up. You have to live with it > 24/7/365. > > Get into fiber as soon as you can. Take fiber feeds from your upstream > provider if you can. Take fiber to your tower sites if you can. > > Pick the right billing system and right bookkeeping system. Quickbooks is > good for accounting, but it is not so good for billing for a WISP. It can > do it, but there are better systems out there. It will get you by > initially. > > Stay the right size. If you are a very small operation you can make good > money. If you are a large operation you can make good money. There is > middle ground where you are continually broke but need to grow. Try to > avoid that. A one man operation can make more money than a 5 man operation > in this business. Try to avoid hiring anyone for as long as possible. > (That does not include an accountant. You must have a good accountant). > > Keep the company always in your political control. If you bring in > partners or gift stock to employees, make sure that your ownership > percentage is always the majority. Don’t count on ANYONE siding with you > during a dispute. Morals, ethics, honesty, loyalty, religion all go out > the window when things turn ugly. Sad to see. > > > Things not to do: > > Do not do a flat network. Feed each access point from a router port or a > VLAN. Do not allow APs to even know of the existence of other APs on the > same tower. > > Do not scrimp on CAT 5 cable. Use quality cable. Shielded at all AP > sites. > > Do not scrimp on backhaul capacity or quality. If/when you can justify > it, put in licensed radios for backhaul. > > Do not hire friends or relatives. > > Do not scrimp on backup power. Make sure everything can run for at > least 12 hours without external power. > > Do not futz around with being an email provider. Don’t even do any > hosting right at first. > > I would not do paper bills. Keep it all online. ACH /Credit card > payment receipt is a must. > > Do not do installs in marginal locations. One marginal customer can > eat up all of your time and they will give you a black eye in the > marketplace. > > > > >
