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August 25, 2021
YOU'RE GOING, RIGHT?
We've invited the best in small business to share their proven playbooks with you at Playbook 2021!
Join us for live Q&A's with NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal and VaynerMedia founder Gary Vee. Plus, hear from the people behind today's fastest-growing companies, like Cocokind, Health-Ade Kombucha, Loom, Zenefits, Bombas, and more.
This event is always free, totally digital, and completely candid. And it's all happening on September 30.
👉 Register now.
EXIT STAGE LEFT
One way to increase retention? Offer flexible working hours! AKA let your team choose their schedule. Because roughly 80% of workers said they'd be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options.
And Stitch Fix just learned this lesson the hard way. The online styling service just announced that they're sunsetting flexible work schedules. And in less than a month, 1.5K unhappy stylists quit the company as a result.
Most of these stylists were part-time workers who originally took the job for the flexible hours. Some of them were working moms, juggling their schedules to make work fit in between family obligations. Others were side-hustlers working for Stitch Fix on top of their full-time job.
Out of these employees, some were feeling especially mistreated. One said: "This is disrespectful and incredibly frustrating," noting that they were worried about "how [Stitch Fix] will continue to mistreat their employees in the name of 'change.'"
As that last comment suggests, this wasn't the only time Stitch Fix made stylists feel disrespected. In June 2020, they laid off 1.4k employees to find "cheaper labor." And they've been rolling out AI to do stylists' jobs since March of 2019 - making their stylists feel disposable in the process. And the flexible work hours ban was only the tipping point.
Aside from being inconsiderate, making your employees unhappy is bad business. Because happier employees earn 1.5 times more for your company. Meaning, people do better work when they feel their needs are being met.
And in Stitch Fix's case, the mistreatment is starting to show. Their customer satisfaction is currently ranked as "poor" on Trustpilot. And a ton of recent reviews have been bashing the quality of their clothing selections and services.
So, while Stitch Fix takes the hit, we can all watch from the sidelines to take notes on how to not treat employees. It could be as simple as offering flexible work hours to those who need it. Or even providing a small stipend to help employees get the tech they need to WFH. (Both of which Stitch Fix also fell short on.)
Either way, it literally pays to support your employees. And if that means working around their schedule, it's probably worth it!
NEW EPISODE 🎙
… But a playbook ain't one! At least not once you've heard Trainual CEO Chris Ronzio's episode of Entrepreneurs On Fire. Award-winning host John Lee Dumas picks Chris' brain on what is a business playbook, when you need one, why you need one, and how to build one
👉 Catch it wherever you listen to podcasts.
Don't have 19 minutes? Here's the highlight reel:
WHY?
We know it's not good. But OnlyFans is going to demonstrate just how bad this business decision really is for all of us.
Last Thursday, OnlyFans shocked the internet when it banned certain sexually explicit content starting this October. It has yet to release clear guidelines on what this means. All we know is that this is kind of like if In-N-Out stopped selling burgers.
In 2020, OnlyFans raked in $1.2B in net revenue - most of which was from sex-related content. And it was a top-performing app during the pandemic. This year, the company was projected to make $2.5B in net revenue… That is, before their latest announcement, anyway.
This decision has a lot of folks trying to figure out what the end goal is. And the answer seems to be investments. Any other company with this kind of growth would secure funding in seconds.
But while sex sells (OnlyFans has 130M active users to prove it), its R-rated reputation scares off venture capitalists. As a result, most firms passed on the company without even conducting due diligence.
That's because some VC funds are prohibited from investing in adult content, per limited partnership agreements. Others are concerned about minors creating and consuming content without strict controls in place. And according to a recent BBC investigation, rightfully so.
OnlyFans moderation system often misses illegal content. Or, if the account is super successful, the company sometimes "tolerates" illegal activity. Luckily, the site made sure this shouldn't be a problem moving forward.
Many are comparing this policy change to Tumblr's move to ban adult content in 2018 (which took them completely out of the conversation). Meanwhile, MindGeek (Pornhub's parent company) deleted 80% of its content and implemented a new verification system when facing similar challenges. The only difference is this company (and their product) still thrives.
So, here's the question: Now that OnlyFans has completely thrown out their playbook, will the company attract investors? Maybe - but they'll probably spend most of it finding a new business strategy.
TL;DR
