I considered whether I should be blogging at all right now.

It seemed a little frivolous.

I am so saddened by the geopolitical events in Eastern Europe right now.

As of course, are many of us.

I have zero - as in absolutely zero - understanding of what is going on with Russia and Ukraine right now. There will be no armchair political rhetoric from me.

What I do know, however, is that many people who until recently led lives just like ours have had their world up-ended. And I wanted to throw out a little context to who these people are.

Especially in the workplace.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

- Arthur C Clark 1962 - Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination

And magic is undeniably fun.

This week’s note is short and sweet.

It’s to the point on how to find team members.

Actually, it’s two the point - it features two hiring options you should check out.

I “don’t do hiring consulting” and personally only have 1 team member (she’s kickin’ - I’m a lucky duck). But I see so many people struggling with this, and since I am a fan of these programs mentioned here, I wanted to share.

I don’t do payroll.

Well, actually the true story is I didn’t do payroll. I do now.

My clients have either been big enough to look after it start-to-finish or they used a service. But I now have 2 clients whose payroll I manage and I’ve learned a few things along this journey.

The most enlightening being you can never be too clear.

I am doing the T4 (you Americans would call this the W-2) reconciliations for my clients right now. This involves sharing a copy with each of their team members and having them double-check them for names, Social Insurance Numbers (Social Security Numbers), addresses, anticipated earnings and the like.

I am astounded at the changes that I am needing to make to these!

Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.

• Ryunosuke Satoro

Who are you hanging out with these days?

But the better question is “why are you hanging out with them?”

Are they positively influencing you? Reinforcing the best of you? Do they represent your values and drive your best you forward? Do they make you feel good about your best self and lift your not-feeling-good-about-you-self up? Are they a collective force for good?

Or are they reinforcing the worst of you? Pushing your self-worth down? Are they self-aggrandizing? Creating chaos and disharmony for you and for others? The collective good is of no interest to them.

It’s the bluest time of the year.

I’m sure many of you may be feeling the effects of shorter days, colder weather and an impending tax season.

Plus, you may be feeling like the only one who doesn’t have their act together on everything (anything…). You are comparing your reality with your picture of your peers’ “success”.

Worse, maybe you aren’t even considering yourself a peer of people with a big social footprint (BSF’rs).

Well here’s a reality check for you. No one - and I mean no one - has it all together, all the time. And for some, it’s a challenge to get it together even some of the time…

It’s interesting times for clear directions.

I’m going to preface this discussion with I wouldn’t want to be making Covid decisions for the masses & imparting them. I have the utmost empathy and admiration for anyone trying to keep us safe from our silly selves. And I am more than happy to follow whatever directives I can figure out - I’ll do my part willingly.