I was introduced to the concept of a retainer while helping out at LoyalPlus. Often in the businesses I have come across in Hong Kong, the owner of the company will want you to work for them. This is often not possible as you are either fully employed at another company or too expensive to work for the company full time. A retainer is a fee that a company will pay you to attend meetings and give advice.
Mr. Princeton introduced me to this concept. It's really interesting and allows you to work in multiple companies or offer advice to multiple people and it still takes in a micro draw. So it's good that I took this and it reminded me of how a shark bites. This is really unique to Hong Kong; I have never seen this anywhere else.
The retainer is just one of many tactics an experienced shark will use to consume your resources. The retainer is essentially a slow bleed for the company. If you actually do work for them, you charge them separately. I tried charging a retainer and I charged Mr. Princeton's company for consulting. I did this for two months and it wasn’t really working; I felt as though I wasn’t giving value for it so I ended up stopping the retainer relationship.
At the time, I thought this was a good arrangement for PrintOnlineNow. PrintOnlineNow really needed additional development help. I managed to convince the team in the Philippines to help us for five hundred dollars a month in retainers. I discussed this with the PrintOnlineNow team, and they concluded that a retainer was not something they wanted to try. Mr. PrintMan was very good at keeping money in the pockets.
YOU ARE READING
Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim
Non-FictionEver wonder what it takes to do business in Asia? How do Asian business executives behave and think? Do you want to create a business from scratch in under 24 hours? If so, this is your guide. This book is a compilation of over one hundred business...
