You begin interviews by saying “Of course, from time to time we won’t be able to pay you.”

You might be an entrepreneur if…you have to begin interviews of potential employees by saying “I need you to understand that sometimes I won’t be able to pay you.”

This one is more of a joke. In reality I would never tell a potential employee they might not get paid. I prefer to lie to them.

It’s actually true, I have said something like this to certain employees when I’ve offered them a job. I don’t think I’ve said it for a year and a half or more, but there were times when I felt like sharing the risk with the employee and being completely open with them.

So am I lying when I don’t tell employees they might not get paid, and then they don’t get paid on time? Well, it’s like George’s character on Seinfeld said “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” And believe it or not, there have been more times when I thought I wasn’t going to make payroll and I did than times when I thought we would make it and didn’t. I feel that I’m pretty open with potential employees. I often tell them how much money we bring in on a monthly basis, what our cost structure is like, when the last time was we were late on pay, etc. I don’t try to sell anyone something I don’t believe in myself. I may say something that turns out later to be wrong, but I try to be honest based on the information I have at the time. Trouble is they keep changing the information…