Susan Biddle-Jewell recounts a "get real" personal/professional story about losing a major government contract in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Her office dropped from ~200 deals/month to ~10, forcing immediate layoffs of 16 of ~25 employees; as a supervisor she participated in delivering the news. The experience shaped her long-term, retention-focused hiring philosophy.
Would you mind sharing some type of get real story? It can be personal, it can be professional, whatever you want with our listeners. The thing that popped into my head when you mentioned that is back in the early 2000s or maybe late 1990s, we were a big office. We had like 25 employees. We had a big government contract. And one day we got a fax over that says they were no longer doing business with us. They wanted somebody that can do the whole state of Ohio. And back then we were only doing certain counties. So overnight we went from 200 deals a month to 10, and we had to instantly lay off 16 people. Wow. So I wasn't an owner then, but I was a supervisor. So I was part of the ones that had to go in and sit down with the people and let them know that we can no longer employ them. So for me, that's a big thing. When I go to hire someone, I want to make sure that it's for the long run.
Physicians and High Earners — What Real Estate Can and Can't Do for Your Taxes
