Laura Kalbag

Why I love Unfinished Business

I know, this is a funny topic on which to base a blog post but I love the Unfinished Business podcast, and I’d like to elaborate why in something more than a few fawning tweets.

Business, but not suits

Business doesn’t feel like the right word to describe what I do. It’s a hobby that makes me enough money to support myself. The word ‘business’ conjures up images of suits, handshakes and networking. Unfinished Business feels like a podcast about my kind of business. It’s not about synergising or maximising profits in the next quarter, it’s about how to do the best by our clients and ourselves.

Transparency, openness, honesty

The entire premise of the Unfinished Business podcast is to speak openly about business end of the web, design and creative industries. And Anna and Andy really do exactly that. They’re not saying things to impress people, they talk about mistakes they’ve made and how they think they could do business better, and they’re not scared of talking about “taboo” subjects, such as money. This means each episode is full of insights on how to get started working as a small business, and how to keep that small business running successfully.

It says it all over my site, honesty is really my thing. From me this might come in the form of over-sharing occasionally on Twitter, and often putting my foot in my mouth. Still, honesty feels like something that’s lacking in the business world. The web community that I know isn’t competitive, it’s sharing. Unfinished Business reflects this non-competitive sharing when Anna and Andy speak so honestly about business. They’re not doing a podcast to gain a competitive advantage against other developers and designers who don’t have podcasts, they’ve just created a space to share experiences.

Ethics

This is what struck me today, and the reason why Unfinished Business resonates so much with me. Anna and Andy don’t talk about how to make money, they talk about how to do a good job for your clients. Today I listened to them discussing handing over files to clients when the business relationship has finished. Their priority was doing the right thing, and not making life difficult for that client after they’ve moved on. This means so much. It’s one thing to be hardworking and good at your job, it’s quite another to be a good person.

These are good people. And you should listen to their podcast.

Andy & Anna have Unfinished Business - A weekly discussion show about the business end, the sharp end of web, design and creative industries.

9 comments

  1. I totally agree. I love this podcast. I’m really excited about this new wave of talking frankly and honestly about business. It’s so helpful, no matter what stage of your career you find yourself in.
    • And that is high praise indeed coming from someone who runs such a meaningful podcast himself!
    • This is awesome. Couldn’t agree more. Will be checking out this podcast :)
    • Dan Boulet
      I agree, Laura. Never thought I’d enjoy listening to two people talk about business for an hour, but Andy and Anna have proven me wrong.
    • Personally what I enjoy most about the podcast is the realisation that we all experience similar problems in business and I am not alone. They are things that can be solved/worked through.

      When knee deep and in the thick of it, sometimes it pays for me to step away and reflect on that.

    • I definitely need to catch up on Unfinished Business. I’ve been building things for a while, but I still have some difficulty wrapping my head around the business side of things. I mean, clients *are* the business, but no one really likes to talk about the financial side and daily operations.

      I feel like Unfinished Business fills a gap we were only vaguely aware was there: real business advice without stiff business practices. Mike Monteiro got that ball rolling with Design is a Job, which I will shamlessly endorse because it’s an excellent read. That it’s hosted by two of my professional heroes is just icing on the cake.

    • I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know them personally like you do, but by listening to the ideas they defend and how they approach ‘taboo’ subjects, I very much look forward to meeting the both of them soon! :)

      Just to state the obvious, unfinished.bz has become a must-listen for me, I’m actually saving the episodes for offline perusal… ;)

      Y

    • I recently subscribed to their podcast because it sounded good, but hadn’t started listening yet. Glad to hear it will be worthwhile when it comes up in listening.