So you are an aspiring entrepreneur and you have dreams of running your own company someday… but how are you going to keep people engaged in your dream? What’s going to keep those salaried employees working hard, and sticking with you through the thick and thin? I bet you think you have a great idea… but then how many people end up becoming good managers? Statistically you are likely to be a bad manager. How can we remedy this?

Well you may already know exactly what not to do if you’ve ever worked for a terrible company

I have the great fortune of holding a day job. GASP!  I am a project hacker engineer at a small Aerospace company (while I try and change the world of fitness with my new startup www.FitSquid.com)

But I truly feel blessed, and I’ll tell you why! 4 years of working for someone else, and I know now how NOT to run a company! As I get ready to leave, the greatest management experience I have had is being managed poorly. If you have had such good fortune, consider yourself lucky, because you now know exactly what not to do when you run your own company.

Ok so you may not know how to make the best business decisions yet without some trial and error, but atleast as far as keeping employees happy you’ve had a good start!

I’ve tried to break it down into 3 tenets that keep employees happy:

Money: A good starting salary and continued and predictable raises every 6 months to a year go a long way to keeping employees from jumping ship. duh! yes I know, but I haven’t had a raise in over two years, so this is a issue close to my heart!

Growth Prospects: Personal and professional growth is one of the most important and motivational aspect of employment, and a good company will dangle this proverbial carrot whenever possible.

Autonomy: Perhaps the single biggest factor in keeping an employee happy. It’s in our nature, as humans and employees to want freedom. That is why, many ultimately strive to start their own business. Besides the money, your own business gives you the ultimate perceived freedom of being your own boss. You’d be surprised how many people won’t quit their jobs, simply because they have autonomy over their jobs.

As an employer you need to fulfill atleast one of these tenets to keep low/average employees, two of these for good employees, and all three if you want to keep the best!

What am I missing in this? I would love to hear of your comments.

Discussion to continue on Hacker News!