Warriors, I need your Input! - How would you deal with this situation?
Hello Dear Warriors..
I have a bit of a dilemma and would like to get your input on it. The story is a bit long so, if you have the time; bear with me please.
My initial reaction was:
This guy wants me to teach him SEO to profit from my knowledge? .. WOW.. I mean .. I am not an SEO guru or anything of the sort but I do make money on a side from my own websites and I keep myself up to date w the rampage Google's animals cause...
I dismissed the request as something dumb and I thought he wasn't serious about it.
Assuming that "X" couldn't possibly be serious about it was MY mistake, because it turns out he was deadly serious and not only was he thinking of asking me to teach him.. he was trying to figure out a way to get upper management involved so that "I would teach him SEO" with the pretense that his PPC operations NEED data from SEO and that the company would benefit a lot from us "meshing SEO/PPC info" together.. :rolleyes: .. (that guy is a smooth operator)
When I first heard this "reasoning" I thought.. hmmm.. OK ... it would be interesting to see his "approach" as to why he needs "SEO information" for PPC and "what information he wants to get" ..
I deemed this idea valid as I know that SEO, BENEFITS from PPC data; because of the fast feedback loops... in other words, you can immediately see whats converting and for what keywords and you can SEO optimize for it. < That is a HUGE advantage in my opinion so I thought he would come up with some AWESOME reasoning like that.
Well a couple of days passed after the PPC manager had left, and "X" upped-his-antics by asking me 30+ SEO related questions a day, on average; and I (like an idiot) would "partially answer them" just to be nice with my coworker (he would usually ask me 5-10 questions a day btw). Keep in mind that "X" job is "PPC related" ..
Some questions "X" would ask would be about:
NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS PERSONAL:
The day his manager left.. "X" was told by upper management to change the passwords of anything his now "old manager" had access to and that he was aware of. Anyways.. he knew that his manager had access to the company's paypal account... the same account I use for SEO buys... and itching to know the places where I outsource and buy links from he starting bugging me about giving him access to the account. I got very defensive about it since he has no reason to have access to this account, all charges are SEO related.. there is nothing there related to PPC.. but he nagged to upper management and they told me to give him access. The excuse he gave them was "I might have to buy a few things for PPC" so I'll need access to this account.
I got pissed because it was obvious to me what he was trying to do... if I don't take the time to teach him about SEO.... he'll just go to paypal and see where I outsource my stuff! ..
You might say.. well.. if all it takes for you to lose your job is someone knowing where u outsource your SEO then you yourself aren't much of an expert right? .. NOT REALLY ... think about it, how many webmasters have fully stress tested panda/penguin to the point he can just give instructions to freelancers and rank anything for anything? ... Not many ... so having this "test data" is what matters no matter how many years you've been an SEO .. the moment Google throws an animal at you.. its back to the drawing board... so knowing what makes google tick after every update is EXTREMELY VALUABLE info... and for most reputable SEO companies... it is a TRADE SECRET.
Wouldn't you get mad if someone just got access to your paypal acc and started recording all of your business contacts and stuff you are buying?
Anyways..
One day he sends out an email to upper management (cc's me) saying that he put together a proposal & creatives for a "social media project" - I was SHOCKED
to say the least since I AM in charge of that department and no one ever asked me anything. Since we sit close to each other I did hear him on the phone talking to a social media "agency" about the very same "concepts" he presented in his "proposal to upper management" .. so the ideas on that proposal are not even his own original work!
At the same time this happened he started to pursue the roll of "online marketing manager" in an extremely aggressive manner because allegedly, he had heard from someone in upper management that with his manager gone, he would take over her role! ... good for him I say.. however; what I never imagined is that when he "assumed" he would be the next in line for that management position; he would start "micro-managing me" and giving me deadlines to deliver reports to him which in turn he would turn around and provide to upper management!!!
The drop that spilled the cup was that he wanted to revoke/limit the adwords access I had because according to him.. "I had nothing to do with that account"
I immediately took action and walked into the office of the VP and told him about this issue. He tried to ease the situation and said that each one of us should work on our stuff "while still exchanging as much information as we can between the both of us to do our jobs efficiently." <<< That was a horrible loophole! ..
This guy immediately started asking information about the rank tracker I am using. When I asked him to give me a valid reasoning as to why he would use an SEO Rank tracker for PPC; he proceeded to give me some BS reasoning ... he said he would adjust PPC bids based on " spike in organic keyword search" and... "competors rank of organic listing for our industry kws, and increase our paid rank for that" <<<< AHH WTF???!! THIS IS INSULTING to anyone who has basic knowledge of SEO/PPC...
I told him: if you want search trend data (spikes in search).. USE GOOGLE TRENDS! not the Rank tracker I am using for SEO purposes. Well...after feeling resistance from me.... he went to "upper management" and after BS'ing them... they told "X" to ask me to give him access to whatever tool/info he needed to do his job.
WTF? ... DOUBLE FACEPALM MOMENT!
This is when it dawned on me.. UPPER MANAGEMENT KNOWS SHIT ABOUT PPC AND SEO!!!
Basically, this guy can get anything he wants just by saying the magic word > "because" ....
As long as he presents a proposal/reason for anything he wants he can have it because upper management is EXTREMELY IGNORANT about this stuff! .... OMG..
To complete the package... this guy accessed my reports to upper management and started making calls to work on projects I haven't even pitched YET due to the fact that the legal department hasn't approved a couple of existing projects which work as the base for the projects "X" is now stealing from me!!!... When I confronted him about it, he said that he didn't know this was "my project" and that he didn't mind presenting it together to upper management!!
I went tried to find someone from upper management to help me out with this issue but it seems they were away .. so I sent a detailed email describing the situation.
3 days have passed and still no answer from upper management....
Thats when my morale plummeted .. I can't believe how underhanded this guy ... so basically, if I keep working here.. he'll steal as much "trade information" from me with the excuse that he needs that info for PPC!!
I don't like "Mr X" so much so as to teach him everything that has cost me years to learn/test just because he can bullshit upper management... so I am seriously considering quitting.....
What would you do if you were in my position?
I have a bit of a dilemma and would like to get your input on it. The story is a bit long so, if you have the time; bear with me please.
I, have a 9 to 5 job which I need to keep while I work on my SEO/SEM stuff and support my wife & 2 children. My job is SEO-related and I am doing quite well with my tasks. Recently tho, a few "things" have happened which I can't ignore, so I need your honest input about:Anyways... "why is this a problem to u?" .. you may be asking at this point, Well it isn't! .. HOWEVER; while this was going on .. "X" confided in me the fact that he didn't know much about SEO; and that it would be nice if I taught him more advanced concepts as he "has a website" he wants to use to start selling SEO/SEM services since he's "heard" that there are tons of people making a killing with SEO.
Some months ago the company hired a PPC guy who was supposed to help the "PPC manager" with landing pages, optimizing adgroups, testing ads/keywords, etc... however; this newly hired employee who I should refer to as "X" .. felt that his role didn't justify his position because they were too mundane and insignificant and so he started taking roles away from the PPC Manager. At first the manager was like... OK... X wants to help out with my tasks but later on; "X" started to create spreadsheets to "micro-manage" his manager!! ..OOHHH!..... the excuse he gave was that things could be more efficient if he "helped track the progress of their projects" .. not only was he micromanaging his manager based on tasks but also on performance and so she (the PPC manager) felt at some point like she was reporting to "X" ..
NOW Don't get me wrong!, employees who try to improve and innovate things are always AWESOME imo... HOWEVER...what would your boss (if u have one) say if u start telling him/her that his work is inefficient (when it really isn't) and that you are going to create spreadsheets to "help track the progress of his projects?!" ... I'm pretty sure that more than 1 boss out there would say.. well "I am the expert here and I know how things are supposed to be handled, while explaining the tasks to his/her subordinate" .. which is exactly what the PPC manager did. "X" however; wasn't happy about that answer and so he kept devising ways to take over more roles and according to him "improve efficiency and keep track of things" ... a role "X" wasn't hired for..
Things got so hectic between the PPC manager and "X" that one day, the manager decided to limit his access to some tools because he was making too many "unauthorized" changes without first consulting with his direct supervisor. The reaso the PPC managener had for limiting "X's" access to the tool was not only the unauthorized changes but the fact that "X" was undermining his Managers knowlege by saying that "data which he had gathered from the agency where he used to work at, showed that the way his manager was doing things was wrong and so he need to correct things" ... Needless to say... he never even tested these "theories of his" ... he just read them somewhere, printed them out and had showed them to the PPC manager as if they were irrefutable "cold-hard-facts"
After all of that took place, and noticing that his manager was not going to give him full access to the tool, "X" got mad and requested a meeting with upper management where he threw his Manager under the bus. His manager won the argument but at this point you can imagine the relationship between the PPC manager and this insolent guy (X)
While this was happening, X kept complaining to me of how much of an idiot his manager was, and that his manager didn't know half of what he knew about PPC (even tho his manager ran that same PPC account successfully for about a year before he got there).... and that his manager didn't know excel the way he did....
Knowing "office politics" very well I kept all opinions to myself and didn't give X much of a conversation based on his complaints by saying that "I didn't want to talk about it since I didn't know the situation very well" ... even tho I KNEW what was going on.
Shortly after these events the PPC manager resigned and I can see why. Not only did "X" kept bugging her about her performance and the many things she could improve upon if only his manager would give him more access to tools and data... but "upper management" is gulible due to their ignorance of PPC ... so every time "X" would request a meeting to complain about his PPC manager.. his manager would win the argument but she would come across as a dictator in the yes of upper management.
Before the PPC manager left however; I was given access to the company's adwords account since I can definitively use all that data to optimize metas and run link campaigns based on conversion ratios and whatnot.
My initial reaction was:
This guy wants me to teach him SEO to profit from my knowledge? .. WOW.. I mean .. I am not an SEO guru or anything of the sort but I do make money on a side from my own websites and I keep myself up to date w the rampage Google's animals cause...
I dismissed the request as something dumb and I thought he wasn't serious about it.
Assuming that "X" couldn't possibly be serious about it was MY mistake, because it turns out he was deadly serious and not only was he thinking of asking me to teach him.. he was trying to figure out a way to get upper management involved so that "I would teach him SEO" with the pretense that his PPC operations NEED data from SEO and that the company would benefit a lot from us "meshing SEO/PPC info" together.. :rolleyes: .. (that guy is a smooth operator)
When I first heard this "reasoning" I thought.. hmmm.. OK ... it would be interesting to see his "approach" as to why he needs "SEO information" for PPC and "what information he wants to get" ..
I deemed this idea valid as I know that SEO, BENEFITS from PPC data; because of the fast feedback loops... in other words, you can immediately see whats converting and for what keywords and you can SEO optimize for it. < That is a HUGE advantage in my opinion so I thought he would come up with some AWESOME reasoning like that.
Well a couple of days passed after the PPC manager had left, and "X" upped-his-antics by asking me 30+ SEO related questions a day, on average; and I (like an idiot) would "partially answer them" just to be nice with my coworker (he would usually ask me 5-10 questions a day btw). Keep in mind that "X" job is "PPC related" ..
Some questions "X" would ask would be about:
1. Our competitors rankingsKeep in mind these were all just questions so I never gave it much thought as to what he was planning.
2. Our backlinking projects (frequency, places I would get them from)
3. My take on effective ways to get around recent google updates (really?)
4. Tips on excel
5. Questions about PPC since he admittedly "wasn't much of an expert on PPC" and he is now handling a large PPC account! (OMFG REALLY?!!)
6. My Social Media initiatives
7. HTML code (lol)
8. Issues tracking conversions (iframes are too much for him to handle)
9. How I handle online reputation management for the company...
ETC... ETC.. ETC..
NOW THIS IS WHERE IT GETS PERSONAL:
The day his manager left.. "X" was told by upper management to change the passwords of anything his now "old manager" had access to and that he was aware of. Anyways.. he knew that his manager had access to the company's paypal account... the same account I use for SEO buys... and itching to know the places where I outsource and buy links from he starting bugging me about giving him access to the account. I got very defensive about it since he has no reason to have access to this account, all charges are SEO related.. there is nothing there related to PPC.. but he nagged to upper management and they told me to give him access. The excuse he gave them was "I might have to buy a few things for PPC" so I'll need access to this account.
I got pissed because it was obvious to me what he was trying to do... if I don't take the time to teach him about SEO.... he'll just go to paypal and see where I outsource my stuff! ..
You might say.. well.. if all it takes for you to lose your job is someone knowing where u outsource your SEO then you yourself aren't much of an expert right? .. NOT REALLY ... think about it, how many webmasters have fully stress tested panda/penguin to the point he can just give instructions to freelancers and rank anything for anything? ... Not many ... so having this "test data" is what matters no matter how many years you've been an SEO .. the moment Google throws an animal at you.. its back to the drawing board... so knowing what makes google tick after every update is EXTREMELY VALUABLE info... and for most reputable SEO companies... it is a TRADE SECRET.
Wouldn't you get mad if someone just got access to your paypal acc and started recording all of your business contacts and stuff you are buying?
Anyways..
One day he sends out an email to upper management (cc's me) saying that he put together a proposal & creatives for a "social media project" - I was SHOCKED
to say the least since I AM in charge of that department and no one ever asked me anything. Since we sit close to each other I did hear him on the phone talking to a social media "agency" about the very same "concepts" he presented in his "proposal to upper management" .. so the ideas on that proposal are not even his own original work!At the same time this happened he started to pursue the roll of "online marketing manager" in an extremely aggressive manner because allegedly, he had heard from someone in upper management that with his manager gone, he would take over her role! ... good for him I say.. however; what I never imagined is that when he "assumed" he would be the next in line for that management position; he would start "micro-managing me" and giving me deadlines to deliver reports to him which in turn he would turn around and provide to upper management!!!
The drop that spilled the cup was that he wanted to revoke/limit the adwords access I had because according to him.. "I had nothing to do with that account"
I immediately took action and walked into the office of the VP and told him about this issue. He tried to ease the situation and said that each one of us should work on our stuff "while still exchanging as much information as we can between the both of us to do our jobs efficiently." <<< That was a horrible loophole! ..
This guy immediately started asking information about the rank tracker I am using. When I asked him to give me a valid reasoning as to why he would use an SEO Rank tracker for PPC; he proceeded to give me some BS reasoning ... he said he would adjust PPC bids based on " spike in organic keyword search" and... "competors rank of organic listing for our industry kws, and increase our paid rank for that" <<<< AHH WTF???!! THIS IS INSULTING to anyone who has basic knowledge of SEO/PPC...
I told him: if you want search trend data (spikes in search).. USE GOOGLE TRENDS! not the Rank tracker I am using for SEO purposes. Well...after feeling resistance from me.... he went to "upper management" and after BS'ing them... they told "X" to ask me to give him access to whatever tool/info he needed to do his job.
WTF? ... DOUBLE FACEPALM MOMENT!
This is when it dawned on me.. UPPER MANAGEMENT KNOWS SHIT ABOUT PPC AND SEO!!!
Basically, this guy can get anything he wants just by saying the magic word > "because" ....
As long as he presents a proposal/reason for anything he wants he can have it because upper management is EXTREMELY IGNORANT about this stuff! .... OMG..
To complete the package... this guy accessed my reports to upper management and started making calls to work on projects I haven't even pitched YET due to the fact that the legal department hasn't approved a couple of existing projects which work as the base for the projects "X" is now stealing from me!!!... When I confronted him about it, he said that he didn't know this was "my project" and that he didn't mind presenting it together to upper management!!
I went tried to find someone from upper management to help me out with this issue but it seems they were away .. so I sent a detailed email describing the situation.
3 days have passed and still no answer from upper management....
Thats when my morale plummeted .. I can't believe how underhanded this guy ... so basically, if I keep working here.. he'll steal as much "trade information" from me with the excuse that he needs that info for PPC!!
I don't like "Mr X" so much so as to teach him everything that has cost me years to learn/test just because he can bullshit upper management... so I am seriously considering quitting.....
What would you do if you were in my position?
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