Your team doesn’t cost you anything.
Your customers pay for them, not you. Your job is to build a business that can afford to have you operating at your peak and a team to support you in doing that. If you don’t what’s the point
As CEO, if your business doesn’t generate enough revenue to sustain itself, you must make that your Number 1 objective. If you’re not sure how, get help. Whether it’s reading business books, doing online research or finding a mentor… either figure it out before you do anything else, or go out and get a job.
Telling you to get a job might seem like the equivalent of me giving you the finger, BUT working for the right employer is a masterclass in building/ running a business. Not only does it provide you with cash flow and the breathing room to invest in your business, it gives you access to mentors (who also pay you to be there).
Let’s knock these other “reasons” off the table shall we?
“I don’t know how to build a team”
A team starts with one hire. Don’t try to get 10 people at once. You can also start with one hourly or part time person, they don’t need a 40-hour week right away. I guarantee you that the things taking up alot of your time only do so because they’re outside of your genius. A dedicated person can plough through them in no time. Case in point… the first week I hired my assistant, I gave him a MASSIVE to do list. I thought it would take him a week – he was done in a two days.
That brings me to my next point – when hiring someone you must know in advance exactly what you want them to do. Earlier, I shared with you my list of things I said “No” to… this becomes the to-do list for your new hire. Prioritize it and then delegate it.
“I don’t know where to find people”
I’ve been hiring people through Upwork for years. I generally have gotten some great hires, but my winning process is always to start with a small test and never a big project. See how you work together and how they perform before giving them a larger undertaking. Hire slow, fire fast” I don’t know who said that, but I always hire and fire fast. LOL Why? Because I need my roles filled quickly, so I can move on with the important stuff. Once I’ve onboarded one person for the role, it’s quite easy to add another person because the process is established and it’s just a matter of switching names.
Other sources for finding team members – friends, family, entrepreneurship organizations, facebook groups, LinkedIn, job sites, government programs/ schools (apprenticeships, internships), clients, neighbourhood postings, craigslist/kijiji, church, community centers, local groups, meetups… is it clear that this is a bullshit excuse yet?
“I don’t have the time to train people”
Don’t! Teach them as you go and document every step of the way.
Every time I did a task for the first time, I opened a google doc called “Team Training” and documented the process. I also used Loom to make videos of my screen doing these tasks.
Let them train themselves
My policy is “Google First. Ask Second.” It’s actually my status on Slack, so my team is constantly reminded not to ask me things they can find on the internet. I also encourage collaboration between team members – that’s what slack is for. I’ve grouped members of the team according to their role so they have a dedicated channel to “talk shop”. I also ask them to document all their steps in our internal company files so that, whether they forget or we hire someone else to join the team, the knowledge exists beyond someone’s brain.
Explain the vision.
This isn’t some airy fairy mission statement. Explain to them why you’re building this business, the impact you want to have and how their role fits in the greater picture. This not only gets them excited, it also gives them ideas to support the realization of that vision.
Here’s the vision I’ve shared with our team: