3 - Hiring

In this training video, I'm going to walk you through one of the most important aspects of growing a business. I'm going to walk you through the hiring process. And again, this is one of the most important elements of growing and scaling your business. If you do it right, it is the greatest feeling in the world. If you do it wrong, it is absolutely the worst. So let's

dive in. So you're ready to accelerate, right? With this program, we're providing you with the engine. We're providing you with the machine. So you're ready to accelerate, but the anchor is still down. And you're ready to go, but you're not sure what is holding you back. And the reason for that is if you are the main cog in your business, if you are the glue that is

holding your entire business together, then you are also the main clog because given its current state, if you are the main cog in your business, then your business can only be as big as you are. So this was a piece of advice shared with me by my friend Colin Andrews, who is a mega successful business owner. His business was ranked in the top Inc. 500 for fastest

growing companies in the North America for two years in a row. And it's just such a simple way to frame this because most business owners who are struggling to scale are struggling to do that because they're not able to remove themselves from the business and they're not able to scale bigger than themselves. So let's dive into this problem. So the problem is you cannot create leverage while

you're spending your precious time and resources as a business owner on low value tasks. It's just that simple because every minute that you spend on low value tasks, again, those are low value tasks that are going to be in the $10 to $100 range, they prevent you from creating leverage, which prevents you from scaling your business. So to fully make the transition to become a thriving business

owner, you must spend your time only on high value impact and income generating activities. To truly have the greatest impact as a business owner, you have to think bigger than yourself. And that brings us to our solution. You need to move $5 tasks to $5 earners. And again, move $10 tasks to $10, it's the same thing. You need to get those low value tasks off your plate

as soon as possible. To do this, identify every single task that you're currently doing that is not creating leverage in your business. Again, leverage means it's either generating income or it's creating more time so that you can generate more income. Systemize and create documentation for how to execute these low value tasks and then delegate and hire the workout. So guys, this is what we're going to focus

on in this training. And I'm super excited because I can't wait to share the secrets to building an amazing team and having a successful hiring process. So what should you hire out? As I shared before, you need to hire out low value work that is not impact or income generating. So basically, as many low and low medium value tasks as possible. So here are a few examples

of some of these low value tasks which you guys should already be familiar with. So these are things like sending emails, filing, organizing, admin tasks, bank deposits, just super low value tasks that you could literally hire out to that 10 year old down the street. Here are some low medium value tasks. So these are a little bit more advanced. You would probably have to upgrade from the

10 year old down the street to maybe the high score down the street. So these are things like reviewing numbers. These are things like some development, some quality control, some graphics. Again, we're getting into a little bit more higher level tasks. But again, these are the types of tasks that are not going to grow your business. Also, what you should hire out is work that is outside

your zone of genius. If you're not fully capable of delivering on a task, then you need to hire that out. Again, you start small and work your way up as we'll share in this training. But you should always be very, very well aware of what your weaknesses are and what your expertise and specialties are so that you can hire out accordingly. Also, any work that causes you

stress or you don't enjoy, you need to get that off your plate because those negative emotions, that negative energy, that is going to stifle your creativity. That's going to stifle your performance. And that is not going to lead to scaling and growing a business. So if you're in this program, you've already demonstrated that you have that cash flow. You've demonstrated that you're ready to take things to

the next level. So the missing piece is the systems. So you need to have systems in place for these low value tasks. But once you have that, you're ready to begin hiring. So when do you start hiring? So you need to hire when the business cannot run without the hire. So for me, with my creative and design agency, my business can't run without designers and developers. So

those are people that I absolutely must hire to grow. Next, hire when the hire pays for themselves. So they can either pay for themselves by creating more time, so basically freeing up your time so that you can grow the business, or by directly generating an ROI. So for me, I recently hired my first full time employee who is running my operations. And he is already paying for

himself by the time that he is saving me in addition to some business development that he is doing to lead to sales. So those are two things to keep in mind for when you should start hiring. So next, who to hire and when to hire them. Now keep in mind, guys, these are just suggestions and guidelines. Each business is a little bit different, but these should give

you a very, very good idea of when you should start hiring and who you should start hiring. So first of all, a virtual assistant. You can, and you probably should hire a virtual assistant tomorrow because a virtual assistant you can find as I've shared in the other training for anywhere from two to ten dollars. So you need to get all of those ten dollar an hour tasks

off your plate and delegated to a virtual assistant. Usually these hires are going to cost, again, anywhere from $3 up to $15 an hour. And in my other training, I've shared with you exactly how you can find these types of people for those prices. Again, you're probably going to be able to find even as low as $2 up to $5 an hour if you know where to

look. And when? Yesterday. Again, there's no reason that you shouldn't have a VA. So that's action item number one. Get started hiring a VA and get that in motion as soon as possible. Next, project manager. So what the project manager does is they will manage and supervise the value delivery projects and ensure that your team members are delivering work on time. So the price for a project

manager, it can vary quite a bit. The kind of rough estimate is anywhere from $10 to $25 an hour. It depends on the type of work that you're providing. For example, with me, I've had project managers at $10 to $15 an hour that were managing some of my designers and developers who are also around the same pay rate. So when should you hire them? When you're working

on around three to five plus projects a month and or generating at least two and a half K per month, that's a good time to start looking for a PM and starting to hire them as well. So if you're in this program, you are more than likely already past that point. So you should definitely start looking to hire a project manager. Next, operations director. So the terminology

for this role varies slightly. It can be operations manager, director of operations. It doesn't really matter. But basically what they do is they oversee all of your business operations from value delivery to client communications as well as improving your operating system and processes and systems. So these are going to be a little bit more of an expensive hire anywhere from $20 to $50 an hour. And when

you should start considering to hire a director of operations, you need to have effective systems in place that have been proven and tested and that are generating results. Once you have that as well as a business that is steadily growing, you know, likely generating around three to four K plus per month, then you are most likely in a great position to start hiring somebody that can completely

take all of the operations off your plate. And guys, this is an incredible, incredible hire. I've been able to go from working 40, 50 hour plus weeks to around five hour weeks by hiring an operations director and creating really, really effective systems and documentations to complement that hire. All right. Next are contractors. So these are people like freelance designers, developers, copywriters, marketers, et cetera. These are going

to range quite dramatically anywhere from $5 up to $50 an hour. And this is a pretty simple one because basically whenever you get work in, you hire these individuals. So when you're getting started, just hire on a project basis. As you start growing and as you start really starting to understand these contractors work ethics, then you can start looking to bring them on part time or full

time on a little bit of a more consistent employee type basis. Regardless though, you need to be aiming for at least 60% profit margins on all of your projects. And if you're not, then that means that you're not providing a premium service and it's going to be difficult for you to scale. So you need to charge more. And again, in this program, we cover very, very in

depth all of that information around branding and positioning and how to position yourself as the only solution. So again, you should absolutely at this point be operating at at least 60% profit margins on your projects. So keep in mind, these are just suggestions and guidelines and each business is slightly different. However, again, you should be consistently operating at a profit margin of at least 60% and if

that's not the case, then something is wrong. And that most likely is going to be a branding and positioning issue, which you should be able to correct with your blue ocean and your storm piercer, which we have already covered in a previous training. So here's how to get started hiring. First, you need to audit your needs by identifying the following. So identify all low value tasks that

you need to delegate. Next, identify any work that is outside your zone of genius. And then lastly, any work that causes you stress or work that you just simply don't enjoy. Next, determine who you need to hire to fulfill those needs. So once you're able to identify the low value tasks and any other tasks that are either outside your zone of genius or work that you don't

enjoy, then you need to group those tasks into a specific role, right? So those roles are again going to be something like a virtual assistant. They're going to be contractors. They're going to be project managers or an operations director, right? So identify which tasks are preventing you from growing and then determine which of these roles is what you need to hire to solve that. And you know,

there might be other ones as well. So thirdly, prepare an onboarding document for the role that you were hiring for. And guys, this is super, super important because again, effective hiring comes from having effective systems and processes in place. If you don't have those systems in place, it's going to be very, very difficult to effectively hire because ideally, you bring one hire in and they're absolutely crushing

it. Your business is growing and you have more work, so you're able to bring in another one of them. However, if you don't have those systems in place, then you're not going to be able to duplicate that role as easily. So this onboarding document is essentially a summary of those amazing systems that you're going to have in place. So then you convert that onboarding document into just

a brief descriptive job overview and that is what you share with your potential hires and you can post that on various different places. So now let's share how to create an onboarding document. So first, you're going to want to identify the tools needed and the purpose of each. So for my team and my agency, we use Slack, Trello and also have some core operating systems that are

in Google Drive. So you need to identify those tools and you need to describe the purpose of each. Also provide login details for each and include that in the onboarding document. Next, share the main functions as well as the responsibilities of their role. So if they're a virtual assistant, what are their main functions? Their main functions might be things like auditing email, filtering my email inbox, auditing

client communications, performing data entry or research type tasks. Just clearly lay out their main functions as well as the responsibilities of those functions. Next outline the purpose of each function. So if they're going to be auditing your emails and filtering your email inbox, you know, outline the purpose of that. So they understand and then clearly outline those responsibilities and deliverables, right? So you're saying, okay, I want

you to filter through my inbox. And the reason for this is so that I'm only paying attention to emails that require my attention and allowing me to free up my time and focus, right? And those responsibilities would be things like reviewing my inbox, removing any newsletters, removing any sort of promotional or sales emails and only identifying emails that are coming from a specific individual and requiring my

input, that sort of thing. So those are all the types of responsibilities. Those are just examples. So then next, you also want to include how are they to prioritize their tasks, right? So this is very important if you're going to be hiring someone like a project manager or a operations director because those roles, they have a lot of different things going on. And you want to provide

them with a guide around how they are to prioritize the tasks that come in, right? So most likely, since you're going to be running an agency, the most important thing for you to prioritize is keeping your clients happy. So everything that comes in from a client immediately gets priority over things like improving your operating system documentation, that kind of stuff. So all of those types of prioritization

instructions, you need to include in this onboarding document as well. Also break down their daily routine, you know, what do they do when they get in first thing and what do they do when they leave? So what does a successful morning routine look like and what does a successful end of day routine look like that makes sure that they know that they're done for the day and

it also lets you know that they're done for the day, right? So break down that daily routine and I'm actually in the process of creating a schedule template for my operations director. So the more granular you can get, the better it is because again, as you grow, you're going to be able to duplicate these roles and responsibilities. And I'll be providing an onboarding document template just so

you can visualize all this and customize as needed. So this is so important. You need to know how to spot a good hire because you can have the best systems in place, but the worst intuition for hiring and that leads to disasters. So I'm going to break down what to look for in a really, really good hire. So first of all, they're hungry as fuck. Like they

are hungry. They're as hungry as you are because I know you're hungry since you're in this program and you know, this is not a cheap program. This is a several thousand dollar program and we purposely priced that to filter out people that were just hungry as fuck because those are the types of people that are going to implement and deliver massive results and you need to look

for the same in your new hires. Next, they believe in your vision and they share your values. This is so important because it brings a whole nother level of meaning and fulfillment to your work. And not only that, but speaking in terms of motivation, it provides them with an intrinsic motivation. You know, they're not working for the money. They're not working for the monetary external rewards. They're

genuinely working because they believe in your vision and your values and that's going to create intrinsic motivation, which is infinitely more powerful than extrinsic motivation. So you have to be very clear about what your vision is and what your values are so that you can have that opportunity for them to align with that and believe in that. Next, they're punctual. This is very simple. But if you're

potentially hiring someone and they're not punctual, they miss deadlines, there's just no way. There's absolutely no way that you should hire them and eliminate them right now. If there's someone on your radar that is not punctual, get them the fuck out of the, out of the, um, consideration. All right. Next, they use the right language. So guys, this is super important because the language that we use

is reflective of our mindset. It's reflective of our beliefs. If your new potential hire is saying things like if and but instead of won'ts and wills, then that's something to look out for. And specifically what I mean is if you tell your new hire, like for example, with me, with my director of operations, I tell him all the time, you know, don't do this anymore or we

can't do this. And he responds with things like, okay, this won't happen again as you'll see. He doesn't respond with, but what if this or but what about that? But what about, no, no, fuck that. If your new potential hires already displaying that their language is not aligned with the type of language of somebody that is going to be able to perform at a high level and

somebody that has the right mindset to grow and develop, then they're gone. Next, they make sacrifices. So guys, this is really, really important because if you have somebody that genuinely believes in your vision and your values, they're going to make sacrifices for you. And by making those sacrifices, they're working towards something much greater than themselves. So if your hire is working a full time job and working

your gig on the side and just sleeping like crazy hours or putting themselves through uncomfortable situations for the betterment of you and your business, that is somebody that you want to hire. For example, my operations guy, Shubham, as you'll learn about in a little bit, he was working fucking like 16, 17, 18 hours. He had a full time internship, he was also going to school and he

was working for different hunger when he got home. So I was just blown away by this guy's commitment and how hungry he was. And again, if your new hire shows any sort of signs of that, bring them on board immediately. Next, they don't react emotionally. This is also so important because people that react emotionally do not make good decisions because they're reacting emotionally and they're not reacting

logically. They are letting their emotions guide their decisions versus their brain and their rational mind. So if you share things with your new hire or potential hire and they're reacting with very emotional language or just being emotional and moody, then they're not the right fit. They're not the right hire. Next, they take criticism and stride. This one kind of goes hand in hand with reacting emotionally because

look, as a business owner, you know that to improve, you need to identify your weaknesses. You need to be self-aware and that's one of the reasons that you bought this program because you wanted to learn from people that had already done what you're trying to do. So if your new hire is not able to take that same criticism, then they're not going to grow. They're not going

to develop. They're not the type of person you want on your team. Next, they make mistakes and they self-correct. So look, guys, we're not looking for magical unicorns, magical unicorn hires that don't make mistakes because that's not realistic. You want people to make mistakes because when they make mistakes, you're able to see how they handle those mistakes and the people that are the most successful are the

ones that can make those mistakes and not even think twice. They just simply self-correct and they're off and on their way. So guys, this is majorly, majorly important. Your new potential hire, they must make mistakes but they must correct themselves so that they don't make those mistakes again, again, and again. Next, they ask for feedback in order to improve, you know. They understand that they are constantly

evolving. They're constantly developing, they're constantly growing and to do that, they need feedback from someone like yourself, okay? So if a new potential hire at any point asks for feedback in order to improve, that is an amazing sign. Next, they never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever complain. The minute that someone that you're thinking of hiring is complaining, then you know that they're gone the next second. Don't

even entertain anyone who complains because a complainer is reacting emotionally, they're not taking criticism, they're not self-correcting. They're not looking to improve, they're just looking for outs and they do not deserve a spot on your team, there's just no way in hell. Next, they are not afraid to share their opinion even when it contradicts yours. So this might be a little bit unconventional because I know, I

personally know a lot of founders and business owners who only look to hire yes men. They only look to hire people that will just say yes and shut up. But that's not only is it boring, but it's not a great way to run your business because at the same time, your hire needs to look to improve. You also need to look to improve, right? You're not going

to be right 100% of the time and you want somebody to share their opinion and not be afraid to share your opinion. And if someone is afraid to share their opinion, then you're not really doing a good job as a leader because a leader does not make the work environment scary. They make it respectful, they make it exciting, they make it exhilarating. So if you're looking to

bring someone on board and they're not afraid to share their opinion even when it's contradictory, then you know that they're the type of person that values themselves and that is what's going to lead to really great results. And then lastly, there's someone you want to have a beer with, right? There's somebody that outside of the workplace, outside of the project, outside of the budget, there's somebody that

you genuinely care about and somebody that you genuinely enjoy hanging out with. This is very, very important. So I want to just dive into some conversations that I've had with my operations director, Shubham, who I recently brought on board full time because I want to show you what an amazing hire looks like. So on my left here, I said, moving forward, I don't want these things on

my plate, especially from 7 to 11 a.m. when I'm focusing on other things. Mondays are for these types of things and that's it. So Shubham was aware prior to this conversation that I only want to work and spend one day a week on projects for my design business. So he's aware of that and I just let him know. I just said, look, dude, I don't want this

on my plate. And he said, look, I'll mark 7 to 11 a.m. on my calendar and it won't be an issue again. Again, he's saying won't. That is the language of somebody that understands how to constantly develop and grow. Next, on the right here, this was a great moment for me because this was very early on in the hiring process with me and Shubham. And he was

super, super excited and what he did was he reviewed my operating system, my various documentation for the business and he put together probably about four to five pages of notes and he's super excited and he was super proud of all these notes that he prepared for me and I was like, look, dude, I'm hiring you so I can do less work. You just sent me a document

with five to six pages that I don't have the time or the desire to look through. And as you can tell from his response, he immediately understood. He immediately put himself in my shoes, which is showing empathy, which is a very, very powerful characteristics of successful people. He put himself in my shoes and he was able to say, okay, look, you're right. You're only going to get

actionable info that you can use right away. That's it. Boom. Done. End of conversation. Your potential hire is talking like this. You know that they're a good fit. Next, they use the right language. Again on the left here, he says, won't be an issue again. And then on the right here, we recently had a project that not became urgent or dire or anything, but it was, you

know, the client displayed some unhappiness and Shubham is just reassuring me again. He's putting himself in my shoes as the business owner and he's saying, look, don't worry. We're good. If you want us an email, I'll get it handled. So short, concise, to the point, no bullshit. No bullshit, no emotions, no complaining, no worrying. It's just, it's just, it is what it is and these are the

types of people that are going to eliminate stress from your workload. Next, they make mistakes and self correct. So here's Shubham talking about how he spent two hours analyzing the mistakes that he made on a previous project. And this was right before we were getting to fully onboard him full time. And I didn't ask him to do this, but he took the initiative and he went ahead

and did it. And you know, whether he took two hours or one hour or 30 minutes, it doesn't matter. It just matters that this guy understands how to improve, how to constantly develop and in turn constantly grow and scale this business. And then again, probably one of the most important things is they're hungry as fuck. Hungry as fuck. You want people on your team that are hungry.

And here you can see Shubham. He's saying, boom, I'm starting tomorrow. I'm working from here to here. I want to take different hunger to the next level where we don't have to introduce our company anymore. I was like, damn, I would be an idiot not to hire this guy. And again, these types of hires are hard to find, but when you find them, and I hope by

going through this training, you'll be able to spot those amazing hires because you do not want to let these people go when they present themselves to you. And then lastly, it's hard to categorize this because this is just going above and beyond. But here you have Shubham, whose cousin who was like a brother to him, had a massive heart attack. And he's sending me an update on

a project and telling me that we'll get it done as soon as possible. I just have to run and help out my cousin who just had a heart attack. I mean, this is just next level stuff. But again, when you're able to be fortunate to come in contact with someone like this, you need to treat them as good as possible because they are going to help you

grow. And it's just going to be a beautiful relationship for both of you. All right. So to wrap up this training, there's just a few things that you're going to want to keep in mind. You want to hire slow and you want to fire fast. Don't be romantic about the hiring process, right? As I said before, it's the greatest thing in the world when done right. But

it's the worst thing in the world when done wrong. So again, be very slow to hire and take the time to deeply understand the psychology of the person on the other end, right? Like I said, you know, I just walked you through about five, ten minutes of how to spot a good hire. You know, you have to spend that time. Those are just things that you absolutely

must do. But the minute that this hire starts showing signs that they're not the right fit, you need to get them out because the longer that they stick around, the harder it is to cut ties and the longer that your business will suffer. Next, only hire people that say, I will do this, right? Do not hire people that say, what can I do? Because when people say

this, when people say, I will do this, this means that they took initiative, they took the time to study your business, and they took the time to identify what you need. The other person just sat back and said, what can I do? So you tell me which one you want to hire, right? You absolutely want to hire the person that takes the initiative and tells you how

they're going to help your business. Instead of putting more work on your plate, by saying, what can I do, that puts more work on your plate. And somebody with empathy, somebody who deeply understands the needs of a business owner and CEO, they would not ask that question because they understand that a CEO and a business owner only wants to spend time on things that drive the needle

for their business. So in conclusion, and this is just fundamental to everything that I've just shared. You're not hiring or managing anyone, like, sure, maybe those are the technical terms, but I don't want you to view it like that. I want you to view this as you are leading and empowering people. You're not hiring people. You're not managing people. You're leading and you're empowering people. You're providing

people with structure. You're providing people with step-by-step instructions to take them from where they're at today and turn them into a fucking beast that is going to help you grow your business. And in conclusion, you don't build business. You build people and people build the business. Again, guys, the hiring process is not about finding somebody who matches your hourly rate and who helps you get profit margins.

Training is about finding people that are hungry and willing to put in the work, and it's about you empowering them to tap into what they are actually and truly capable of to achieve their potential and achieve your business's potential. So guys, that is the hiring training.