#309: How to Build a Successful Team

Hey, welcome to episode number 309, and I'm with my main gal pal today, Sarah Burks, and we are digging into all the things you need to know about building a team. If you've heard me talk about productivity and being a CEO versus an entrepreneur and getting more done, in your business, the only way to grow is to actually ask for help. So today, Sarah and I discuss all the details of what you need to know about hiring a team and how do you know it's right to hire a team? What do you look for? How do you interview? How do you onboard? And most importantly, when you have a team, how do you train them for success? Because you've probably heard the saying, and it's a little bit frightening, but a goal is that 95% of the reasons people leave your team or get fired is because they didn't understand or meet your expectations. That comes back to us and how we train our team success. Sarah does such a great job in this episode and every single day inside of the Hub, talking about the similarities between coaching your team and coaching a basketball team.

Do they know the plays?

Do they know what hoop we're shooting at? Do they know what quarter we're in? Do they know what play you're gonna call when we are just about to go into overtime and they have to close the deal? Guys, get a notebook, get a pen, get a paper. What you need, Because Sarah is laying it all down inside of this episode, and she's got even more inside of the Boutique Hub this month as our theme this month is all about hiring and managing your team. Check out the training library for even more after this podcast. Get ready to meet Sarah. You're going to love this one, you guys. Let's talk about your business strategy and the juicy details of what actually works. From mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts, and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub, and I can't wait to chat. You guys are in for such a treat this week. We call her the Retail professor, among many other names, but you may know her as Sarah Burks, our director of partnerships. Sarah, I'm so pumped to have you back on the show. Welcome back.

Well, it is great to be back. It's been a little while, so. Yeah, thanks for having me back this morning.

So one of my Favorite things to talk to you about is coaching, because you are such a coach by. Not just by nature, but by trade, you and your husband are into coaching. You've got girls in sports. You've been down this road. Not only do you have retail knowledge, but you're so excited about helping people truly implement it as a coach. And one of the analogies that you always make is the similarity in being a coach and being an entrepreneur that's growing a team. So today, I'm pumped to walk down this road with you.

Oh, awesome. Well, you know, I'm gonna. As you were saying that I got to thinking about this the other day and where my passion for coaching comes from, and honestly, my dad was a guidance counselor in our school system for over 30 years, so I feel like some of that, like, want to help and, like, dive in and understand what makes people tick and makes people motivated. I think it comes from just probably growing up with him, honestly. And so between that and, of course, my love of sports and all that kind of stuff, yeah, I don't know. I guess that's why I am the way I am. But, yeah, I'm very passionate about it.

I love that you and your husband both were college athletes. Your husband was a professional rodeo cowboy. You've coached at the college level. You've been a professor at. Talk to me about that stage of your life, and now you're still coaching, even today.

Yeah, actually, in my prior life, yeah, I played college volleyball. I've coached high school volleyball, But I also coach rodeo at Southeastern Oklahoma State University down in Durant, Oklahoma. And I hope everybody that's listening that heard me say that, I did say it correctly, because some people say Durant, but it is Durant, Oklahoma, and love that. But I mean, to just take a person and you know that especially in college, that comes out of high school. You know how high school kids feel like they think they know what they got going on. Right. All of a sudden, they enter into the college level, and it's a whole new ball game. And to, you know, help them mentally more than anything go to that next level. And I feel like that's the entrepreneurial deal, too, is we have this idea about a business, and we jump in, and then all of a sudden, we start facing some of the bigger wolves in the. In the pack, right? And, like, adversity and things just don't go the way we thought they were going to. We start the day off with a plan, and all of a sudden, something happens. And, you know, I. I feel like that coaching mindset that, you know, going back to the basics, building that solid foundation, understanding your strengths, but more importantly, understanding your weaknesses to see where you can delegate and, you know, give. Take some things off your plate. You know, I think those are one of those things. It's just so important for growth. And a lot of times that entrepreneur, just like that kid out of high school, tends to feel like, no, I know what I'm doing. I got it to the point where they. They realize one day when they look at their bank account or whoever it is calling them, constantly asking for the money, you know, what they owe or whatever it is, that they just don't. They don't. They don't have it all handled and they need some help. So, yeah, I absolutely love the coaching. I love the deep dive into that and, you know, figuring out what it is that you do that you were put here to do, that you're blessed with gifts and then what you're not and how to take that to the next level.

So I'm thinking, as you're saying that about the entrepreneur who's probably starting as a solopreneur, I want to kind of walk through this, like, from a linear perspective. Let's just put ourselves in the shoes of a solo entrepreneur. Feeling overwhelmed, like, I know I should probably hire. I just don't know where to start. Is it time for me to hire? How does someone first make that decision that they need to bring someone onto their team?

Yeah, that's a great question. So one of the things that I have been working with in my private coaching with retailers too lately is let's really identify what you absolutely love and what you're passionate about. And so, you know, whether this is in your daily life or in your business life, you know, write down 20 things that, you know, that you just love, absolutely love. And then what we're going to do is we're going to. We're going to look at some of those things and we're going to write down the things that are. That, you know, you have to have done in your business and you feel okay about. But they're not your. They're not your passion, they're not your love. They're those things that drag you down or you look at and you think, oh, okay, I'm going to get to that later. What are those? I'm going to get to that later. Things in your business constantly that you face and write those down and we have to just own them. And for that solopreneur to do that, when you identify what those things are. Most times they're not negotiable in a business setting. Right. They're just not negotiable to scale. Scale. So, but understanding that you have to do those, but maybe that's not where your passion lies and maybe you just don't feel comfortable there. And, you know, numbers, let's just say it, numbers is the biggest thing. Understanding, understanding your financial numbers, your inventory numbers, all those things in your business that can be a big, you know, holds people back a lot. It's a big rock for a lot of people. Well, what happens is 10, you tend just not dive in and get to know it and start small. Right. And learn from it. You tend to just be frustrated about it, scared of them, right to the point you just put them off. And then they become this huge monster in your business that, you know, you have to stare at every day and you're intimidated by it. So it's one of those things that, you know, is it the numbers thing? If it is, let's look at the hours in your day, in your week, in your month that you spend not being productive there and actually just digging yourself further into a hole and identify, what if I just hired that out? What does that look like financially, freedom wise, energy wise in your business. And that's, I think, the big thing for that solopreneur to just take ownership of it and to be very honest, let that go. Right? Let it go. And realize this is not where my gift is. This had nothing to do with my passion. My passion for this business is over here, and it's this big rock facing me every day is keeping me from doing what all these 20 things that I love and I'm passionate about. So just honestly owning that and, and really just stepping up to the plate and showing maybe your weakness in an area which I think is a huge thing. A lot of us as entrepreneurs, you know, are very prideful about our, our skills and our abilities. And we're going to open a business and we're going to do this, but then we have to come into the table and say, all right, here's the thing. I just not good at this part of it, or I'm okay at it, but it just robs me of my energy, it robs me of my time, so I'm going to delegate it.

How do you decide when it's. Because I think this is a common crutch that we use when we're at that exact moment you're talking about is okay, yes, I, I understand. I Need help? I want help. This is not maybe my zone of genius, but this is an expense that I'm going to be taking on. How do you shift your mindset to investment versus expense?

Absolutely. I was going to say perfect segue into that. It is definitely an investment. Guys. The best thing to look at it is, you know, are you going to get something back for this money that you're putting down on the table? Absolutely, you are. The amount of mistakes that solopreneurs make in their bookkeeping and in their inventory management because they're trying to do this on their own, but they're not skilled. It's insane. And it can really hold you back. And when I like to talk about the opportunity costs, right. And where you could better invest that money if you are trying to do those things on your own and you're making those kind of mistakes. So as you're looking at what it would take to hire a bookkeeper, how about that tax professional, right? Man, I've talked to so many small business owners right now that are trying to do their own taxes and they're trying to understand all the PPP and the Eidl and what that means to them in the first round and the second round and all of these kind of things. And they're spending their time doing those things all day for, you know, weeks at a time. And all of a sudden they look and they're like, man, I haven't brought in any sales lately. Oh my gosh, I have inventory sitting in my back room. I haven't even opened and put out because I've been so busy trying to figure out and get my taxes in order because I understand I have to do that. And there's a deadline and it's not negotiable. So what falls off? It's, it's the sales, it's, it's the income generating things that you're doing in your business. So right there, you know, having that mindset again and everything we do revolves around how we look at things and our perspective on things and our mindset really. And you're good at some things and you're not at others, and that's fine. But taking that off and understanding that's an investment. You know, say you're going to have to throw 500 bucks out at a bookkeeper. Big deal. But if that 500, you can spend that. But on the other side, you're back here making $6,000 in sales. I think that's pretty obvious.

Yeah, for sure. So you've made the choice and now you're moving forward and you're going to do the thing, right? Either you're going to hire a contractor that maybe is going to do books and that's what they do, that's their zone of genius. Or you're going to bring someone onto your team and they're full time, part time, whatever, going to be your person on payroll. What are some of the checklist items that you need to do to be prepared for that transition?

Oh man, great question. So one of the things that I see so often is some entreprene or solopreneur, they get frustrated and they're like, I just got to hire somebody. So they go ahead and they find out who their best friend recommends. They say, yep, please get started. And then they're like, okay, so this is I just need you to sell clothes or I need you to do this or I need you to do that. And they're like, okay, perfect. Yep, sounds good. And they don't have a clue what you're actually asking them to do, right? And you just pretty much just throw, throw them in. And what is your saying? Feed them through a water hose or drink through a water, a fire hydra? What did you, you say? Yeah, yeah. And that's what it turns out to be. And some people will survive that, but the majority of your new hires will not. So guess what happens from the absolute get go? Confusion. And confusion is honestly the number one reason that employees leave. They don't feel, they don't feel they understand the job, they don't feel that they have the, the ability to properly do it. They're afraid of messing up, they don't feel like they have a voice and they just get frustrated and they leave. So from the beginning, when you've decided that you want to hire somebody, you want to outsource something, right? It's time to just really get organized and understand what does that look like? What is your expectation? What can their expectation be? Right, so say we're talking about just a new hire. Like, okay, if, let's go back if you are hiring a bookkeeper or tax professional, things like that. Again, basics. This is what I, I can provide you. You know, I want to have a summary every week or every month where you bring me up to speed on my health check of my business.

Right?

You can't just turn your financials over to somebody and look at them once a year or open up your bank, you know, your online bank account and look in bank balance accounting. That's not going to work. You have to have intimate conversations with whoever these financial people are often. Right. No less than quarterly. Just so you can understand how what's the health check of my business? It's just like calling your doctor up or going and you know, identifying weaknesses, opportunities, pain points and you know, things that you can really capitalize on or what you're not. So that's very important. But now if that conversation is more about I'm going to hire some, a new sales staff or I'm going to hire a virtual assistant to help me with my, my social media or my graphics or my, you know, inputting my data person, whatever it is, inputting inventory, very beginning. When you decide that's what you want to do, identify who that person is, what their, what their ethics are, you know, what their, what their personality is like, you know, what, what their values are, what is, what is important to you, right? To just go back and say, oh, I'm going to hire somebody because they were the lead sales at I don't know, the buckle or it doesn't matter that you know, they have got to understand and buy into your core mission of your business. I think this is extremely important. So identified who that person is, right? You have that you have, you've now got a list of people you're going to interview. Well, when it comes time to do that, I'm a big believer in a system, a system from the get go. Set aside that time that you're going to interview them, make sure you're on time, have a checklist of things you are going to go through in the interview process. And every person you interview should go through this whole process, right? And you're going to ask these specific questions and you're going to engage in these things and maybe you have a little task that you ask them to do, you know, as far as you know, putting an outfit together or merchandising something or whatever it is, a sample sale or there's a ton of different things and we talk a lot about this in other courses and things. But whatever it is, be consistent with that, right? And have a grading system. What is it that you're loving liking or disliking about how this person is presenting themselves, right? And how do you see them? Do they ask good questions? Are they engaging? Are they making eye contact? All these things that you would think are going to important for you in this job. And again, if it's your virtual assistant, they're going to sit behind a computer and do graphics. Those questions and that, that personality and all that stuff is going to be a little bit different. But so then as soon as you've made the commitment on bringing that person in again, it's all about that communication. I'm a big advocate for the just tell it like it is, right? We're not going to paint this super rosy picture. And then all of a sudden that person says, yeah, I'll come to work for you. This would be great. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh yeah, hey, by the way, nights, weekends, holidays, that's on you and not negotiable and whatever, you know, you know, be very open and honest. Open, honest clarity, I think is so important. So that's, that's number one, right? Having that checklist and going through a process with everybody you interview. That way you're consistent on knowing who you're getting when they come on, right? So then when it comes time to that first day, gets do some homework before that first day, have everything ready for when that person comes to you the very first day, where you have all the paperwork that they're going to need to sign, right? You're going to be able to walk them through their training, signing up for their payroll, right? They're signing any non disclosure or non compete agreements that you might have. They're getting their keys, they know where to park, they know where to, how to clock in and out. All of those basic things want to cover. And there's a checklist for that too. So when it comes the end of the month and all of a sudden you sit down to do payroll or you're sending your numbers in for your bookkeeper to run payroll, and all of a sudden they call back and say, who's this Ashley Alderson that you got here? I don't have any information in the system, so I can't cut her a check. And then all of a sudden Ashley comes to get her check or thinks it's going to be in her, her bank. And it's not all because you weren't organized in the onboarding system. So an onboarding process is not negotiable. This takes very little time. Honestly. Once you put a system together, then, then it's done. But every new employee deserves this. And I will say I think this is a big mistake that a lot of people make is they're like, oh, I'm going to hire somebody. I need people to get this off my plate. I'm just too busy to deal with this, this and this. And then they're, they come across as too busy to deal with the onboarding too busy to do with the, to deal with the first days, mundane kind of questions and training. And it just ends up being a very bad situation for everybody involved.

Sarah, talk to me more specifically about just what does general onboarding look like? Because I feel like one of the biggest mistakes that we see, and I know you and I cover this a ton inside of retail bootcamp, but one of the biggest mistakes that we see is, you know, we're so overwhelmed as entrepreneurs. Sometimes we wait way too long to hire, we bring someone on and then we just kind of like dump them. Like, okay, you're here. And we just expect that they're supposed to know what to do. How long does onboarding generally take and what are some key components that have to be included?

I am a big believer in this, what I call ttrr. That's train test, review, repeat. And it never ends. It absolutely never ends. And you know, I, I'll say this so again, like I, I talk about coaching and I'll refer it back to a basketball team and I'll refer it back to a fourth grade girls basketball team. You bring them in and you're going to talk to them about a few of the rules of the game, right? Understanding what a travel is, right? What when you walk with the ball, all of these kind of stuff, what a carry is the whole premise of what you trying to do, right? We're going to score baskets to win the game. We're going to do it as a team. These are basic things, right? And then the next thing you're going to do is you're just going to say take the ball and learn to dribble, right? And then we're going to maybe advance onto layups. Well, the thing about that is, is that fourth grade girl is going to do that every single day at practice, all the way up through junior high, up through high school and up through college, if they get to play that far. And guess what? If they go playing the pros, they're still going to start with ball handling and, and layups. It doesn't stop. So my thing about bringing a new hire into your store is if you train them on that point of sale system one time on how to do a return or one time on how to receive inventory, inventory in from, you know, when the UPS guy drops it off, how to hang, steam, tag it, merchandise it, all that kind of stuff, if you train them on it one time. Because that's just not enough. Right. Sales strategy is constant. We need to continually be motivating our team to understand how to communicate and, and sell. Right? And sell and serve to our customer. Identify quickly. It's a skill for a salesperson to be able to have a person come into their store or onto a chat and identify who they are in their pain points, right? So you can serve them, you can fix their problem. That stuff doesn't just happen by saying, hey, Ashley, glad you're here working for me at this store. I just need you to sell all this stuff. Go do it. I mean, that doesn't make any sense, right? And so going back to this basketball analogy, if you as the coach don't train your staff, how do you know they're not going to go. How do you know they're not going to go shoot the ball at the wrong basket? They can, you know, that happens. That happens all the time. Or how do they know how they're going to handle the defender coming on, impressing them, or how they're going to handle certain different situations that happen. Now take that into the retail spectrum. How are they going to handle that awful customer that comes in that's super needy, that just wants to return absolutely everything or wants to beg for a better discount, or somebody that's simply asking, hey, do you have any more of this in a size 7? And how will that sales staff person know? You know what? Actually, we don't. However, there's another order of these coming in, set to ship next week. We should have them by the end of the month. And then what does that system look like? What's that line of communication look like? So when does that onboarding end? Well, that initial, like where to park, how to clock in, that kind of stuff that. Watch the training video, fill out your, fill out all your new hire paperwork, get you into the system. That should just take a few days. But the, the idea of actually training your staff never ends. We are constantly in the realm of new education. And just like, just like things happened over 2020, there was so many new things that your sales staff or your just your employees in general needed to understand and how to communicate that community for safety and procedures and what that looked like for your customer. So, so you're constantly coming back and having what I like to call team huddles with your, with your staff. So everybody's on the same page and everybody feels confident in their roles and everybody can succeed. I want to say this, and I hope people that are listening, they really buy into this. As a entrepreneur, as a small business owner, you are to raise leaders, not leavers in your business. And I honestly, I wish I knew where I heard that from, but I'm a big believer in that because we want Mini Me's right. You want Mini use Ashley at the, at the boutique hub. You want all your employees to be as excited and encouraging and as, as compassionate for our members and for the hub as you are. So it trickles down. And all of, all of our members here at the Boti cup feel like they are part of this community. Just like if you were talking to them, you would like me to communicate with them as well and every Beth and Shannon, everybody on our team. Right. So that that community of employees here at the hub have to buy into the mission of the hub and we have to like it has got to just spill out of us to the benefit of our members. Same with whoever store is listening, you know, your, your vibe, your energy, your mission, your vision has got to be bought into by absolutely everybody that's on your team. Because if they know it and they understand it, then your customers are going to feel it and that's where the loyalty comes from and that's where that branding, you know, and they feel like they're part of something and they want to continue to do business.

Yeah. So talk to me, take that a step further. When we're thinking about like that ongoing training with whether you're new and you even have just one employee. To those of you that have fifty, a hundred employees, what does that team meeting structure look like every week and what do we have to make sure we're including in that just ongoing communication process?

Oh yeah. Awesome. I love it. Okay, so here is the. I will say this is my absolute number one non negotiable on team huddles and I call them huddles because honestly I feel like this is, this is, you know, we've all been in game time. Now we're going to gather together and we are going to go over and it's going to be quick. Right. Because people don't just have a ton of time. So when you get together in these huddles, I strategy, what is working, what is not and what can we improve on? And when you, when you as the leader, I don't care entrepreneur, the owner, whoever you are, whoever is leading that meeting, when they come in, be organized, have an agenda, have some questions, some thought provoking questions to get people engaged. But if you do this consistently is these team huddles will go so smooth eventually. The biggest thing is give your employees the floor, give them the voice. Right. And give them the opportunity to talk and you listen. Did you know the word silent and listen actually are the exact same letters just rearranged? Isn't that bizarre? Isn't that crazy?

No.

Yeah, it is. So when you listen, you have to be silent. Just be silent. Clear your mind and let whatever they're telling you absorb. As. As the person taking on this information. There' much to learn from that. Because as we are the owners of the business, we're. We're in the back room or we're on the phone, or we're doing all of these thousand things. But the people that actually see your business through the customer's eyes, the absolute most is your staff. They're seeing the processes, everything from shipping and receiving, or, you know, pulling orders off of your website and actually getting them out in a seamless process. They see the thing that you set up. And honestly, weirdly enough, you might have set this system up a year ago and it might be completely broken, but you just tell them that this is how you want to do it. And as they're doing it, they very well might say, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Why is our tissue paper here, not over there? Why are we doing it like this instead of the little bit more efficient way of rearranging our back room? Or. Or doing this? And I think this would buy us some more time, right? Wow. Or how about this? Ashley, do you know Karen that also works for us? Did you know she's super gifted at copy? Like, she's like a word wizard. I, I didn't know that about her until she and I were sitting there hanging in steaming clothes one day and she was talking about it. Did you have any idea that she was gifted like that? And you might very well say, well, absolutely. No, I did not. Guess what? There's an opportunity for Karen to start writing your product descriptions. And that's just something that, you know, she. She has this ability. And until you listen to your people, until you really understand and give them a voice to share, you wouldn't know those things. So I think those team huddles are so important to just let them voice their opinion. And one of the things that I, you know, I, I want to make sure that I, I mention here is I'm a big believer in stay interviews. You know, a long time ago, people used to run these exit interviews when an employee would leave this, the. The place of employment. And I think those are crazy, because what are you really gonna do in that point of time? Everybody's upset, right? By the time somebody's leaving and you can't learn really and change anything, then you can't make it a better environment for that employee when they're. Now they're leaving. Right. So I love the idea of stay interviews. So these team huddles that you do, they should be, what are we, what are we doing well? What are we not doing well? What can we improve on? Right. How do you feel in your job? Are you feeling like I'm, we're using you to the best of your ability or do you have some skills that I don't know about or am I putting you in a position you just simply don't feel comfortable? What is that? That's not making you comfortable? Is it the return processes? Is it processing gift cards? Is it simply answering the phone? What, where is it in your job that is causing you stress? And do we just need to do better training on that? Is that a, is that a fault in our system? Having those good hard conversations can just advance you so much further and at the end of the day makes everybody feel more confident and like you actually care.

Right.

And there's this other book out there, it's called Love them or lose them. And I am a huge believer in that whole entire, that, that mindset about love them or lose them when it comes to employees. But honestly, that's for customers too.

Man, that's so important. I love that. Just ongoing empowerment. You know, it's so easy to just get so busy that we don't check in on a regular basis. And that whole idea of a stay interview, that, that two way communication. I feel like you and I have had this conversation a lot, just even with our own team. You know, by the time you communicate with someone, it's too late if there's an issue. And it's not just about how are they performing, but more importantly, it's about how are you performing? Performing and empowering them to give you feedback. As a business owner, where could we go next? And they're going to be so much more bought into that.

Yeah, Ashley, I'll just, I want to mention you do something that's so powerful and I talk about this so often, but Ashley does this thing where when we're talking, whether it was just a conversation where we're just kind of talking about the kids or talking about work or whatever it is, she'll always kind of pause and then she'll say, what else? And the first few times she did that, I got nervous. I'm like, what else? Oh my gosh, what else? What else? But now it's very relaxed thing and you don't do it with me as often as you used to because you and I communicate very freely together. But when I first really got to know you, that was a thing. And I see you do it with other people. So it's like, hey, what else? And that's Ashley's way of saying, hey, I'm here, I'm listening and I'm engaged and I am genuinely interested in what it is you are saying. And that right there just stops a person in their tracks and almost gives them goosebumps like, holy crap, this person didn't just say, hey, Sarah, how are you? And walk on by. This person is actually engaging and looking me in the eye and hoping that I give her something, right? And because she's genuinely interested in me as a person and my growth and how she can do better in this position she's put me in and help me thrive. And man, that, that takes me to. You know, we talk about this in, in, in how we interact in our courses and all this kind of stuff. But the other thing that's really important, that's really important here is it's really hard to break up with somebody that cares about you. I don't care if you're 15 year old and in their first relationship or you're married or you're, or you are an employee with somebody. If that boss cares about you and is genuinely interested in your behavior and is wanting and in providing an opportunity to bring out the absolute best in you. It's hard to break up with them, right? It's easy to quit over a dang text message with somebody that doesn't even know your name, right? And doesn't even care it. And the thing is, there's people out there that are like, well, that's not the way it used to be. And you know what? It's not the way it used to be. People used to stay in a job for 20, 30 years. People used to stay in a job for seven, eight years, right? Just because. But they don't anymore because there's so many, there's so much other opportunity out there and they have these other things that they're interested in and they want to be in a place that builds them up. So when Ashley says that kind of stuff that brings that employee or whoever it is, maybe it's the hub member back is like, oh my gosh, she totally gets me, she cares about me. And then that's really, really hard to turn around and make a phone call to Ashley. Or get in front of her and say, you know what, I'm actually leaving. Yeah, that's super hard.

Yeah, that's so, so good. And I appreciate that you noticed that. It just goes back to, and I don't know, this is maybe the stage of life I'm in, but I'm over fluff conversations. And I, you know, Mary Kay Ash always said view the other person as if they have a sign around their neck that says make them feel important. And I think the more you know, to your point that you do that with your team, the harder it is for them to leave. And Sarah, I know, I've heard you talk about this, but I know you've said something to the effect of usually the number one reason why someone leaves or even is fired, right? Why they just aren't working out. And immediately we want to pin it like, oh, it's their fault, like they weren't meeting this expectation.

Nine times out of ten that comes.

Back to really, it's our fault because either we didn't identify the expectation, we didn't coach them well enough, but usually someone leaving comes back to a breakdown in the process or the communication that came from us to begin with. So my question to you is this. If you know it's time for someone to go and maybe it's just too far gone, how do you handle losing an employee?

Man, that is an excellent question. And I will go, I will go back to my dad on this. When I first started my store and when I first started coaching, my dad said this document everything. I don't care how silly it seems, Sarah, you have got to document everything. And I did. I have. So when we talk about onboarding, I talk about an onboarding file, a customer's file. And I don't care if you're a digital person, this is online, or you actually are paper person and you pull out a drawer and there's a file folder with a picture, person's name on it. Everything about that employee needs to be in that file. Their interview questions, how they answered them, the copy of their non compete, the copy of, you know, all the, their job application, everything. Your state interview questions, how that went, any, any bonuses or anything like that that you've given them and any reprimands. Absolutely. Every conversation somehow needs to be documented in that employee's file. Right? So I guess I'll just summarize it by saying when that employee is, it's time for them to be let go. It should not be a surprise. It should not be a surprise to anyone. That person should honestly almost probably come to you first and say, you know what, it's not working. They should never be blindsided. If they're blindsided, then that also falls back on you. Then you've not brought them in and said, okay, this is what I am seeing you do, and this is what I really need you to do. And this, this is where we're falling short. How do we fix this? And when I say that, I say, how do we? Because it's not just on this person, right? So is it something that I've not done to communicate properly? Am I putting you in a position to fail? Right? Have I not trained you? Am I putting you with people you just simply are not getting along with or working hours that do not work with you? That because you're a person outside of this business, right? Is this, is this a situation that's just not going to work for you in your life? Who knows what it is? But when it comes time to actually let that person go, my advice is do it quickly. Right? Do it quickly, but it should never become a surprise. Make sure again that communication is a complete follow through. Everybody on your team needs to know it's happened as well, right? Your two girls that work, you know, the later shift, they shouldn't have to hear about it by pulling up social media and seeing that this person's now working somewhere else. No, everybody needs to be aware of what the situation is. They don't need to know all the nitty gritty and the dirty details. However, they need to be on the same page, right? Because nobody wants to be blindsided. Nobody ever. But when it is time to come and say, all right, this is not working, call the person in, collect the keys, change your passwords. There's a whole list of things that you need to do. But try to try everything in your power leading up to this to make it. To make a fix, right? Or just to come to a mutual agreement that, look, we tried it, this is just not going to work. No big deal. Thank you for your effort, you know, we appreciate it. We're all still going to end on good terms and be done with it. And there's probably somebody, I'll just touch on this right now. There's probably somebody listening, saying, you know what? I feel like she's saying you have to be best friends with everybody you hire. And you do need not. You have to have a working respect for each other. And if you have people on your payroll that do not respect you and what and your business and the amount of money you've put into this business that, you know, this is your personal baby. If there's no respect there, then you can't thrive in that business or that relationship. It's just not going to work. Right. And it's. It's very important to identify those issues quickly. Very important to identify those issues quickly. Not everybody's going to be on the same page, but everybody has to play along together in the playbox like adults.

Man, that's. That's solid advice. And sometimes we don't want to hear that advice until it's too late.

Right.

Until we have to use it. So I'm so happy that everyone's, you know, having the opportunity to hear that right now. Man, Sarah, this could go on all day. I know we could talk on this topic a lot. Is there any one last question, parting tip you want to leave with those today that are. Are serious about really growing and empowering their team?

Man, I just, I love the idea of actually sitting down, having good, solid conversations with your team, seeing where your weaknesses are, seeing where there's opportunity. And one place that we did this in our store a lot was hanging and steaming clothes. It was such a great time to just sit there and have good conversation. Right. I. I just, I'm. I want you to get out on the sales floor or get out of your office. Just figure out what that love language is, that accountability language for your staff, and dive in there. Oh, man, I. I just feel like there's so many missed opportunities there because at the end of this, all you want to pivot yourself or position yourself, I should say, in a way that you can go to Magic or you can go to Dallas Market center, or you can. You can just stay home with your kids on a snow day or whatever it is and feel confident that life is happening in your business and things are still going right and things are still moving forward. If you don't have that confidence and if you feel like you've got so much on your plate that everything's falling off and you're the bottleneck of your business, man, there's something that really needs to be changed. And it might feel like a painful time, timely process right at the beginning, right? Like all the training, all the conversations, all the paperwork, all that kind of stuff. But, man, that's just a quick. That's a blink of the eye in the life of your business. And once you get a system down, once you get that, what that new hire folder or file folders thing should look like and what all is Included, that's just an easy. But now we're just checking boxes, right? We're going to go through this. I'm not going to wonder did I actually tell her how to fill out a time card or does she even know where to park? Does she know what to wear? Does she know how to greet the customer? Does she know what our mission is? Right. Does she know if that she can't actually take off this holiday? All these kind of things, these what if, these what ifs. You won't have that because you're following this little checklist, right? This outline that walks that employee from the day one to the last day.

Yeah, man, that's so helpful. Guys, if you would love that type of checklist and you'd love more information from Sarah, I just want to let you know we have a free download for you guys inside of today's show Notes. That is a checklist on growing your team and making new hires to kind of take some of that weight off of your shoulders. And anytime if you want to get a hold of Sarah, Sarah, you're inside the hub. You're all over the hub, right? People can come and find you there.

I am, I am, absolutely. Yeah, feel free. Find me on Facebook. Instagram's not really my thing and I like it. It's just, you know, I don't map out a ton of time for it, so. But yeah, please find me inside the Boutique Hub. Retail boot camp, all of that. Just Sarah at the Boutique Hub is way to email me, but yeah, I'd love to hear from you.

Perfect. Sarah, thanks again for joining us today and we can't wait to have you back again on the show on another topic. But this, this was gold. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

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