Chad Silverstein argues the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is failing to document conversations and set clear expectations up front. Without clarity about performance standards and pay structures, employees become uncertain and confront leaders later; Silverstein advises entrepreneurs and employees both should over-deliver to become indispensable and deserve higher pay.
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The biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make is by not documenting their conversations and not being clear up front. And then what happens? A year into it, the employees wondering, am I going to get a raise? You know, and, and then they're wondering and then they have to go address it and have an uncomfortable conversation. And when all the leader has to do up front is just tell them, here's how it works, here's what to expect. If you meet these standards and these expectations, you'll do better. If you're making us more money, we'll pay you more. But you know, I used to have employees that would come to me after a year or two and like, I've been here a couple of years and I'm like, and I've paid you for a couple of years. You know, like, we don't just give money and rob Peter to pay Paul. If you want to make more money, you've got to be more valuable. And so you got to over deliver. And I think it's a two way street. The entrepreneur has to over deliver and build into your employees and your employee as an employee. You got to over deliver and show your employer that you're different so that you know, you want to force them to do something so you can become unreplaceable. So that if you were to leave that job, you know, they, they'll fight for you. And so that's always the question I always ask, like, would you fight for that, for that person?