Evan Carmichael argues that founders can't scale alone and must hire people who share the company's core values, not just skills. He uses his programmer Adis as an example of someone who stays because he loves the mission. The key is articulating a clear rallying cry that attracts people who'd work for the cause even without pay.
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If you want to build something great, you have to bring on a team. You have to realize that you can't do everything yourself because there's only so many hours in the day. You have to get people on board to help you build your vision and help you become the best entrepreneur that you can be. Otherwise, you're going to continually run up against the time clock running out of time, trying to do everything yourself, and never able to reach the growth that you deserve. You're gonna plateau because you're a one-man show. Now it's hard. Bringing on people is hard. And if you look at any entrepreneur, any successful entrepreneur, you look at who their first employee was, almost all of them, that first employee is still not with the business. Especially the early days of a business, you churn through employees. And most of it is your fault. You didn't do the right selection. And what happens is, and I see it all the time with entrepreneurs who come to me, you figure, I'm growing, I need to hire somebody, this is too much, I have so many opportunities and I can't do it all myself, I need to bring somebody on board. So you hire somebody, you spend the time, the training, the searching, it takes a ton of effort, get somebody up to speed, and 3 months in they quit. Or you fire them, and then you have to do it all over again. You gotta find somebody, you gotta interview, you gotta train them. That all takes time away from you doing things in your business. And as a result, a lot of entrepreneurs get so frustrated with that that they just throw in the towel and they say, forget this, I'm gonna keep things simple, I'm gonna go just do everything myself. I know it'll get done right, and I don't have to worry and waste my time trying to find people and train them and worry about them. And that's one way to do it, but it's so limiting. The key thing in bringing on the right people for your team is understanding what your business is all about, having a rallying cry that they can believe in as well. I made a video about marketing being about values, and the same thing applies to your team. If you are very clear in what your business stands for and who you're trying to help and in what you believe in as a company, These are the things that we believe in that are core to us that we will not accept things going wrong on. Then if you can attract people who believe the same things, they're going to stay with your business. They're not going to leave on you. If you need a programmer for your company, you don't just need somebody who has programming skills. There's tons of those people. You don't just need somebody who you can get along with. You need somebody who believes the same thing that you believe in. And my business is all about helping entrepreneurs. I love helping entrepreneurs. I help entrepreneurs even though I'm not getting paid to help entrepreneurs. I make these videos because I love helping entrepreneurs. Even though there's no payday at the end of a lot of the stuff I do, I do it because I love it. And everybody on my team loves helping entrepreneurs. My programmer, Adis, he loves helping entrepreneurs. He's a programmer, he's got great skills, he's built all the code behind my website, but he also loves helping entrepreneurs, and that's why he's stuck with me for years. You want to bring on the people who would do their job even if they weren't getting paid for it. Now, I'm not suggesting you don't pay your staff, but you want the people who love it so much. Ideally, you are doing your business because you love it, right? If you're not, quit, go find something else. You have to love your business and you would do it even if you weren't getting paid. You take on part-time jobs just to make ends meet so you can keep building what you're building. The people you bring on have to have that same feeling. Don't settle on bringing somebody on just because they have the skills you're looking for but they don't have the belief in what you're doing. It all starts with you getting clear on what you're all about. What does your company stand for? What are you trying to accomplish? And making that explicitly clear to everybody who you're dealing with, everybody who you try to bring on. They have to know what you stand for, and you have to get the same excitement and feeling from them about that mission. Most entrepreneurs don't have a mission. They don't have a vision. They don't have anything that they stand for. If you don't have something that you stand for, that you believe in passionately, Then it's no wonder people are leaving you because you weren't clear in the first place over who you wanted to hire. And everybody makes this mistake. So, you know, if you've gone through that, don't feel bad. This is your opportunity now to change things around. Clearly define what you stand for, what you believe in. Make sure it resonates with you here in your heart, to your core. Like, this is what you do. And then everybody that you bring on board has to feel the same way about that belief. They have to have the skills that you need, and they have to have the values that you have. Once you get that, you've picked a winning employee who will stay with you for the long term and will pour their heart into your business. Not just do what you ask them to do, not just do it because You're looking over their shoulder, you're giving them tight deadlines. They do it because they love to do it. They do it because they want to do it. Those are the kind of people you need to go after, and it starts with you getting clear on what you stand for. Believe. For those of you watching, you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. It makes me want to do more for you, and I want to hear what you have to think. Every morning I turn on my computer, I eat my breakfast, and I look at the comments that come in. So please leave a comment to say if you liked it or not, and if you have a question for your own business, I'd love to create a video reply for you. Leave it in the comment section below. Thank you guys. I'll see you soon.
