In this solo YouTube talk, Evan Carmichael stresses that the success of a business hinges on surrounding yourself with people who share your mission and values, not merely those who possess the required skills. He begins by answering a viewer’s question about the importance of like‑minded partners and expands the concept to every stakeholder—employees, suppliers, investors, and customers. Carmichael argues that mission alignment prevents clashes, reduces turnover, and unlocks the full creative and emotional commitment of team members, turning their brains into hearts and souls for the venture. He illustrates the point with a long‑time programmer, Adis, whose passion for entrepreneurship drives him to go above and beyond for the business. The speaker outlines a practical process: first clarify your own mission, then use that as a non‑negotiable hiring and partnership criterion, accepting that finding the right fit may take longer but yields higher retention, greater impact, more fun, and increased profits. The video closes with a call to action for viewers to engage via likes and comments.
Chapters
Team up with people who believe in your mission. It's critical. It's everything. If you team up with the wrong people, even if they have the skills you need, your business will not work. I got a great question from a YouTube viewer. Where is it? Linda. Linda has— Linda went on a crazy, "I'm gonna watch every single video Evan has ever made. I'm gonna comment on everything." So she left a whole bunch of comments. I love you, Linda. Welcome to the channel. She wrote a question. "When choosing to team up with somebody to promote a business, product, or service, how important is finding someone who's like-minded in business, in your business mission, or your goals?" Linda, this is so important. This is everything, and it's not just finding people to partner up with, it's anybody who has anything to do with your company. It's not just your partner, it's your suppliers, it's your customers, it's your team. It's your investors. It's everybody. If you bring the wrong people on board, your business will not succeed. And it starts with you having a clear understanding of what your mission is. A lot of people have no mission. They don't know what they stand for. They struggle to figure it out. If you've already— if you're already there, that's— that'll separate you already from most people. When you're bringing on a team, You hire for that first. If I need a programmer for my business, I look at my company, okay? EvanCarmichael.com. I love helping entrepreneurs, right? I believe in entrepreneurs. I believe that you could change the world. It's something I believe in passionately. I want to help you do it. I invest my time, energy, focus on helping you guys do it, making videos like this where I'm not getting paid, but I love doing it. It's what I stand for. I strongly, passionately believe it, and I hope it comes through on these videos. If I'm hiring somebody for my company, you have to believe the same thing. If you don't believe in entrepreneurs, if you don't feel like you want to make a difference and help business owners, you're not going to be a fit for my company. And that's for everybody. If I'm bringing on a programmer because I need to do a website, I don't just need a programmer who understands how to write PHP or how to design a nice-looking website. I need somebody who believes in what we're doing. Who believes it just as strongly. There's a lot of reasons for it. The first is if you have different values, you're gonna clash. You're gonna clash, they're gonna end up leaving, you're gonna end up firing them. It's just gonna be a huge waste of time. But more importantly, when the person you bring on as a partner, as an employee, as an investor, whatever it is, when they believe in what you're doing strongly, just as passionately as you do, then you don't just have their brain, you have their heart, you have their soul. They're not just coming to you and working for you or working with you because they're getting paid to do it. They're doing it because they love it, because they believe in what you're doing, and you're gonna get their best ideas. You're gonna get new things to make your business even better. They're gonna give you everything they have. As an example, my programmer is a guy named Adis. Adis, if you're watching this, hey man, hope you're doing well. Adis has been with me for 6 or 7 years. This guy loves entrepreneurs. He loves it. He's not just a programmer. He loves helping business owners. When I had events for entrepreneurs to help them with their company, free events, he would come. He would give advice. He'd meet them. He'd learn from them. If I ever have a problem with my website, Addis works just as hard as I do to fix it. If my server goes down at 3 in the morning, Addis is waking up and he's helping me fix it. Because he loves what the business stands for, and you can't buy that. So if you're thinking about bringing on a partner, that has to be a criteria. Start with what you believe in. Why is this business here? What are you hoping to accomplish? What is your vision? What is your goal? If you are bringing on the wrong people, if your employees are leaving or you're firing them, it's not their fault. It's your fault because you didn't clearly explain to them what it is that you're looking for. You didn't have high enough standards to say, "Yeah, you have the skills, but you don't believe in what we're doing, so I'm not going to hire you." Or you were completely unclear on what you wanted to do because if your only goal is to make money, you're not going to make anything. You have to stand for something more. You have to stand for something bigger. And that makes you believe in it more. It helps you bring on the right customers, the the right team, the right partners, the right suppliers. If your supplier doesn't believe in what you're doing as much as you do, if they have a different vision or goal, they're not going to bust their ass— excuse my French— to make sure that this thing happens. I hire people, I work with companies, I bring people on board who love entrepreneurship, who love what we're doing, who believe in helping business owners, because that's how we build a great organization. So start with a clear understanding of what it is that you stand for, and then everything in your business has to meet that standard. If it doesn't, you keep searching till you find the right person. It'll take more time, but having standards and going for quality takes time. But when you get the right people, they're not gonna leave you, and they're gonna give you everything they have because they love what you're all about. You're gonna have more fun, you're gonna make more money, you're gonna have a greater impact too, by the way. Ah, believe, believe, believe, believe. For those of you watching, you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. I'll do more videos for you, and I want to hear what you have to think. Please leave a comment underneath. It makes me want to do more. I love seeing those comments come in. If you have a question, leave it below. I'll do a video response just like this one. Thank you guys. I love you guys. I'll see you soon.
