In this episode of Unlocking Lily, host Lily Ma, with mentor investor Evan Carmichael, walks viewers through the process of hiring a first employee for a growing coaching and speaking business. Lily shares her personal journey—bootstrapping, reaching ten active clients, and hiring a part‑time assistant that freed her to focus on high‑value work. She outlines five concrete steps: (1) hire at the right time, preferably part‑time; (2) define the CEO’s core responsibilities and identify tasks to delegate; (3) write a values‑driven job ad that includes the company’s core word, desired personality traits, culture tone, and clear duties, even embedding a hidden screening question; (4) run a paid trial project to test skills rather than relying on resumes; (5) optionally have finalists experience the product or service to ensure cultural fit. Lily also reveals the exact job ad she used, emphasizing an “extraordinary” mission and a specific screening question about her YouTube subscriber count. Throughout, Lily’s tone is encouraging, mission‑focused, and practical, while Evan interjects with a brief motivational cue about a “one‑word secret to happiness.” The video ends with a call‑to‑action for viewers to comment on their dream business and a thank‑you to supporters.
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Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Unlocking Lily. So I believe that this world would be a better place if we all just embrace who we truly are. Evan is currently an investor in my business and he's mentoring me to help me grow my coaching practice. And I'm inviting all of you guys to join me on my startup journey. So I started my coaching and speaking practice 10 months ago, and at the beginning of any business, it's important to bootstrap. Make sure that your expenses are as low as possible. However, as your business grows, it's important to invest your money back into the business. Now, you can keep it small if you like and remain a solopreneur, and it's very fulfilling for a lot of people. But if you want to create a powerful business, have impact, and share your message, the best way to do it is through hiring the right people to help you. As soon as you can, you want to bring on someone on a part-time basis, because if you wait until you're able to afford someone on a full-time basis, you'll be waiting a very long time. So for me, as soon as I had 10 ongoing clients, I knew that I had enough money coming in on a monthly basis to pay for an assistant. So 4 months ago I hired my assistant, and since then I have saved a ton of time, which has enabled me to focus on the things I'm great at as well as the things I really love. And now I'm able to really concentrate on growing my business. So in this video, I am going to share with you the 4 steps in hiring your first employee. Now, if you stick to the end of this video, I will share with you the actual ad that I used to hire my assistant. Step number 1 is find the right time. You can start by hiring someone on a part-time basis. Again, if you wait until you're able to afford someone on a full-time basis, you're going to be waiting a a very long time. Also, it's a great bonus for you to develop your hiring and leadership skills without having too much at stake. Step number 2, define the role. What are the things that has to get done in your business but is not the best use of your time? You need to start thinking of yourself as a CEO. What are the things that the CEO needs to focus on in order to grow the business? What are the things that you need to give up right now? Once you figure out what those things are, then you will know the type of person you are looking for. Step number 3, write the job ad. I personally love using Upwork. However, everything is remote. So if you are looking for someone in person, then you might want to consider another source like LinkedIn and Craigslist. So when you're writing your job ad, you want to include these 4 elements. Number 1, what does your company stand for? Knowing your one word, your single most important core value, have that in in your ad. So for example, my one word is extraordinary. Some people might look at that and say, this is crazy, I don't want to be extraordinary. That's fine. While other people might look at it and say, yeah, I love this, I want to be extraordinary. So right from the beginning, you're already attracting the right people. Number 2, what kind of person are you looking for? And be honest about it. If you are looking for a compassionate person, then put that in your ad. Again, some people might look at that and think that it's stupid. Like, who cares about compassion? And that's great. That's not the right company for them. While others might look at it and really resonate with them. They may think that, hey, I'm compassionate too. I think this would be a great company for me to work at. Number 3, what is your company culture? And be honest about it. If you are a quirky person, then use quirky language in your ad. If you're a corporate person, then use corporate language in your ad. The idea behind this is that you are hiring the right person to fit well with your company culture instead of trying to convince someone after the fact. 4, what are the job duties? So put in everything that's required for this particular role. Now a special tip, understand that for most people it only takes them a few seconds to apply for a job. So for me, I had a big giant ugly paragraph because I am not detail-oriented and I need someone who would pay attention to details. And within that big ugly giant paragraph, I buried a hidden question. So if the applicant did not answer the question, they were immediately rejected. Because why bother reading power letters and resumes when they didn't even bother reading your ad? Okay, so we're getting much closer. We're doing a really good job in qualifying the applicants, and now you only have the people who really care about your mission. And again, if you stick to the end of end of this video, I will be sharing with you my actual ad that I used to hire my assistant. Step number 5: Create the paid trial job ad. Reading resumes and cover letters is a giant waste of time because it doesn't actually test people for the skills that is required for the role. The best way to do it is to partner up and work on a small project together. Now, Evan has gone through this process many times over, and in his experience, there's always one person who rises to the top, and that is your guy or girl for this job. Now, this might be the end of the process for you, and you've already found the right person for the role. However, I took it one step further, and I want to share with you a bonus step in having the applicants try your product or service. So for me, my clients are extremely important to me, and anybody who's going to work for me, they need to know firsthand what my clients go through. So I was down to the final 2 applicants and I walked them through a coaching session with me. So for you, you need to decide, is it actually important for your applicants to try your product or service? Is it even a possibility? But I wanted to give you the option either way. And I have a special shout out for Tracy Fulda. Tracy, thank you so much for your support and writing that awesome comment in my last episode, and your love and encouragement always means the world to me. The question of the day is, what is your business or your dream business? Write in the comments below and I'll join in on the discussion. Thank you guys so much for watching and more importantly, being on this journey with me. I feel like I'm growing, learning, and changing, and it gives me the comfort in knowing that all of you guys are with me every step of the way. So thank you so much again, and I'll see you guys very, very soon. Soon. Bye-bye! Personal assistant who wants to make people feel extraordinary. Do you believe in the extraordinary? Do you want to help change the world? If so, then I would love to invite you to join my extraordinary mission. I dream of a world where we can all move towards our true potential. I work with awesome human beings through my one-on-one coaching and and speaking to groups of people. I've been a one-woman band, but even I know that I can't change the world all alone. I'm looking for an assistant to join my world-changing journey. If this sounds like something that resonates with you, reply to this job listing and in the first line leave the answer to this question: How many subscribers does Lilly Ma's YouTube channel have? I am constantly growing and change is a huge part of my life and business. So I need someone who is adaptable. My assistant extraordinaire will also possess ninja-level organizational skills, which you will use towards emailing, research, and scheduling, but your duties may evolve as my company grows. I'm in it for the long haul, so I'm looking for someone who I can develop and be a contributor towards my mission. You will start at 10 hours per week spread over 5 days, Thus, you'll be required to work 2 hours per day, but the goal is to expand this role to more hours. Like me, if you are inspired to wake up every morning to make the change you wish to see in this world, what is your mission? Let me know your mission by sending it to me on Instagram in the morning because I want to see what makes you extraordinary. I work as a part of Evan Carmichael's team. He has hired 120 people on Upwork and has a 5-star average review. We're looking for the next member to join our family long-term, and I hope it's you.
So let me give you the one word secret to happiness. One word. This is all you need to be happy. The most important word ever.
If you had to think of one word that's most important to you or that sums you up or that would be kind of like a little beacon.
Hey, Believe Nation! If you want to know what the most important one word is for Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Oprah Winfrey, will.i.am, and Howard Schultz, I have a very special secret video for you. Check the description for details.
