You might think that the best resource for your business is accruing a certain amount of knowledge, hobnobbing with the right kind of people, hustling 24/7, and all those clichés you’re probably over reading about. I’m here to tell you that people miss the most basic, yet important, rule of all. And that is… hiring good people. That might sound silly, perhaps trivial, to you. If so, let me get all kinds of real…
My guiding principal has always been to hire slow, let intuition kick in, and bring quality people onto my team. I have radar for this. You do too. You just (unknowingly) choose to ignore it. You let the resumé and the skills and the qualifications overshadow what you feel.
When you look at a prospective team member and feel you have known them forever – an instant connection, if you will – that is a really good sign!
But then, go deeper.
Date the people you want to hire. And by that I mean, get to know them.
You are going to be spending a lot of time with these individuals. Ultimately, you’re investing in yourself AND asking them to invest in your business. That is a huge chunk of time and resources and money and heart ache if it is the wrong person.
Hire deliberately. Set up opportunities to meet and see them in environments outside of your work environment. Research them. Get intel. Go FBI style. Stalk their Facebook, Instagram, and whatever you can find. Look at the people they communicate with in social media. You can learn so much about a person just by being a social media ninja!
Success in our businesses has always been because of our team. And, now I can say, our happiness today is because of these very people.
I think the biggest mistake I made early on in my learning smart success (and outsourcing to consultants) was that I was treating them like employees and not family members. Looking at their resumé / portfolio and just assigning them work. Then I would spend countless nights wondering why they would disappear.
You have to treat your team like family. You have to let them know that you appreciate them, and how important they are for the work that they do for you.
Don’t worry so much about your likes and your follows and growing your email list. I mean, all of those things can be critical, but nothing is more essential than your team. I promise if you learn to find the right people by listening to your intuition, your business will grow that much faster. And so, too, will your happiness.
That is I want for you, dear Lifer… to be happy. The road on how to get there isn’t always obvious, though.
