I recently had a conversation with my team regarding our recent expansion at Secret Entourage. While many of you follow us on our various social media channels, most don’t know the behind-the-scenes aspects of our team. While I remain the founder and leader that built the movement, I would never be as successful without the determination and devotion of our team who works around the clock to ensure we create a world full of devoted and more powerful millennials.
We recently added three members to our team who will be handling aspects of Secret we previously did not want to allow others to touch. This brought me to an interesting conversation regarding the growth of a business, perhaps, even a lesson you can take away to help you understand the power of investing in others.
Growing a business is a risk, and without jumping in the odds of winning are zero. The ultimate goal is always and has always been to grow further until either automation occurs, or an exit becomes a better option. Investing in others until they are able to keep up at your pace is a process and certainly a risk of its own, however, it’s one that is very necessary in order to avoid the pitfalls and failure during the growth stage.
Think of it like this – you are doing well and growing, but the time comes for you to hire someone else to handle certain aspects of your business so you begin to focus more on investing in others. While everyone knows no one will do the work like you do, you actually didn’t do the work that well yourself when you first started, not until you got the hang of it once it became a routine based on practice.
If that same learning curve doesn’t get adopted by someone else early on, then you’re faced with the sole alternative that it will happen in the middle of the fastest growing stages of your business. This is a time when mistakes are not allowed, while in the entry stages of growth, you are able to control, do damage control and teach while you grow which gives you more of an advantage. The biggest mistake a business owner makes is to think he is the best person at doing a task which can be taught to anyone – no matter how complex.
Many are familiar with Jordan Swerdloff of ADV1, who teaches in our academy. In his course, Jordan describes the difference between allowing others to become their best rather than hiring the best right out of the box. This same philosophy also applies to many other academy teachers we have and even to myself. Hiring people with a high level or awareness and without skill may have a longer learning curve, but it also allows for much more coaching and guidance, ultimately creating a new version of yourself doing a specific task.
While I agree that no one will ever put in the same tenacity as you do in your work or with your business, you should also remember that they are working for you after all, and in most cases there to fulfill a task – not change the world. Believe in people and give them an opportunity to get the tasks done.
It’s also important to not lose faith in people based on a few mistakes or after encountering a few bad apples; all of us have made bad hiring decisions which have turned us off from hiring others. However, just because you made that mistake doesn’t mean that it was a mistake to delegate and bring in others to help you reach your goals faster.
Building a team is much more powerful than working alone. Regardless of how incredible you are, you are only as incredible as the people fighting by your side, so choose carefully, but make sure you do choose people and build a team early on.
