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An entrepreneurial life can be very lonely. In fact, many entrepreneurs not only start their business as one (1) person, but remain that way for years.
With the power of the Internet-s, it’s possible to run a sizable business with just one individual.
However, when I visit conferences and talk to people and peers in the industry, I find that huge frustrations appear around hiring staff, crappy stories of before and after those hirings (not good). It seems that finding quality folks who see things the way they do is not easy. (Note: you may not want to hire candidates who are just like you!).
If you are serious about building your business, perhaps starting another, and certainly becoming financially free – you must expand your team.
You cannot be the person to handle your sales, production, client networks, accounting and technical issues. If you can focus on the relationship building and education to stay current and future-driven, you are doing yourself and others a great favor. Now you are in power again, you’ll sleep better at night, knowing that payroll is handled!
How do you locate quality people?
After searching the job boards, speaking with friends, neighbors, networks – you will have candidates showing up at your door, or on Skype.
What process should you use to qualify or dis-qualify? Tens of thousands of studies of global companies have shown that 25% of people they hire turn out to be high performers. You have some work to do.
Review this grid of top performers – From TopGrading.com, and Dr. Brad Smart. It helps you think about, and divide high performers from average to low performers.
You can use this to assign a tag or quality indicator to your hiring process, and easily weed out the low. The middle column, adequate – could be made into a high performer, but only with a training and support system that can be monitored and reacted on. If you need self-driven, inspired people who are really “part of your team”, hire up on the left side.
You can then show a list of A, B, C performers. You want the “A” players for your staff.
The War for Talent never ended. Executives must constantly rethink the way their companies plan to attract, motivate, and retain employees. – McKinsey Quarterly (Making Talent a Priority)
Bad hiring and a poor human resources on-boarding and training process can really stink up your organization. However, do not be afraid of it, just learn to qualify early, and apply a solid process.
Continue to read more, and consider the Topgrading Toolkit.
Any hiring horror stories out there?
Related articles
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- Top Five Leadership Mistakes, and What to Do About Them (entrepreneur.com)
- Top 10 mistakes of start-up entrepreneurs (holykaw.alltop.com)
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Entrepreneur Magazine says Jon Rognerud is one of the most sought-after Digital Marketing Experts. His clients extend from high-end brands and middle-tier businesses in both B2B and B2C. His SEO website optimization book, "The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website" from Entrepreneur Press is in bookstores now.