Podcast Summary: Action Academy | Episode – WHO You Should Hire While Building Your Business From $0 To First $100,000+

Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode, host Brian Luebben provides a tactical, step-by-step guide to hiring your first team members as you scale your business from zero to your first $100,000 in revenue—and beyond. Drawing from his journey building Action Academy from the ground up, Brian shares actionable insights on who to hire, in what order, and why, demystifying the process for new entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, side hustlers, and acquisition-focused business owners. His approach helps founders avoid common hiring pitfalls, save on costs, and lay a sustainable foundation for future growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Reality of Passive Income

• Main point: The myth of true passivity. Even “passive” businesses need active management, either by you or others.
  • Quote:

    “The passivity that you seek does not exist without profits or people.” — (Brian, 00:36)

  • Example: Even with single-family rentals, if you aren’t managing, someone is.

2. Starting Out: You Do Everything

• At launch, you are responsible for every business function—sales, marketing, fulfillment, operations, etc.

  • Quote:

    “When you start a company, you are everything. Everything is you. You are sales, you are marketing, you are fulfillment, you are operations, everything.” — (Brian, 04:09)

• Initial focus: Perfect your product/offering and the backend operations before thinking about scaling sales or marketing.

  • “The best sales is great marketing, and the best marketing is a great product.” — (Brian, paraphrased, 05:27)

3. Earn Your Stripes: The “Rocky Cut Scene”

• Brian emphasizes there’s no shortcut to getting “in the trenches.” Founders must learn every role before delegating.

  • Reference:
    Alex Hormozi’s “Rocky cut scene”—getting tough, gritty, and hands-on at the start.
  • Quote:

    “There is no escaping hard. You have to do the stuff, to get good at the stuff, to be able to teach the stuff to other people in the very beginning of the business.” — (Brian, 07:09)

• Revenue is king. Sprint to your first dollars before hiring anyone.

4. Proving Product-Market Fit (and Yourself)

• Example: Brian personally did 1,000 sales calls for Action Academy before delegating the role.
  • Allowed him to master customer pain points and truly tailor the offer.

5. The First Hire: Administrative Assistant (Virtual)

• Who & Why?
  First, hire a part-time virtual assistant (admin) to help with busywork, freeing your time for high-value tasks.

  • Preferred: Philippines-based VAs for affordability ($4–$5/hr; ~$200/week)
  • Reason:
    “You are going to be terrible at managing people, at hiring people, in every single way, shape and form. You are not going to be good. So you cannot make a $40,000, $50,000 mistake.” — (Brian, 12:23)

• Where to find VAs: OnlineJobs.ph, Upwork.com, SupportShepherd, and more.

6. The Second Hire: Revenue-Generating Role

• Once admin is in place, reinvest your freed-up time into activities that (directly) make money.

• Next role:

  • Acquisition specialist (real estate/investing) or
  • Sales & marketing (commission-based, ideally from within your community)

• Commission-only structure is recommended until you have the cash flow to pay salaries.

  • “Make your commission tiers and your commission structure higher and your base salaries lower until you become a bit more mature.” — (Brian, 23:45)

• Brian’s team example: Team of three (Brian, plus admin and sales) got to $500,000 revenue.

7. Scaling Beyond $100K: Gradual Upgrade of Talent

• With more revenue and profit:

  • Hire more sophisticated and experienced team members
  • Keep the team as lean as possible to avoid “organizational bloat”
  • Focus on high-impact, revenue-driving hires

• On learning from failure:
  Brian cycled through seven executive assistants before finding the right one.

• “I can prove this again because I went through, I believe, seven ‘executive assistants’ before I had my assistant today, Estefania, who is now like a crucial, crucial part of Action Academy and our entire team.” — (Brian, 21:15)

8. Keep It Lean, Keep It Mean

• Salaries are your biggest risk. Keep fixed costs low; prioritize variable, commission-based roles early.
• “The name of the game isn’t to have a bunch of organizational bloat. You want to keep it as lean and as tight as you can.” — (Brian, 24:15)

9. Framework Applies to Multiple Business Types

• This stepwise approach works for:
  • Coaching/online business
  • Real estate acquisition/land flipping/self-storage
  • Business acquisitions and more
• Core principle: Start with admin, then revenue, then specialization and upskilling as you grow.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• 00:36 — “The passivity that you seek does not exist without profits or people.”
• 04:09 — “When you start a company, you are everything. Everything is you.”
• 07:09 — “There is no escaping hard. You have to do the stuff, to get good at the stuff.”
• 12:23 — “You are not going to be good. So you cannot make a $40,000, $50,000 mistake.”
• 21:15 — “I went through seven executive assistants before I had my assistant today, Estefania, who is now like a crucial part of Action Academy.”
• 24:15 — “The name of the game isn’t to have a bunch of organizational bloat. You want to keep it as lean and as tight as you can.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–04:00 — Introduction, Brian’s credentials, promise of the episode
• 04:00–08:30 — Doing everything yourself; product focus; “Rocky cut scene”
• 08:30–12:40 — Getting your first sales, learning customers’ needs
• 12:40–16:00 — First admin hire: rationale, cost, where to find
• 16:00–20:30 — Second hire: revenue role (sales/acquisition); structure; internal promotions
• 20:30–24:15 — Growing the team, hiring mistakes, up-leveling talent, keeping the org lean
• 24:15–26:00 — Closing advice, cross-industry application, encouragement for listeners

Final Takeaways

• Start as a “one-person army” to learn every aspect of your business.
• First hire: Affordable virtual admin to free your time for money-making work.
• Second hire: Commission-based sales or acquisition specialist; draw internally if possible.
• Scale team slowly, upgrading talent and compensation as profits grow.
• Keep operations lean to minimize financial risk and maximize flexibility.

Brian encourages listeners to embrace the messy, hands-on early stage, understand that hiring is an iterative process, and trust that starting lean lays the best foundation for lasting entrepreneurial success.