Dave Ramsey (21:56)
I talk a ton about the Entree Leadership System, the small business roadmap that takes the guesswork out of growth. It includes the five stages of business Treadmill Operator, Pathfinder, Trailblazer, Peak Performer and Legacy Builder and the six drivers of business that literally drive your business forward. Personal Purpose People plan, Product and profit. Now we've seen this system work for tens of thousands of business owners like you, and we want to reach even more. So we have an exciting announcement. In February, we'll be starting the presale of my new book, Build a Business you Love. The book breaks down each stage of business and the unique challenges you'll face in that stage. So you'll learn how to solve the right problems at the right way and the right time. Build a BUSINESS you love is the essential guide for a business owner like you who wants to grow your business the right way and leave a legacy you're proud of. If you'd like to be the first to know when the book is available for pre sale, well join our interest list@entreeleadership.com book or just click the link in the description if you're listening on YouTube or the podcast and we'll get you signed up. One of the things that comes up around here a lot is when am I able to make my first hire? So there's a lot of factors in that. Let's discuss a couple of them. The first hire I ever made in this business was 30 plus years ago and it was a guy named Russ Carroll. And Russ came on as a financial counselor. I was doing financial counseling, helping people that were in crisis and I was doing a little radio show and I was doing a little bit of speaking here and there and I had a little book I was selling out of the trunk of my car. Those were my income streams. And I was booked all day long solid and had no time left for financial counseling. And I had people trying to get in that I couldn't get in. So I had more counseling than I had time to do. Meaning that's rule number one. Do you have enough work for the person you're thinking about hiring? I'm sick of doing this or I've got too much of it to do and I can turn it over to Them and never look back. And so a friend of mine introduced me to Russ. He came up and visited our church. We went out to lunch afterwards, then came over to our house. Our kids played together in the backyard. We kept talking for hours. It's not how you do an interview, but it's how I did that one. And I told him, I don't want employees. Employees come late, leave early, and steal while they're there. I need people partnering with me in this. I need team members. I need people to walk with me. And so they'll do it the way I do it. That'll do it like they care. That'll pour into it. And Russ certainly was that. He was that and many things more. He stayed with us almost 20 years and retired from Ramsey. He was the first person hired and the first person to retire here. Pretty cool. Great guy, by the way. Still friends. He and Joy are still friends of ours. And so number one is, do you have more work than you can do? And so I had more work than I can do. I did not have double. And so I told him some of the coaching counseling slots, you're gonna have to fill up. You're gonna have to hustle out there and go talk to some marriage counselors that need. Has a marriage couple, they're counseling that need financial coaching and let them know you're here. You have to go talk to some pastors and tell them that you're here because they need help. They have people come in that need help with financial counseling. And so you got to go out and generate some leads to fill up the rest of your book, because I can't fill it all up. But I can give you a few of my overflow because I'm not going to quit doing it. I just can't get to what I have. And so do you have enough work? And do you have a method for them to have enough work to keep them busy? Otherwise you wouldn't want to hire somebody. And so oftentimes you feel completely overwhelmed with the work that you're losing because you don't have enough help before you hire the first person. And that's okay. You don't want to hire the first person, and both of you starve because you don't have enough work. So I'm fine if you're like, stuff's just splashing all around you and you go, okay, I really do need another bucket here, you know? And you're probably gonna feel some stress right before you make the hire, and that's good. That means you've got. Cause there's just stuff flying everywhere, and you've got to have some help. That kind of thing. Not, oh, I hope this all works. And I'm kind of bored. And so let's get two people in here that are kind of bored. No, I don't think that's a plan. All right, so make sure, number one, do you have enough work? Then number two, people always ask, do I have to have money in the bank? No, but you have to know how you're going to get money to pay them. And so again, that goes back to the first thing. Do I have enough work for them to do? That work should be generating money, and that money gives me money to pay them with. Pretty simple. So our last guy hired a new plumber. Can he keep that plumber busy? He was already a plumber. Now he added a plumber, and he's keeping that guy busy, but he's not quite busy yet. Okay, yeah, but he can pay the other guy. But he may be taking a little bit of a pay cut to pay the other guy right now until he gets his volume of production back up. But he at least made the move. So you don't need six months of their salary in the bank. Although it wouldn't be bad. But I'd prefer you have just that. You see a way that you're going to monetize on the higher. Meaning I'm gonna pay them X number of dollars, and I'm gonna make Y number of dollars above what I pay them. That's why we pay them. We don't hire people to lose money on them. Everybody that you hire, you should make more on them than they cost. Otherwise you go broke. So it's either direct revenue, if it's someone like that plumber that's producing, or it's indirect revenue. Like you hire office staff so you can go do more plumbing instead of doing paperwork back at the office, which makes you no money. But that person doing the paperwork is freeing you up to make more money. So revenue is increased by either administrative staff freeing up people or people actually doing the task. So we need to have revenue increase more than enough to pay the person that you're hiring and see your way to cause that to happen. Do we have enough work for this plumber if I think I can keep him busy? No. Now, you gotta have money in the bank to cover that part of. I think. But if you like. God, I definitely keep him busy 1000%. I keep him busy. Yeah. Well, then you're gonna make money on him. And it's easy to pay him. It's pretty easy. So that covers that. No, you don't need a certain amount of money in the bank. Now. Every small business needs to start building retained earnings. You need money in the bank, period. But do you have to have a certain amount in the bank before you do a hire? No. You need to see a way that you with integrity, honesty, know that you can pay the person what you've promised to pay them. You're not gonna have to lay them off four weeks later because you didn't do math before you brought them on and they don't produce anything and you had no way for them to produce. And there was a wing and a prayer. No, that's not fair to them. So if you're going to do that crap, you do need a six months on money in the bank and then you're going to burn through that and still be screwing up. So no, Find a way to create the revenue. Know that the revenue is coming in on what it's going to cost them. Number three, your first hire is by far your scariest hire because you don't have any idea what you're doing. When I did my first hire, I was dumber than a rock, but I was a little bit smarter than Russ. Sorry, Russ. But I mean, seriously, I mean, my interview was bad. We go to church, go to lunch, and all afternoon, this is the interview. And then he started. Two weeks later, we moved the card table on the other desk out of my living room in a U Haul into a tiny little 800 square foot office and Ramsey Solutions was born. Although we didn't call it that back then. So it's something you've never done before. And anytime you're doing something you've never done before, it's scary or you're dumb. One of the two. I mean, if it's not scary, you're unwise, right? If you're doing something you've never done and you're cocky, you're getting ready to lose your dadgum head, so don't do that. But I'm saying walk in, you can be confident and go, I believe in what I'm doing and I need some help. But I've never done a hire before. And you're the first one. And you don't necessarily have to be the interview professional and know all the trick interview questions like some corporate HR goob or something, but expect it to be stress inducing. And by the way, the first person you ever let go fire super stressful. The hundredth time you do it not stressful at all. For you is for them, but not for you. Not because you become heartless and calloused, but because you finally figure out after doing that a hundred times, nobody's going to die. I'm not going to die. And he's not going to die, she's not going to die for not working here. We're all going to be okay. As a matter of fact, a year from now, we'll both be better from them not being here because they need to leave. And so you reach that point, right? So the more you do something, the better you get at it and the more you realize it's not the end all to be all. It doesn't shut down and mess up your whole life. And so same with your hire. If you screw it up, you can do another one. God blessed me and I found a really unusually wonderful person with my very first hire. And he stayed with me almost 20 years, like I said. And that may not happen. And that's okay. The second person I hired did not stay with me 20 years. They didn't even stay with me 20 months. The third person I hired stayed with me two years. The fourth person I hired, I don't know who that is. I can see the other three very clearly, but I don't remember the fourth one. I'd have to go back and look it up. So you see my point. It gets easier. Okay, so it's not the end of the world. It feels different. But you're not God and you're not their provider. You're simply hiring them for a job. And you're not asking them to commit their entire soul and their life and mortgage their house for you. They're just coming to work there, that's all. And so chill out. It doesn't have to be so freaking stress inducing and just have some fun with it. Do I like this person? Do I want to work with them every day? Because by definition it's a small business and we're going to spend a lot of time together. I don't want to hang out with you. I don't like this person. They're icky. Well, don't hire them. It's a small business. The last thing I'll tell you, that I did a lot and I always do it a lot more when I'm in a stressful situation, a new situation where I don't know what the flip I'm doing. And that is I pray and I ask God for help. God, I don't have any idea what I'm doing. But you're not surprised with this. Can you help me? Can you send me some good people? And please God, keep your crazy children away. Cause God, you have some crazy children. Some of them are nuts. And he knows that and he knows which ones they are and he knows if you're one of them. And so there you go. Which list are you on? Right? So I mean, have some fun with this guys. But your first hire is it's like the first time you drive a car, it's the first time you ride a bicycle, it's the first time you do a speech, first time you stand in front of a microphone, the first time you do anything. It's, you know, you freak out your vocal cords, tighten up your stress. All your physical stress symbols, signs are there. Everything like that, that's normal. But do it anyway. Cause otherwise you're gonna be a solopreneur. Which I gotta tell you is fun for a while, but pretty quick you get tired of it. Doing everything yourself. You're the CEO, the chief everything officer. No thanks. That's a lot of work, y'all. Get somebody to help you do the work. Give em some of your money, give up some of your money and get some of your life back and that's what your hires are. I'm gonna give up some more of my money, I'm gonna get some of my life back and I'm gonna get a little bigger and then I'm gonna give up a little bit more of my money and I'm gonna get more of my life and I'm gonna get even a little bigger. And every time you do it, that's what you should be doing and thinking this is an investment into people and into your business and into having a quality life. So you definitely wanna go that way for sure. So first hire is nerve wracking. Do it anyway, boys and girls. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. If you're a business owner, you know running a business is freaking hard. And it's easy to let the daily challenges and fears get the best of you. That's why in my newest book, Build a Business yous Love, I share the proven system that helps you break through those challenges and keep your business moving forward. Join the pre order waiting list to be the first to get access and I'll send you the first four pages of my book for free. Go to entree leadership.com build or just click the link in the description if you're listening on YouTube or podcast. Thank you for joining us. America this is the Entree Leadership podcast. Brad is in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Hey, Brad, what's up?
