In our experience, as we talked about last time, things didn’t turn out that well when we hired VA’s. That’s why we’ve decided to go with in-person specialists! But how exactly do you build a team that won’t crash your business to the ground?
The points below are from the 27th episode of The Real Estate JAM, where we talked about our experience with building a team, stories about hiring, and how we navigated the COVID-19 lockdown situation back in 2020! Tune in to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Being a Good Leader is Key to Building a Good Team
JD’s seen a lot of things in his hiring experience. There are some people that will come to the office in flip-flops. Others would just choose not to show up in the office and come back the next day. And a few just randomly disappear from the face of the earth, never to come back again!
Sure, the employees themselves are to blame but only in part. There’s still a huge responsibility for business owners to be good leaders. It falls on a leader to properly train employees, set expectations, establish guidelines, and even enact disciplinary action if needed. JD says that one of the mistakes they may have done is giving “too much of the pie” to someone all at once. They could have broken tasks off into smaller pieces and given some time for one area to be mastered first before going to the next.
The Problem with Hiring Fast
Another mistake mentioned in the show was hiring too fast. Sometimes, we get convinced too early that someone’s fit for the job. It’s really tempting to just get the first person who sounds like they’re going to be good. The problem is, knowing someone takes time! So, take that time to get to know your applicants. You’ll save a lot more time by taking it slow compared to hiring too quickly and fixing the chaos they’ll create later on. However, there are some instances when a “shiny star” of an applicant comes along. If you know you really want someone, don’t miss out – someone else will get them if you don’t!
But even if you took time with the vetting process, problematic people still seep through the cracks and get hired. The solution to this is to implement the saying, “hire slow and fire fast” (or is it the other way around?) You do have to take time with the hiring, but if a crazy person comes along, you’ve got to take them out fast!
Knowing What You Want for Your Team
So how do you get good hires? There are a couple of elements to this. The first element may be understanding what kind of employee you want. Of course, everyone wants a “good” employee, but what does “good” mean? You won’t find a perfect human being, that’s for sure. Try to narrow down your search by knowing what your priorities are. What sorts of skillsets should they have? What level should those skillsets be? What are some non-negotiable traits you’d hate to see?
Where Do You Find Good Prospects for Your Team?
The place where you hire also tells the quality of people you’d be getting. If you post stuff on Facebook, you’ll get mixed results. Because it’s a public platform that’s used by billions of people, you’re bound to get applicants that are all over the spectrum. In our experience, some people apply just because they’re curious. It’s a bit tedious to sift through the pile of dirt to find the diamonds. If you want less “dirt,” consider paying for sites like Indeed where you can post your job openings for a price to people that are more serious and professional!
Want to learn more? You can listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Outline of the Episode:
- [02:52] Imagine the stress of working on a full-time business while also having separate careers on top of having families. Too much, right? Melissa shares how they’ve tried to deal with this problem by hiring VA’s.
- [06:21] Where do you find people to hire? Facebook’s a great place to start, but you might find it better to get yourself a higher qualified pool of people. JD shares some challenges he’s experienced from bad employees. Where can you get that higher qualified pool of people?
- [12:12] Is oversharing or being too open with people affecting your attrition rate?
- [15:04] A quick summary of the things you should do to hire better people. Hire on multiple platforms, get (and call) references, don’t set high expectations early on, and get “shiny star” applicants ASAP if you find one.
- [21:39] Another life-changing book other than Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
- [27:03] Get a glimpse of how the team struggled through the first few weeks of COVID-19. You might already have been used to it by the time you read this, but it’s still interesting to learn how a company can move through unprecedented times!
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