Team Building

Why “B Players” Are Dangerous For Your Business

January 3, 2020 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is underestimating how dangerous their team’s B players are for their business. B players can prevent your business from reaching its growth potential, and can also prevent your business from scaling.

The problem is that many business owners don’t have high enough standards for their employees, so they think of B players as being “good enough”, and they trust B players with critical responsibilities. These critical responsibilities are duties that can negatively affect the business if done incorrectly, which is why only A players should be entrusted with these responsibilities.

Most businesses have a team that is comprised of A players, B players, and even a few C, D, or E players. Unfortunately, it’s common for only 10% of a team to be top-performing A players. Around 20% of a team will be comprised of C, D, or E players who should have been let go ages ago. Does that sound familiar? This means that at least 70% of your team is comprised of B players.

Business owners typically pay the most attention to the top 10% performers on their team (the A players) or the bottom 20% (the C, D, and E players) while the B players get ignored. Is it dangerous to ignore your B players? Yes. We’ll get to that later. First, let’s discuss what a B player is.

What Exactly is a B Player?

The best way to explain what it means to be a B player, is to compare a B player to an A player. An A player is easy to spot on your team. The coveted A players are noticeably ambitious, self-motivated, proactive, self-reliant, and known for their consistently high energy and peak performance. A players are the winners on your team, and they don’t go unnoticed.

B players need more micromanaging and external motivation in the workplace, as they have trouble with self-motivation and self-discipline. B players are decent at their job and do some things well, but you can’t rely on them to take your business to the next level.

Their work will be fine – sometimes it’s even good – but it won’t be great. If you want great, you need A players.

Think of it this way: The “B” in “B player” stands for bare minimum. Many of them do an okay job, but it’s rare that they’ll do much more than the bare minimum. In other words, it’s rare that a B player will exceed your expectations.

A players, on the other hand, are known for not just meeting expectations but exceeding expectations. A players go above and beyond what’s in their job description.

On the other hand, B players will say things like, “That’s not in my job description” which is an indication that they want to get away with doing the bare minimum – nothing extra.

B players tend to be quite lazy, and they prefer to stay in their comfort zone. This means they will rarely ‘think outside the box’ and get strategic to solve a problem. A players understand that they often have to leave their comfort zone to solve big problems. A players are also much more motivated to solve problems because they strive for greatness.

B players are less ambitious. B players also tend to make excuses for poor performance rather than taking accountability like an A player would.

Why Do B Players Fly Under The Radar in the Workplace?

One of the reasons why B players are dangerous for your business, is because they tend to fly under the radar. They get away with being mediocre because they just barely meet expectations by doing the bare minimum – and they do a decent job, so they often go unnoticed.

B players fly under the radar because they don’t make waves. They don’t make serious mistakes, nor do they achieve anything seriously outstanding. They hide out in their quiet comfort zone of mediocrity. And mediocrity is dangerous. Nobody wants a mediocre business.

Remember how earlier, I mentioned that business owners typically pay the most attention to the top performers on their team (the A players) or the bottom performers (the C, D, and E players)? This is largely why B players in the workplace get ignored, and this is why they get away with their inferior performance.

B-Players Often Repel A-Players

While you, the business owner, might not pay much attention to your B players for the reasons I just mentioned, do you know who does notice them? Your team’s A players. You see, the A players on your team get frustrated with the B players’ level of mediocrity. This is dangerous, since you want to keep your A players happy.

Your business could be in serious danger if you lose your A players. The problem is that A players want to be around other A players. They don’t want to be working hard, and look over at a B player playing a game on their phone or taking a sip of a beer.

B players can also damage your business by repelling A players who may have otherwise been interested in working for you. It’s harder to attract A players to work for your company if you have a lot of B players on your team. A players attract A players. Remember that.

Can You Turn B Players Into A Players?

I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering if you can turn your B players into A players, instead of letting them go. Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s too costly to try to turn B players into A players. It’s a wiser business decision to just replace them with A players, and it’s typically more cost-effective, too.

Janine Popick, co-founder and CMO of Dasheroo, told Inc, “You’ve got to nip your B-players in the bud. Either get them to “A” status by coaching and mentoring them, or cut them loose. You don’t want to look back and think about where your business ‘could have’ been.”

My advice would be to only coach and mentor a B player if you truly see potential in them. You should also ask yourself, what is causing them to under-perform? Is it laziness? Ego? Fear? Mindset? Can you change them? You have to figure out if it’s a personality issue, a behavioral issue, or a capabilities issue. None of these can be easily changed, but of the three, it’s easiest to change a capabilities issue with coaching.

Sometimes you can change their mindset to think more like an A player, but sometimes you can’t. Sometimes B players have deep-rooted issues and they are a long road away from being ready for change.

You should only give a B player about six months to improve before sending them packing. I’ve seen B players turn into A players with the right mentor, but it’s rare.

In other words, coaching a B player and turning him or her into an A player is the exception, not the rule. Once you do a cost-benefit analysis, you’ll probably realize it’s better to just let your B players go.

When Should You Let Go of Your B Players?

When is it time to fire your B players? As Larry Yacht, former Navy SEAL and co-founder of Plan Sight says: “The answer is Yesterday.” Yacht says, “I have never been in a situation where I have decided it’s time to let someone go, and not realized I should have let them go weeks ago. If you ever ask yourself if you should let someone go, the answer is that you should have let them go yesterday.”

I’ve personally have learned how toxic and destructive just one bad apple in an organization can be. B players typically know they’re getting away with under-performing, so they know it’s only a matter of time before they’re fired.

It might be a relief for them to be let go. Perhaps your requirements outweigh their capabilities, which has been causing them stress for some time.

Perhaps they’re just not cut out for the mission you had hoped they’d successfully embark on within your organization. You wouldn’t send one of your team members on a dangerous mission knowing they’ll fail, because if they fail, it puts the whole team in danger.

It’s better to just cut ties. The sooner the better.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Get Rid of B Players

It’s not always an easy decision to let employees go. However, as a leader I have to make these decisions all the time. I have to fire people. It’s often not a popular decision. Any type of change causes conflict because many of your team members won’t like the change. But don’t worry – they will adjust.

Larry Yacht explains, “We are conditioned to be lazy and to not like change. We want to conserve our resources, which is why we often want to keep someone around instead of letting them go. Any change will require mental resources, physical resources, costs and conflict.” Yacht also explained that he tends to analyze the problem with the employee or contractor in question. If he finds that it’s a capabilities issue, he asks himself, What’s the cost to improve their capabilities, and is it worth it?

You have to focus on your business goals, and stop accepting less or settling for less. Have higher standards for your business, and figure out ways to attract more A players. You business will have a higher chance of survival if you attract more A players. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, less than half of small businesses will survive 5 years, and only one-third of small businesses will survive 10 years.

Speaking of your business’s survival, you can never put B players in charge of sales. They aren’t ambitious enough to feel the need to beat sales targets. They’ll be happy if they just barely meet those targets.

Chances are, replacing three B players with one A player will leave your business in a better position. Your business will then have the potential to be great. I know it’s a hard decision, since some of your B players do good work sometimes. John D. Rockefeller, one of the wealthiest Americans in history, famously said, “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”

Hire More A-Players in 2020

If you want to see your business achieve more success, one of your New Year’s Resolutions should be to hire more A players in 2020. You need to replace your B players with A players.

Serial entrepreneur Jon Soberg once said of B players: “Every person you hire who is not a top player is like having a leak in the hull. Eventually you will sink.”

You don’t want your business to sink, do you? Luckily, the A players you bring on board will quickly patch the holes your B players left behind.

You may be wondering how to attract more A players. The thing is, just like closing big business deals requires the skill of closing, so does closing A players. You’ll need to be a great closer to convince a multitude of A players to work for your company. If this is your goal, it might be time to upgrade your closing skills.

If you want to master the art of closing in order to close more A players to work for you, and to close more business deals, watch my free training on High-Ticket Closing here. Your business can skyrocket in 2020 if you commit to your success.

Richard Branson’s Top 9 Rules For Success

December 3, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

There are many entrepreneurs that I study and follow. Richard Branson is one of my heroes. Not just because he is a billionaire, but because he is the only entrepreneur in the world who has built 12 different billion-dollar companies in 8 different sectors.

To build one billion-dollar company in one sector is already extremely difficult for a person to accomplish in their lifetime. So, how did Richard Branson build 12 different billion-dollar companies in 8 different sectors?

To accomplish this, he’d have to be an incredibly innovative, intuitive, intelligent entrepreneur. That’s why he’s one of my heroes.

Richard Branson, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world, is worth an estimated $4.9 billion. Branson is a British business magnate, philanthropist, investor and best-selling author. He founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s, which controls more than 400 companies in various sectors. His companies under the Virgin group include successful travel companies, airlines, health clubs, hotels, radio stations, as well as the cell phone company Virgin Mobile.

Photo credits: NextNewMedia / Shutterstock.com

Let’s not forget the famous record company Virgin Records, which he sold for a cool $1 billion. He used the money to invest into his billion-dollar airline company, Virgin Atlantic. Branson recently began a cruise line company called Virgin Voyages, which expects to board its first passengers in 2020.

Branson always wanted to be an entrepreneur. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine he founded called Student. Today, Branson is far too humble about the 12 billion-dollar companies he has founded. In the year 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for “services to entrepreneurship”.

Below are Richard Branson’s top 9 rules for success:

Photo credits: Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

1. Overcome Obstacles

In a TV interview, Branson once explained that at an early age, he found conventional schoolwork hopeless, and didn’t know at the time that he was dyslexic. Because traditional school seemed hopeless, he decided at a young age that he needed to get out of that environment and carve his own path.

As a student, because Richard Branson had a learning disability, the school system labeled him in a certain way to make his future seem bleak. The school system probably wasn’t telling him, “You’re going to be super successful! You’re going to be a billionaire!”

Branson later said, of overcoming obstacles: “Sometimes, if you see an amazing opportunity, but there is a stubborn obstacle in the way, you have to think creatively to get around it.”

My experience as a young student was similar to Richard Brason’s. When I first came to Canada, I was a C student. I didn’t speak much English, which is probably why I flunked English. What felt worse, was that I didn’t have many friends. I definitely did not have a great report card at school. Considering how successful I am today, would it surprise you to learn that I never graduated from college, either?

C Students – the ones who don’t do well in school – often are the ones who go out there and build mega-successful companies. They often become successful entrepreneurs. And the A students often end up working for the C students.

I didn’t do particularly well in school, and neither did Richard Branson. So, if you’re not an A student, don’t let that stop you. Know that your skills probably can’t be discovered within the walls of a rigid, traditional educational system. If your skills are entrepreneurial, you’ll soon realize that out in the real world, you have high-income skills. Meanwhile, those A students are unhappy at high-income jobs with hostile office politics.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

2. Just Do It

Richard Branson once said in an interview, “To become an entrepreneur is not easy. A lot of people who try to become entrepreneurs fail along the way. Good ones pick them up and try again and try again until they succeed. An entrepreneur simply needs to come up with an idea that will make a positive difference in other people’s lives. And say screw it, let’s do it.”

“Screw it. Let’s do it.” This quote became a famously-shared quote of Branson’s. It’s still one of my favorite Richard Branson quotes.

Being a great entrepreneur isn’t about knowing everything and being able to do everything. You might have a chance for success if you have a good idea, and have good people around you who support you.

Here is my definition of being an entrepreneur: I believe that an entrepreneur is a person with a vision, who orchestrates other people’s time, money, resources and talents to make his or her vision real.

In other words, the best entrepreneurs are the ones who understand the importance of a good team of people behind you, who believe in your vision and want to be part of it.

Having a vision is one thing, but actually doing something to make it come to life is another feat. So, what are you waiting for? Just go for it.

3. Shatter Perceptions like Richard Branson Did

I remember when I was a copywriter, struggling to get clients. At the time, I was young and I had a thick accent. I spoke with average English, so it wasn’t easy to get clients. What could I do to elevate and get myself to that next level, and start seeing success faster? I needed to pay off my debt and support my mom, so I wanted to start succeeding faster.

I talked to some more seasoned, more experienced copywriters. They told me things like, “Dan, you have to pay your dues. You have to write for a lot of people for free, for many years, and then eventually you can charge what we charge, which is about $10,000 per client.”

I decided to ignore conventional wisdom like this. Why? Because I didn’t want to write for free for years, like they were suggesting.

I decided I’m not taking the stairs to success. I’m taking the express elevator.

So, I came up with an idea to fast-track my own success. I put together a product called, “Million Dollar Marketing Secrets of the World’s Greatest Copywriters”. It’s a long title, and it might not be the best title, but I was young – so give me a break.

I interviewed some of the best copywriters in the world to create this product full of their marketing secrets.

There I was, in my one bedroom apartment, living with my mom. I recorded the interviews using a little cassette tape player. Using just my phone – my landline – and I held the phone up to my little cassette tape player. You can laugh, it’s okay.

I was a nobody. But you’d be surprised how many big influencers are willing to provide an interview to just about anyone who actually asks them. About 18 of the biggest marketers and best copywriters agreed to do it. That’s how I was able to put together this product.

When I approached some of the best copywriters and marketers on the planet, nobody said no to me. Nobody questioned me. Especially if I name-dropped who my last interview was with.

This is branding by association.

I would say, “I interviewed several successful copywriters, and I now have an educational program, and several exclusive interviews with the masters. If you buy my product, you can access all of their secrets for only $3,000.”

I was resourceful enough, clever enough and creative enough to think of the best and most well-known copywriters who others would want to learn from, and call them for an interview.

I built my career from there.

Influencer Tony Robbins would agree that it’s not about having resources, it’s about being resourceful. Interviewing all those people was proof that I was resourceful. This was an early indicator that I was the type of person who would be successful later in life.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

4. Take Risks

Richard Branson once said in a media interview that he’d be willing to put his house on the line for the next business venture if he believed in it.

Branson also said, “If your dreams don’t scare you they are too small.”

A lot of people think entrepreneurs take crazy risks, and often, they do. Richard Branson takes a lot of risks. He believed your dreams are too small if the idea doesn’t scare you.

I used to take a lot of risks, but now that I’m matured and I’m wiser and more experienced, I now take calculated risks. Before I do anything, I’m not so blinded by my own ego that I’ll put everything on the line. I don’t just look at the upside of the risk anymore, I also look at the downside. Now, I expect the best, but also prepare for the worst.

Photo credits: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

5. Be a Good Leader

Richard Branson said, “Never use the ‘I’ word. You’re a team. It’s we’re doing this, we’re doing that. Be a great leader of people.” I like that he reiterates the importance of using the word “we” instead of “I”.

One of the most important qualities of a great entrepreneur, is leadership. Leadership is not easily taught. There are many leadership books out there, and you can learn a lot about leadership from the media as well.

Are you a Game of Thrones fan? I learned a lot about leadership from Jon Snow. Yes, plenty of books and media can teach you about leadership, but it can’t easily be taught. Some people, however, are just natural born leaders.

Great leaders treat their team well, so that their team wants to be loyal and help the company grow.

Richard Branson said, “Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

Branson believed in the importance of a good team, and good people. With team Dan Lok, I feel the same way. It’s not about me. It’s about “us”. The company might use my name, but I only play a part in team Dan Lok. Everyone else on my team plays an important role as well.

Photo credits: m.kru / Shutterstock.com

6. Be Good With People

Richard Branson once explained, “The absolute key, is how good you are with people. If you genuinely care about people, and surround yourself with people who are genuinely excited about what you’re doing, and you draw out the best in people. If you inspire your people and praise your people, not being critical of your people.”

This is easier said than done. Part of being a great leader is being able to inspire others to be great. As a leader, you need to get them to believe in themselves, and show that you believe in them. That’s leadership. That’s how you empower and inspire people.

Richard Branson has always been a people person. Branson said, “My family brought me up to always look for the best in other people. I love people. Love spending time with people. I love learning from people.”

In the early stages of my career, I used to be a control freak. I was a rugged individualist. I mistakenly believed in the expression, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself” and, “It’s my way or the highway.” I didn’t trust other people to care like I do, or do something as well as I could do it. That limited my company’s growth.

Now, I have this amazing team, and I count on my people. Each member of my team has their own specific skills, and they’re experts in their field. This means that they can do certain things way better than I could. I know what I’m good at, and now, I only focus on a few core competencies where I excel. I only focus on the things I’m brilliant at (my genius zone) and I delegate the things I’m average at to people on my team who are experts at those things.

7. Think Big and Plan Ahead

Richard Branson said that selling his record company for a billion dollars was a bit like selling his child. It wasn’t an easy decision for him. In a media interview, he said, “People said we were mad for selling the record company and putting the money into an airline. As it turns out, of course, the record industry has collapsed, and the airline industry hasn’t done so bad for us.”

Richard Branson is so humble. He says, “It hasn’t done so bad” when referring to his airline company, when it’s another billion-dollar company. In 2000, Branson received the Tony Jannus Award for his accomplishments in commercial air transportation.

Photo credits: Craig Russell / Shutterstock.com

Branson sold the record company and invested the money into an airline. That was a smart business decision, even though it was extremely difficult for him to let go of his baby, Virgin Records.

The lesson is to be able to see a little further ahead. You want to sell in an up market. You don’t want to sell in a down market. Whatever I’m doing now, what if the technology becomes obsolete? What if consumer behavior changes? What if the needs in the marketplace changes? You need to predict the future, because you don’t want to be reactive when these changes happen. You’ll be better off if you can predict where things will be in a few years from now, and plan ahead.

For my organization, I think of things that could take us out of business or make us obsolete. If I know something is going to disrupt what I’m doing, then I want to be the one that kills my own business and replaces it with a better business. I want to be there first. If anyone is the disruptor, then I want to be the disruptor. I’d like to think three, five or ten years ahead. I want to reinvent my business model and put my old business out of business with a better one.

Blockbuster and Netflix are perfect examples of this. Blockbuster didn’t see how video streaming and the internet would disrupt their business. They didn’t see themselves as being big players in the entertainment business, they simply saw themselves as big players in the video rental business.

If they understood that they were in the entertainment business, and predicted what could disrupt their business. They didn’t predict the changes in how people would consume video content.

Photo credits: m.kru / Shutterstock.com

8. The Secret is Delegating

I remember watching a Richard Branson interview and hearing him explain the importance of delegation. “The art of delegation is one of the key skills any entrepreneur must master,” Branson said. He always said that a great entrepreneur is a great delegator.

He explained that whatever you’re spending all day doing, you need to stop and find someone better than you to replace you. That way, you can use your time to think about the next big thing. You can use your time to be a visionary.

Branson’s theory is that an entrepreneur is held back by trying to be a manager. An entrepreneur is not a manager. Rather, an entrepreneur is someone who is great at conceiving ideas, starting ideas, building ideas and then handing over to really good managers to manage the businesses.

I am not a micromanager, but rather, I am a visionary. I think of ideas, I come up with ideas, but I need implementers and managers to execute my vision. It’s important that I know I’m the creative type. That’s what I’m good at.

Like Richard Brandson said, good entrepreneurs are always thinking about the next big idea, and thinking about where the company’s going, and thinking about what’s next. When they delegate, they have more time to innovate. Elon Musk is another influencer who believed in the power of innovation and creating new ideas.

If you build a great team, and you delegate tasks, that gives you the freedom to spend more of your time thinking of the next big idea.

Photo credits: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

9. Create a Brand That You Can Be Proud Of

Richard Branson has over 350 Virgin brands around the world. Regarding this, he said, “We actually have something we’ve got to protect and nurture. The brand is ultimately what Virgin is all about.” In another interview, he said “We want Virgin to be a company which we can be proud of . . . making a real difference in the world.”

We all have a primary question that drives us everyday. As an employee, that question might be “When is payday?”

For those of your who are entrepreneurs, your primary driving question is “How can I make it better.” We are always looking to come up with a better solution, or find something missing in the marketplace.

As Richard Branson once said, “From my very first day as an entrepreneur, I’ve felt the only mission worth pursuing in business is to make people’s lives better.”

Did you like these rules for success from Richard Branson? If so, check out the Related Posts on rules for success below.

The Fastest Way to Build a Superstar Copywriting Team

October 5, 2019 by Dan Lok

If you have finally realized that you need a superstar copywriting team in order for your business to succeed, I want to congratulate you. Understanding how important it is to put together a talented copywriting team is a step in the right direction.

Poorly written marketing copy and website copy will silently destroy your business if you don’t do something about it. What you must do, is put together a team of talented copywriters. Copywriters know how to close in print, and a superstar copywriting team can help grow your business fast.

If you’ve become wise to the fact that hiring skilled copywriters can lead to increased sales, then you’re probably motivated to build a superstar copywriting team. My guess is that you want to build this team as soon as possible, so that your business can start seeing results as soon as possible, right?

If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner looking to scale your business, you’ll want talented copywriters in your corner. Your business is in the best possible position when you’ve secured the loyalty of talented, skilled individuals who specialize in particular skills. That’s why when you hire a copywriting team, you should look for individuals who specialize in copywriting. In other words, seek out the experts.

So how do you build a superstar copywriting team? And what’s the fastest and most effective way to put together this team? I’m going to give you some tips that you should read before you start putting together your copywriting team. However, I’m going to start by emphasizing some of the most important reasons why your business needs talented copywriters.

Why You Need To Hire a Copywriting Team

You can tell your customers why they should buy your product or service until you’re blue in the face, but only copywriters can do this the right way. A talented copywriter will understand your key message and your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and communicate it in a way that persuades the reader to take action. The best copywriters know how to speak your customers’ language, and can write copy using the lingo and emotional triggers that influence your target market. They’ll write copy that pushes all the right buttons.

It’s not uncommon for a business to pay a talented copywriter $5,000 for a project, and find that the copy they paid $5,000 for generated $100,000 in additional sales. That’s why hiring copywriters is typically a worthwhile investment for your business.

Copywriters understand that it’s their job to make you more money. It’s their job to write copy that results in more sales, more revenue, and more growth for your business.

Now, let’s get into some of my best tips for quickly building a superstar copywriting team.

Tip #1: You Get What You Pay For

The best copywriters charge high prices because they can. They have made a lot of businesses a lot of money with their skills, and they are well aware of their worth. If you can’t afford to hire the best-of-the-best, that’s okay, but don’t hire the cheapest copywriters either. Remember that you get what you pay for. Remember what your goals are. If your goal is to hire copywriters to write copy that converts, and your goal is to increase sales, don’t expect the $10/hour copywriters to achieve this for you.

SEO copywriters, for example, charge more money – but it’s worth the extra money. SEO (search engine optimization) is a specific skill that requires extra training. It requires knowledge of Google algorithms and SEO practices. Copywriters who are well-trained in SEO will write copy with strategic keyword placement, resulting in more search engine visibility, and therefore more views. More views means more potential buyers. The value of this is beyond any extra cost associated with it. That’s why paying extra for a copywriter who excels at SEO is worth the money.

Warren Buffet said, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” When hiring copywriters, think about the value – not the price. The value you get is much more important than the price you pay.

Photo credits: Mark Reinstein / Shutterstock.com

Buffet also said, “Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing” and believe me, it’s risky to hire a copywriter who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

Tip #2: Ask About Their Research Practices Before Hiring

Ask any star copywriter, and they’ll tell you that doing proper research is integral to writing great sales copy. So, when you’re interviewing copywriting candidates, ask them what their research formula is.

Research skills are crucial for copywriters, because it’s their job to understand your target market and your ideal customer. It’s their job to learn the lingo, trends, and principle emotions of your ideal customer.

Superstar copywriters don’t just research your target market, though. They also research you, your business, your brand, and whatever it is that they’re selling. They seek to understand the product or service they are selling and its unique selling points, so that they can build a story around it and sell it to the best of their ability. Superstar copywriters will familiarize themselves with your industry, business, brand, product, target market and competitors.

Tip #3: Assign a Trial Project

Many of you probably don’t want to hire a copywriter without seeing what they can do first. Assign them a trial project so that you can see how they write. Think of this as their “audition” for a long-term copywriting job. Of course this trial project should be paid, since the copywriter will have to do research and spend time writing the copy.

Before you assign a trial project, figure out what your needs are. If what you really need is someone competent in direct-response copywriting for landing pages, then there’s no point assigning Facebook ad copy as the trial project. The trial project is most effective when it helps confirm that the copywriter possesses the specific skill you are looking for. So, it should be tailored to whatever your current needs are, instead of being random.

Tip #4: Have Each Team Member Focus on Their Unique Talent

One of the smartest things you can do when building a superstar copywriting team is honing in on each individual copywriter’s core talents. What I mean by this is, figuring out the specific talent or niche area of expertise each copywriter on your team is best used for. For example, perhaps one copywriter on your team is great at writing Facebook ads, while another copywriter on your team is great at writing email sales letters. If you focus their training, responsibilities and assignments on one or two specific types of copy, do you know what will happen? You’ll watch in awe as they excel within their areas of expertise. They’ll become masters at writing the specific type of copy you’ve encouraged them to focus on, and their copy will start to perform better and better.

It’s important to recognize which team members excel at which types of copywriting. Writing for social media, for example, is a special skill not every copywriter possesses. The restricted character limit on social media platforms such as Twitter, requires a talent to be able to write enticing, clickable content, within the character limit. By recognizing which copywriters on your team possess certain specific skills, and encouraging them to focus on what they’re gifted at, you’re well on your way to building a superstar copywriting team.

Tip #5: Hire a Copy Editor as Part of Your Copywriting Team

Some business owners make the mistake of thinking that if they hire expert copywriters with advanced skill sets, they won’t need to hire a copy editor. However, even if you trust your copywriters to produce high-quality copy, you still need a second pair of eyes on it. You need a star copy editor as part of your copywriting team. Below I’ve laid out some examples of the types of editing skills your copy editor should be able to implement:

Proofreading: Checking for grammar, spelling, sentence structure, punctuation and proper capitalization.

Why it’s important: This makes your copy look professional, and helps you establish credibility with your prospects. Proofreading is one of the most important types of editing.

Fact-Checking: Ensuring all facts are accurate, relevant, not outdated and not misrepresented.

Why it’s important: You can lose the respect of your audience if your facts or statistics aren’t accurate and up-to-date.

Editing for SEO: Double-check the copy for appropriate use of keywords, and edit the copy for search engine optimization.

Why it’s important: If you use SEO best practices, your copy will be ranked higher by search engines, and will therefore be seen by more people.

Substantive Editing: Assessing the piece of copy as a whole, ensuring the message is clear. Checking for any inconsistencies in language, tone, and style.

Why it’s important: Until you fully trust your copywriters, it’s important to check for clarity and consistency in their work.

Other types of editing include formatting and link-checking. As you can see, the role of an editor is quite complex, which is why this team member should focus solely on editing – not writing – the copy.

Tip #6: Send Them Through a Training Program

When it comes to training your copywriters, why take on the burden of training them yourself? One thing you can do, is take a master copywriter’s knowledge, and use it for training purposes. Have a master copywriter take what they know, and turn it into a very structured, systematic formula. This formula can help you train your other copywriters.

Make sure to have separate training for separate types of copy. For example, have separate training just on headlines. There should also be specified training for the hook, story messages, sales letters, Facebook ad writing, direct-response landing page copy, etc.

This way, you’ll end up with exactly what you need. You’ll have some copywriters who are very good at landing pages. Some who are great at Facebook ads. Others who are great at email sales letters. The list goes on. Each copywriter will excel within their niche areas of expertise that they’ve been trained on.

When you train copywriters on specific types of copy, what happens? You now have structure. This type of structure works. For example, if you provide advanced training on Facebook ads and product copy for one copywriter who seems to excel in these areas, don’t let them touch anything else. Have them focus entirely on this type of copy. Watch what happens. Copywriters will maximize their potential by narrowing their focus. As their leader, it’s your job to help them narrow their focus on the type of copy they’re best at writing.

You can also have an onboarding process where a training program is involved. Perhaps when you onboard copywriters, you’ll send them through a training program such as my 7-week High-Income Copywriter Certification Program. Once they’ve completed basic training, you can level-up their training to level 2 training, level 3 training, and keep escalating based on the competence of the copywriter.

Tip #7: Keep Upgrading Your Team’s Skill Stacks

You can upgrade the skills of the copywriters on your copywriting team with training programs, seminars, workshops and master classes that focus on relevant and up-to-date skills training. Copywriting is a modern skill that needs to be consistently upgraded and continuously exercised in order to stay current.

You can provide your copywriting team with copywriting exercises, designed for mastering the skill of copywriting. Check out these fantastic copywriting exercises for some ideas. These copywriting exercises could certainly help someone on your team become a better copywriter. You can also send your team members to a modern training program.

Ultimately, proper training allows you to spend less resources and time revising and critiquing the work of your copywriters. Level up their skills and keep them well-trained so that you get higher quality copy, less revisions, and more speed. You do not want that back-and-forth where you have to critique their work, and have them take a second go at it. You want them trained so well, that they get it right the first time, and revisions aren’t necessary.

Summary

Hiring a team of talented copywriters is crucial for the growth of your business. Poorly written marketing copy and website copy will silently destroy your business if you don’t do something about it.

Hiring skilled copywriters can lead to increased sales, because copywriters know how to close in print.

Here are 7 tips for hiring a superstar copywriting team:

Tip #1: You Get What You Pay For. (The value you get is more important than the price you pay.)

Tip #2: Ask About Their Research Practices Before Hiring. (The best copywriters are great at doing proper research on your industry, your company, your brand message, your target market, and your ideal customer.)

Tip #3: Assign a Trial Project. (Let copywriters audition before offering them the job.)

Tip #4: Have Each Team Member Focus on Their Unique Talent. (By narrowing their focus, copywriters will excel in their niche and make you more money.)

Tip #5: Hire a Copy Editor as Part of Your Copywriting Team. (Copy editors are integral to any copywriting team.)

Tip #6: Send Them Through a Training Program. (Let them learn from a master.)

Tip #7: Keep Upgrading Your Team’s Skill Stacks. (Have your copywriting team keep exercising their copywriting muscles by updating their skills.)

Enroll Your Copywriting Team in My 7-Week High-Income Copywriter Certification Program

If you’re motivated to make sure your copywriting team is well-trained and capable of closing in print, enroll your team members in my brand new copywriting training program. My 7-Week High-Income Copywriter Certification Program is valuable even for copywriters who think they already know what it is to be a copywriter. Anyone who enrolls in my program is likely to learn something new and develop better copywriting skills. It’s also a great program for any team members who you’re attempting to transition out of their current role and into a copywriting role. You can’t go wrong with a modern training program taught by a master copywriter.

Jon Snow’s Top 9 Rules For Success And Leadership

August 20, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Photo credits: Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock.com

Do you think you know more than Jon Snow? If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, I’m sure you remember one of the most quoted phrases from the show: “You know nothing, Jon Snow”. In actuality, Jon Snow knows a lot – especially when it comes to success and leadership. In fact, there are a plethora of valuable leadership lessons we can learn from Jon Snow.

Game of Thrones was – and still is – one of the most massively successful shows of all time, and Jon Snow’s character is one of the most revered characters on the show. But what exactly made Jon Snow such a beloved leader? This fictional character won our hearts because he lead with his heart, and demonstrated what a true and noble leader looks like.

Jon Snow showed us that leadership is earned. A great leader paints a picture of hope while also having a clear mission that he believes in. Snow also had the best intentions for the people, and he was not power-hungry. People naturally wanted to follow Jon Snow, and the fact that power was not his goal made him an even more attractive leader. He was different than all the other power-hungry Kings and Queens vying for the throne who did not have good intentions for the people. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato said, “Those who seek power are not worthy of that power.” Perhaps this is one of the philosophies behind why the people deemed Jon Snow worthy of ruling.

But what about you? Why do you respect Jon Snow’s leadership style? It’s natural for fans to use popular fictional characters as inspiration for real-life decisions. But what makes a fictional character from TV or movies become an icon or an inspiration? Is it that they are relatable, and they express the human struggles we all face? Because they are aspirational – that they have the life we want to have? Is it that they are inspirational – they demonstrate the qualities we wish to have? I think it’s a combination of all three, and Jon Snow’s character captured all of these qualities.

It’s popular belief that one of the most powerful and defining traits of Jon Snow was his astounding natural leadership abilities. Game of Thrones fans first meet the character as a teenager; Snow is an orphaned Bastard who was taken under the wing of a powerful family. He seemed to have very little power or status. He is sent to The Wall, a place for outcasts, misfits, and nobodies to serve, keeping watch for everyone else’s benefit. Over the seasons of the hit series, we watched Jon Snow evolve from a powerless outcast to a commanding leader.

Against all odds, he was able to gather people to support his cause, draw power away from more established leaders, and inspire people to follow him and risk their lives for him. Jon Snow was a leader for the right reasons. He lead with his heart and had a clear mission. His core values of loyalty, honesty, courage, compassion, resilience, forgiveness, humility, and patience combined to make him the type of leader that we can all aspire to be.

So what exactly are Jon Snow’s rules for success and leadership? I’m going to tell you about the 9 qualities that made Jon Snow a great leader, so that you can follow his example:

1. Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge

Where do you lead from – your head, or your heart? Perhaps you think of a leader as being a calculating mastermind, weighing every decision with a purely rational analysis. But you would be wrong. To lead with your full potential, you need to lead with your heart.

What does it mean to lead with your heart? It means that you are able to put aside some of your judgements and snap decisions, and to look at people with an open heart and a generous spirit. It means that you see the potential in people. This is what Jon Snow did: he didn’t judge his friends, comrades, or allies by their claims and resumes alone. He saw them not just for who they are, but also for who they could be.

It’s your job as a leader to believe in people and help them realize their potential. It’s your job to see beyond appearances, and see their promise. Share on X

We can’t underestimate this ability: when you really believe in your team and show them you do, it will increase their belief in themselves. This in turn will cultivate the growth of their skills and increase their output. Being a stern leader or a disciplinarian alone won’t get you these results. You have to see the potential of each team member.

Lead With Your Heart - Infographic: pic.twitter.com/SYpaCTCHTI Share on X

As a leader, it is your job to identify the seeds of success in those under you, and to help them cultivate their abilities and grow towards their maximum potential. There are team members who might be operating at a B level who you can bring up to an A level by motivating them, coaching them, training them, and believing in them.

Your belief in the abilities of those you are leading has a direct influence on their belief in themselves. And in order to operate at their full potential, they must believe in themselves. Share on X

When you lead with your heart and believe in your employees, you will inspire them at an emotional level. This will increase team bonding, morale and loyalty. When they know you believe in them, they will be grateful and want to do their best work for you.

As their leader, your support, your positive feedback, and your belief in their abilities can change their self-concept and self-esteem. They will then produce results that match this higher self-concept. Open your heart and mind to what your team members might be capable of, and watch as they grow to impress and surprise not only you, but also themselves.

2. Your Title Doesn’t Make You a Leader

In Game of Thrones, the people believed in Jon Snow and followed him even though he didn’t have any sort of official title or claim to power. Jon Snow didn’t have a royal title or royal ties, but he was extremely passionate and sincere. He was driven by a mission, and people believed in his cause. A good leader like Jon Snow has a great mission that they believe in, and people who naturally want to follow them.

I believe that a great leader leads without a title. Having the title of “President” or “CEO” does not automatically make you a good leader, and you can actually be a great leader without any sort of official title.

If you do have a commanding title, don’t expect it to hold much weight. Sure, you might have an authoritative title, but if nobody follows you and nobody respects you, you aren’t a good leader. That’s why your title doesn’t really matter that much.

3. Accept That You Don’t Know Everything

In business, you can’t do it all yourself. You can’t know everything – that’s what your team is for. In order to grow and be successful, you need to hire talented people and delegate. As a leader, it’s crucial to be able to spot great talent, and empower those talented individuals on your team to make decisions, contribute solutions and execute the vision.

You don’t want to be the most knowledgeable or the most skilled person on your team.

What you want is for different people on your team to possess different skill sets so that your team’s combined knowledge becomes a force to be reckoned with. Share on X

A great leader finds team members who know what they don’t know, and they’ll fill knowledge gaps this way. You don’t have to be an expert at everything – that’s why you hire experts in various fields.

Jon Snow didn’t really “know nothing”. He knew a lot, but he was also humble enough to accept that he didn’t know everything. He was aware of what he didn’t know and who he needed to consult with or delegate to.

A humble leader like Jon Snow will accept that they don’t know everything, and also accept that they will make mistakes. Jon Snow made lots of mistakes, but he learned from his failures, and he grew from those mistakes.

As a leader, accepting that you don’t know everything aligns with an understanding that different people on your team might have different perspectives on how to solve a problem. Someone on your team might have a completely different perspective than you on an issue, but your job is to keep an open mind that they might be right, and you might be wrong.

When Jon Snow says, “We look up at the same stars and see such different things” he demonstrates his deep understanding of how different people have different perspectives.

4. Don’t Be a Lone Wolf: Form Strategic Alliances

Instead of being a lone wolf, form intelligent alliances and unite your allies towards a common goal.

One of the rules of success and leadership is that you not only have to accept that you don’t know everything, you also have to accept that you can’t do everything. Share on X

That’s right: you simply can’t do everything by yourself. Great leaders collaborate with others and share knowledge, resources and strategies because great leaders understand that two heads are better than one, three heads are better than two, and so on and so forth. As Jon Snow would say, “I need you with me if we’re going to beat them.”

A lone wolf can still be successful, but a lone wolf will have a much more challenging journey towards success. For example, a lone wolf often focuses too much on their competition. They’re too narrow-minded. The lone wolf often thinks about how to beat competitors, instead of thinking about collaborating with their competitors.

If all you focus on is how to beat the competition, you won’t be a good leader.

Instead of thinking about how to crush your competitors, think about how you can benefit from working with them. Share on X

You could cross-promote, share customer bases, share resources, and create strategic alliances.

5. Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Ethics and Morals

Jon Snow is a leader who has a strong moral compass, plenty of empathy and good sense of ethics. One of Jon Snow’s famous quotes is, “When enough people make false promises, words stop meaning anything.” I love this quote because I think staying true to your word is incredibly important in business and in leadership.

I believe that integrity is very simple: You do what you say you’re going to do. You follow through. If for some reason you can’t do what you said you were going to do, at least have the decency to communicate this from an honest and moral position.

If you lead with integrity and keep your promises, you’ll protect the reputation of your business. Share on X

People often make false promises in the business world to get ahead. When you do that, your customers and team members lose faith and lose morale. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t promise more than you can deliver. It’s better to underpromise and over-deliver.

6. Lead By Example

A successful leader knows they cannot just talk the talk – they have to walk the walk. If you have a clear mission and clear core values for your brand, you must demonstrate those core values at all times. Lead by example by living and breathing those core values.

Jon snow put himself out there, fought for what be believed in, walked the walk, and showed those that followed him that he was willing to fight for his mission because he truly believed in it. He also showed his followers that he was willing to make great sacrifices for his mission, which is why his people in turn sacrificed as well.

When you’re a leader, you can show courage by stepping out of your office, getting out from behind your desk, and leading by example. You can’t always sit at your desk and delegate. Sometimes you have to get up from your desk and show them how it’s done.

7. Be Driven By Your Mission, Not By Your Ego

A great leader is mission-driven, not ego-driven. That’s why having a mission statement is so important. Having a clear mission gives your people something to get behind. Your mission statement is how you communicate to your team – and to the world – what your company is about. Your mission isn’t about making money, it’s about making a difference.

Businesses will stay small if the business owner thinks too small, and is only driven by their own ego or only driven by money. Ego-driven leaders won’t be successful in motivating anyone, and they won’t attract top-tier talent either.

People want to be part of something bigger than themselves, and be driven by an inspiring mission or purpose. Share on X

Do you think you are going to attract the right people with the right intentions if you have no mission to attract them with, other than making money or gaining power?

Remember that Jon Snow never wanted power for the sake of power, which made him a better leader because he’s not ego-driven or power hungry – he just wanted to lead for his cause.

8. Know What Battles Aren’t Worth Fighting

Perhaps you remember when Jon Snow said to Ygritte, “Six times you’ve invaded, and six times you’ve failed. The seventh will be the same.” Snow then says, “You don’t have the discipline. You don’t have the training. Your army is no army. You don’t know how to fight together.”

What is the lesson here? It’s good to believe in your vision, but it’s also good to know when your strategy isn’t working. This way, you can either decide that it’s a battle not worth fighting, or you can decide to change your strategy and change your approach. You have to be flexible enough to pivot and come up with a new approach, or decide not to fight a battle you know you’ll lose.

Successful leaders pick their battles and know which battles aren’t worth fighting. They also know when to let go of a strategy that won’t get them there.

Keep your goal – your mission – as your North Star, but be willing to give up on fighting certain battles that aren’t worthwhile. Imagine you are in a ship heading towards your North Star. What currents and storms do you really need to fight to get there? Can you recognize when it is wiser to avoid the storm, change course and find another route that will get you to your destination? Can you recognize when it’s best to abandon a sinking ship?

9. Fearlessly Make Tough Decisions

As a leader your team counts on you to make tough decisions during tough times. These decisions aren’t always going to be pleasant or easy to make. Something like the decision to end a partnership or letting go of an employee won’t be easy, but if it’s what’s best for the business, perhaps it must be done.

A great leader must get comfortable being uncomfortable. If you want to be liked by everyone and you don’t want to rock the boat, you won’t be a good leader.

In Game of Thrones, Jon Snow stands by his decisions, even when his advisors are against his decision. His character says things like, “It is my decision, and my decision is final!” A famous quote from Jon Snow about making tough decisions is, “Sometimes there is no happy choice, only one less grievous than the others.”

If you want to make the best decisions for your company, know that it might not always be the popular decision. Your leadership skills really get tested when it’s time to make an unpopular decision or cause disruption, because it’s not easy to do.

Not everyone has it in them to make these uncomfortable decisions, and that’s why not everyone has it in them to be a leader.

Summary

Jon Snow was a natural leader because people naturally wanted to follow him. But why? We know that he was an attractive leader because he believed in his mission and was not seeking power. He was authentic and genuine, not power-hungry or ego-driven.

Jon Snow lead with his heart and had a clear mission that reflected his good intentions. His core values of loyalty, honesty, courage, compassion, resilience, forgiveness, humility, and patience combined to make him the type of leader that we can all aspire to be. Below are 9 lessons of leadership and success that we can learn from Jon Snow:

Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge
Your Title Does Not Make You a Leader
Accept That You Don’t Know Everything
Form Strategic Alliances – Don’t Be a Lone Wolf
Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Morals and Ethics
Lead By Example
Be Mission-Driven, Not Ego-Driven
Know When a Battle is Not Worth Fighting
Make Tough Decisions

More Rules For Success:

Bruce Lee | Elon Musk | Tony Stark | Jack Ma

How I Built A Powerful Team Of Independent Entrepreneurs

May 20, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

Business is a team sport. If your team doesn’t work well together then it will be like a soccer team with half the players trying to kick the ball to one side of the field, and the other half trying to kick the ball to the opposite side. That kind of thinking doesn’t work.

If you’re a business owner trying to build a successful team, you must think of it like a team sport. The people you hire must work together and share your passion for what you are doing.

Most organizations hire employees who work set hours and quit if they aren’t paid what they’re worth. You cannot build a powerful team with this kind of employee.

I hire entrepreneur-minded people who work together to reach the same goal. My organization grows quickly and moves quickly, adapting to change within hours.

Finding the right people for your team is not easy. As your business grows, you’ll notice you cannot do everything yourself. You need to start building a team of people around you. The problem with a lot of entrepreneurs is that they are control freaks. So as an entrepreneur, you must learn to let go of some control. Then you can start building a team.

To start building a powerful team, you need to have four key elements: vision, mission, culture, and talent.

Watch this video about building a powerful team.

1. Share Your Vision With Your Team

You want to have a very clear vision of what you want your business to look like. Your vision will be your greatest asset when it comes to leadership. You cannot inspire anybody without a vision.

Historically, when someone wanted to conquer a country, or start a movement, there was always a very clear vision of what they were going to do. They were clear about what the outcome would look like when they won.

Having that vision is extremely critical. As a leader you need to sell your team on the vision every single day.

You then get them excited because people go through ups and downs so you can’t tell them the vision once. You have to keep selling and selling it.

Sometimes as a leader, even you aren’t sure if you can actually achieve what you say. But you had better not share that doubt or show it. You need to have unstoppable, unshakeable confidence. You have to inspire them with words like, “Let’s do it together as a team.”

That vision is extremely powerful once you have it. You want to be able to tell your team, this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to dominate the real estate industry. We’re going to change the energy sector. Or we’re going to help the people of this community.

2. Sell Your Team On Your Mission

Once you have the vision, the big picture, then the next thing you need is the mission. The mission can’t be that you’re building a business so you can get rich. That doesn’t inspire anybody. Why should they help you get rich? You have to have a mission that inspires people beyond your self gain.

People want to belong to something bigger than themselves. They want to know what they do matters and makes a difference.

Lifestyle entrepreneurs have trouble building a team because they lack a sharable mission. They just want to make enough money to work from home or work so many hours per week. It’s just about me, me, me. That kind of mentality doesn’t attract talent because it’s too small.

Bill Gates’s dream was, “We’re gonna put a personal computer in every household in North America.” Steve Jobs wanted to put a computer in the hands of everyday people. Elon Musk had dreams of making space travel for everyone.

These big dreams are what get people inspired. There’s a purpose. You’ll have a more driven organization with a mission that goes 10 to 20 years into the future.

3. Develop a Team Culture

What do you stand for as a leader? What makes up your culture are your values as a company and as a leader? There are usually four to five key ideas. Everything else builds around those four to five things.

In my company, culture is very important. People don’t think about what is or isn’t their department. Everyone helps each other and is very supportive. We learn, argue, fight, and then get back to work the next day and focus. We are focused on growth and excellence.

Having a strong team culture is important when building a team.

4. Find Talented Entrepreneurs

When you’re interviewing somebody for your team, tell them what you stand for, the vision, and where you’re going.

Potential employees who are looking for a 9 to 5 job are not a fit for my organization. They just want a pay cheque.

Anyone who works for me or works with me knows it’s very intense: long hours, hard work, and a high standard. I don’t tolerate excuses. I don’t tolerate bad performance. Those kinds of 9 to 5 people don’t last in my company, and I’m upfront about it. If a candidate is willing to accept those conditions, and they can thrive under pressure, then I want to get to know them.

That’s my management secret. I want to know their personal goals. It’s not a good sign when they ask me about the salary or how many hours of work are required. I don’t want to hear that. I want to hear what motivates them. If their dream is to buy a car, I want to know what car and why.

When you tie personal goals with company goals, you and your team are aligned. You get loyalty.

Most employers play just enough so their employees don’t quit. In my organization, I don’t dictate how much each person gets paid. If someone’s income goal is $100,000, they need to find a way to add value. Then I’ll increase their compensation to get closer and closer to their income goal.

Strong Leadership

You are who you attract. So look within yourself if you want to lead a team like mine. Leadership always starts from top to bottom.

Final Thoughts On Building A Powerful Team Of Entrepreneurs

Today I’ve given you a glimpse of the mindset to build a powerful team. If you want to build a team of entrepreneurs, not employees, first, have a vision and a mission that your team can be a part of.

Then develop the team culture. Look for good talent. Ideally, you want to find people who are willing to put in hours of hard work because they love what they do, not because they want a pay cheque. Work on becoming a strong leader, because if you are strong, you won’t have any problems attracting talent. Strong leaders are the foundation of powerful teams.

What is your mission statement? Comment below.

How to Hire the Right People: Lessons From A Future Billionaire

March 17, 2019 by Dan Lok Leave a Comment

How do you hire the right person so you can build a highly successful organization?

The choices you make are critical. Like a great marriage or a bitter divorce, hiring or firing an employee affects everyone. If the new person is the right fit – harmony for you and the team. If it’s a bad fit, like a bad divorce, not only do you lose time and money, it affects the morale of your team.

So how do you know if a person is the right fit for your company? And if they seem like a good candidate, but lacking in skills, how much should you spend training them if they still need to develop their skills?

Before you answer those questions, understand the marketplace. The best people are trying to decide amongst several opportunities at once. If you want to get their attention, you have to cut past all the noise of all the recruiters and ads.

When it comes to building a company and organization, having the right people in place is most important. In business, the best team wins because they will find a solution no matter what happens to the market or the economy. The right team and right culture will be resourceful and will always be able to solve problems.

My hiring philosophy and my leadership style are very different from most CEOs and business owners. Most companies hire based on resumes. My company does not. Not a single person on my team has ever submitted a resume. Even though we are a rapidly growing global organization, no one on my team has done a traditional kind of approach.

Watch this video about how we hire the best talent.

Do you want to hire the right people? Click here to talk to one of the leaders on my team who’s an expert in this area.

Hire For Attitude And Train For Skills

There’s a saying, “Hire for attitude and train for skills.” Even for the leadership positions within my organization, not every single person was “qualified” for the job. None of them “have the training” for their particular position.

They might join the team to do a certain task and from there when I see they’ve got potential, I give them more and more responsibilities. They rise up the ranks depending on their attitude, their skills, their capabilities, their desires, and their loyalties.

I don’t believe in resumes because anybody can write a good resume. A candidate can give a very good interview but when you actually hire them, they’re terrible. The reason they are good at giving interviews is because that’s what they do. When it comes to getting the work done, they cannot do it.

So I like to make people jump through a lot of hoops. Not the traditional hoops in which you submit a resume and go to multiple interviews and take personality tests or complete certain tasks to see how you perform. Talk is cheap.

The people who apply to my organization send me a video resume. I get a better sense of their personality on video. After they send me a clip, I give them a series of projects to see how they perform. I watch their attitude and I always give them different opportunities and chances to excel. Then I ask for feedback from my team.

If the candidate does well, then I give them more and more responsibilities. I always look at a person, not their skill set because skill set and knowledge can be acquired later.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, also looks beyond the resume. A question he likes to ask during the hiring process is “What didn’t make it onto your resume?” Candidates can talk about their personal accomplishments… anything that would show their resolve, empathy toward others, or ingenuity.

Hire People For Your Company Environment

Everyone is different. Some people thrive in a more quiet and calm environment. Some people thrive in chaos while others work better when everything is very systematic.

My organization moves so fast that when something doesn’t work, we change direction immediately. So if a new hire is not used to that kind of environment, they might crack under pressure. We are very nimble, flexible and quick.

If there’s something I want to implement, we just do it. If there’s something we need to change, then we change direction like the flick of a switch. It’s very very fast. Most people are not used to that kind of environment.

The people we bring in like the challenge and this kind of pace. They are at home. Others may find this speed way too stressful. Then they will leave because it’s not a good fit. Or they quit because they don’t have the right energy with other team members and they don’t get along with the team culture. It’s an organic process.

Hire Young People To Keep Up With Trends

People have asked me why there are so many young people in my organization. They ask, “Why is a kid responsible for millions of dollars of marketing budget?”

They think I should hire someone with 10 years of experience. But I don’t believe in that because at the end of the day, my team is in the online education business where things move incredibly fast.

I need to be on the pulse of what’s happening day to day, hour to hour. I hire millennials so that I know what they’re thinking, even if they make me feel old. They always bring in new ideas about what’s hip and what’s trending. If I want to know what young people are thinking, I need to have young people in my organization.

Hire a Team of High Achievers

I love the Russian Doll Principle. When it comes to hiring, a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs hire people who are smaller or worse than they are.

A CEO who is hiring a manager will look for someone who is less skilled, and then that manager will hire a team leader who is less skilled than the manager. Then what you will have is a company made of dwarves.

On the other hand, if that CEO hired a manager who has better skills, and the manager hires a team lead with better skills than the manager… you end up with a company of giants.

The CEO or manager hires people that are smaller than them because of their insecurities. They are afraid that if they hire someone with better skills, they can’t manage them or get their respect. If they hire someone less skilled, then they can more easily control them. This type of superior/inferior thinking is common in Asia.

The problem is when you hire less skilled people, the organization doesn’t grow. Hiring people that are better than you will get you that company of high achievers.

Russian Doll Principle: Hire the Right People

Hire a Team of Specialists

As the leader and CEO of my company, my job is not to make sure that directors, department heads and executives can’t do their roles better than I can. That’s not what a CEO does.

Each person in the company has their own area of expertise. As the visionary, my job is to come up with the strategic plan for each of them to execute. My job isn’t to outperform them at certain tasks.

Think about the book, The Art of War. In military terms, the general is not necessarily the best horseman or archer, or even the best soldier. The general is the one that sees the big picture, such as how to mobilize the troops and where to allocate resources. Similarly, the big picture is the CEO’s job.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, wanted a team that liked to create and explore. He didn’t want people who were only skilled in management, so he devised a test as part of the interview process. Those who asked questions and showed excitement and showed promise that they were A players made the cut.

So, to hire a team of specialists, find people who are experts at what they do. They should also be creative A players who are very motivated.

Hire Motivated People, Then Get Out of Their Way

I think it’s very difficult to motivate people. The better solution is to find people who are already motivated.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” That means, instead of trying to motivate people with motivational quotes and all that stuff, find people who already have the fire and desire within them. When you find good people who are already motivated, then all you need to do is create the culture, and give them responsibility, authority and power. Then get the hell out of their way and let them do their thing.

Drew Houston, founder of Dropbox, says that one way to find out a person’s motivation level is to ask them about who they admire. You will quickly find out who is there for the paycheck and who really cares about their work depending on their answer.

Motivated people will make stuff happen. They will want to help you grow, not because it’s an obligation, but because they have that desire.

Myself, I’m a very motivated person. I don’t need people to motivate me or pump me up. I am motivated. I’m driven. So I want people with the same desire in my organization.

If you spend so much time trying to motivate your people, then you’re not spending enough time getting work done or moving forward. So find motivated people and get the hell out of their way.

Hire People Who Will Pay for Their Own Training

In this very competitive business, the key to thriving in any economy is constant learning. It doesn’t matter how much success you had in the past. What matters is where you’re going in the future and what you’re doing now.

As the leader of a global education organization, I believe constant learning is extremely critical. I invest hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in my own education and I expect my members to do the same. My training policy is very different from most organizations because I don’t pay my team to attend workshops. My team members invest in their own education.

They pay for their own flight, their own hotel, their own workshops and courses. I don’t want them to do it because it’s an obligation or it’s required for their promotion. If I invest in my own education, they should do the same. When they upgrade their skills and perform better, they will get compensated.

The other reason is if they invest in their own education, they will pay more attention and get more out of the training. I lead by example. I’m always learning, reading, and attending workshops. When it comes to education, I don’t take shortcuts. I’m a good leader because I’m a dedicated student, and that’s the culture a successful company should have.

If you want to hire the right people, you must hire people with a desire to work hard and excel at what they do. It does not matter if they are more talented than you, or younger than you. When you have a team of high achievers, you will have a powerful team.

Do you want to hire the right people? Click here to talk to one of the leaders on my team who’s an expert in this area.

Team Building

What Exactly is a B Player?

Why Do B Players Fly Under The Radar in the Workplace?

B-Players Often Repel A-Players

Can You Turn B Players Into A Players?

When Should You Let Go of Your B Players?

Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Get Rid of B Players

Hire More A-Players in 2020

1. Overcome Obstacles

2. Just Do It

3. Shatter Perceptions like Richard Branson Did

4. Take Risks

5. Be a Good Leader

6. Be Good With People

7. Think Big and Plan Ahead

8. The Secret is Delegating

9. Create a Brand That You Can Be Proud Of

Why You Need To Hire a Copywriting Team

Tip #1: You Get What You Pay For

Tip #2: Ask About Their Research Practices Before Hiring

Tip #3: Assign a Trial Project

Tip #4: Have Each Team Member Focus on Their Unique Talent

Tip #5: Hire a Copy Editor as Part of Your Copywriting Team

Tip #6: Send Them Through a Training Program

Tip #7: Keep Upgrading Your Team’s Skill Stacks

Summary

Enroll Your Copywriting Team in My 7-Week High-Income Copywriter Certification Program

1. Lead With Your Heart and Do Not Judge

2. Your Title Doesn’t Make You a Leader

3. Accept That You Don’t Know Everything

4. Don’t Be a Lone Wolf: Form Strategic Alliances

5. Lead With Integrity: Have Strong Ethics and Morals

6. Lead By Example

7. Be Driven By Your Mission, Not By Your Ego

8. Know What Battles Aren’t Worth Fighting

9. Fearlessly Make Tough Decisions

Summary

More Rules For Success:

1. Share Your Vision With Your Team

2. Sell Your Team On Your Mission

3. Develop a Team Culture

4. Find Talented Entrepreneurs

Strong Leadership

Final Thoughts On Building A Powerful Team Of Entrepreneurs

Hire For Attitude And Train For Skills

Hire People For Your Company Environment

Hire Young People To Keep Up With Trends

Hire a Team of High Achievers

Hire a Team of Specialists

Hire Motivated People, Then Get Out of Their Way

Hire People Who Will Pay for Their Own Training

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.