Team Building

The Fastest Way to Build a Superstar Copywriting Team

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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. Click To Tweet

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.

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Lead With Your Heart - Infographic: pic.twitter.com/SYpaCTCHTI Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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. Click To Tweet

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:

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

More Rules For Success:

Bruce Lee | Elon Musk | Tony Stark | Jack Ma

How I Built A Powerful Team Of Independent Entrepreneurs

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.

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

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.

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8 Golden Rules of Effective Delegation And How To Delegate To The Best People

The mission driven entrepreneur, working as a one-man or one-woman show, will not survive unless he or she learns the golden rules of delegation.

If you’re a fledgling entrepreneur, assigning tasks to other people is a critical part of growing your business. It’s a dream to believe that you can handle all aspects of your business yourself. You can’t work alone – you need other people. If you can’t trust anyone other than yourself to do the work, then you will be working endlessly on the hamster wheel for a very long time.

So how do you begin to delegate tasks, not just to other people, but the best people? As an entrepreneur, it’s natural that you want to develop a wide range of skills. But as you work on your business, you’ll realize there are aspects you hate and aspects that you just weren’t born to do. Delegate those tasks to someone else first. If you aren’t good at accounting, hire or outsource an accountant.

When you have a set routine for the everyday tasks for your business, delegate those tasks too. In one sense, you are clearing your desk of all the clutter. When you aren’t focused on the day to day survival of your business, you will have the energy and time to see the big picture and to think about the bigger questions. Where is your business headed? What are some current challenges you need to overcome? What’s the next step to growing the business?

But until you start to delegate, you won’t have the mental and time capacity to work on the big picture and jump off the hamster wheel.

Here are eight golden rules of effective delegation that will make you a great leader and free up your time for other aspects of your business.

Rule 1: Clarify The Task In Your Own Mind

Clarify what the task is before you ask someone to complete it. There are some important questions to ask yourself. When you have the answers, then delegate the task. You can envision the task in the following way.

1. Who will do the task?
2. What is the deadline?
3. What exactly needs to be done?
4. What is the desired outcome?

After you have the answers in your mind, or written down, then assign the task. Be clear on what exactly needs to be done, such as the entire first draft for a Facebook ad, or a completed inventory of your products for that month. Also be clear on the outcome, such as completed inventory in a spreadsheet that will be presented at the next meeting.

Rule 2: Delegation To The Right Person

Now that you are clear on what needs to be done, your next step is to choose the right person for the task. The best person to choose is someone who is brilliant at doing that type of work. It might be someone you’ve hired for your team, or someone you are outsourcing work to. Here are some more specific tips for making your selection:

  • Delegate to someone who is task-focused and explain why this task is important
  • Delegate unusually challenging tasks to someone who has lots of experience and would like something different than the usual routine
  • Delegate routine tasks to someone who is extremely organized

Rule 3: Always Have A Deadline

If you don’t set deadlines, nothing gets done. It doesn’t mean your team is lazy. Sometimes they have so much to do that they need deadlines to help them prioritize what is more important. The deadline should be challenging but realistic.

Stretch the abilities of your team to see what they can do, but don’t ask them to do the impossible either! If I am working with a new person, and I need something done within two weeks, I tell them I need it in a week.

I want to see if the new person can get the job done and find out early on if they can work under pressure to complete urgent tasks.

Rule 4: Communicate Orally And Write Your Plan Of Action

Sometimes I only give the core structure of what I want and I let my mentees figure out a plan of action. I let them make their own mistakes. By making mistakes, they learn their lesson. If I watch them too closely, they won’t be able to grow.

So communicate your plan orally to your team and let them decide on what to do. To check on their progress, ask them to write progress reports. You can have them report once a week on Monday, or daily at the end of the day. The frequency depends on the person’s skills and their needs.

Clear communication will look like this: message sent to get the task done, message received by the person doing the task, and message acted upon, or completed.

Rule 5: People Don’t Do What You Expect, They Do What You Inspect With Respect

You may be clear with your expectations, you may be choosing to delegate to the best people for the job. In the end, people don’t necessarily do what you expect them to do. That’s the tricky part about delegation. They do what you check up on with extra attention. So what you inspect, they do with respect.

It means you have to follow up to make sure the task gets done even though it’s not your job.

Rule 6: Delegate Responsibility And Authority

As an entrepreneur, you may be willing to delegate responsibility but you may find it much harder to delegate responsibility and authority. You don’t want to give up authority because you fear loss of control.

You will ask someone to do a task but require that person to run everything by you. In that case, you are micromanaging. You need to be able to give other people some authority, even if it means letting them make mistakes. It’s the only way they learn and the only way you get off the hamster wheel.

Mistakes are okay as long as they don’t kill the company. Only incompetence is not okay. You may be wondering what the difference is between the two. Let me share a quick story.

The C.O.O. at my mentor’s company made a mistake that cost ten million dollars. My mentor had a meeting with him about the mistake. The C.O.O. thought he was going to be fired but my mentor said he had just invested ten million in the guy’s education. He kept his job and made sure he never screwed up again. The C.O.O. was extremely loyal and over time made my mentor one hundred million dollars.

So if you are afraid to give other people authority because you fear they’ll make mistakes, you need to let them make the mistakes. Otherwise, they won’t learn, and you will be very busy micromanaging your team.

Rule 7: Give Praise, Feedback And Additional Responsibilities At The End Of The Project

So the project has come to an end and you delegated tasks to other team members. At this point, you want to provide feedback on how they did. You want to be a coach and mentor.

Whatever you do, don’t yell at them. Praise them for what they did right and then give feedback on what they can do better. That’s how they learn.

Also, give them additional responsibilities for the next project. By delegating more tasks, you free up your time for other aspects of your business, and your team grows in experience.

Rule 8: Don’t Be A Perfectionist

If you are too much of a perfectionist, you will be the runner of a marathon who never leaves the starting line. You will never get anything started or finished. Your projects will never end because you are going crazy with the details.

Effective delegation is about progress, not perfection. Start your project, and do what you can, but don’t get stuck on all the small details of what you need to complete.

When you go to the bank, the teller or the bank machine isn’t going to ask if you completed your work perfectly. Your cheque just goes into your account.    

In the big scheme of things, if I’m facing a business problem that I find overwhelming, I look at this photo on my wall. It’s a picture of the universe. When I look at it, my stress disappears because I realize… I’m just a molecule. What’s the big deal? Nothing matters. I’m only here for 80 years. And then I’m not that important anymore. No one is that important. So don’t place so much importance on yourself to finish things.

Those are the rules of effective delegation. Now that you know them, here are three quick tips on how to find the best people to share your work projects.

Three Tips For Effective Delegation To The Best People

Tip 1: Respect them

Work together as a team and respect the people you have delegated with tasks. You can set high standards and expectations and be tough, and still have respect.

In some areas, their expertise will be better than yours which is another reason you should not be afraid to delegate. This is how your company will grow.

Tip 2: Pay them well

If you pay them well, you will have the best talent. If you can’t afford to find good people maybe your business model needs to be changed.

One Christmas I sent my contractors a bonus through PayPal. I got an email from them thanking me. The bonus moved me up on their client list. I want to represent 40% of their business so when I want stuff done, it gets done.

Don’t delay paying your team members and contractors. If you want to stand out with your clients and contractors, this is one way to do it. They should be making you returns because of how you treat them.

Tip 3: Praise them

I praise team members and contractors and anyone else if they do something well. Don’t just say, “Good job.” Be specific with your praise, such as telling them that you liked how they handled the situation and you appreciated the help.

Those are three tips for delegating to the best people. If you want to grow your business, then overcome your hesitation, and start delegating tasks to free up your time.

Summary of the 8 Golden Rules of Delegation

Delegating to the best people is key to getting yourself out of that hamster wheel and building a successful business. Richard Branson of Virgin Group says that if your team understands your vision and they work autonomously, “You’ll find that you have more time to focus on the big picture and achieve the things you need to do to make your product or service stand out.”

So here again are the 8 rules of delegation. You can also watch a recap of these rules of delegation and tips on how to hire in this video here.

Rule 1: Clarify the task in your own mind

Rule 2: Delegate to the right person

Rule 3: Always have a deadline

Rule 4: Communicate orally and write your plan of action

Rule 5: People don’t do what you expect, they do what you inspect with respect

Rule 6: Delegate responsibility and authority

Rule 7: Give praise, feedback and additional responsibilities at the end of the project

Rule 8: Don’t be a perfectionist

 

Have you started delegating? Comment below.

 

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How Building A Virtual Team Lets You Build A Successful Business Without Leaving Home

Virtual teams are the future of sustainable businesses, as this is integral to building a successful business from home. The remote business model dramatically reduces your needs for costly office space and office supplies, while increasing the range of talent. Any successful business leader understands the importance of limiting their overhead in order to be more profitable. Building a virtual team is one of the most effective ways to reduce your overhead, and with the right kind of people, your business could become unstoppable.

A virtual team is a remote team that is often geographically dispersed. Without face-to-face interaction, a virtual team relies on organized digital communication, with information being shared and distributed electronically. This type of remote business model can be extremely successful.

A 2017 report by Gallup found that employees who spend some time working remotely have higher engagement than those who don’t ever work remotely, and remote employees reported having a clearer job description and more motivating metrics. The report also noted that the percentage of employees who work remotely is rising each year, and that the desirable flexibility to work-from-home is consistently a major factor when talented employees are deciding whether or not to accept a job offer.

Another factor that virtual employees consider is the flexibility to work the hours during which they feel most productive. It’s not just about having the freedom to work from home – it’s also about being freed from the confines of the traditional 9 – 5 work schedule. For example, it’s very common for millennials to have a late chronotype, where they’re more productive and creative at night. It’s therefore undeniable that giving virtual team members the freedom to choose their own work hours will only increase your team’s productivity.

Now, you might assume that building and managing a virtual team will come with dicey challenges. However, it’s all about who you hire and how you motivate them. It all comes down to hiring exceptional people, because the best team wins in business. The quality of your team is more important than the quality of your services, as even a great business model can fail if its team is lousy. If you want to know how to successfully build a virtual team full of awesome people, start with deciphering the types of employees you should be seeking.

What Should You Look For In A Virtual Team Member?

Who you hire matters, and that’s why I’m going to tell you about the three types of employees to watch out for. Maybe you’ll be able to guess which type of employee is the type you want, but either way, let me explain each type:

  1. The Grunt
  2. The Mercenary
  3. The Patriot

The Grunt

The Grunt is the type of employee who does the bare minimum, and they’re okay with being a mediocre employee as long as they can do their job and go home. Doing the bare minimum is doing just enough work to collect a paycheck – just enough work to not get fired. In other words, they just barely meet your expectations. It would never cross a Grunt’s mind to go above and beyond, or to exceed your expectations.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Grunt if when it’s their turn to ask questions, all they do is ask about money instead of demonstrating an interest in the company. They’ll ask how you calculate overtime, how many vacation days they get, and how many hours they’ll have to work.

Some types of businesses have certain very basic positions that are okay to hire a Grunt for. But you don’t want too many Grunts on your team. It’s easy for an employee to do what they’re asked, but you want someone who does what they’re asked and more. That’s why you don’t want to hire Grunts.

Mercenary

A Mercenary is very transactional employee. They work for money – that’s it. Money is their main motivator. So much so, that if they ever got an opportunity to make more money elsewhere, they wouldn’t think twice. They’d take the other job regardless of what type of company it was. There’s rarely any loyalty with mercenaries.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Mercenary because they’ll mainly be interested in how the bonus structure works and how much money they will make. Some business leaders are okay with having Mercenaries on their sales team. A lot of sales guys are Mercenaries, and because money is their motivator, you can count on them to go in for the kill. While it’s fine to hire a Mercenary for a sales role, there aren’t many other positions you’ll want to hire a Mercenary for.

Patriots

Patriots are motivated by greatness. This means that they’re motivated by something greater than money. Yes, they want to make money, but being part of something they can be proud of motivates them much more than money does. Having a sense of purpose and being part of an inspiring mission excites them more than their salary ever will.

You want the most amount of Patriots on your team as possible, because Patriots will help your business be its most profitable. They’ll want to contribute to your company’s growth, because being part of something remarkable makes them feel remarkable. They don’t just want to get paid and go home – they want to make a difference. Having a team of Patriots ensures your business maintains a growth-oriented culture.

You’ll know you’re interviewing a Patriot because instead of asking what the compensation structure is, they’re more likely to tell you about an idea they have that could take your business to the next level. When you hire a Patriot, they’ll consistently bring you ideas on how to improve the business, as they’re driven by achievement. Patriots share the company’s goals, and they find fulfillment in being be part of something larger than themselves.

When a Patriot feels proud to be on a winning team, they’ll be loyal and passionate about the company’s growth. They’re the dedicated and dependable type of employee who actually cares about the success of the company. Yes, some employees actually care about the business’ bottom line. This is a quality you must seek out, because it can’t be taught, and most employees don’t care very much about the company they work for. Patriots truly care, and are proud of what they’re part of. They get off on doing great work and making the company better. They’re hungry for greatness, and any way they can associate themselves with it.

Patriots are much less likely to nickel-and-dime you. They do expect a fair compensation, but they won’t make a point of mentioning that they worked 15 minutes overtime.

At the end of the day, you’re looking for a team of people who are loyal to the brand, and care about your company’s success as much as you do. Those types of employees do exist, so it’s all about finding them.

How Do You Find Patriots?

Be very specific in your job description. Make it clear who you don’t want. Explain the results you’re looking for and the exact qualities you’re looking for. Paint the picture of a Patriot in your job description.

You can find Patriots by paying attention to the questions asked in the interview, by noticing how passionate they are about your company, and by trying out what’s called a “Difference Test.”

A “Difference Test” is when you ask the candidate to do something out of the norm, to test their dependability and their loyalty. Pretend you want to do an initial phone interview at 4:00 AM their time. See what they say. Tests like these can really help you to weed out the flakes and find the Patriots.

What’s The Best Way To Reward Virtual Team Members?

You want to reward great work in order to keep it coming, but your virtual employees will respond differently to different types of rewards. Mercenaries and Grunts want tangible rewards such as extra pay or a cash bonus. Patriots feel most rewarded when an idea they came to you with actually improved the business, and they’re recognized for it.

In general, recognition and acknowledgement are the best ways to reward your employees. You can still implement tangible rewards such as bonuses if there is a clear system in place. Bonuses can’t be handed out at random. It should be very clear exactly what is expected of their performance to get the bonus.

Managing a Virtual Team

Virtual teams are often the most talented, and with the right people, your business stands to benefit greatly from a virtual team. The talent pool grows when your search for the perfect candidate is no longer restricted based on the talent available in your area. No matter how talented your team is, however, structuring your interactions is still crucial. Communication tools can be used to maintain order and systems.

Managing a virtual team doesn’t have to be complicated, even if each team member lives in a different part of the world. You can use digital tools such as Trello, Loom, Asana, Telegram and Slack to delegate and manage projects.

It’s not difficult to build trust and loyalty with a virtual team, either. The team will be loyal if they genuinely love what your business is all about, and they’re proud to be part of it. To maintain commitment, you can video call and chat with team members one-on-one over the phone. During these one-on-one chats is when you will give them recognition and positive acknowledgement.

Building a devoted team requires that you hire for roles – you don’t hire for tasks. When someone has a ‘role’ it means they’ve been entrusted with a ‘part’, and that’s how you instill passion. That’s how you encourage a more meaningful contribution.

Are you going to build a powerful team? What questions do you have about team building or hiring the right people? Comment below.