Ricky: Hey everyone! Ricky here, back with
another video. Today I want to discuss how to hire people when
your business starts to grow. And how do you trust people to
do the same quality work you're accustomed to doing, and have
that passion.
Stick around to find out.
I also want to thank Epidemic for sponsoring
today's episode...
But more on that later.
Chris: Do you just enjoy keeping this really small
and intimate and... just the both of you have your hands
in everything. And that's kinda more an art / lifestyle
business? Or do you imagine yourself scaling this thing to
being a super successful multimillion dollar business.
Is that what you want it to be?
Ash: Yes. The latter.
Chris: The latter. OK!
Chris: So now we have to take off our Maker / Creator Hat,
and we have to put on our Entrepreneur Hat.
And entrepreneurs think very differently about business and
design than creators do.
I think as an entrepreneur you have to start to look at the
business function of your... of your company. And you in the
creative business are no different than any
other business.
There's a couple of things that glue all businesses together.
Marketing. Sales. Customer Service, and the
user experience.
And we have to think about that. Now notice in there
there isn't a lot of space for the person who puts their hands
into the business. And there's a reason why because...
somebody out there, believe it or not, can do what
it is that you do, but nobody can be you.
Nobody can plan for your future. Nobody has your
exact chemistry and vision. And those are the roles and
responsibilities that you as the entrepreneur, as the
owners of a company, need to focus on. Because every time
you move away from that, it's like the... somebody takes
their foot off the pedal. And you start to cruise for
a while.
It's like you're turning around and having a conversation with
somebody in the back seat.
That's what it's like when you're doing the work. So most
people are anxious about hiring other people because they just
can't meet the standards that they have set for
themselves. Right?
So most of the time that comes because we've hired somebody
and paid them not enough money. Or we're relying too much
on local talent, or the people we know. So people are
going to say,
"Chris! How do we go from a two- person operation who mostly
worked from home to being able to afford world-class
talent?" Well, you build a bridge to it doesn't
happen overnight.
And here's what you do, OK? And now, almost everywhere
in the world...
(I'm trying to get very broad advice for people who are
listening wherever you are)
...there's going to be a school,
a community college, a university close by that
probably has a department that's going to have some
skills you could use. What I would say is you bring in
an intern. This could be paid or unpaid. I prefer paid,
so that it's sustainable. You bring them in and you're
going to go through a lot of people.
You're going to test, and you're gonna learn who's
good fit for you personality-wise, who's got
the right skill set, who's driven and motivated,
who's there to help you grow.
People come with all different kinds of motivations, and it's
not possible for you to predict which ones are the good ones
and which ones are not so good ones. And "not so good"
meaning not a good fit, not that they're bad
human beings. So those people you bring in, and you take what
it is that you do – 'cause I know more about design than I
do about marketing – I would say we'll try to write down all
the different functions that you have to do. It could
be three functions, it could be 17, but let's
look at that. Then what you should do is
to say, "Realistically, I can not hire one person to do
all seven functions. That's a job of three people."
So you take the least essential functions and you
hire for that. And you train them up.
You train them up. And there's a there's a very good reason
why I say, "You train them up," because...
because you're not paying them market rate. You're paying
them at an entry level rate. The exchange in value is that
you're going to give them knowledge that they
can't gain otherwise. They exchange their labor for a
little bit of money, and for you to teach them. And you're
going to get good utility out of the good ones, and the
ones that don't, you just let them go and just move on.
So they'll stick with you for a little while, and then all of
a sudden you're going to see they're going to start to bump
up against that ceiling. They're going to say, "You know
those three things? I've mastered those three things.
I want to take on two more things." This is a keeper,
ladies and gentlemen.
This is a person you want to continue to groom and grow.
Now here's the cool part. Even though you weren't
charging super-high rates as a two-person studio, it's still
more than the person that you're paying right now at an
intern entry level. The gap in between allows you to continue
your business while you focus on building that business to
do the planning, the relationship building,
the marketing, and the sales and the going out to
meet people. It allows you time to think, to read,
to write, to become a thought leader,
to create content, to grow your channels and your
personal brands.
And then you attract bigger and bigger clients. This is
what is critical.
Now, I don't mean that you're never allowed to work on
projects ever again. Actually it's the opposite.
You get to be super... choosy as to which jobs you put
your hands on. And to me, that is the dream of
all creative people. Not to do every project, but just to
do the ones that you feel like, "I must do that Calvin Klein /
Mos Def project! I'm not going to delegate that away." Right?
You call dibs on that one, and then you do it. And you
keep doing this until your rates and your reputation and
your portfolio are in alignment with what you need to do to be
able to hire world- class talent.
This is the process of being a creative entrepreneur.
Ricky: And with that, I want to thank you for watching
today's episode. I know I learned a lot about what to
look for when hiring someone.
It was cool to see how a manager,
on the hiring level, views a new intern. So if you're about
to start a new company, go watch that section again.
It's the easiest way to become staffed.
What did you think? What did you do to get hired where you
work now?
Comment below, and let's give some advice to the people out
there who want to be full-time.
I also want to give it one more shout-out to the sponsor
of today's episode, Epidemic. Now there's usually one comment
per video that ask us where we got our music from.
And my answer, every single time, is Epidemic.
Now although they did pay me to say that, it is
actually the truth.
It's the only music library I use for The Futur music needs.
And today I want to talk about their new commercial plan.
So it includes usage of Epidemic's music on
all online platforms, at the price of $49 dollars a month,
or $299 a year. And the first month is free. So the
commercial plan is great for freelancers,
production companies, and businesses of all sizes.
Freelance and production companies can deliver client
projects with fully-cleared music.
Through the Epidemic website, you clear the
videos you produced, and the client won't get a claim for
publishing content containing Epidemic music.
This. Is. HUGE.
Every single Epidemic track is originally produced
by the musicians, and all the music is owned by Epidemic.
So there's no worries for copyright strikes for you,
or your client projects. We would also like to do a
competition in which everyone who signs up for the commercial
plan through The Futur's link in the Description could win up
to six months free of the plan, if you comment below why you
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So if you want to support us, click the link in the video
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Thank you for watching and we'll see you in the
next video.