- Well, Dan, how do I find good people?
(ambient electronic music)
Entrepreneurs ask that question all the time.
I've done some hires in my life
where some of them are very, very, very good.
Some of them are very, very, very bad.
And I've learned through some mistakes.
So, when it comes to hiring,
when it comes to growing your company,
nothing, nothing is more important
than your team, period.
The best team wins in business.
Not the techniques,
it's not the technology,
it's not even your product,
because those things you could create.
Those things you could manufacture.
But people,
business is all about people.
That's one thing I've learned.
I've seen people with great talents,
great leaders with great ideas,
but they've got a lousy team.
I would take an average idea and a great team
any day of the week versus a great idea and an average team.
Because an average team could not execute the idea
the way that we want to.
But a great team, you can take an average idea
and you will make it work.
You will tweak, you will pivot,
you will improve, you will upgrade,
and you will make it happen.
So when it comes to hiring,
I believe there are three types of employees.
That's what I've learned.
Now, the first type is what I call a grunt.
That's correct.
Just like how it sounds, a grunt.
So how would you know that a potential employee is a grunt?
So, during the interview process,
right after, you know how you ask them
all the interview questions,
you ask them about this, their background, their shrink,
all the typical questions that you ask.
What you want to ask is
are there any questions you have for me
when you're interviewing them.
And they will tell you,
well, uh, what's, what's, how do you calculate overtime?
How many vacations do I get?
Exactly how many hours I have to work?
That's a grunt, right.
The grunt is, they just want a job.
They just want a 9-to-5,
they want to do kind of the minimum,
enough not to get fired
and just go through the day to day motions.
They just do what they do and that's it.
They just want a job,
go home, go to the family,
they pay the bills, they make a living,
and that's it, that's a grunt.
They're very focused on so much,
how much time do I have to work?
How much time do I do this?
Right?
And this full time, is it part time?
If they're asking you that type of questions,
it tells you that that's a grunt, okay?
Now,
depends on your business type,
there are some positions it's necessary to have some grunts
to get those work done, it's okay.
But you don't want to have too many grunts
in your company because if you have too many grunts
in your company, your business is not gonna grow
because they all just try to do the minimum.
The second type of employees you will get is
what I call a mercenary.
That's correct, a mercenary.
What, who is a mercenary?
They work for money.
So, during the interview at the end,
you ask them the question,
so, do you have any questions for me?
They're asking you a lot of money questions.
So, what's my base salary?
How's the bonus structure work?
What about the compensation?
It's all money, money, money, money, money.
How much am I gonna make?
Those type of questions, it is a mercenary.
That person works for money.
You know this for many of these,
what I call sales positions,
a lot of sales guys, they're usually mercenaries.
Oh, what's my commission structure?
What's my base salary?
And after that, you notice mercenaries,
if immediately there is another opportunity,
there's a better opportunity, they can make more money,
they will jump ship very quickly.
Because they work for money, they're mercenaries.
You pay me this much, he pays me that much,
I'm going there, forget this.
No loyalty whatsoever, that's a mercenary.
Again, there's a time and place for mercenaries.
They're hunters.
They eat what they kill, that's fine.
You probably don't want a mercenary in customer support.
Okay, right?
You probably don't want a mercenary
managing your finance.
That's a problem.
The third type is what I call a patriot.
That's who you want in your company.
You want the most amount of patriots in your company.
Meaning that they are not work for just having a job,
they don't just work for money.
Of course, they want to make good money,
but that's not what drives them.
A patriot is driven by a mission, by a purpose.
By being part of something bigger than themselves.
So during the interview process,
if after the interview, you ask them the question,
so what other questions do you have for me?
If they are bringing you ideas,
they're like, you know what,
I have studied your company's culture,
I think here's how I could bring value
to what you do, to the organization,
here's my background, here's my talents,
and I notice that maybe you can try this idea,
maybe we can try that idea.
They are already thinking about ways on how to improve this.
Not from an arrogant prospective.
Oh, I think your company, you're doing something wrong,
you should do this, no, no,
they want to contribute.
They want to grow.
They are driven by contribution
and they are driven by growth.
Those people, patriot, those you want to hire.
Those you cannot hire enough.
Because when you have a group of patriots,
what happens in within your company,
you will have a culture that is growth-oriented.
That they always want to grow.
That they always want to make it better.
And chances are they will work well with other people
because they know they cannot do it by themselves.
They need to work with other people
in order to make this vision a reality.
They are not nickel and diming you,
where, hey man, I work more than usual,
like five minutes overtime, how does that work?
Or they're not thinking about,
oh yeah, man, 9-to-5, like 4:50, I'm already at the clock,
trying to clock in, clock out and go home.
You're not gonna get that.
Patriots, they are all in.
They just want to do something great.
They want to do something epic.
They want to do something with great people.
When you have a group of patriots,
that's what makes your company great.
So, a grunt, a mercenary, and patriot.
And you will find out quite easily
if you pay attention to the body language,
you pay attention to what drives them,
what actually drives them, what is their motive,
how they operate.
If you do this, you hire a lot of patriots,
from time to time, some tasks, leave it to grunts,
for certain tasks, maybe a sales position,
yes, mercenaries, you will be fine.
So those are the tips on how to hire good people.
Until next time, I'll see you in my Bentley.