Find people that you feel like I would choose this person to go to war with and if you can find those people then it makes it really hard to fail. I want to know your mindset. How do I cultivate a sense of ownership within my team? What would be your suggestions to replacing me? This kind of situation only gets worse with time, not better. You can change this. Part of what I wish I had said that I didn't say.
i'm excited holy shit you're the first person in my life to ever make me nervous oh my god i'm leo wait really No, because we've messaged on Instagram for years and you're the reason that I'm here. So I'm Leo Skeppy and I have done $2 million a year for the past couple of years. Thanks to you. But I do social media.
Well, I wanted to point out and say thank you for all of the battles you have to fight in private. And I want to know from you, what are your top tips for the battles you have to fight in private? Because you're very emotionally independent.
and i admire you um okay well can you tell me how this relates to you also so i can have a little context i fired a lot of people didn't work i'm in a like a phase i'm gonna have to rehire and like hire people i haven't had before so i'm at a point now where i've maxed as high as i can go with my threshold as a human being i don't even have an editor i do every thing cocaine don't even help no more
like i when i say i'm at my limit i've tried babe so i have to get some of this shit let off of myself so i can go higher so that's kind of where i'm at now but in this period of trying to onboard and hire It's about to get really rough. I want to know your mindset around the resilience aspect. Yeah. Well, I would say one thing, which is like, is it really going to be that rough? Because like one thing I never let myself do is like, take it too seriously. Cause I'm like. You saving babies?
you know like for real though like i'm like if somebody's like at my desk and they're like leila i'm so overwhelmed because i can't and if i don't fix this with the portfolio company that they're gonna i'm like oh wait and then they will make less money and so will we oh my god like the world will end like we make rich people
money like i'm sure everyone's gonna be so sad you know what i mean like uh like and same for you oh my god i'm gonna make 1.5 million instead of 2 million a year like you know what i mean like so i think the first thing is like i really don't take it too seriously like
I fuck up all the time. I look like an idiot all the time. I sound like a fucking idiot right now on stage with Kleenex. You know, my nose is running. I'm like, I don't give a shit, you know? And so like, I think one, just don't take it too seriously because it's like. if i zoom all the way out i'm like okay so i'm upset
Because this person on my team told this person on my team that they don't like them. And then they went to this person and now there's drama and gossip. And I'm like, it's the end of the fucking world, right? and i feel like that some days and i have to zoom out and be like wow i'm upset because adults grown adults on my team are gossiping like i'm a speck of dust on this universe and this is what i'm worried about right now and so i think the first thing is like
just contextualizing it. I try really hard not to worry about the things that aren't going to kill me and aren't going to harm people that I love or people I'm trying to help. You know what I mean? Because that's all just noise and it's all going to go away. It's not going to matter in a year.
So I think that's the first piece. I think the second piece with is understanding how to define resiliency, which is like how quickly you can return to baseline. So resiliency is essentially like your... What? That was good. Okay, so... um whoa like this is your emotional state and then an event occurs and then your emotional state goes here or goes here and resiliency is just how quickly can you go back here to where you were prior
I just focus on the speed. I don't focus on not having a reaction. Like someone can come in my office, they can tell me some really bad news and I can be like, motherfucker. And it's like in two seconds, my brain is like, motherfucker. And then I'm like... Yeah. Okay. We're going to fix it. Ain't no thing. Right. Within like 60 seconds, I'm like into mode. And so for me, it's like.
I look at the very beginning of my business career. If something bad had happened, it might have taken me three weeks to regulate myself emotionally. I'm up thinking about it. I'm ruminating on it. I'm stressed about it. Now it's like... it takes me a few minutes or even like seconds to regulate myself. And so I've measured my progress for resiliency just by what's the speed that I can get back to baseline. What's your mindset for that couple seconds now?
Like, how do you get back to baseline? Honestly? Yeah. Okay. Well, I have two routes I go, which is first option is I say one of two things will happen. Either I die, in which case I don't have to worry about this anymore. Uh, and then the other side, I just suffer emotionally, but I don't die. So I mean, I don't know if that's helpful, but it sounds dark, but it's what I think.
It actually is because I'm like, well, I can suffer emotionally. I've done that before. I've definitely suffered emotionally. What, some more emotional suffering? Bring it on. Or I'm like, die? Well, then I won't have to suffer emotionally. That'll be nice. I don't know. But like, I mean, that's really where I go with it because it's like what most people like the resiliency. It's like it's all of this is just the root of experiential avoidance.
which is like not wanting to experience our emotions, not wanting to feel a certain way. Why do people, most of the time I see people in their business, it's like they're ultimately trying to avoid something and that's what's stopping them from growing their business. Avoid a possibility of something happening. Avoid a possibility of someone judging them.
Part of what I wish I had said that I didn't say, in any company, you can't, like... think about your employees think about the people that work for you you can't vent down right that's inappropriate like a boss venting down inappropriate well then if you're the one at the top of the company where do you vent to you know for me personally when i talk about my support system i think of my executive assistant team they are the only people that i will disclose my like
really how i'm feeling too or like i'll allow myself to have more of like an emotional reaction with because they're there for me not for a function in the team a function of the company and so i think that getting those key hires like getting personal support for yourself in what i call like your nucleus like the people who report to you and who are like your barrier in the company you need to hire people that
you'd be like, I would go to war with this fucker. Because it feels like that a lot of the days. And if you feel like somebody doesn't have your back, they're not loyal, they don't have integrity, they don't uphold the same values. it's going to get really tough because you're going to feel like you have nobody to go to nobody to talk to and nobody sees reality or sees the problems the same way you do
My name is Carson. I run a talent management business. We're kind of like a marketplace. So we sell to both creators who we represent, as well as brands who the creators do marketing for. We did 600 grand roughly in revenue last year. And I would like to be at five mil. I think that'd be pretty nice. And I would say what's constraining me is primarily key man and data. And I would say my key questions around this, there's really two parts to it. The first one is within a team, how do I...
manage the balance between grace and accountability? And my second one is how do I cultivate a sense of ownership within my team? Yeah, those are good questions. Tell me who you're struggling with on your team. So, I mean, it's always one person. One team member who's a partner, he runs the messaging department in the business that we run. So he's a partner? Yeah, he is a partner. Does that mean he has equity in the business? Yes. Okay, so he's the person you're struggling with.
Primarily. Yeah. Yeah. For that question. Yes. And you're trying to figure out how to motivate him to do more better work. Let's say you fast forward and you're making 50 million a year and this person has 20% of your business and you have to motivate them and you have to hold them accountable and they're never living up to your standards. Are you okay with that? No. So your business is small right now. You're at a place where...
You can change this. And so like the reason why I'm going above the question is because in my opinion, this kind of situation only gets worse with time, not better. Sure. There's barrels and there's ammunition.
barrels are people that you want to have equity barrels are people who can take something they can create something out of nothing they require little instruction and all you need to do is keep giving them ammunition and they keep firing and they keep building shit right and so anyone that has equity in a company should be a barrel ammunition is like you give them ammunition so they can uh get more reach right they can multiply themselves through the ammunition
I'm fearful that you don't have a barrel that has quite a bit of equity in your business based on what you're telling me right now. Do you think that that sounds off? This was right when I started my business. He was there from day one. He brought a ton of value then, but it's also like... It changes quick.
Yeah. It changes quick. And I didn't necessarily know what I was doing then when I was first starting my business. So still learning. Yeah. No, I do. Sure. This is totally fair. I've been like, it's one of our biggest businesses right now. Like I came in and they had a guy, he had like 20% of revenue.
And if that business had kept that when they were doing a couple million a year, now they're doing 200 million a year, they would have been fucking like, what the hell is going on? You know what I mean? And so I think this is my suggestion for you.
I would consider if he has what you're looking for to be a real barrel in your business, because I think that if anything, based on your demeanor and what you're expressing, you're probably not holding the standard high enough because could you coach him? Yes.
Could you hold him accountable? Yes. Should you have to do that for somebody that has that kind of equity in the business? No. Sure. My advice would be clean it up now. I would say what you could probably do is scope down his role. There's probably a different role that exists in the business that you could offer him. Sure.
And that role comes with a different compensation plan. And if you don't do it now, it's going to have, you have to do it later and have to pay the tax on it. So I'd suggest doing it sooner.
If you're going to give somebody equity in your company, that person, when you say partner, that means equal in a way, which means that you don't need to motivate them, hold them accountable, manage them as you would somebody that comes into work for you that it's not getting equity. You know, I would never bring somebody.
into one of my businesses that wasn't intrinsically motivated and couldn't manage themselves or hold themselves accountable and give them equity in my company. This is something I've done, like, I think almost every portfolio company that we have.
I've had to go in and fix compensation because people have given away too much equity in the beginning. And then those people are no longer worth it. I like to call it like a tour of duty. They've done their tour of duty in the business and they no longer are that valuable to the business anymore. And your business is worth more. And you need that equity to give to people who are valuable at that point in time. Can I double click on one more thing? You can double click.
Thank you. The other side of this was like the accountability piece. I think beyond just my relationship with him, I don't think I have a good framework or understanding of the best way to hold people accountable. Yeah. What are your thoughts? Yeah. So if you really think about accountability, this is for everybody. in here accountability is really you set an expectation you tie a measurement to that expectation or a metric and then you give someone feedback about their
ability to hit or not hit that expectation. So I'll give you an example of one, right? So you have an easy one is for sales. So you have a sales quota, right? And so it's like, okay, I'm going to need for you to maintain a role here. You have to close 20 deals a month.
right? That's what the business operates on, right? Anything below that would be negative net margin, whatever. So you say 20 deals a month. Great. Okay. So how do we measure that? Okay. Well, we're going to have reporting in our CRM and you're going to have to log your sales every day. And then those two combined create a reporting structure.
Then how do you create feedback for that structure? Well, we're going to tie my CRM to Slack. It's going to ding in Slack every day whenever you get a sale. And then we're going to have a leaderboard. And that leaderboard is going to be put up in the beginning of the day and the end of the day to remind people where they're sitting.
You can have systems that provide accountability, which I prefer. And then you also get to narrate those systems, which is like, oh, hey, I saw the leaderboard. Like, how you feeling? I saw his little dip this week. Oh, hey, I said leaderboard. Like, great fucking work, dude. You crushed it this week.
Well, what happens when you don't have clear targets for people is that their attention gets diluted. So whatever we measure is where they're going to focus the most, especially if you measure it in a group setting. And so for you, it's like, can you get some sort of, whether it be a tool or they are self.
measuring, right? Like reporting, self-reporting on a daily basis, what they're doing. If you can figure out what the output is of each person or role on a daily or weekly basis, and then you just remind them of that output as much as possible. Thank you. Absolutely. Hi, my name is Ben Foskey and I'm an executive confidence coach. We do a million dollars in revenue and I'd like to do 10. And so I'm teaching other people how to be confidence coaches now.
And so what's stopping me is I'm from lead gen through the sales. So I've replaced myself with other coaches. So I don't do that as much anymore. So the fulfillment's good. And we have an assessment that we use to sell. But when I've tried to empower people to become the lead salesperson, it just has not worked. What would be your suggestions to replacing me? To me, it doesn't even feel like selling.
My conversion is like 80 plus percent on those calls, but other people do it in their like five or 10 percent. And it's very confusing to me. Yeah, yeah. That's because persuasion is stronger the more of an authority figure you are.
so why why am i up here and going to say the same thing to people that they probably ask people on my team people see me as a stronger authority figure to a degree and so that they believe the answer coming from me more it has nothing to do with your skill sorry but like It has more to do with your authority than it does your skill. And that's why I think the fastest way to get good at sales is just become an authority. You don't even have to be good at sales. People just do what you say, right?
What this means is that for your sales process, what you need to be able to do is how do you build authority?
with the other people that are for you which i've never did right right and so like just like they're going through the funnel and they're seeing you you have a couple different options right so i see it as like either you could change some of how the funnel works and maybe put in like a short vsl from you right going through the assessment doing this like you edifying the process itself right and giving more authority to the assessment um or you find a way to
implement authority into the sales process from the salesperson. So what's their background? Do they have credibility? How do they become a coach? How do you build authority within them? I personally, even though I think it's a little...
harder i like the idea of edifying people in your team and a lot of people don't like to do that because like what if they leave i'm like well what if they stay inside think about like this um if i call somebody and i'm like hey i want you to become a portfolio company but you know what
I want you to talk to Jim. Jim actually sold his company for more money than I sold mine. He sold it for $100 million. And Jim was then the CFO of this company and then the this of this company. So what I've done is I... I'm somebody who has authority. I have transferred my authority to Jim. The second is that we have said why they should listen to him. We've used his credibility and we've edified him. So an example of this is that...
you know for my team we run workshops the people that are presenting my team that works in the portfolio and you know works in the inner operations of the company i've hired them all because they're very good at what they do and they have a lot of expertise but if i don't tell people that are coming to attend that
They don't know. When I added in the credibility and authority piece by edifying everybody before they did their presentation, did their talk, did their piece of the workshop, their scores went up. So they might have been an 80.
last week and then we add in their credibility and they're 90 the next week and it's simply because once you tell people hey you should listen to this person and here's why they're more attuned to do that awesome thank you absolutely hi lila hi my name's laurie i sell tutoring to college students who want to go to medical school we do a half million in revenue i'd like to be at a million this year and then scale from there
Main thing that's stopping me is I am the magical six armed woman right now in the business. How do you go from being the person who's doing it all to the person who's managing people who are doing it? when it's not really the area that you're necessarily that great at. Yeah. Are you doing the things right now and you're looking to hire people to do the things you're not that good at? Oh, I'm looking to...
I'm doing all the things. So other than the delivery, I am the show. So you are doing them and you're also looking to bring people in to do them, but you don't know how to do them. I mean, I guess I know how to do it. Because I'm doing it. Yeah. Okay. That's that's true. Yeah. But I also I feel like I don't necessarily. So I've tried before and hired really shitty people. And then I've tried. I've hired OK people and managed them pretty shittily.
I would say this, like when you're bringing someone to do anything, if you're doing all those things right now, the first thing you have to think about is like, you want to demonstrate, you want to document, you want to duplicate. It's like before you have somebody, when somebody comes in, no matter.
what you've done or haven't done something's working right now you're doing and you feel like it's really shitty but like you'd be surprised at like how good it is compared to some people going to come in because if you just you know what you need to do for your business and it's
You have a lot more discretionary effort that you unlock. So what I'd say is anyone they bring in, like say you're doing the accounting right now. I don't know. You're going to bring them in. You're going to say, great, you're going to watch me do it. I want you to document how I'm doing it. And then I want to watch you do it the way I did it.
And listen, I understand there's a lot of shit we could do different. We can talk about that later, but I need you to at least do what I'm fucking doing right now. That's the first thing is like, no matter the experience, no matter how much you don't know what you're doing, like you need them to at least do what you're doing and not.
deviate from that plan in the short term. That's the first thing. The second thing is I like the awareness of like, you're like, I'm not good at these things. Great. So If you can bring people in who are good at them, that's what we want to do. The reason for it is this. If you don't really know much about the function and you certainly don't know it well enough to teach it.
then you want to bring in more experienced people than you did in the other areas. Right. Because if I have more proficiency in an area, I have more wiggle room as to who I hire because I have the ability to train them in that area more than I do for like, if I hired somebody to do like.
I don't know. Engineering. I'm fucked. I don't know how to guide. I don't even Python. What the fuck? And nothing, nothing, fucking nothing. And so I'm like, listen, you need to be really fucking proficient because if you're ever stuck on anything, like, please look the other way. Cause I'm not helping you.
if you're going to bring people in to help you, how much support can you provide them? And if it's like, okay, I actually can't, like, I can't help you get better at your job. I can't tell you when you're doing something technically incorrect, but I can tell you. If you're misaligned with our culture, if you're misaligned with our values, learning how to manage people who do something that you don't know how to do is the art of being able to sniff out bullshit.
it's like common sense when there are no results being produced you need to investigate that and say like that's you know because at the end of the day it's like if whether they work two hours a day or they work eight hours a day like you want to focus on like
Is the result occurring for the business that I need to have happen, right? And then if that's not happening, then it's like, okay, that's reason to investigate. I think what you want to do ahead of time, if you don't know how to do the function, is define the result.
So every job description I have, you can look on our website. I do a format where it's like role, responsibilities, results. So I want to know what are the results that they are responsible for. So if I'm hiring somebody to come in and...
say it's like run accounting. It's like, okay, deliver P&L by day five of every month, right? Like make sure all AR and ARP are taken care of by, you know, end of day every day. And by Friday, the inboxes are cleared. But like, I would just go through and say like,
What are the results I want to occur as a fact of hiring this person? And then I hold them accountable to those results with the expectation that they know that I can't help them how to get there. I'm like, listen, this needs to happen.
no fucking idea how are you trying to do it but do you know how to do this and they're like yeah i know how to do that i've been doing that for three years you're like great and i can never help you train to get better so to a degree you have to understand everything enough to know if somebody is a low performer fraudulent you do need to know enough to that degree so um that's just what it means to be i think the ceo is like your head generalist of the company essentially like you know a lot
about a lot is essentially where you get to eventually and then at first it's like you know a little about a lot but eventually as you've been doing it for a long time you know a lot about a lot if you don't know how to do a function and you're trying to hire somebody who can interview 10 people and treat the interviews like research sessions
and what you'll see after you've done 10 interviews is there will be a common thread there will be three to five things that every person says and then those are the things that are most important that the person gets done that you do hire yeah that makes a lot of sense Okay, great. Thank you. Of course.