Hire Right, the First Time with Mike Watkins

0:28Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. good employees, the birth of the Lego test, administering the test, the ideal applicant in some red flags to look out for, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Mike and our sponsors. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Get started today with Franocity's franchise funding guide, packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings. Visit Franocity.com.

1:03That's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y dot com. Mike, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, what's up, Fire Nation? Hey, listen. Two things I think that are BS out there about being successful. One is timing and the other is luck. You always have opportunity out there. We're passed by it all the time. And the other one is, oh, I got to get in at the right time. It's always the right time. And I think it's just as simple as that. Fire Nation, it is always the right time. And speaking of right time, we're talking today about hiring right the first time.

1:49Now, there's a myth out there, Mike, that there are no good employees. Let's bust that myth today. All right, let's do it. Well, first of all, most of the time people go out there and they start with, they think they have somebody and they hire them and then it doesn't work out. And then they're like, man, that guy just didn't work out. And then the next guy, and then the next guy, and then some, especially beginning entrepreneurs, they start to get soured about this. But what they don't understand is they're picking the wrong people to start with and they don't have a great interviewing and testing and filtering process to get to the right people.

2:29So they fill up their lines and their business and their organization with wrong people that waste their time instead of looking for the right people the first time and getting good quality people in there. And they struggle. And I know that for me, that's what was true for me. My first hires were disasters. Fire Nation, we've all had those disaster hires. It's just a reality of the world that we live in. But if we can learn and we can pivot and we can adjust, we can apply some of the things that we'll be talking about here today, you're just going to do a better job. Now you have something called the Lego test.

3:05In fact, there's something referred to as the birth of the Lego test. What is that exactly? Awesome. Well, the birth of the Lego test is my aha moment in hiring and filtering staff out including my current staff that I had. I had this, it was Christmas Day in like 2017 and my son had given me this massive Lego kit, the Millennium Falcon. And it was a big project, thousands of pieces. And I spent the day working on that. And my brother came over and he said, well, that's going to take you like two days. And I'm like, no, I'm pretty inclined. I can get this done. And somewhere in the middle of that, I made a mistake and I missed the step in putting the Legos together and the thing didn't go together right.

3:51And I had to step back, if you think, and look at the pictures a little closer. And a light went off in my head. And at the time, I was struggling with some of my people and the ability for them to get me the products, you know, fixing the cars or doing the work that they were supposed to be doing correctly. And I just had this aha moment. And I thought, you know what? Tomorrow I'm going to go and I'm going to go get some Legos. and I'm going to see if my guys can even just do this thing. Here are these Legos, and here's some pictures. Can they put this piece with this? Can they follow this thing 30 minutes without making mistakes?

4:28And that was the birth of the Lego test. So two days later, I walked into the shop first thing in the morning, and I handed three mechanics. I had four at the time. One of them just miraculously didn't show up, which I'll get into in a second. But the three guys, I said, the first guy that gets done with this Lego kit I'm going to give 20 bucks to and start. Well, eight minutes later, a guy was finished. I'm like, oh, he's the guy that's never has any problems, always gets his work done. And then the other two guys, man, you know, 25 minutes later, they're finally getting done and their Legos aren't even done right.

5:04Like there's a couple of things wrong with these Lego kits. Like the other guy duplicated all the pieces correctly. These two guys, they didn't get it right. And I thought, God, that's exactly what's happening. They're slow. They don't do all the hours. There's always some little thing wrong with what they do. And now here's the ideal guy over here. He's quick. He gets the thing done right, and he wants more work. And he should make more money. And I was at the time trying to divide the workout and made him wait because the other guys, I had to save work for them. Well, these guys were slow. And it started to be a 20-20 vision for me.

5:43well now i talked about the guy that didn't show up so the next time okay i can't leave this guy out of it so the next day i had the guy the lego kit and i said you know build this for me and to my amazement he had to steal pieces from the other kits now if you know anything about legos guys they actually bring give you extra pieces you know so he could not see the pieces that were in the kit they were all there and he stole from the other kits and i was like oh my god that's what this guy does in my shop. He loses bolts and he has to go dig around to find pieces and parts. And this is exactly what this guy does.

6:21And he took 35 minutes and he didn't do it right. And then he said, well, I need my glasses, you know, and I'm like, all right, well, come tomorrow, bring your glasses. The next day I had him do it again and he still messed it up. And so, yeah, needless to say, I realized I got one, 25 % of my production staff were eligible to stay on as employees and the other three had to go. And that was my aha moment. And I started hiring, you know, different mechanics and, you know, I started interviewing and I didn't care what their resume said. I wanted to see, can they simply do these things? I can train them if they don't have two left thumbs.

7:00I can train them if they can duplicate pictures. There's something there, but if they can't take these basic pieces and build me something in 15 to 20 minutes without making a mistake and without, you know, getting lost or going ADD on me or whatever you want to call it, without just being able to concentrate on this, I'm not going to get anything out of these people. So that is how I started hiring. I love that aha moment. I mean, Fire Nation, aha moments are so key when you have them, jump all over them. And guess what? We get to learn from other people's aha moments on this show. So thank you, Mike, for sharing yours.

7:35And there's something else I want to talk about, which is similar, but different, which is you administering the test. Tell us more about that. You know, at the beginning, I just handed this test, the kits out to my guys. I'm like, all right, try this, do this. Then I had a need for a manager and I'm like, okay, what am I going to do? I'm going to give the guy the Lego kit. And how am I going to do that? So I really didn't have a lot of great questions for this guy because I'd messed up so many times hiring a manager before I thought, well, the first thing I'll do is I'll just give the guy the Lego test.

8:07And our interview lasted 60 seconds. I asked him if he was ready for the interview. He sat down in my lobby and I said, are you ready? He says, yeah. And I pulled out the box and I handed it to this guy. And I said, build me this Lego kit. And he looked at me and he started and they looked at the box and he just got in shock. He said, I don't have time for this. And he gets up, he takes his briefcase that he brought with him, you know, his little, you know, know toy you had to have to like confront the interview and he literally ran out the door his resume looked great there was he was never going to do anything the way i wanted so i literally i work in the car industry and i just avoided a car accident so what was amazing about that right was i had i had seven more interviews that day i had an hour aside for each interview all right so now i just got 59 minutes back of my life wow just handing the guy this kid like i don't know anything about him everything looks good they you know great he's gone through this filter process let's just see if this guy can even stay in the room and since then that's not an unusual phenomenon that occurs with people is they'll see that stuff and they'll basically get up and leave if they can figure out how to get out of the building fast enough and so the next guys i i thought, well, I want the guys to stick around because I wanted to see what people can do.

9:30And this guy left. I didn't even get to see if he could build the thing. So I started adding questions that all of us want to know truly as entrepreneurs. Like, can you think outside the box? Do you like new things? Can you follow instructions? And are you willing to show me that you're going to do all these things? These are just four of the questions that I asked prior to giving a new candidate the Legos. And so I kind of set them up because they're going to – all these guys answer yes to this question, right? And I was like, the answer is yes, because they're giving you a false identity that they can do all this stuff.

10:06And now we're going to actually find out, hey, can they do it? And so then we give them the Lego test, and then we can see what they can do. And that is the amazing part that blossoms into some experiences that I hope Fire Nation has a chance to experience by, you know, getting my book and reading it and then going to Walmart and buy some Legos and figure this out. Because, man, you'll get all kinds of interesting things happening with people in front of your face that you wouldn't think that a kid's toy 7 to 11 would produce in an adult. I'll tell you what. I mean, anybody can have an amazing resume.

10:45I mean, anybody can have a really good resume. Anybody can create a decent resume. That does not mean that they can actually fulfill that job requirement. You have to figure something else out. Like the resume game has been figured out and it's not to the employer's advantage in any way, shape or form. So we're going to be talking about the ideal applicant, some red flags and some other things when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Starting your own business can feel intimidating. Where do you start? How do you grow? when will you start generating revenue? All valid questions. If you love the idea of creating wealth and freedom, but you're not sure if starting from scratch is the way to go, then I'm excited to tell you about Franocity.

11:26Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and creates legacy income for their families through franchising. Their clients come from all walks of life, executive veterans, first-time buyers, and multi-unit investors, and their mission is simple, to remove the guesswork, reduce the risk, and help everyday people become business owners through franchising. Don't know anything about franchising? That's the beauty of it. Franocity provides personalized one-on-one coaching at no cost to you, and they have access to over 600 franchise brands.

11:57And Franocity just doesn't help you pick a franchise. They help you understand the business model, investment risk, scalability, and operational reality. Get started today with Franocity's franchise funding guide packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings. Visit Franocity.com, that's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y.com to download your free franchise funding guide today. Have you ever dreamed of hopping around with kangaroos in Australia or bungee jumping over 400 feet into a canyon in New Zealand? I have, and I did. Oh, and I also cuddled up with a koala, true story.

12:35That's right, Kate and I toured Australia and New Zealand with some good friends of ours who knew these places well, And we think that's the best way to travel as if you're a local. This also includes staying in actual homes, which we always do on our travels. Thanks to Airbnb. It's a perfect way to truly immerse yourself in a new place in what better time to not only enjoy someone else's home, but to also have others enjoy yours. Think about it. Next time you jet set for a weekend, a week, two weeks, or six, consider making some extra cash by hosting your own home on Airbnb. Your home might be worth more than you think.

13:10Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. Mike, we're back. And as I teased a little bit before the break, we're going to talk about an ideal applicant versus some red flags with some other applicants. Take it away. All right, cool. So what I want to do first is talk about the red flag people, and then we'll flip it over and look at the ideal person. So when you give a Lego test to somebody, and I don't have it out there. It's a surprise. Boom, I hand it to them. I'm looking at how quickly they look at what I gave them and what I said and how quickly they respond. That's a very key indicator.

13:50There's this dragging that happens. There's actually a shock sometimes with people, and it's like how quickly can they follow that instruction and what kind of emotional reactions that you see. You'll see people that they'll mainly say, really? Because they're like, oh, my gosh, the guy's actually going to make me do something. And usually, those are the people a lot of times that have this veneer on there that they've – not only is the resume game known, the interview game is known. So they're not expecting this on the way in that you're going to get challenged right in the middle of this interview with this unusual thing.

14:30uh they they'll start uh breathing stop breathing when they actually start opening it they'll you'll see attitude in how they're opening the package you know they'll they'll uh they'll uh do all sorts of body motions i've had people like shaking i've had people dropping legos everywhere they slow down you know they're going slow some of them are like looking at you all of these different things and I have different pictures in the in the book that that are illustrated to kind of see because as you do this you'll start to see that people have different things going on and you're going to see that that it's just not um ideal situations and the people a lot of them don't even you know not only can they not do it like they won't do a good job at actually putting the legos together but you'll see that they're going through emotional distress and if they're going through emotional distress in an interview over putting legos together we've got a problem with the person that's not going to function well on the job when they need to so those are some of the red flags that i that i see in that um they don't have good motion when they're putting things together they can't fluidly think and if they can't think fluidly the body doesn't do it either see uh on this on the flip side of that this ideal applicant i have now an applicant this ideal applicant she is actually a partner with me in one of my shops because her interview went so well from the moment i said build this lego kit to the end she did it snap quick put it together and got it done right, 100 % pieces exactly done, checked out the card that it rolled and it was functioning and handed it to me, and I could definitely check to see that it was done right.

16:26And she actually gave me a really good indicator and said, yeah, that was fun. And she was as happy at the beginning as she was at the end. A lot of times with these people, they're pretending they're happy, but by the time they get done with the Lego test, you can see that they're ruined. and it was troublesome, and they started going, you know, oh, they're going to find out about me. And then what helped me out was now I know I have a little edge up on the people that I'm interviewing, and they're not going to give me a line of crap after this. They're going to tell me the truth because this thing's broken their veneer, and I found that people were way more honest with me afterwards whether they could do something or not, you know, because they always lie to you in the interview, that they're always a yes people.

17:15But that's not always the case. That is true, Fire Nation. And that's why you want to get to the bottom of these things as soon as possible. And using unique tests like this, I mean, let's be honest, it definitely can't hurt. And with Mike's track record, let's be honest, we know it's a proven method. So Mike, now that we've hired great employees, thanks to your method, thanks to following the different recommendations and applications that we can actually do, what the heck do we do with them? All right, good. Thanks for asking. This is a key point. I think this is where a lot of entrepreneurs miss out on taking the time.

17:53Now you have someone who's capable. I don't know how many of us have like got the right person, then we've ruined them in not getting them properly trained at a nice, fair, step-by-step process to get them onboarded and covering over a few things that we miss in hiring people is, you know, don't assume anything. Don't assume that they have the skills that they set on their resume, right? And a lot of people, they think they already know the job. And that's true. Some of them do, but they know how to do it their way. And so you hire somebody, let's say, that can do sales, and they're doing their sales process, but it might not be your sales process.

18:41And unless we go back and say, great, I know you have this, but I want to make sure that you have it exactly the way I want to have it done. And let's get in agreement at the beginning that what you did is great, but that my stuff is a little bit different and I want it done exactly my way. And if you can do it exactly my way, just as we went over in the Lego test, there was an exact way. If you can follow this exactly, you're going to do well. But if we veer away from that, we're not going to end up with the same finished product that I want. I am very particular about having a specific finished product here at ABC, and I want to have that.

19:21Will you make sure that we go through this process that you're going to give me this? And make sure they're on board with that. A lot of people come in the business, and they're proud of their resume, and they think they already know. In fact, that was my number one thing as an entrepreneur. You know, my dad was in business. I know how to run a business. I watched my whole life. No, dad sucked at it. Got to be honest. Dad wasn't that great at it. And so a lot of people come into the workforce and they think they already know they did a little bit of customer service. So they're now customer service oriented.

19:57But they're not. But they think they are, right? And then finally, you're going to find that when the training is out on a good person, they're going to go back to doing things they did at their last job and the systems that they had at their last job. And if you don't have your systems in, guess what? Wherever company they came from is now going to be what your company does. They're going to go back and do those exact same things. So if they were at your competitors, your sales system, your workflow, your production is now going to be where your competitors were because they never downloaded and duplicated that yours is different and you have a specific way you want to do it.

20:45And that's, I think, when we look into what the Lego test can help somebody do is make sure that the person has the ability to duplicate. And then it's just a matter of breaking through now that we're different here. And you need to understand that there are differences. Some things are similar, but there are things that are different. And you need to understand that we are different and be able to train to the differences of what you're used to. Mike, I know a lot of my listeners have gotten a ton of value from the value bombs you've been dropping nonstop. You wrote a book. Give our listeners a call to action about this book, where they can go to learn more from you.

21:26Awesome. So, Mike at peakmybiz.com. It's on Amazon. And then also, I believe you have the link tree for the download the book or to order the book. Absolutely. So that's the best way to do that. Reach out to me at Mike at peakmybiz.com for any questions. And I love to hear feedback about that. Like my favorite thing is to hear that somebody just thought they had a great candidate and realized that they avoided a car accident. And I like, and I love this story. This is so good, but I like to hear the stories about how the guy got up, told me to eat off and I don't play with kids toys and left. That's a true story.

22:09Had a mechanic say that, got up and left. And so I love to hear these responses that happen. and I want to help, you know, a million small business owners really change how we're hiring and onboarding people so that, you know, there are good people out there and it's a myth, but it's not the first, it might not be the first 20 people. You might, you know, you might have to go through a hundred people to find that one person and the hundred Lego tests. And, you know, for the price of the book and the price of a little Lego kit from Walmart or wherever you want to get it online that fits kind of your motif of your business.

22:46And, you know, I like to say you have a certain number of pieces and at least 70, right? You can do an amazing test for like $25, right? And I don't know where you can get employee testing that this good for that cheap. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with M-Dubs and JLD today. So keep up that heat. And for links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Mike in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up. That link tree that he mentioned will be right there as well. And Mike, I want to say thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation.

23:23For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Awesome. Thank you. Hey, Fire Nation, a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Mike and our sponsors. And if you think that you are an entrepreneur on fire with an amazing message to share with the world, you can learn more about applying to be a guest on EO Fire, on Entrepreneurs on Fire, over at eofire.com slash guest. Prepare to ignite. Franocity has helped hundreds of people leave unfulfilling jobs, invest in recession-resilient businesses, and create legacy income for their families through franchising. Get started today with Franocity's Franchise Funding Guide, packed with real-world strategies to launch your business without draining your savings.

24:09visit franocity.com. That's F-R-A-N-O-C-I-T-Y dot com.