The New Talent Playbook: The Ultimate Guide to Building Your Dream Team with Rob Levin

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. are brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. Today, we'll be breaking down the new talent playbook, the ultimate guide to building your dream team. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Rob Levin and the EO Fire Studios. Rob is a serial entrepreneur helping small businesses win the talent game, co-founding Work Better Now to deliver exceptional Latin American talent and drive growth, innovation, and competitive advantage for hundreds of businesses. And today, we'll talk about the talent crisis no one sees coming, hiring like the best without a Fortune 500 budget, the ultimate competitive advantage, the secret hiring formula, and oh, so much more.

0:43And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Rob and our sponsors. Fire Nation, we believe this is your year to transform your business. Start your transformation by attending the world's highest rated business growth workshop taught personally by Clay Clark and featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Again, request life-changing tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com slash EO Fire. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white-label your own software.

1:22Say hello to our featured partner, High Level, and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Rob, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, JLD, and what's up, Fire Nation? So really simple. I think most entrepreneurs, most business owners, they think that the key to their success is all about their product or service. And the product or service is very important and how good you execute or how well you execute and your strategy, all of that's important. But what is going to probably be the biggest indicator of your success, I'm assuming you already have a company that's up and running, is going to be your team, how well you lead it, how well you manage it.

2:15That by far is going to be the biggest leader of your success. And I think for a lot of people, team is an afterthought. And Fire Nation, that's why today we're talking about the new talent playbook, the ultimate guide to building your dream team. And Rob, I want to talk about the talent crisis that literally nobody sees coming. I mean, most of all businesses, they don't realize they're already facing a silent talent crisis. So let's talk about what's happening beneath the surface and what is costing businesses and business leaders every single day they don't address it. That's a great question.

2:48And you're right. It's one of those things that people have been experiencing, but they don't kind of know they're in it. It's like the frog in the boiling water. So before we get into the talent crisis, let's just tee up what else is going on in business world today. So today, more than ever, it's imperative to have a great team. Now, why is that? Because it's always important to have a great team, but why more than ever? Because the pace of change in business today is at, let's call it ludicrous speed. It's always been increasing. But it's now increasing at such a rate. Think about AI, the way people market has changed, customer expectations are changing.

3:29And now combine the fact that most business owners have been feeling this. There's a talent crisis, but they may not know that they're in it. What do I mean? Well, it's getting really hard to find great people, not good enough people, but great people to be in your company and to the ones actually doing the work. Why is it so hard? Well, you have a lot of baby boomers, which was a big segment of the population, leaving the workforce and younger workers. And there's plenty of great ones. But in general, millennials, Gen Z's and I am stereotyping here. they have very different work habits. And for that reason, it's a lot of things need to change, right?

4:12And a lot of companies are in a talent crisis. It's really funny, you know, if you think about it, if you look at all the headlines, it's like layoffs here, 10 ,000 layoffs here, 15 ,000 layoffs here, there. These are all large companies, obviously, with thousands of layoffs. That's what you're reading. And you're thinking, oh, there's plenty of people out there. You also have to remember that the skill set required to do well at a large company is quite different than the skill sets we need in small and mid-sized businesses. So what does this mean? It means a lot of companies, small and mid-sized businesses, they're hanging on to mediocre performers, people that do not fit within a culture, and those are bringing your high performers down if they're not leaving.

4:53And what ultimately happens is your dreams start to fade away. These big goals you have start to get whittled down. And it's, again, it's one of those quiet things like the, that you don't really notice, but it's happening over time. Fire Nation, it's so true that you have to take a step back and look at the overall big picture, which is why we bring in people like Rob who are doing this on a day-to-day basis. I mean, this is his focal point. And that's why I want to talk next about hiring like the best, but without a fortune 500 budget, because Rob, you've helped smaller companies compete head ahead with these giants.

5:27I mean, absolute industry giants. So what are your top strategies for those businesses that want to both attract and land game changing talent? I mean, we're talking about the best without breaking the bank. Look, it's not to say that money's not important, JLD, it is, but there's so much more, particularly now with those top performers in the younger generations, they are looking for companies with a great culture. And the first question to ask yourself is, do you have a culture by design or do you have a culture that just kind of happened by default? Because you have a culture. One way or another, you have a culture.

6:03And if it's by default, it's likely not the culture that you want. And more importantly, that is going to attract and retain great talent. So what does a great culture look like? Well, it's productive. It's fun. There's probably some flexibility realizing like, hey, these employees, You remember, you know, for those of for those of you out there that are a little older like me, a Gen X or, you know, back in the day when I started working in the early 90s, there was like this thing that bosses would say, which is, hey, that person's lucky to have a job. You know, those days, by the way, are way gone.

6:37Right. So you got to look at your people as as as people. They're humans. Do you have a flexible work environment where people can kind of do things that are non-work related and still produce really well at work? Do you allow for hybrid work or remote work? And really important, very, very important. Do you have internal mobility at your company? So are there opportunities and a program for people to progress through the company? Because if not, your good performers are going to leave because they're not they're bumping their heads are hitting the ceiling. And then when it comes to things like hiring, what are your hiring practices like?

7:13Are you marketing your company to your potential employee candidates as you're marketing to your top prospective clients? It's things like that. Now, I want to talk about culture because you believe that culture is the ultimate competitive advantage. So how specifically can a strong internal culture turn into this like magnet that just draws consistently attracts these top performers, but also and pretty importantly, a lot of people overlook keeping them engaged? It's a great question. First of all, you have to keep in mind that your culture, the culture for your company is most likely already in the public domain.

7:54And when I say that to people, they freak out. They're like, what do you mean? Well, there's a company, there's a website called Glassdoor, right? And perspective, what's on there is what your former and your current employees have said about what it's like to work at your company. So most companies have a Glassdoor page, whether you knew it or not. and people who are thinking about working at your company are going to look there and to see what it's like to see what others have said so uh when you think about that that's really the starting point because that's going to determine who's going to be joining your company but then once people are in it gets into some of the things i mentioned about again internal mobility and you got to remember also that people want especially younger people in the workforce those younger generations, at least to me, they're younger, millennials and Gen Zs, they want to be a part of a company that's doing something compelling, right?

8:50And that comes, a lot of that comes down to a compelling mission. And then when people are coming to work, it's not like they're just, forgive the old expression, they're just like punching in, punching out on a time clock. Then they feel like they're a part of something special. And that's really when the magic happens between that and when you empower people, you don't micromanage, you're looking at their results, not so much their activities. You know, I, I had a business owner say to me the other day, like, oh, I can never have remote people because I need to see my people working. And I was like, wait a second, take, let's take a deep breath here for a second.

9:26If you're, if you're, if that's the way you're running your company, a couple of things are happening. Number one, you think you're, you think you, you're seeing productivity, but workers who don't want to be productive, They figured out how not to be productive. More importantly, people, you know, some people will work will work very quickly and they're going to get great results. But if you're just trying to focus on their on the activity that they're doing, you're focusing on the wrong thing. And then lastly, as a business owner, if you're spending time micromanaging, you're not spending time on the high payoff activities, those unique abilities that you have that are going to add zeros to your net worth.

10:03Right. So going back to culture, all of this stuff helps to attract and retain. And not only that, it helps, it gets people excited about coming to work every day and being productive. And a big part of that also is having KPIs. Everybody in your company should have KPIs that are reviewed at least on a weekly basis. And again, now you have a culture of results. and when you add in the fun and some of the other things I talked about, like internal mobility, you have a winning formula. Fire Nation, how you spend your days is how you spend your life. And if you don't think the most intelligent, hardworking and talented individuals know that as well, you really have another thing coming.

10:48So if you don't think that they want to be engaged, they want to be enjoying and looking forward to what they're doing with the majority of their life, then you really got to recalibrate with all the things that Rob's talking about here. And we have a lot to talk about, beyond resumes, hitting goldmine, turning talent into your growth engine when we get back from thanking our sponsors. I'm all about the basics when it comes to running my business and there's nothing more basic and important than how you talk to customers and keeping your team on the same page. That's why today's episode is sponsored by Quo, spelled Q-U-O, the modern alternative to run your business communications.

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12:34Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month, and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Yes, it's month to month, and it costs less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Schedule your free personal 13-point assessment with Clay Clark himself today at Thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Because Clay only takes on 160 clients and only allows 300 attendees to each business conference, you will interact with Clay directly. See thousands of real success stories and learn about attending the Thrive Time Show two-day in-person workshop featuring football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son Eric Trump today at ThriveTimeShow.com slash EOFire.

13:11Become the next success story. Schedule a free consultation and request tickets to join football star and entrepreneur Tim Tebow and President Trump's son, Eric Trump, at Clay Clark's next business conference today at Thrivetimeshow.com slash EOfire. Okay, let's talk about a platform that's completely changing how entrepreneurs are running their business, and they are also our featured partner, High Level. If you're an entrepreneur, coach, agency, or course creator looking to grow faster and smarter, HighLevel is the all-in-one platform that replaces your entire tech stack. Seriously, think ClickFunnels, Calendly, MailChimp, Kajabi, and even your CRM all rolled up into one powerful white label solution.

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14:23Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com, where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Rob, we're back. And as I kind of teased before the break, I want to talk about beyond resumes, the secret hiring formula. I mean, you say, or at least you're known to say, that hires aren't always the ones with the flashiest credentials.

14:59So how can leaders spot long-term potential before the interview even ends? That's a great question. This might be a mind shift, a big one for some people. I'm not saying skills aren't important. Of course they're important. But culture is going to outweigh skills every time. Successful businesses hire first for cultural fit. So if you don't have core values, it's something we might touch on later. It's important to have core values. You want to hire people that fit in with those core values, which, by the way, you can assess on an interview because you just develop questions asking them about what they liked about their previous places to work and what they didn't like.

15:41And you'll have a very good assessment of how those their experiences shape up with your core values. So it's key to hire first for cultural fit over skills. And by the way, part of cultural fit is likely attitude. What is their attitude like and how does that fit within your company? Hopefully you're getting people who not only embrace change, which is so important today, but also have an ownership mentality, which when you're running a small or mid-sized business, you need people who have an ownership mentality. People who won't let a problem lie. They'll fix it as if they were the owner of the business.

16:19So again, it's really about on the interview asking about what they liked and didn't like about previous jobs. And then you might be thinking, well, all right, Rob, but hey, I need somebody who can start to be productive the first week that they're working. I totally understand that. They should have some basic skills. But in terms of maybe some specific requirements, I'm going to introduce a term that might be, well, I'm going to mention a term that might be new to people. And it's going to be one of the most powerful things that business owners need to have a competency in or businesses should have a competency in, which is upskilling.

16:51Upskilling is when you provide training and that training can be internal or it could be external. It's when you provide training to your either incoming and or your existing employees. And it is one of the most powerful things you can do. Remember, I talked about the pace of change. And when you have rapid change, it means you constantly need to bring in new capabilities to your business. A great example of this, of course, today is AI. That's one example, right? So when you offer upskilling, and again, if you're like, hey, I don't know anything about AI, how am I going to train people on it?

17:25No problem. There's a million courses out there on AI. Many of them are free, by the way, and many of them are quite good. when you offer those upskilling opportunities to people, you give them the time and or if you need to pay for those courses, then you ask them as part of the deal for them, hey, I want you to take what you've learned and I want you to bring that into the company. Teach others, show us how we can evolve our processes. Again, use AI as an example. Bring AI into the company. Well, then you're going to have no problem, no problem at all giving them the promotion they want and giving them the raise they want.

18:03It's a huge win. And by the way, when you do that, it comes back to you again because you'll see those employees usually stay around a lot longer than employees that don't have those internal mobility options. So this is a huge opportunity. You can spot it during the interview process and then it goes all the way through in terms of having an upskilling program that not only gives them the internal mobility they want, but gives you the capabilities that you need in your business. Upscaling. I love that concept. I mean, Fire Nation, how can you implement upscaling into your organization today? Now, Rob, let's talk about your hidden goldmine.

18:46We're talking remote and global talent. I mean, with remote work, it's literally, it's reshaping the landscape as you and I know it. I mean, I'm a Gen X-er as well. I remember working in the 90s and the early 2000s. We were talking about when I used to be working in New York City back in the day. I mean, Life was different then and different is not always bad. It's not always good. It's just different. So how can small businesses, how can they tap into global teams to say a number one, scale quickly, number two, cut costs, and number three, still maintain the world-class performance they need to dominate?

19:17It's a terrific question, JLD. So first of all, let's go back to what we started with, which is it's really hard to find talent. In fact, if you look at a lot of surveys like NFIB and other small business organizations that track these things, the number one challenge that many business owners are facing is finding people. There's unfilled roles. They can't find the people that they need in their company. So it's quite simply very hard to find the people that you need for your specific company. So the next thing is to consider offshore just an extension of remote. And if you've done the things that we talked about earlier that you're not managing by, you're not micromanaging, you're managing essentially by results, then remote should be no problem for you.

20:07You just need to communicate a little bit more when you have, we call it over communicating when you have a remote team. You need to integrate your remote team with your in-person environment. And then you just think of offshore as an extension of remote because that's in fact what it is. And what remote does and what offshore does to a much bigger degree is it widens your talent pool. And guess what? There's amazing talent with great experience, fantastic English, and amazing attitudes in many parts of the world, particularly places like the Philippines, in Asia, and Latin America. And if you want proof on how well this works, number one, Work Better Now, my company, 80 % of our team is in Latin America, including about half of our leadership team.

20:51Wow. And we're an Inc. 5000 company, and we have about 300 clients that are using us and using our Work Better Now certified professionals, and they're thriving. They will tell you that these people are among their top performers. so you on top of that by the way now most people think most people think like all right i'm going to go offshore because i want to save money and i want you to flip that script i want you to go off i want you to go offshore first because you're going to widen your talent pool you're going to get great people with fantastic attitudes that are going to help you hit your goals and by the way because the cost of living is lower considerably lower in some of the places that i mentioned yes your margins are going to improve big time.

21:37And now you can do this yourself. Of course, you can post an ad on LinkedIn or indeed and do things the way you normally do. And there's companies that'll help you with payroll overseas, or you can work with talent providers or talent partners that make offshore a little bit easier because they already have that process locked down. Whatever you do, offshore is no longer the weird thing for small and mid-sized business. Offshore is something that I think most, most companies need to consider now. Fire Nation, people on my team are from Portland, Oregon, Philadelphia. But guess what? The Philippines, for 14 years now, I've had three virtual assistants that have been working for me.

22:16Pakistan, who now has recently moved to Melbourne, Australia, as a result of working on my team for so long. This is the global workforce that we live in today. And it's amazing. These individuals have been on my team, again, 14 years, some of them, from the Philippines. like they're truly family at this point and they are such high achievers. Now let's talk about turning talent into your growth engine because let's say our listeners, Fire Nation, they want to make talent their biggest competitive edge because obviously Rob, like you've done such a good job convincing us how key this is, which is true.

22:51So what are the first steps they need to take to transform their team into a true growth engine? Yeah, it's a great question. And this is really the reason why I wrote the book, The New Talent Playbook. It starts with a mind shift. And by the way, if a business owner has done what you just said, which is they want to make talent their biggest competitive edge, they already have a huge step up over their competition. Who's thinking like, I just got to work harder. I need to make my product or service better, or maybe I need to change my strategy. I'm not saying you don't, you might not need a change of strategy.

23:27But once you've realized like, all right, the key to my success is talent, then you're already way ahead of the competition. So it comes back to a lot of the things we talked about, JLD. It comes back to it all starts with culture, having a culture by design. And that starts with core values, having core values that are not something that you have put up on a wall. These are things that you actually live by in your company. And by the way, So your core values, here's a little thing that most people don't know, your core values, it's okay if they're a little bit aspirational, meaning like, you know, I want one of our core values is we respond to all customer inquiries within 24 hours.

24:14That may not be a great core value, but you get my point here. Maybe you're not there yet. That's okay. That's something that's within reach. You're striving for it, and you're going to get your team on board with it. But to go beyond that now, it's a lot of the things we talked about. It's upskilling, having a program in place, again, likely using external resources, websites like LinkedIn Learning and all of the AI platforms have free courses for you. And having that upskilling program in place that will do those two things we talked about. It'll provide those internal mobility opportunities along with bringing in capabilities into your company that you desperately need to be 10 steps ahead of the competition.

25:01And then there's a couple of other things that you need to do. And these might not seem that very obvious to really turn your talent into a growth engine. Number one, recognize performers. People love to be recognized. When you recognize performers, you're doing a couple things. Number one, people feel good when they're recognized, as I said. The other thing you're doing is you are putting on display in front of your company. You are showcasing, hey, this is what I expect from people. This is what is going to get that big pat on the back. Maybe it's a small monetary thing. Maybe it's literally just a certificate.

25:36Maybe it's just a recognition in front of their peers. recognizing performers is huge and it's something that doesn't have to cost many uh it doesn't have to cost any money at all and the other part of this the flip side to that is when you have poor performers and i'm going to put them into two different categories poor performer could be somebody who's not a cultural fit that person is a danger to your company those people need to be shown the door right away, even if there's a vacancy in that role, because that lack of cultural fit will spread. And it may not spread the way you're thinking like, oh, everybody's going to start being a poor performer.