684: How I’ve Built An Unmatched Team Culture

0:01Today's episode is sponsored in part by Revolve and Spectrum. Revolve is my all-time favorite place to shop for my dream wardrobe. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Spectrum business keeps your business connected with reliable service you can count on. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. As always, you can find all of our amazing deals in the show notes. Now let's get into it. okay I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing like if I haven't reached for it in months it's gotta go I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use revolve just gets it though I'm literally wearing my brown autri sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse it fits my laptop in it so it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything.

1:02I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life. Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. And it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger fast two-day shipping easy returns it's literally the only place you need to shop from that's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop my favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger offer available for a limited time so happy shopping if I want work-life balance for myself I want that for my team if I want to work from a place of peace and not urgency.

1:58I want that for my team. I don't as a boss reserve these special privileges for myself. I want them for the people who are helping me do this work. Hey, my name is Jenna Kutcher and I am obsessed with all things, business, marketing numbers, and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life. I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven figure online business. I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here.

2:35Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. Let me just say it had been way too long since I'd gotten to hug my teammates in person. And all of that changed just a few weeks ago when I flew myself and 12 of my employees and contractors out to Scottsdale, Arizona for some much needed rest and relaxation. Now, if you didn't know, our small but mighty team is entirely remote and all of the powerhouse women on my team own their role from all over the country, even Canada.

3:14Now, after a few very long years of not being able to do a team retreat, thanks to the entire world shutting down, a few babies being born and other life transitions, we were finally able to go on a team retreat and spend some much needed time together as a team. And since our team has gone through some changes, very good ones, might I add, we've added a few new faces. There were an entire handful of people on my team who I had never even met in real life. We get to have our every other week Zoom calls, but literally nothing beats seeing each other in person, face to face. I love the fact that my business has grown to this place where I get to do work with hilarious, beautiful, driven, and accomplished women who share my vision.

3:58I often think of it as if I am the visionary of my message, these women are my missionaries. It was so fun. We did a lot of relaxing instead of doing a typical team retreat where we're planning or we're working or we're launching or we're strategizing. I just wanted it to be this really focused time of connection. There was absolutely no agenda beyond going to the spa. We had a few dinner reservations and I just wanted time to be together and to get to know my new team members and for them to get to know me. It was super fun. One night before dinner, I shot new headshots for every person on my team.

4:35I dusted off my camera, got back into my photographer mode, shot brand new headshots, and I was editing them on the way home from the retreat and just thinking to myself, wow, like I can't believe my business is at this place where I can support this many people and they can support me. And it was so fun. I posted this Instagram reel of us doing that, you know, classic self timer dance that I have 100 % mastered over the years. And I asked you for your questions about cultivating an amazing team culture. And you asked some really great questions. I am so excited to dive into your questions in this special Q &A episode.

5:11So whether you're thinking about hiring your first VA or you're building a small but mighty team of your own, I hope my answers to your questions meet you wherever you are in your journey and get you dreaming about who you want in your corner, helping you do the work that you were born to do. All right, let's get started. Pop quiz, who do you think is more popular these days? Taylor Swift or ChatGPT? Now, although our feeds are flooded with hype around the era's tour, ChatGPT is actually beating Taylor Swift in search volume, which tells us that the AI revolution is upon us. That's why HubSpot's brand new AI power tools, Content Assistant and ChatSpot are all the rage.

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6:32The first question comes from the Kayla Duran and she asked a lot of amazing questions, but this one really stood out to me and feels like a great one to kick off this Q &A. So Kayla asked, what positions do you hire out and do you hire employees, subcontractors or both? So first, I just want to paint this picture because I know that there's going to be someone listening to this who's like, I am doing everything. I am just little old me, solopreneur. That was me for about five years of my business. So I am over a decade into entrepreneurship. The first half of my business, it was me. I was wearing all the hats.

7:09I was white knuckling everything. I was resistant to get help. And so if that is you, I just want to paint the possibility through today and remind you that you can start very small. I started very small with hiring a VA and I tell this story inside of my book, How Are You Really? But I was so reluctant to hire a VA that my girl, Caitlin, had to reach out four different times offering her help and her services to me. And on the fourth outreach, I had just gotten the news that we had lost another pregnancy. And it was one of those times in your life where you're like, I need to be in the fetal position and I cannot respond to emails.

7:49Emails don't even matter right now. And so it took me getting knocked to my knees in order to like open my hands up and loosen the grip on white knuckling my business. And so you might be there if you are, that is okay. But I love Kayla's question about what positions do you hire out? So let's start there. Let me break down the structure of my team right now. and then I'll kind of explain how I'm doing it in terms of employee versus contractor and how I approach that specific topic. So right now we have five people on my payroll and we have about seven to eight people on retainer or they are contractors.

8:26So when I look at my payroll, it's five people that I am paying salaries for. They are full time with me. And then the rest are contractors. And typically speaking, the contractors are serving more than just me. I am not their only client, but they are an intimate part of our brand. So if we were looking at like an org chart for my business right now, I would be at the top as the visionary and the CEO. And then right below me, we now have four project managers that own their specific area of the business. So we have a project manager for the podcast, for my online courses, for our content creation and then for our affiliate partnerships.

9:05Now this is kind of new for me. And what I'm thinking about and working with my team on is I likely need to get someone as a buffer between the project managers and me. And this is kind of a shift internally because my incredible integrator Marissa is moving into this project management position where she's going to manage all of our affiliate partnerships and launches. And that was out of a deep desire for her to move into more of a part-time role as a mom. And so we're kind of still working this out, but ideally speaking, you would have the visionary, then you would have the integrator, and then I would have my four amazing project managers.

9:44Now what's very exciting is that two of those project managers are brand new hires, brand new roles within the company. So one is overseeing the online courses, which is amazing. To have help in that area has been so incredible because we are doing some really big stuff with my courses. And then another new one is our content project manager, which now I'm like, how do we survive so long without this role? But essentially, Hannah is now overseeing all of the brand's content, making sure it's cohesive, making sure it makes sense, making sure that our emails are matching our Instagram posts, that the podcast is playing into the big overall content scheme.

10:22And it's been amazing. And then Marissa will be moving into her new role. So I mean, theoretically, three out of four of those are brand new. Then below the project managers are our team members that specialize in a certain area. So we have an incredible graphic designer on retainer. We have a copywriter on staff. And then we also have a support person who has been with me for nearly seven years who handles all customer support, email support. Then if we're talking about contractors, now these are like experts in their area. And like I said, they typically have more clients than just me. So we have a Facebook ad strategist.

10:59We have our chat funnel strategist. And then we have our tech specialist. And so these three women, while they may serve other clients or they're technically contractors, they are in our Slack weekly. They'll jump on team calls. They're a huge part of our business. And so when I think about my team, I absolutely think about our contractors. It was really interesting because the whole reason for the retreat was just mainly to connect. The thing is, is that most of our business is done through Slack. And so we're chatting with these people, but in adding a handful of new team members and really trying to kind of get them onboarded and into the business, I really thought it was so crucial that we connect with one another, that we know one another, that we understand each other.

11:45And so we just came out of one of our biggest launches, the biggest launch internally that we've ever done within my business. And typically speaking after a launch, I'll do some fun bonuses for my team members as a massive thank you for all of the work that went into a large undertaking like a launch. But instead of doing bonuses this time, I said, how does everyone feel about a team retreat? And everyone was so excited. And so that's why this wasn't like a super strategical meetup. It was more a massive amount of gratitude and gratefulness to my team, which is why I treated them to the spa and some wonderful food.

12:24And it was just like this really great gathering. And so there's so much value in investing in the connection of your team. And since we literally hadn't met since before COVID, it just felt really special. I think that as a visionary and the CEO, it's really important for people to know me offline and to see who I am offline and to have those conversations outside of Slack and to really connect with the brand and the mission and the message. But beyond that, I also think it's so crucial that your team is connecting with one another, that they understand each other, that they're learning about each other, that they value and respect each other.

13:05And it was just so cool to watch everyone mix and mingle. Something that I was so impressed by is with 12 women, most of whom have never met one another. There was zero clicks. I would look over and people would be talking to different people. We sat by different people every single night. It was just this really beautiful meeting place. I can't even describe it. So when I'm hiring out, typically speaking, if I want somebody to be all in on my business, and that is what they're going to do is specifically full-time, that is when I usually try to opt for having them on salary. They can also get benefits like 401k.

13:46And if they are someone who say is part-time or they are serving multiple clients, then I generally like to keep that as a contractor. When I just recently did my hiring where I hired a few new people, I had very candid conversations with them about what is your preference? What is your goal here? What is your vision in growing with a company and getting really honest about that? And I love to keep that conversation super open and fluid because I'm willing to do whatever my employees want to do, whatever benefits them the most. And so I like to keep that super open as a boss, because I just want to support them in the way that I best can.

14:25And so to me, it doesn't necessarily matter if someone's a contractor or a salary team member. I treat them the same. They are a part of my team. They are a critical part of my business or they wouldn't be here. And so that just feels like minutiae to me. But I want to make sure that whatever we opt for is in the greatest support of the team member and their life and what their goals are. The second question comes from Creating Me in MN, Minnesota. How do you find someone who aligns with your team culture during the hiring process? Do you have red flags or green flags that you look for. So I have done a few episodes on this podcast.

15:01I have a very interesting hiring process, though I absolutely swear by it. So what was really interesting is in our recent round of hiring, we hired three new people who are all now project managers. And what was beautiful about this process is that two of them came recommended from someone else in my industry. A peer in my industry had some big team transitions in the last year. And so some of her past team members had applied for my positions. And what was amazing is that one, I love my peer and I trust her recommendations. And two, I knew that they had kind of a knowledge of this industry, this background, they understand this business model.

15:47And so what was amazing is when I posted that I was hiring, she reached out to me and was like, I have the perfect people who are very interested in working for you. And so that very much simplified the process. However, that has never happened before. So if you're listening and you're like, well, good for you, but how does this make sense for me? Let me share the other process that I still followed through on and it still works. So I swear by LinkedIn for hiring. I love LinkedIn because a lot of times when we go to hire, we have to think about like, oh my gosh, I need to create an application.

16:16Then I need to ask all these questions and I need to know how to analyze their answers. Then I need to figure out, do we want to get on the phone call? Then I need to do... And it's like all of these really overwhelming steps that kind of paralyze you from every beginning. What I love about LinkedIn's hiring process is that people just submit their LinkedIn profile as their job application. So you could ask a bunch of questions or you could just look at their past experience. And for me, at this stage of my business, I want people that at least have some sort of experience in the area that they are applying for.

16:49So it's very easy for me to quickly scan through our submissions and see, okay, does this person have some sort of experience that would help them do a great job at this position that I'm hiring for? And so we use LinkedIn for all of our hiring, even with this go around. And it was amazing. For example, with our podcast producer position, Kylie was leaving to run her own show. And so I had her who was still on my team at the time, helped me to hire her replacement. What's beautiful is, is that I have been so fortunate to have incredible team members so that even if they were to leave and transition, which has been like 1%, they are willing to help find the best person to take over their part of the business.

17:32It's like their baby and they want to hand their baby over to someone that they trust. And so Kylie and I had a Google spreadsheet. We marked down 10 names of people that we were really curious about or interested in based on their experience, their LinkedIn profiles. Then we narrowed it down to three. I actually got on the phone with all three people that had caught my eye in interest. One of them was the recommendation from my peer and we ended up hiring her. And what was interesting is, is that in doing those three calls, I had very visceral reactions to each person. And I knew immediately like, oh, this person is brilliant.

18:09They could bring a lot to the table, but their experience isn't aligned with this type of business model. Or this person is really driven, but they seem to thrive in an in-person environment. And this is a fully remote position. So I don't necessarily think this is the right fit. And so what I look for in terms of finding someone who aligns with the team culture is one, do I like this person? I care about your knowledge and skills that you're bringing to the table. I want for you to at least kind of have an understanding, but I also know and believe that I can teach and train you to have the skills that you need to do your job well.

18:47But do I like you enough to want to do that? Do I see myself wanting to be at a team retreat with you and have you hanging out in my hotel room? Those things matter to me. And I also look for things like good work ethic, but also balance. Our team has a really fascinating culture, which we're going to talk about in just a minute. But I want my team to have full lives and their lives are going to include their work, but I don't necessarily want people whose lives revolve around work. I think that's great. Like as a boss, you're like, that's so cool. But at the same point too, that's going to lead to burnout.

19:24And I don't want people on my team for a hot minute. I want people to grow and evolve as the brand grows and evolves. Most of my team members now have been with me for over four years. Our turnover rate is nearly non-existent. And I think that that's a really powerful thing, especially in this day and age where most people transition out of jobs every two to three years. And so when I am thinking about team culture, I'm thinking, okay, is this person in it for the long haul? Do they understand me, my brand and my mission? Are they familiar with the ways that we serve? Do they understand this business model and does it make sense to them?

20:01And are they strategic in helping us evolve? It's been really fun having some new people on the team because one thing that I pride myself in and our team in is that we are so good at implementing. We will create an SOP, a standard operating procedure or a framework. and man, we are so good at following through. But what I love about having new people is oftentimes they'll have new ideas. They'll challenge our way of thinking. They'll bring something exciting to the table or an experiment to the table. And I love that. And so it's been really fun having this fresh energy on the team and taking kind of, here's what has worked for us.

20:42Here's what's working for us. What else do we want to try? What do we want to do? And so your gut and your intuition are so powerful. And if you are in tune with them, I feel like the hiring process can be a lot more simplified than we make it out to be. I have hired people for roles that they didn't even apply for because I knew in my gut that this person would add value to the team and that I wanted them to grow with the team. For example, Brooklyn, who is my copywriter. She is one of the most hilarious people I've ever met. She is incredible. She applied for my podcast producer position nearly five years ago.

21:18She would have made a terrible podcast producer, Brooklyn. I love you, but you also know this. She is the most incredible copywriter on the planet. She is a Swiss army knife with words. She has helped me on so many different projects. It is incredible what she can do. What's fascinating is that she applied for an entirely different position. And when I interviewed her for that position, I knew that I needed her on my team. I didn't even have an open position at the time. I created a position for her. And now she's been with me for five years. And I could not imagine my business without her. But as a leader, it's so important to pay attention to your intuition and to really ask yourself, can this person add value?

21:58And what does that value look like? And am I willing to grow with them as they learn how to do that? And if those answers are yes, then hiring is an amazing move. Quick recommendation for you. If you love Gold Digger, check out My First Million, hosted by Sam Parr and Sean Puri. Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, My First Million features guests like Alex Ramosi, Sophia Amoruso, and Rob Dyrdek. They're sharing their secrets on how they made their first million and how to apply their learnings to capitalize on today's business trends and opportunities. I was just listening to them talk about Sean's AI plan dinner with tech billionaires, something I cannot relate to, but I am utterly curious about.

22:38And it was honestly so clever and also hilarious how he used chat GPT to create the menu. You're going to love their candid business conversations, industry observations, and world-class advice. Listen to My First Million today, wherever you get your podcasts.

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24:05Okay. I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing. Like if I haven't reached for it in months, it's got to go. I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now, which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use. Revolve just gets it though. I'm literally wearing my brown Autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse. It fits my laptop in it. So it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything. I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life.

24:39Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. And it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two-day shipping, easy returns. It's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop by favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger offer available for a limited time.

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