I said this in the previous blog post: the difference between being a solo-preneur and an entrepreneur is having a team. If you want to be a successful digital entrepreneur, then you will need to build a team. If you’re just starting out, most likely you have limited funds, so keeping your day job is of the utmost importance. If you’re not currently employed, unless you have generous parents and/or relatives, you will need to find a job in order to fund your business. Why do I bring this up?
You have to pay the members of your team. Forget about bartering or getting people to do you favors as you build your business. Bartering takes time. People who volunteer their time to participate in key tasks relative to your business are unreliable. period. Of the many valuable lessons I’ve learned in over thirty years of building teams, an important one is this: other than buy-in, the only everage that you have in order to get people to complete assignments on time, is heir pay. Damon Dash said something in an interview on 105.1 FM that has both inspired and challenged me for years. He said that a boss puts his/her own money up. We must relinquish the fantasy that we can build a viable digital business with little money, no money, or other people’s money. More about that later.
So, how do you build a winning team? First and foremost, you have to have a supply of team members that you can draw from. The digital age has given rise to a plethora of platforms from which you can recruit and employ your team. I happen to like upwork.com; it’s my platform of choice. I can select freelancers/team members from all over the world. They’re already trained for the team roles that you need them to fulfill, and depending upon where you source them from, they’re relatively inexpensive.
Remember from my last post, you will need team members to in the following areas, also known as departments:
– Sales
– Marketing
– Accounting
– Legal
– Finance
– Technology
– SupportC
– Customer Experience
Other than legal, I’ve sourced freelancers in each of the areas from upwork.com. For my legal needs, I have a LegalShield membership (www.legalshield.com). My LegalShield membership gives me access to
an entire team of attorneys, so I encourage you to consider LegalShield.
Then, you’ve got to interview your team members. This is where some education comes in. For every area/department of your team, you need to understand what each team member does. Again, you will probably have limited funds. So, you may have to purchase used books on Amazon, or if you can’t afford books, access Google and YouTube University. Google and YouTube are free beyond needing an Internet connection in order to access the sites.
Before you spend money on a team member, learn what you need that team member to do. You may need to purchase a book on entrepreneurship so that you can learn about the responsibility of an entrepreneur. Here’s some free information: the entrepreneur needs to know the basics of every part of the business, even if you can’t operate every part of the business. Also, central to your work as an entrepreneur is to coordinate the efforts of your team members in particular and manage your team in general. I’ll devote an entire blog post to this. You need to know exactly what you’re looking for. Let’s assume that you utilize upwork.com for your team member recruiting.
You’ll have to create an account. Then, you’ll have to create a job post. In this post, you will describe the nature of the work for which you’ll need a team member. Upwork calls them, “freelancers.” You’ll be asked to select an hourly rate or a fixed price for your job. Once you submit the job, freelancers will respond.
If you choose to utilize another freelancer site, it will have its own process. Once they respond, you’ll have an opportunity to invite them to interview you. You can interview them either via message (which I don’t recommend) or with an Upwork or Zoom video call. I require a video interview with prospective freelancers, as I must see the person that I’m
going to work with.
When considering a freelancer, I look at the following, regarding pre-screening:
1) Did they respond to my Invite in a timely manner;
2) Did they have a cover letter or proposal that speaks specifically to what I need;
3) Once we schedule an interview, are they available for it? Once I’ve locked
everything in, then it’s time for the interview!
When conducting the interview, be able to explain to the freelancer exactly what your business is, and does. Most likely, it’s a digital business like mine. Are you marketing digital products, services, or both? Be able to explain this to the freelancer in thirty seconds or less. Then, reiterate what you need the freelancer to do, in detail. Then, ask the freelancer to speak specifically to your needs. It’s even better if they can give you specific examples. Discuss timeframes for work done. Is it short-term like a specific project or long-term like social media marketing? Finally, it’s time to discuss pay.
It’s easier to have an idea of the hourly rate that you will pay based on your budget, as I have found that negotiating a fixed price will be tricky. Typically, on the freelancers’ profile pages, you see their hourly rates. Negotiating based on an hourly rate is better because you can define the number of hours that the freelancer will work. Finally, once the freelancer agrees to work with you, you will hire him/her, and then define the terms of the contract.
If you need help with any aspect of interviewing. I offer to coach start-up digital entrepreneurs in the area of interviewing, as well as other skills. I’ve conducted dozens of interviews during my career, in the faith-based, non-profit, corporate, and now, entrepreneurial areas.
Feel free to contact me at info@michaeldteague.com. Also, you can call me directly at 908-644-4122.
Thank you for reading my blog post. My goal, with all of my content, is to assist Internet Entrepreneurs to build and grow a seven-figure business. Below, please find some additional resources, which I believe you will find helpful.
