Do you remember your first hire? There is so much that goes into building a company, but few things matter as much the quality of the team you assemble. Given the immense importance of team building, we wanted to create a series where we ask entrepren

Kim Jurek-Valanzasca

Our business is a little different. We don’t have employees per say but I have worked hard to find the designers in the shop. All of the pieces in the store are made by local designers who are experts in their craft. We have nearly 30 makers that we represent. My requirement is they are good at what they do, diverse from items we carry and have a positive attitude and are kind. No drama allowed. Read more>>

Meloney Linder

I work in higher education. Most of the teams I have been brought into lead were either newly created, often bringing together teams who had never worked together before. Trust building is key in building a team along with allowing and encouraging each team to develop goals for how they believe they can best serve the organization and meet goals. When issues arise, as they will, the same approach of bringing the team together to figure out ways to improve collaboration, communications, process, etc. is important. This approach creates ownership of the outcomes and builds trust. Read more>>

Brandy + Rick McLain

At the beginning, it was just the two of us working our full time jobs, making numbers and shipping orders on nights and weekends. In 2012, swamped with orders, we hired our first two staff members. We started by recruiting close friends with experience in design who shared our love of craft. They were instrumental to the development of a positive and collaborative working environment, and to the fine tuning of our process, products and services. Read more>>

Jessica Thompson

The Electric Way has gone through several iterations of what our “team” has looked like. From our founder, David, working out of his Honda serving his neighbors, to friends and family getting involved working out of David’s home, to a full-scale office building with robust administrative support, and, most recently, to our “re-birth” as we re-evaluated our needs in a post-COVID climate. After years of trial and error, we have come to identify a few key factors that we look for in bringing on new team members: Read more>>

Jazon Gonzalez

When I started Azael Electrical, it was just me and my 2017 GMC Sierra. I left my previous job as an electrical commercial foreman a few months after obtaining my Master Electrician’s license. I knew even before I started that at one point I will have to hire people to help me. Contrary to that belief, at the time when I started, I could barely provide enough work for just mysef , let alone have enough to hire another individual. As time progressed, work started to pile up to the point where I had to turn down jobs simply because they were too big for just a one man show. Read more>>

Melissa Wright

When I started my company, I knew I had the long term goal to grow beyond just being a “one woman show”, but truly had no clear timeline or hard plan on paper. I’ve been in real estate since 1998, and can humbly say I’m an expert in my field when it comes to listing and transaction management. But running a successful business and growing a team? That is a different ballgame! Read more>>

Jeremy Tremp

In the film and photography industry, it’s fairly easy to create a one man business built around your skills and make a living. Creating a company that can maintain the level of quality you’ve established with multiple employees is an entirely different story. When we first started Offensive Marketing Group it was based on the skills of three individuals. Between us three we had a great sense of the client relationship, technical work, and how to maintain profits. As we began to get a larger body of work under us, we began to offer more services and found our first employees. Read more>>

Ryan West

Initially, it was just myself and would rely on friends to help out when needed. As I grew and got bigger jobs I was able to hire a team. I now have assistants, an agent, accountant, lawyer, and a retoucher. I think starting on your own is good as it helps you bootstrap and really be creative in how you accomplish what you need to. Of course having a team makes much easier but you still need to develop your leadership skills. When you are leading a team it’s important to understand that you need to give them, or make sure they have, the skills to do their job so you can both be successful. Read more>>

eurs who have been there and done that, to share their stories and lessons with the community.