Overwhelmingly, media coverage of team building, hiring, training, etc. is often geared towards the issues faced by HR at Fortune 500 sized companies. Even when it’s positioned as advice for small business owners it is often coming from an executive or consultant working primarily with giant corporations. We think it’s far more relevant to hear from small and medium business owners who have successfully grown their businesses – and so we asked some very talented folks to tell us the stories of their initial hires and the struggles and lessons they can share.

Jessica Santiago

Building a team has been a journey, and I know I have much more to learn. I was the only employee for the first two years of my business, and hiring my first employee was a disaster. The following few teams were just as awful, and then I realized I was the common denominator. I knew I needed help, but I had no idea what to look for. I found several leadership programs and dove right in. Read more>>

Kacie Lehner

When my partner, Jamal Watson, and I started our film and television production company, we knew two things. 1) Move culture forward with what we create and 2) people first. With this in mind and Good Soil Collective underway, people was such a huge focus because we can’t create without the creatives. We say, “we know a lot of good seeds, it’s about watering them, nurturing them, and watching them grow”. Jamal and I talked at length about who we are on a granular level and connected on our shared morals and fundamentals in life. Read more>>

Hameed Odunewu

When I first started my business, I had no resources to hire a team so I decided to ask my friends to help me with my plan. The best part about working with friends is that you already have a trusting relationship that makes starting a new business easier. The problem with working with friends is that they may not be as skilled as needed and also it is tough maintaining boundaries within your friendship. Read more>>

Mory

After having many different jobs, I found out that the options for women are very limited. Specially opportunities that have the income potential that I was looking for. That is one of the reasons that I stayed with Mary Kay, because it offer me endless posibilites for my future. I was looking for flexibility, a job where I could have balance in my life and my priorities in order, where I could travel the world, and to have a community where I belonged and where I had was surrounded with like minded people. And that story is what enable me to create a team with same philosophies and dreams. Read more>>

Ross Collier

My business started as a passion project, a solo endeavor — an outlet for me to give back to the Nashville music community. Thankfully, in 2020 we were ravaged by some destructive weather events followed by the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, and in the wake of these tragedies, demand for Omnichords surged to new heights. The demand was great for my business and gave me an opportunity to bring on some interns to teach them the art of Omnichord — mostly local youths. Read more>>