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.

Sarah Caicedo & Erica Quince

In the begging it was just the two of us. Our idea was to create a team that would have talent, drive and ambition. Part of our business plan to facilitate education and inspiration. Part of our recruiting process requires list of credentials, experience and an interviewing process involves in a hands on test before hiring. Read more>>

Theo Alexander

I appreciate the opportunity to speak about The Social Club on this platform, thank you. The Social Club is a family business. My brothers.. JaBari Holland, Chris Covington, Chris Howard and myself – along with the rest of our family – started off by hosting house parties in college. The goal was simply to have fun and provide an alternative social experience for those who grew disinterested with the existing nightclub scene in Atlanta. Read more>>

Stephanie Alexander

For the longest time when I started my business it was a one man show. One of my biggest challenges was rejection, and I conducted minimal business online and almost nothing in the way of face-to-face business. My biggest hurdle was thinking “what if people don’t like the products that I work so hard to make”, and “what if I’m the only one who can appreciate them”. This thought process was my constant worry until I met my husband, and he became my biggest supporter and encourager of growing the business. Read more>>

Ivonne Martinez.

At first it was only myself and to be quite honest, I was satisfied being on my own but then the administrative part of the business demanded additional help and it was when I decided to hire my first employee. In the past, I have had interns, but this was the first time, I was actually hiring someone. I am always willing to train someone as long as I see there is a learning attitude and willingness to learn. Read more>>

Amanda Street

I began my career as a strength and conditioning coach working mostly at the collegiate level. I always knew that I wanted to open my own gym one day but felt that I needed to gain as much experience as I could before making that scary leap of faith. Read more>>

Noah F Madril

Finding a team definitely is a challenge in itself, when building the foundation of what you’re aiming for when you’re in the development stages of your film. I definitely would consider some of my tactics unconventional to say the least. Building relationships is extremely key but how do you know what relationships will flourish is the tricky part. I’m a huge meditation guy. Ive tried to keep track of how many days i’ve meditated consistently. I believe I’m around 2303 days straight. Read more>>

Josie Mittleman

We are so excited to talk about about the growth and evolution of our company, Your Home Sold Guaranteed Realty! When we started the company, Jeremy and I filled every single role. Jeremy worked as our outside sales associate (OSA), otherwise known as a Realtor, while I worked as our inside sales associate (ISA), otherwise known as our caller. Of course, there were many other roles for us to fulfill but trying to fit them in was very difficult. Read more>>

Jennifer Lopez

When the concept of Jalapeño Digital initially emerged, it sprang from an invigorating conversation among a circle of former colleagues who possessed a shared vision. We all yearned for a digital agency team made up of highly skilled marketing professionals, with a collective desire to deliver outstanding work – but without all the office politics and red tape that you find at a traditional agency. Read more>>

Joan Montreuil

Starting your own company can be exciting and scary, but those aren’t the only emotions new entrepreneurs experience on the job! Entrepreneurship is more than a career choice—it’s a life calling. It’s common for new business owners to experience fear, uncertainty, or a rush of excitement just as I did. I always knew that wherever I was in life, I would be content and I would put my best foot forward to finish the task at hand. In the 90s, I started writing stage play in the church. It started off as skits then it grew into stage performances. Read more>>

Aaron Jacobs

Aaron Jacobs Productions and all of my shows, groups and creations, started with a thought before a single employee. Sometimes the though happened to me organically and sometimes the thought was a suggestion from someone else. I always listen to suggestions of others, though sometimes it’s hard to put them all aside then and focus on my own voice. Read more>>

John Muldoon

In the early days of SWHET (pronounced like sweat) , it was just my Business partner (Joe Antonelli) and I. We both were fresh out of college and were working at jobs that we did not want to be at long term. We knew what we wanted SWHET to be but we weren’t sure if it would work. We knew the idea was great and had the ability to be successful but we still didn’t know if we had the right process to get us to that point. The first thing we needed to find was a developer. Read more>>

Rebekah Polley

I started off as a one woman show, trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to do. I started Perfectly Polley off as a virtual office management company, and realized I was gifted in and I found joy helping my clients make sense of their books. I worked in the accounting world for 11 years before I started my own business… So I changed paths to be focused on the books for my clients. I thought it would just be me as I just wanted to make enough to help my family thrive without sacrificing time with them as they grew up. Read more>>

Sathya Callender Wilson

Oh wow do I have a lot to share when it comes to hiring! When I first launched Scars of Survival Magazine it was just myself. I was one of many people who had issues with delegating. I felt no one could run my business or handle things like myself so bringing on a team was a challenge. Things became very challenging for me after awhile. I had to make the hard decision to start hiring individuals and I did. It didn’t take much, so many people wanted to journal and become apart of the magazine. Read more>>

Tyraa Caldwell

My business did not have employees from day one. It was just me in a little small corner of my broker at the time’s office. Once my business started to experience extreme growth I knew for one I had to get my own office and two I needed to hire 1 receptionist to take phone calls and handle a few administrative task that I had. That’s exactly what I did, I found an office suite that worked for me and hired a recommended person to be my receptionist. For the interview it was me really just letting her know what her responsibilities would be and asking if she can handle it. Read more>>