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.

Lori Hassler

As we were finalizing the kitchen build out and permit process, I enlisted my friend Sarah, also a chef to organize the recipe books and help with hiring for back of house. We interviewed over a dozen cooks/chefs and chose two capable, straight forward, experienced young women to help lead the kitchen. There were many applicants with a lot of bravado and ego. It didn’t seem to be a good fit. Our first two hires are both still at The Farish House today. One of them helped bring in two more key employees from their former culinary school. My cousin agreed to manage front of house and hire. She had managed a neighborhood joint for many years, and we started with her sister and their favorite bartender. They had worked together for years. They brought in a few more people they knew and trusted, and we hired some new people as well. Read more>>

Sonja Crystal Williams

When I first launched my business, it was just me. We started Go Getter Marketing Group in 2008, amidst a major recession. I co-founded the company with my husband, but his focus swiftly centered around real estate as the market was collapsing during that time. I went full-time at the end of 2009 and began landing clients in 2010. I must admit, it wasn’t easy in the early days. I offered to consult business owners I knew on their marketing. We started the company with no capital, so my clients came from networking and referrals. I was the salesperson, account manager, consultant, editor, operations manager, and more. Read more>>

Kaci Johnson

At the very beginning, it was only my business partner and myself. We took the time to create a good base to start the company…this included our packages, how we intended to pay our staff, a good solid contract and much more. Shortly after we did hire two other lead coordinators. Both of these ladies were past brides! They had shown interest and we thought they would make a good fit. Since they had witnessed us in action, they both knew what we were about and the level of service that we wanted to give to our clients. Looking back on how we trained the first two employees, we have learning a lot along the way. Read more>>

Ilona Selina

Our agency didn’t have employees from the very beginning; it was just me in the early days. When I started Route Marketing, I was wearing multiple hats, from handling client work to managing administrative tasks. However, as the workload grew and the demand for our services increased, it became evident that I needed to build a team to help bring our vision to life. Recruiting those first few team members was both exciting and challenging. I knew that the people I brought on board would play a crucial role in shaping the agency’s culture and success. Since we were operating as a fully remote team from day one, we needed individuals who were not only talented but also disciplined and accustomed to a remote work environment. Read more>>