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.

Blake Woody

When I first ventured into building my team of dog trainers, I was acutely aware of the abundance and diversity in dog training methodologies. My goal was to assemble a team that not only reflected the variety in our community’s training theories but also adhered to a set of core principles that defined our practice. From the outset, I made it clear to potential hires about our guiding philosophies, as well as the common challenges and issues prevalent in our field. This approach significantly reshaped the expectations for new staff members. Read more>>

Jayda Wroblewski

First starting out I was a solo artist. When I did have bigger bridal parties I did have other artists from school help me and I did the same for them. There was alot of learning to be had with that because I was in the process of establishing a business rather than being just an independent hairstylist taking on bridal parties. Read more>>

Audrey Salazar

Let’s Bee Social started simply as a way to have a name behind a digital marketing freelance hustle. Once I decided I wanted to be my own boss, I quit my job on a whim and dove head first into figuring out what that really looked like. As I began securing gigs – whether it was a website project or a social media management client – I quickly realized that the work would require a whole lot more than my own two hands. Read more>>

Ojan Nik

For years, I was producing my music entirely by myself, from scratch to the mixing stage, at which point I’d send my files to professional sound engineers, like Keith Grant. I met Keith backstage in Miami at Nine Mile Music Festival. He’s a veteran engineer with the Marley brothers and has worked with legends like Lauryn Hill. Read more>>

Dennis and Sonja Johnson

We started from an idea and a desire to create something of our own. We had a vision of the kind of environment we wanted for our business, so we knew that we would have to be thoughtful in putting together a team that would help shape and flourish in that environment. We looked for team members who were customer centric, and team oriented, in other words, not thinking of only themselves. Read more>>

Jamie Fogle

In the beginning I didn’t have employees. I started off strictly with booth rental because I thought that would be the easiest. Read more>>

Craig Greiwe

I’ve been in a number of situations where I’ve started a division or a company, including my own, from scratch. And over the years, I’m proud to have gotten really good at finding and retaining talent, as well as fostering their growth and the promise I always make: you will grow farther, faster with me than you would anywhere else. It wasn’t always that way – I’m honest enough to say I wasn’t a good boss when I started 20 years ago. Read more>>

Hayley Moran

When I branched out on my own, I knew I had to no matter who was with me. Building a career as a tattoo artist for 15 years, as scary as it was to go alone, I knew I had already made a name for myself and clients would follow. I had always been the only female artist at the two studios I worked in. Read more>>

Aaron Knipp

When we started Cicospace, it was just me handling everything. I spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of all the services we wanted to offer. As the demand started to grow, it was clear that I needed a team. Now, we have a solid group across multiple departments, and it feels like we’re growing every month. Read more>>

Alexis Quintal

My business is made up of 1099 contractors, rather than employees. The reason for that is because the majority of my team are already in business for themselves, have their own LLC, or offer freelancing services to other business owners. What these talented people were missing were a team to collaborate with, and someone to bring in consistent business for them. Read more>>

Andrew Langsam

When I first started my business in 2003 it was just me, a CD player, microphone and a couple of speakers. I used to store my PA equipment under a staircase of a tiny one bedroom apartment that my then girlfriend, now wife shared together. I would spend my days hustling from the minute I woke up until late in the evening. Read more>>

Jansen Azarias-Suzumoto

Our business didn’t have employees from day one. As a nonprofit, we began with several volunteers. In the first three years of our business, we relied solely on volunteers, serving just over 60 students. Then, in our fourth year, we hired our first three employees, including my wife, while I continued as a volunteer. Read more>>

Dray Thomas

When starting a business, it’s common for many entrepreneurs to begin on their own and then gradually expand their team as the business grows. When the company begin it started with me and my business partner. The process of finding the right team members can be a crucial step. Entrepreneurs can use various methods to recruit team members, the main source we utilized was Indeed.com. Read more>>