We were lucky to catch up with Kamber Parker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kamber, appreciate you joining us today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I was a solopreneur at the beginning, but it did not take long for me to realize I needed a team to support this journey. In the last year, I’ve built a team of 7 people, and it happened fast, it was scary, and I learned a lot. Transparently, I’m still learning how to become a better leader, but one year in (after leaving my fundraising job and taking my side hustle full-time), I can share a few things I’ve learned:

1. Connection matters. Not connections with an ‘s”, but connection. I tend to go with my gut when bringing on a team member, and it has not failed me yet. The best team members are those that I spent months connecting with and learning about before choosing where to place them at The YoPro Know. I’ve had some failures too, and I always go back to “was there a strong connection?” and “will they be a good fit here?”.

2. I’ve had to take my own medicine. My business is designed to help companies better recruit and retain young professional talent, so I have had to learn to take my own consulting advice to build and retain my own team. In a cool twist of expectations, I’ve even faced the same challenges we are helping our clients through, which is not something I planned, yet it has turned out to be an amazing factor when connecting with clients. Recruiting and retention are tough, but as we continue to grow, I’ve learned that using the formulas we have created for our clients is something that sets our team apart.

3. Systems are important, but people are more important. I mention later in this answer about our systems and workflow challenges, but the right people will be able to adapt to whatever we implement.

4. I need more practice in how to build and scale a team. It took some humility for me to realize that my leadership was not where it needed to be for this stage of my business, so I’ve spent a lot of time this year focusing on best practices with a Communication Coach to help me in my scaling journey.

If I were starting my business today, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently because I think the challenges that have come with hiring and scaling quickly have taught me lessons that I might have learned later. When I hired our first Account Manager, Jade, who truly is my right-hand on the team, she came with questions that pushed me to think, “We really need to start practicing better systems and workflows or we will not be able to accomplish anything.” It took several months to implement new software and practices that enhanced our ability to work with clients, and that would have not happened if I had not brought on the right people for the job.

As a young business, my team has been flexible and jumped right in with our changing systems, my (sometimes random) requests, and more, and I’m so lucky to have them alongside me in this journey.

YPK team, thank you!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry / business / discipline / craft etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others. What are you most proud of and what are
the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc. Please provide as much detail as you feel relevant as this is one of the
core questions where the reader will get to know about you and your brand/organization/etc. A young professional will on average have four jobs before age 30.

I am almost part of this statistic as a 27 year old. I started my career in the corporate insurance business, followed by a 4.5 year stint as a fundraiser and development director of a small
nonprofit. In my third (and hopefully final sector) as an entrepreneur, I’m not so different from my peers, and have the data to prove it.

As a YoPro myself, I’ve spent my entire career interviewing young professionals from across the country in various regions, stages of life, and industries. This was the basis of my business
today, yet five years ago, the vision was very different. Since 2018, we’ve collected thousands of stories and data on what make young professionals successful in the workplace, and what drives them to stay or leave a company. We use our research to support companies by delivering strategies on ways to improve their recruiting and retention strategies of young professional talent between the ages of 21-39.

The workforce is in a state of crisis right now as Baby Boomers continue to exit and GenXers are starting to leave the workforce, leaving a lack of leaders in place to fill these roles. Our job is to
better prepare companies to develop future leaders and solve a critical issue facing the workplace for decades to come.

I am most proud of our company for not being scared to jump into this space and not looking back. There have definitely been moments in my entrepreneurial journey that have scared me,
but I tend to jump in knowing that my work will have an impact on the future our workforce and future generations. The future of my business excites me and scares me, but I truly would not be here if it weren’t for so many incredible mentors and supporters I’ve met along the way. I believe what sets me and The YoPro Know apart is how we connect with others. No title, age, or person is
unapproachable – which is why you will see a lot of influential leaders on my podcast (The Great Retention With Kamber Parker). I believe that has served me well – and not being afraid
to ask someone for help is the first step to success.

How did you build your audience on social media?

For The YoPro Know, it all started with the first interview. Our original “product” was a blog and each time we posted about an interview with a young professional, we would tag that person – with their written approval – on all social media channels. This slowly built our brand and soon, dozens of people (their peers, friends, and even companies) would share it as well. Today, all of our social media channels reaches more than 10,000 people, both a mix of young professionals and experienced professionals.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe social media had a large role to play in building my personal brand along with The YoPro Know’s brand, but I also believe my ability to connect with others has allowed me to reach hundreds of spheres of influence in a small radius. I like the idea of people talking about me or my company when I am not in the room. It can be a good sign – I just try to do what I can to support others, and hope that what’s being said about me when I’m not there is positive.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Https://Instagram.com/theyoproknow
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/The-YoPro-Know
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCSMUUolXXwiz-nrmhVJH1Yg
• Yelp: https://yoproknow.com/