We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Miller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Michael , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?
My partner and I started our business 4 years ago this month. For the first two years it was just the two of us, a lot drive, passion and cute dog. We have always had big dreams and part of those dreams are helping as many people as possible. While maintaining our standards and our heart. We needed someone who shared our vision and was able to be the architect behind the scenes, compiling all our lofty ideas into solid systems that were repeatable and reliable. We hired a business coach who introduced us to the Career Visioning process. This hiring process is exhaustive and takes weeks to complete. We hired a recruiter to find candidates and narrow down to a promising handful. We didn’t know it at the time but an inclusive and collaborative culture has and will always be at the core of our hiring process. Using personality tests, comprehensive interviews including an intimate motivational interview we landed on our first hire and the best thing that ever happened for our business: Paige Boxley, DOO.
We had so much success with our first hire that we deviated from the Career Visioning process and subsequently made some bad hires that ended up costing time and resources that made us quickly realize we could not cut corners if we were going to continue to grow. We took Paige to a training and taught her the process and she has since helped us bring on two more employees that are not only a culture fit but flourishing. They say great leaders create great leaders and I couldn’t be prouder to watch our first hire step into her own power.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Mission Statement: Real People, Real Purpose, Real Estate.
HomeFound Group combines professionalism with a strong community focus, ensuring every client feels valued and represented. Featured in Realtor Magazine, Washington Post, and Idaho Statesmen, they are renowned for their integrity and personalized services. In Boise, HomeFound is a trusted name, offering innovative online marketing, open houses, and community events. Their core values of inclusivity, collaboration, and belonging are at the heart of everything they do. Choosing HomeFound means joining a family dedicated to helping you find a true home.
People often as me “What is HomeFound?” We are a real estate brand that delivers exceptional results while treating our clients with care and candor. We consistently deliver a five star experience that is unmatched in the treasure valley. That is just the tip of the iceberg. We found that the real estate transaction has allowed us to change lives. We continue our mission past the transaction. We aim to bring every client an invitation to something bigger, to a community that uplifts and support each other to a network of people that foster inclusivity and respect. We don’t find houses, we help people find Home.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
Events and Advocacy are two of the most important pieces of our business. We host 4 big events every year:
1) HomeFound’s Heart to Heart – We buy flowers in bulk and bring them to an event space with snacks and a live harpist. We package the flowers into custom bouquets for our client’s with a handwritten caligraphy card. They can keep the flowers for themselves or bring home to a loved one. This is a free event open to the public.
2) HomeFound’s Backyard Concert – We bring two local musicians to our backyard and invite our clients to come enjoy and evening of live music, BYOB, snacks and camaraderie.
3) HomeFound’s Helping of Hope – This ticked 4 course dinner is hosted family style with about 40 people under the stars in a backlit setting with live music. All of the proceeds go to a local non-profit so that they can continue their advocacy work.
4) HomeFound’s Halloween Horror Night – Probably the most fun you’ll have all year. This event is open to the public and we have a full bar, live performances, tarot card readers and a costume contest.
Videos of all of our events can be found on YouTube, search for HomeFound Boise.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
We love social media. We know the importance of Brand Awareness and outreach through the media platforms. We hired a marketing manager who has helped us significantly grow our accounts. She is consistently interacting with consumers and other businesses which is such a time commitment. Furthermore she helps bring content ideas to our meetings and we set aside time every month to film reels and footage. Our core values are Growth, Impact, Connection, Compassion and Fun. We always keep joy and laughter as a through-line of our media content.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.homefoundboise.com
- Instagram: HomeFoundBoise
- Facebook: HomeFoundBoise
- Youtube: HomeFound Boise
