Do you remember your first hire? There is so much that goes into building a company, but few things matter as much the quality of the team you assemble. Given the immense importance of team building, we wanted to create a series where we ask entrepreneurs who have been there and done that, to share their stories and lessons with the community.

Kadeem Ellis

When I first started Kadeem A Ellis Photography & Events, LLC in 2017 it was just me and my wife, Adrianna. We spent the majority of our time learning and growing the business. It was not easy! There were plenty of times I had to do complete many of the opportunities we received on my own due to our schedules. After we gave birth to our daughter, we realized we no longer had the time to “DO IT ALL” before we stepped into parenthood and pastoral leadership. We were exhausted. We made up our minds that we needed to build a team. Read more>>

Angela Knox

My business has always been me. I’ve worn all the hats from doing the things I know and love, like photography and marketing, to the things that aren’t my favorite and take long amounts of time to execute like accounting and blogging. I still don’t have employees, but as my business grew from offering photography to an agency that offers brand building, graphic design, social media management, and content creation, I needed team members. Read more>>

Josanne and Ladrea

We started Our Salon with just Us and an assistant, who followed Us from our previous Salon Home. Recruiting other Stylist was somewhat a challenge as we needed to find Stylist that fit into the Culture and Community that we were trying to Create. The interview process was also difficult simply because most Stylist were familiar with Individual Style Salons where you are your own Boss, but our Vision was to Create a Team of Excellent Stylist who served our Clients and Create a Safe space for Clients to receive Hair Services as well as a Community Space. Read more>>

Amy Craig

The first employee I ever hired was in a Panera. Finally, to start my own business I had taken a leap and signed a lease, but my build out was taking astronomically long and my space wasn’t done yet. I had to interview employees sitting in a booth drinking crappy coffee, and feeling like a total imposter. “Hey I have this great business idea that I swear to God I’m building please come work for me”..It was terrifying. Read more>>

Creer Savoirfaire

I noticed in business that teams were the most essential of part of the business. I work day in and out to build and lead the right team to our success! Read more>>

Ashlee LaFavor

No, when I launched my home health care business, I was a fulltime care aide & administrator. I learned quickly the power of building a team, in 2016 upon losing my full-time job shifting to full time entrepreneurship was a huge shift for me. I spent most days multitasking between days in office & working hands on in the field with clients in their homes being in that position it may look easy on the outside, but it really stretched a lot out of me. Read more>>

Cassandra Perez

When I first opened Color and Contour Studio, I was a one women show in a single chair salon suite. I always knew I wanted to expand my space and team, but I also knew that I had a lot to learn about the business side of the salon first. I already had spent time perfecting the craft of being behind the chair doing hair, but I knew nothing about running a business. I truly believe starting smaller has played a huge part in the success of growing my business. While I was in my single chair salon suite, I took the time to learn the ins and outs of being a business owner. Read more>>

Helen Panos

Yes, I had one employee from the beginning. She was a tutor and I also tutored, thus there were two of us only. That slowly grew in the first 3 years to about 5 tutors. I then hired a part=time assistant I knew had quit education and wanted some work to do as she raised her children. Around the 4th year, I added 5 more tutors and now we had 10. Read more>>

Kelli Jones

Building a team has been pivotable to my success. I had went through a lot of people. If I start today I would hire people in the exact filed I need them in. For example if you need a product photographer get a product photographer not a wedding photographer or lifestyle. It really makes a huge difference and will save you a ton of time and money. Do your research and get the person that’s best for that job. Read more>>

Donny Minchillo Jr

My wife and I started our first business – a small eCommerce web development agency – just her and I and built a remote team over the course of the last 6 years. Given the digital nature of that business – an all remote team made sense and worked well, well before the pandemic and the world starting to experiment with remote work. Read more>>