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.

David Noffsinger

My company, NCWaterHeaters.com LLC and it’s sub DBA’s, NCPlumbingServices, NCHomeRemodeling, NCHomeElectric were founded in 2013 by myself and my wife Cyndi Aragon. We also acquired Accurate Backflow a couple of years ago to fill out our multi-trade company to 5 divisions total. Read more>>

Matthew Garcia

I started my IT company in 2014, initially focusing on computer repair. In 2016, I hired my first employee after placing an ad and finding a tech-savvy individual eager to learn more about technology—a perfect fit for our team! Over the past seven years, I have learned that delegation is essential for growth, and it remains my biggest challenge. Read more>>

Tierra Fluker

I started my business in 2012. I was a sole serial entrepreneur for several years. When I resigned form my Job June 2023. I was solo.I found myself working around the clock from June 2023-April 2024. I needed to do something different,I was exhausted. Read more>>

Ron Holmes

When you have an idea to create something, or to provide a service it’s important to remember you dont know what you dont know. Selecting you partners/owners/team members you have to have diversity. Im not talking about bringing on someone how things they are a cat. Read more>>

Johnnie Bunting

In 2018 I purchased a car wash, which had employees. I had already known that some of the employees were stealing from the previous owner, but I didn’t know how many of them were stealing. So my plan was to remove the employees who had the least amount of impact on the business and to replace them with people that I knew. Read more>>

Megan Mead, Rachel Malasig, Gabriel Malasig, Kaylor Myers

The coolest thing about filmmaking is it’s a team effort. Pranksters Ink started in 2013 with a stop motion project made entirely by Megan. We are now a team of four creatives supporting, working and inspiring each other. We were drawn together by a similar creative style and it wasn’t until our writer joined the group that we coined our term for it. Read more>>

Jordi Rivera

Five and a half years ago, I started at my current law firm as an individual contributor in a team of four. Over the years, I’ve grown into a managerial role, now overseeing a team of 20. Early in my management career, I made some challenging hiring decisions. I focused too much on potential rather than on proven track records. Read more>>

Darius Middleton

I’ve been able to build a solid team of people that believe and support the dream, however there are certain situations where it’s just about me. It’s all about the work that I put in 24/7 before I have concern about other. Recruiting is easy when you know who you are looking for; it takes the right dedication from individuals in order for it to work. Read more>>

Amber Lee

Select Date Society is a luxury matchmaking firm focused on getting our clients into long-term relationships. We are not a dating service, so our process is much slower paced than dating apps, yet highly effective. We have used the same strategy for hiring our team, preferring to build slowly and effectively vs hiring quickly.  Read more>>

Shabi Monzavi

I was a one woman show for the first year and a half of my business. During the depths of the pandemic, when e-commerce was still dominating and most brick and mortar shops were still closed, I had gotten in a little over my head with order volume. I had a customer / pal (or custo-pal as I affectionately call them) offer to help me a few times and I finally took her up on her offer. Read more>>

Ani Wells

In the beginning, I was a one-woman show. The thought of managing someone else seemed overwhelming when I was just trying to manage myself. While I wasn’t actively seeking employees, I started keeping an eye out for potential support. Today, I have a small but incredible team, and interestingly, I knew each member for a couple of years before hiring them. Read more>>