Is Your Team of Employees Helping or Hurting You?

Ohhh I loved my pillow. I used to travel with it all of the time when I was a kid. This week, while I was at the Los Angeles airport on my way to see clients in San Francisco, I saw this guy with the worst comb-over ever traveling with his own pillow. I was expecting him to whip out a juice box and maybe even his special blanky. He had made up his mind to travel in comfort.

So, how comfy are you in your business? I mean really comfy? I’m not sayin’ that you should convert your office into a day spa. I’m talking a little less chaos and less flying by the seat of your pants. On a scale of 1 to 10, how stressed are you when you come into the office? Believe me, I still have some of those days.

In the past year, I have worked with tons of entrepreneurs. Many of them aren’t comfy in one particular area – their team of employees, independent contractors, and even their vendors! They have the wrong people with the wrong skill sets in the wrong positions.

Take it from me. I have had many of the wrong pillows on my team. My revenue stalled, my client experiences weren’t as great as they are now, and I was spending tons of time fixing mistakes that my people made. Ugh!

Here’s the deal. We all want a team of employees who are dependable, smart and take initiative. But that’s not enough. Try filling your positions based on how your people are wired.

On one end of the extreme is the person who loves to do research, gather data and pays a lot of attention to detail. On the other end of the extreme is the person who is highly creative, can make quick decisions, and can function with 5 projects going at the same time.

A common mistake that entrepreneurs make is hiring creative people to do highly detailed tasks. Things fall through the cracks. The systems don’t get followed, or even implemented – and then you, the business owner, have to do it yourself. Time is money.

If you don’t have the right team to support you, it is going to be challenging to seriously grow your business. It’s that hard. Things could be so much easier if you had a team of employees using their strengths and doing what they are innately good at. Why try to fit a square peg in a round hole? Get comfy.

Make an investment and hire the right people (or vendors) for the right job. Other than marketing, this is THE investment that you must consider if you want to have a kick ass 2nd half of the year, and really a HUGE 2014.

How do I do this? I use the Kolbe Index A test. I even use it with clients. It helps me connect with them because I understand how they are wired. It’s that good. The cost? $50. I get no kickback if you use them.

Take your biz to the next level. Get comfy. Get support. Get the right team of employees to help you so they can hold down the fort while you are on vacation with your cozy pillow.

Justin Krane, is a Certified Financial PlannerTM professional and the President of Krane Financial Solutions.  His savvy, holistic approach to financial planning allows clients to unite their money with their lives and businesses with sound financial decisions. Using a unique system developed from his studies of financial psychology, Justin partners with entrepreneurs to create a bigger vision for their business with education and financial modeling. Follow Justin on Twitter @justinkrane.