7CEO 043: Invest In Your Team With Elizabeth Dukes

The 7-Figure CEO Podcast

[smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/7figureceo/7CEO_043__Work_Place_Environment_With_Elizabeth_Dukes.mp3″ title=”7CEO 043: Invest In Your Team With Elizabeth Dukes” artist=”Casey Graham” social=”true” social_twitter=”true” social_facebook=”true” social_gplus=”true” ]

Today we’re talking with Elizabeth Dukes, co-founder, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer of iOffice – a workplace management solution for fast-growing businesses. They offer a variety of software solutions to help create fantastic work environments that promote collaboration and productivity.

Elizabeth helped start the business 15 years ago and they broke through the 7-figure mark after three years of business. They currently have 42 team members. Elizabeth manages the marketing and sales, while her partner manages the operations and technology development. They are passionate about investing in the team of people who really make the business run and creating an environment where they thrive.

LINKS

Check out iOffice: Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Email Elizabeth: [e-mail]

Email your top take-aways and learnings to [e-mail]

LEARNINGS Hiring As You Get Bigger

When you first start out, you should hire people to help cover the skills that are your weakness. The most important things to look for are people with character, strong work ethic, sense of urgency and most important a willingness to learn.

As your company grows, you will be able to hire more skilled people to cover every area of your business, even where you’re strongest. You can also hire people with more experience who have less of a learning curve in your business.

The most important lesson in hiring is to understand the culture of your business to ensure you hire the right personality to fit that. Your culture is unique and you need to make sure people understand and fit.

Hiring As Needed Or Ahead Of The Growth Curve

Early in your business you will likely need to hire one at a time and as people are needed. As you grow you’ll be able to begin hiring ahead of the curve to ensure you’re prepared and structured for sustained growth. The most important thing is to have a good pipeline of people you want to hire.

Measure Your Team’s Performance

Each position in your team needs to have defined benchmarks that can be easily measured. These will help determine if they’re performing their jobs well and it also helps them know what’s most important to focus on. There should be a system in place to review these regularly and talk about how things are going, what roadblocks they’re facing and how you can help.

Your People Are Your Power House

Without a team of people, your business doesn’t have profitability or satisfied customers. They are the linch pin for your business success. Therefore, the most important thing you can do is to create a place where they love to come, are able to collaborate and are productive. You need an environment conducive to your culture and their personalities. You might need to provide different environments based on who you’re hiring and what you want to accomplish.

If your business is large enough to have your own office space, you need to think through this and possibly make some changes based on what results you’re looking for and who’s on your team. Co-working spaces are a great alternative if you can’t afford your own office yet. There are many around the country now that offer great environments for people to collaborate without the high overhead costs.

Growing Your Business Early On

The key Elizabeth attributes to their quick growth early on is having channel partners. These companies they aligned themselves with had established audiences and customers bases that cared about the products iWork were launching. No matter what your industry, you might be able to partner with other businesses that you can plug into that will share your products and help you grow faster than if you were on your own.

Can Your Business Run Without You?

I offer personalized coaching to help entrepreneurs create the business they dreamed of when they started. It’s 1.5 days to tackle your current challenges and help you break through to the next level. Apply today and our team will follow up for a consulting call if it’s a good fit.