This featured article is brought to you by: Andrea Elibero, Business Coach & Scaling Strategist For Soulpreneurs

Remember the days you dreamed of starting your own business so you could throw away the alarm clock forever, indulge in long mornings, start work at noon, take actual naps, sign off at 3 pm, and cook healthy dinners?

Yeah, I don’t either.

That was the dream, right? 

Your own business = your own hours = your own FREEDOM.

When did you become an employee of your own business? When did you stop focusing on the big-picture mission and get caught up in the day-to-day details? When did this whole thing start feeling more like work and less like passion?

I’ll tell you when…(hard-truth time–you ready?)

When you decided to do everything yourself. I deliberately used the word decided because as powerless as we can sometimes feel in life and in entrepreneurship, we always have a choice. 

Hard choices, but nonetheless, choices.

I come here presenting you with a choice–a choice to finally onboard aligned team members that can remove some pressure so you can focus on the thing you’re supposed to focus on as the CEO: the big picture.

Even if it’s just one hour a week, we’re going to start somewhere and inch our way to those daily naps–ok?

Let me tell you a little story about how I learned to do just that – build my own team so I could move the needle in my business.

Like most of my life lessons, I learned how to build a remote team the hard way (is there another way to learn, if there is, please share with me ASAP). 

I see it all the time, with my clients and even with myself. When I first started my business, I wore all the hats. Content creator, graphic designer, copywriter, project manager–you name it, I did it. It was fun and completely unsustainable. I was burning out before my fire was even lit and this is not how my business was going to go down. 

I needed help and I needed help badly. I knew I had to hire someone, but I was hesitant. 

Naturally, I had all of the concerns:

• Would they do a good job?
• Will it take a long time to train them or am I better off just saving that time and doing it myself?
• How do I know I can trust them?
• How much of a burden will it be to bring someone on?
• Will they be reliable? 

But if I wanted to make the impact I committed to make, I had to hire, delegate, and manage. So I did & magic happened.

I scaled my business with a small but mighty team, perfected my systems and the efficiency flowed. 

Now that I’ve convinced you that you NEED a team in order to scale, let’s chat about who to hire.

A common mistake I often see people make when expanding their team–and one you might be making too – 

Looking for a “mini-me”.

I know it’s tempting. You love yourself (as you should). You see this shiny potential team member reflecting all the things you love about yourself right back at you. You recognize, admire, and hire. 

I mean, of course, you do. They have your energy, personality, and strengths. This must be alignment–right?! 

No. It’s not.

As someone who has been behind the scenes in a LOT of businesses, when it comes to building your aligned team, I KNOW this to be true:

More important than hiring someone like you is hiring someone who is uniquely different from you.

*Read that again*

I’ll say this until I’m blue in the face: Hiring is like dating. Opposites attract–and this holds true for hiring.

Here’s what you should be looking for when hiring that perfect fit:

Someone who compliments your energy, personality, and strengths.

Like I said–dating. We’re usually attracted to someone that is different from us in many aspects. 

That’s because they compliment us, or for lack of a better word, “complete” us (we don’t need to be completed, we are whole as we are, but for the purpose of my hiring case…).

That’s what we want when we’re looking for potential team members:

• Will this person “complete” my business? 
• Will they be able to fill in the gaps? 
• Will they bring to the table what I can’t? 
• Will they meet my HIGH-VIBE energy? 
• Will they laugh at my jokes?

You know, all the important questions.

It comes down to what you lack they can make up for.

Someone who has skills in the areas you struggle in.

Duh, right? But why is this part so challenging for many of us? It took a looooooooong time for me to:

1. Accept that even though I’m smart and have a PhD from Google University, there are just some things I can’t Google my way to.
2. Figure out what those specific things I needed help with were and hire an expert in that specific area.

We struggle with hiring exactly who we need because we aren’t crystal clear about the exact help we need. 

Which is why this is the first thing I always tell my clients struggling with team building to do:

Identify what you suck at & what you hate doing.

We all have a zone of genius.

If you’re running an aligned business, it’s vital to the upkeep of that energy you have team members operating at your frequency. This is only possible when people are working and creating in their zone of genius.

This is a matter of getting super clear on what is NOT YOUR zone of genius, what specific tasks you need help with, figuring out how big of a project it is, budgeting for it, and finding or attracting the person who can complete the project within that time frame.

If you’re just looking for “general” assistance, you’ll be looking for the rest of your life. 

Remember, unicorn team members don’t exist in real life–only in our dreams. 

Stop searching for one, get clear on the exact help your business needs, hire someone who can do just that (well), and enjoy an afternoon off doing, I don’t know…nothing?

Someone who can offer a different solution to your problems.

When you manage to build a team of people NOT like you, opposite of you, who bring differing viewpoints and, most importantly, differing solutions, you set yourself up for success.

When you’re looking to expand your team, doing so in alignment doesn’t mean hiring someone that reminds you of you. 

Alignment often means making space for the areas in which we in and of ourselves lack or struggle with.

Whew! You now know the why and the who of team building, so… 

Let’s dive into the last piece of the team-building puzzle: The How

The “how” is broken down into three parts.  

1) Define Who You Need On Your Team

• Figure out who you need on your team (aka: get crystal clear as I talked about above)
• Make two lists: one of what you love doing and one of what you want to hand off (things you hate and things that are not in your zone of genius)
• Separate the “hand-off” tasks into categories to determine the role(s) you need to hire for. Don’t hire a “unicorn” who can do everything. No one can do everything
• Write a clear job description using the “hand-off” role(s) and tasks
• Determine the approximate number of hours you need them for (if applicable) and your budget (contractors will tell you their rates)

2) Your Applicant Search & Hiring

• Create an application for them to complete (e.g., a Google Form)
• On the form ask about experience, skills, where they see their business going in the future, what tech they are familiar with, why they want to work with you specifically, their rate, links to their Linkedin, website, and social media profiles
• DON’T ask for a resume; do ask for a portfolio (if applicable)
• Share your job posting:
  • Facebook Groups
  • LinkedIn
  • Your social media and newsletter
  • Reach out to your network and ask for referrals
• Hop on a discovery call with them
  • Ensure they are proactive and passionate 
• Hire the person who you want to go to lunch with 

3) Onboard Your New Team Members and Set Them Up for Success

• Set clear expectations 
• Set up/add them to your preferred project management tool (I prefer ClickUp)
  • Have clear task assignments and deadlines
• Put SOPs (instructions) in place for their tasks (even if it’s a video walk-through) 
• Set up communication guidelines.
  • Do you want to have weekly meetings? Or bi-weekly meetings? What method will you use to communicate? (I recommend your PM tool and Slack for quick communication)
• Remember that this person is not your employee, so respect their boundaries in regards to giving ample time to turn a project around, respecting that they have other clients. Don’t message them during the weekend and expect a reply if they don’t expressly state they work on the weekends. 

Hiring and nurturing a team is one of the most time-consuming, rewarding experiences you will have as a business owner. Take a deep breath, follow these steps, and get that eager all-star team excited to work for you. You’ve got this! 

As a scaling strategist & business coach who is also a certified online business manager, I am passionate about helping my clients scale intentionally, I routinely hire and onboard team members for my clients. It’s one of my favorite things to do and I’ve nailed a hiring system that makes onboarding smooth, effortless, and fun. Yes, work can be fun when you have the right systems in place.

Hi, I’m Andrea, and my zone of genius is team building. Yes, there is someone out there who can help you hire your perfect team, train them, delegate tasks, and manage projects. I would love to be the person who brings your high-vibe team to life so that you can thrive in your zone of genius and let your business scream “WE LOVE WHAT WE DO!” Stalk me here. 

P.S. If you’re ready to grow intentionally, I’ve created a free PDF that will help you to know exactly what to do when hiring your next high vibe team member: The Essential Step for Growing Your High Vibe Virtual Team (because hiring doesn’t have to suck). Check it out here and let’s connect on IG!

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This featured article is brought to you by: Andrea Elibero, Business Coach & Scaling Strategist For Soulpreneurs

Andrea is fiercely passionate about empowering soulpreneurs to intentionally create & scale mission-driven businesses that both celebrate their unique magic and support their dream life through embodiment, coaching, strategy, & implementation so they can live the aligned laptop lifestyle of their dreams. Her path has taken her from therapist to nurse to fulfilling her desire for freedom and embarking on her entrepreneurial journey in 2019. Her passion is working with soulpreneurs to help them scale their businesses in an intentional way so it supports their life and not the other way around.

When Andrea isn’t supporting soulpreneurs, she keeps herself busy by adapting to life abroad (she moved from Miami to Spain in 2022), teaching her dogs to bark in Spanish, having lots of travel adventures, and practicing pilates & yoga. 

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