715: (Solo) How to Stop Overcomplicating Hiring (My Biggest Mistakes)

Nathan Chan (0:01)

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Hey guys, Nathan here. Welcome back to another episode of the Foundr to Foundr Solo Podcast. This is where I share all the lessons that I've been learning as I've been building Foundr for over the past decade. So, I want to talk about hiring. This one comes up a lot and I know for a lot of you guys, it's tough. And I'm not going to sit here and say it's easy, but it was something I was thinking about. And here's the thing, right? We have a crazy, cool, sweet hiring process for Foundr. But, you know, I've really gone off job boards.

And, you know, if I reflect this past year, I've had a much better strike rate when it comes to hiring. And I want to talk about something that we're doing that you might find helpful as really basic. And sometimes it's the basic stuff that's easy to forget.

SPEAKER_2 (1:48)

Hear the stories, learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through entreprenuership. Welcome to The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan.

Nathan Chan (2:02)

It's really simple, right? So I was on an enrolment call the other day, because we're building out Foundr operators and I'm building it from the ground up enrolling every single member. And I was talking to this young Foundr, really sharp kid. Now he wasn't a fit for the membership, but he was telling me, you know, he's got this small team of contractors and every single one came from a referral, every single one. You know, his conversion rate optimization guy, his TikTok shop guy, his creative guy, you know, his designer, like everything. And they were all referrals, all proven, all delivering. And his brand was going super fast. Like I said, he wasn't a fit for Foundr operators because he didn't want to bring his marketing internally because he was happy with his contractors and his internal team. But the thing that was fascinating to me was when I actually looked back on some of the best hires I've made, every contractor that moved the needle, you know, the pattern was the exact same. Every team member that come from the network, they all came from a trusted source every single time. And I think as founders, we overcomplicate hiring, you know, whether you want to get a full-time employee or you need to get like a part-time contract or if you want to hire an agency, whatever it is, right, this is what most founders do. And I've done this myself many times, right? You write up a job description, you post it on the platforms, you get 200 plus applications. Most are irrelevant. A lot of spam, a lot of people aren't even reading. Then you spend hours screening and then you do first round interviews, second interviews, test projects. And you pick someone that looks great on paper and they tell you exactly what you want to hear and then it doesn't work out. Or you go on Upwork. You look for a contractor. You filter by rating. And then you see they got a good profile. And then you have one call with them. And you're pretty much playing the guessing game. And you don't know if this person is good. They're not proven, right? They're not proven. And these people are just going to tell you what you want to hear. And oftentimes, they'll talk about the success they've had. And I've made this mistake so many times where somebody, they come into the business, they talk a big game, and they've done this, they've done that, and they grew this, and they're responsible for this. But what they don't share often is about the team, who else on the team was involved, the current traction that the business already had, perhaps the amount of funding that was behind them, all these different things where it's easy to claim, right? And now what happens is it's a bad hire, it's a waste of time, and then you're managing that person, you're fixing their work, you're having these awkward conversations, and then you're having to let them go eventually while they leave. And then you start the whole process again. And the real cost is the opportunity cost. Like, what could have you been doing those last three months if you got the right person in the seat from day one? So, real quick, before we jump in, I want to shout out one of our sponsors, Xero. I've used Xero from day one of Foundr, 13 years now, and it's still how we run the business today. It's cloud accounting software built for founders exactly like us, and it automates all the admin that I used to do when I first started Foundr. Invoicing, chasing payments, expenses, all the accounting. It really helps me get paid faster and keep an eye on cash flow. So Foundr listeners, get a crazy 95% off for the first six months. Just sign up through our form at foundr.com, ford slash xero. Terms and conditions apply. Remember, when you support our sponsors, you're supporting the show. All right, now let's jump back in.