{CBB 11} Growing Your Team

CBB 11 Cover

Your team is the face of your company so talking about it can be stressful.  We’ve been talking a lot about our team and team members over the past few weeks and months as our business continues to shift and grow.  We’ve changed up some of the roles of our team members, added to or revised their individual roles, and are currently looking for another new team member.

Growing our team has required an immense amount of trust and a multitude of difficult conversations.  Coming to the conclusion that we need to bring on additional team members is never an easy decision and one that leads to asking a lot of questions.  Each time we’ve considered adding a new position, we’ve had to ask our selves the same serious of questions:

  • Do we have enough work to add another person?
  • Will this position grow?
  • Are we offering a position that anyone would want?
  • What characteristics are we looking for in a new team member?
  • What is their role going to look like?
  • How will this impact our business?
  • What will my role look like and what new responsibilities will I have as a business owner?

You have to determine within your own business whether adding a position or growing your team is the right step for you.  Adding a new position can seem appealing and exciting but with a team comes a huge new set of responsibilities and outcomes that can impact both your business and personal life.

We have gone through the process of adding a team member several times now and still have not perfected the process.  However, we have learned a lot along the way and shared a few of those lessons in todays episode:

  • Adding a team member starts with a a mental shift.  Abandoning the “I can do it all” mentality can be incredible challenging and requires a great deal of trust in order to allow someone else to share in the responsibility.
  • We’ve reached our applicants through a variety of methods including social media, indeed.com, our big sign, and our website. We’ve also used some non-traditional methods to customize our search.  When we were looking for our first lesson instructor we contacted local music colleges around graduation time to inform them of our new position.
  • Crafting our vision for our team and revising as we go have been essential in moving forward.  We have revised roles and continued to sculpt our team as we go based on what we have already learned and continue to learn every day.
  • Deciding what we want to specialize in or want to be known for has helped us to find the right clientele and teachers.  We have limited our services to a select few so that we can focus on highlighting them
  • Spending time with our team members and figuring out what their specific skills and hidden talents are so team members can do what they love and enjoy.
  • Keeping an open dialogue so we can all grow together.  We try to show our team members that they are valued by having an open door policy, sharing experiences with them, and talking regularly.  We try to have a positive attitude throughout our office and be proactive in solving issues as they come up.

No matter where you are in your business, determine what the best fit for you is in the moment and know that it can always change.

Until Next Time,

Katey and Rachel

 

 

{CBB Episode 5} Preparing for a Busy Season

Episode 5

How is it already November?!?!  This year has been flying by!  This week Rachel and I are headed to our National Music Therapy Conference in Sandusky, Ohio, where we will have a booth in the exhibit hall for the first time together!  I LOVE going to conferences! It is a time to be around like-minded, incredibly talented people who inspire me to do be better every day.  I always come home from a conference feeling excited, mentally refreshed, and usually physically exhausted from all of the awesome sessions, conversations, and time spent with friends.

With travel plans and events, this is not only a busy time of year for our business but we are also moving into a holiday season and have had a lot going on personally.  That all adds up very quickly and can start to feel like a huge burden.  In this week’s episode we shared a few of the ways we stay grounded, focused, and on the right path throughout this crazy time. Here are a couple of the things we mentioned during our Tuesday chat:

  • Find a friend and vent.  Letting the craziness that surrounds you build up is never a good thing.  Often, just letting it go, venting, journaling, phoning a friend, or having a good cry can be the most beneficial thing for everyone.  I know that I always feel better if I can simply talk it out.
  • SLEEP!!  I know it’s tempting to stay up until all hours of the night working on whatever amazing project you have started or simply trying to play catch up, but I can promise that a good night of sleep will help be more productive, pleasant, and peaceful the next day.
  • Most things can wait.  Making mile long to-do lists is a bad habit that I am trying to break.  Prioritize what you need to do instead of what you would like to see yourself accomplish. Pick the one, singular thing that absolutely HAS to get done and let the rest wait or delegate it to someone else if at all possible.
  • Be Thankful!  It’s so easy to get caught up in the business and forget why you are doing what you are doing and with whom.  Stop and take a minute to realize how wonderful things really are and be grateful for the incredible things you have been able to accomplish.

Until next time, enjoy the beautiful season and make time to spend with the people you love most.

-Katey & Rachel

{CBB Episode 4} Educating Your Community

CBB Podcast Episode 4

In this week’s episode of the Creative Business Breakdown, Rachel and I talk about the importance of educating your community in whatever way makes the most sense for you.  We share some of our favorite tips for reaching your target audience and leaving an impact on whoever you are talking to.

Educating doesn’t have to be a formal event or scripted process. Spreading the word about your business or product can be as simple as starting a conversation with your cashier.  Most of our influential conversations take place outside of the board room or classroom setting. Very rarely will you find us making a structured sales pitch or formal presentation about our services.  Most of our marketing and education happens within everyday conversation with all of the people we meet along the way.  We never know who could be a potential client, so being prepared to talk to anyone and everyone is on the top of our list of tips for educating our community.

When you encounter situations where you can share your story and provide a little insight, keep in mind these few things we shared in the podcast this week:

  • Stay off your soap box – Nobody wants a lecture.  Unless you are a professor or making a formal presentation, keep it conversational.  Instead of professing your message to your audience, get to know them and make the education piece specific by asking questions and finding your in.  Ask the questions that can make it personal.
  • Keep it simple and limit your talking points.  What are the few basic things that someone needs to know about you or your business?  What information is going to keep them interested or grab their attention.  Limit yourself to the bare basics so you can get the important things across when you are pressed for time but know where you can go next and what details you want to share in longer conversations.
  • Practice your elevator speech – Ask everyone you know to ask you questions about your venture so that you can work out exactly what you want to say, how you want to say it, and without using too much jargon.  Challenge yourself, can you limit your main talking points to 20 seconds??  What if you only had an elevator ride to share as much as possible?
  • Leave them wanting more –  You don’t have to share all your business details in one visit.  Encourage whoever you are speaking with to follow up the conversation or seek out more information.  Leave them wanting to learn more about you and your business.
  • Have your resources ready – When encouraging that continued dialogue, be sure to have your resources at the ready so you can direct people where to find you and ask their questions. Keep your business cards stocked, your website up and running, and your mental list of additional resources ready to go.
  • Make the effort to make connections – Put yourself out there and be approachable.  A warm smile and a listening ear can go a long way.

If you are ever met with resistance or hostility, just keep doing your best work. Not everyone may be ready to hear what you have to say in that moment. Remember that someone may simply be having a bad day or may need a rain check and that’s ok!

Until next time, smile and keep being your awesome self!

-Katey & Rachel