The Levels of Growth for Employees & Entrepreneurs Ep 650

In this insightful discussion, the host of "Welcome to the game," who is on a mission to build a billion-dollar enterprise with acquisition.com, shares his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of character development in inspiring and leading teams. He emphasizes the value of frameworks in business growth, revealing his own experience of scaling multiple eight-figure companies with increasing speed. The host introduces a three-level framework for understanding talent development: starting as an individual contributor focused on learning 'what' to do, progressing to a manager teaching 'how' to do it, and ultimately becoming a leader who systematizes the 'who' does it. This framework aids in identifying bottlenecks and grading departments or entire businesses for improvement. The host also touches on the challenges of transitioning between these levels and the need for entrepreneurs to grow personally to attract and lead competent teams effectively. The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to share the podcast to support other entrepreneurs.

• Entrepreneurs must assess and improve their character traits to inspire and lead effectively.
• Deficient traits should be identified and developed to execute business strategies successfully.

"A lot of times we have to think, like, how can I improve my character? What are the traits of mine that are deficient so that I can hopefully inspire people, that I can bring people in at this higher level and then actually be able to execute."

The quote emphasizes the importance of self-improvement and character development for entrepreneurs to inspire their teams and execute their vision.

• The host is documenting their business journey to provide insights similar to what they wish had been available from successful entrepreneurs like Bezos, Musk, and Buffett.
• Learning frameworks is crucial for business growth, as it allows entrepreneurs to solve past problems with greater ease.

"I'm trying to build a billion-dollar thing with acquisition.com. I always wish Bezos, Musk, and Buffett had documented their journey. So I'm doing it for the rest of us."

This quote reveals the host's ambition to build a significant business and their desire to document the process for educational purposes, inspired by other successful entrepreneurs.

• The host has built multiple eight-figure companies, with each new venture achieving this milestone more rapidly.
• Experience and developed frameworks have allowed the host to accelerate their business growth significantly.

"And so it took me six years to build my first eight-figure company. Six and a half to build my first eight and a half figure, sorry, multiple eight-figure company, because that was the same company. The next company that I did that was multiply eight figures was it took me a year to build, and the one after that took me six months."

This quote details the host's journey of building successful companies at an increasingly faster pace, showcasing the benefits of experience and effective frameworks.

• There are three levels of employee or talent development that apply to both the entrepreneur and their team.
• Recognizing which level you or your employees are at is crucial for determining what to focus on next.

"And so depending on where you're at, you may be at one of these levels or you may have to recognize it in others."

This quote introduces the concept of different levels of development for individuals within a company, highlighting the importance of recognizing these levels to guide personal and team growth.

• The first level involves learning what to do as an individual contributor, focusing on executing tasks and gaining skills.

"So level one is understanding what to do you, which means you're an individual contributor and what your time is spent, is doing, all right."

This quote defines the first level of employee development, where the focus is on learning and doing the tasks required for the role.

• The second level is about understanding how to perform tasks, which is a transition towards managerial responsibilities.

"The second level here is understanding how. All right, so you started to do it, right. The what, you figured this out, but then you have to figure out the how you're actually doing it. And the reason for that is because the next level, you become a manager, all right?"

This quote explains the second level of development, where an individual moves beyond just doing tasks to understanding how they are done, preparing for a managerial role.

• Initially, an individual must focus on understanding and performing a specific skill.
• Mastery of a skill allows an individual to perform consistently at a high level.
• The first level of professional development involves doing the task oneself.

king sure that other people can do that thing and they're consistently executing at a level that works, right.

This quote emphasizes the importance of ensuring that a skill is executed consistently and effectively, which is the foundation of individual contribution.

• Transitioning from doing to teaching is the second level of professional development.
• Understanding a skill deeply enables one to teach others.
• Managers do not need to surpass individual contributors in skill but should understand the process.

And so at the beginning you're doing, as an individual contributor, you have to focus on what it is, right. The next level, you're doing all the doing and you're like, you know what? I feel like I understand this better, right? I feel like I understand the sequence of how this works, right? And then you can teach other people how to replicate that skill.

This quote outlines the progression from individual performance to the ability to instruct others, highlighting the evolution from doing to teaching.

• Leaders differ from managers and are crucial for scaling a business beyond certain revenue milestones.
• At the leadership level, the focus shifts to systematizing processes.
• Building "the machine that builds the machine" is essential for sustainable growth.

The title is a leader, and these are very different than managers, which is something that I had to realize as I was scaling the business. And usually at this level, this is where you're at your three ish, million dollar a year level. And this is what allows you to crack open to the million plus per month level. So 10 million plus is you have to have leaders that are engaged, right? And the thing that you're doing is you're systematizing.

This quote distinguishes between managers and leaders and connects leadership with the ability to systematize functions within a business to achieve significant growth.

• The framework can be applied to assess oneself, team members, and entire departments.
• As businesses grow, roles become more specialized, and departments develop.
• Understanding one's level of involvement in each department helps in evaluating progress and identifying areas for improvement.

And you can even grade departments within your business, which, depending on what your size is, your departments might be things that you are doing, right? If you're a solopreneur, for example, then you wear all the hats, your finance, your hR, your legal, your it, your marketing, your sales, your product, your fulfillment, your all of those things, right?

This quote explains how the framework of individual contribution, teaching, and leadership can be used to evaluate the development stage of various departments within a business, from a solopreneur to a larger organization.

• The podcast does not run ads or sell products.
• The host requests audience support through ratings, reviews, and sharing to help more entrepreneurs.

Real quick, guys, you guys already know that I don't run any ads on this, and I don't sell anything. And so the only ask that I can ever have of you guys is that you help me spread the word so we can help more entrepreneurs make more money, feed their families, make better products, and have better experiences for their employees and customers.

This quote is a call to action for the audience, emphasizing the podcast's mission to assist entrepreneurs without the influence of advertisements or product sales.

• Reviews significantly impact the speaker and potentially affect others.
• A simple action like leaving a review can have broader implications.

"gle thing that I ask you to do is you can just leave a review." "It means the absolute world to me. And more importantly, it may change the."

These quotes emphasize the speaker's request for reviews and the value they place on them, highlighting the potential for reviews to initiate change.

• The goal for a CEO is to create a self-sustaining business.
• A truly delegated business operates without the constant presence of its owner.
• Being removed from daily communications, such as Slack channels, is a sign of successful delegation.

"And so you have a team of leaders who are building the machine that builds the machine for you so that the actual whole thing works without you being there, besides providing the vision and strategic insight for making decisions, right?"

This quote outlines the ideal scenario where a CEO has a team that runs the business, allowing the CEO to focus on vision and strategic decisions.

• Entrepreneurs often overestimate the level of systematization in their businesses.
• A truly systematized business does not require the entrepreneur's constant attention or immediate response to issues.
• Regular but limited engagement, such as weekly meetings, can indicate a well-delegated business structure.

"I can't tell you the amount of times I talk to entrepreneurs and they're like, oh, yeah, I could totally take this new project on. My business is totally systematized. And I'm like, dude, no, it's not."

This quote reflects the common misconception among entrepreneurs regarding the extent to which their business is independent of their constant involvement.

• Departments should be evaluated for their level of independence and systematization.
• Building "machines" that train new employees is crucial for scalability.
• The goal is to have departments that can operate and grow without the entrepreneur's direct teaching or involvement.

"And if something's not checking all the boxes, you can check all the boxes at a business level, but you can also just look at this as a department level."

The speaker suggests that both the business as a whole and individual departments should be assessed for their operational efficiency and independence.

• Entrepreneurs' strengths often become bottlenecks because they are hesitant to delegate tasks they excel at.
• Delegating and teaching others to perform tasks, even ones the entrepreneur is skilled at, is necessary for business growth.

"Here's one of the things that I think, for me, it took a long time to realize is that it's actually your strengths oftentimes, which become almost always the bottleneck in the business, because the things that you don't know, you're far more comfortable giving away to people so that they can build these things, right, because they have better expertise, because they know how to do teach, et cetera."

This quote highlights the paradox that entrepreneurs face when their strengths hinder business growth due to their reluctance to delegate those tasks.

• Businesses should evaluate departments to identify where bottlenecks occur.
• A framework helps to assess if employees know their roles, possess necessary skills, and understand the sequence of operations.
• The goal is to build systems that teach and replicate skills efficiently.

And so every quarter, you can look at your business on a little sheet, like, and think, okay, do people know what to do, do we have the base skill? Okay, do we have this sequence, the how to do it right, teaching people step by step how to do this process right and hold them accountable?

This quote emphasizes the importance of regular business evaluations to ensure that employees are clear on their roles, skilled, and follow correct procedures. It suggests a structured approach to accountability and teaching within the company.

• Rapidly growing companies often need to replace managers with leaders.
• The transition from management to leadership is challenging for many employees.
• Good individual contributors may not be effective leaders, and vice versa.
• Entrepreneurs must master various skills to recognize and teach others.

And what's interesting, if you listen to Reed Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, he talks about the difficulty for most employees, most people, to jump these levels.

The speaker references Reed Hoffman's insight on the difficulty employees face when transitioning between roles in a growing company. This highlights the challenge of adapting to new leadership roles as a company evolves.

• Entrepreneurs must grow personally to lead effectively and attract high-level talent.
• Personal growth and character development are crucial for entrepreneurs.
• Entrepreneurs should inspire their teams through their own actions and traits.
• The ability to improve oneself is key to successful entrepreneurship.

Because ultimately, what we're doing is we have to walk the path that every person who is behind us must walk, which is why entrepreneurship is such a growth oriented occupation.

This quote conveys that entrepreneurs must lead by example, undergoing personal and professional growth to pave the way for their teams. It underscores entrepreneurship as a journey of continuous self-improvement.

• Entrepreneurs often express love for their teams but also share negative experiences.
• There's a common pattern of entrepreneurs changing their opinions about their team's effectiveness over time.
• An entrepreneur's judgment may be flawed if their perspective on their team's performance is inconsistent.

And I can't tell you the amount of times most entrepreneurs that I talk to, I'd say 95% of them are like, oh, my team's amazing. I love my team. They're awesome. And at the same time they have all these horror stories about teammates.

This quote reveals a contradiction that many entrepreneurs face: they praise their teams but also recount difficulties. It suggests that entrepreneurs' assessments of their teams may be unreliable or overly optimistic.

• Utilizing frameworks allows for a structured analysis of a business.
• Frameworks help in applying solutions to overcome bottlenecks and achieve goals.
• Reflecting on the effectiveness of one's judgments is crucial for entrepreneurs.

Just a different way of thinking through it. Hopefully it was valuable for you. If you have these frameworks, you can look at your own businesses, apply things faster and break through the bottlenecks that you have so you can get to where you want to go.

The speaker concludes by advocating for the use of frameworks as a method to analyze and improve business operations. This quote suggests that such tools can help entrepreneurs overcome obstacles more efficiently.