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(877) 830-3139 © 2005 - 2015 All Rights Reserved. Melanie Benson, Inc.

[email protected] www.successconnections.com

THE POWER OF

THE VIRTUAL TEAM How Thought Leaders and Visionary Entrepreneurs

can Liberate Themselves From the Daily Grind…

and Pull Off Their Big Ideas In Record Time!

By Melanie Benson Strick

America’s Leading

Small Business Optimizer

www.successconnections.com




Table of Contents About the Author .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4

My Story .................................................................................................................................................... 5

Definitions ................................................................................................................................................. 8

WHAT is a Dream Team? ............................................................................................................................... 8

WHO Needs a Virtual Team? ..................................................................................................................... 9

WHEN Is the Best Time to Get Support? ................................................................................................... 9

WHERE Do I Go to Find My Team and WHERE Do They Work? ................................................................ 9

WHY Should I Create a Dream Team? ..................................................................................................... 10

How Virtual Teams Catapult Your Results, Increase Your Sanity and Free Up Your Time ...................... 10

The Power of Leverage ............................................................................................................................ 11

Money ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

Systems ................................................................................................................................................... 12

Time ......................................................................................................................................................... 13

The Single Greatest Reason Running Your Business Alone Doesn’t Work ............................................. 14

Time to Build Your Dream Team! ................................................................................................................ 15

The Eight Crucial Questions to Ask Yourself to Know If You Are Ready to Build a Team ....................... 15

Chapter Two: Dream Team Building Basics ................................................................................................ 17

What Type of Support Is Needed? .......................................................................................................... 17

The Entrepreneur’s Mythical Business Model ........................................................................................ 18

The #1 Reason Why Entrepreneurs Fail To Leverage Their Time With A Team ..................................... 18

Fear #1: Losing Money ........................................................................................................................ 19

What is it Costing You to NOT Have a Team? ..................................................................................... 19

Fear #2: Having to Manage People ..................................................................................................... 21

Fear #3: Losing Control ....................................................................................................................... 23

To Delegate or Not to Delegate .............................................................................................................. 23

What to Delegate First ............................................................................................................................ 24

Three Sabotaging Syndromes That Can Destroy Your Delegation Efforts and How to Avoid Them .......... 25

Bright Shiny Object Syndrome™ ............................................................................................................. 25

Superhero Syndrome .............................................................................................................................. 25




J.O.B. Syndrome ...................................................................................................................................... 26

How to Quick-Start Your New Team ........................................................................................................... 26

Delegate Your Weaknesses ..................................................................................................................... 27

My Top 3 High Payoff Delegation Opportunities .................................................................................... 28

Clone Your Talent .................................................................................................................................... 29

Two Team Building Tactics ...................................................................................................................... 30

The Insider Secrets to Avoid Sabotaging Your Success (and Your Team) ................................................... 31

1. No Role Description............................................................................................................................. 31

2. Over-Delegating .................................................................................................................................. 32

3. Too Much Autonomy .......................................................................................................................... 32

4. Under-Delegating ................................................................................................................................ 32

5. Quick to Hire, Slow to Fire! ................................................................................................................. 33

6. Re-Creating the Wheel ........................................................................................................................ 33

7. Right People, Wrong Place .................................................................................................................. 34

Insider Secrets to Highly Productive Teams ................................................................................................ 34

The Art of Highly Productive Teams ............................................................................................................ 35

Getting the Right Person for the Right Job ............................................................................................. 36

How to Use the Insights Discovery System® to Hire Your Team ........................................................... 38

How to Motivate Your Team ................................................................................................................... 39

Success Compass ..................................................................................................................................... 40

How to Give Feedback ............................................................................................................................ 40

The Science of Highly Productive Teams ................................................................................................ 41

Training Using the On-Time Results Model ................................................................................................ 41

On Time Results Model ........................................................................................................................... 41

Priority Management .............................................................................................................................. 42

Task Management ................................................................................................................................... 42

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 42

Team Building Resources ............................................................................................................................ 45

Glossary ....................................................................................................................................................... 46




About the Author

Melanie Benson Strick, known as America’s Leading Small Business Optimizer, has a

gift for guiding fast-paced, overwhelmed, driven entrepreneurs to thrive in their small

business. With over 13 years mentoring thought leaders and big thinking

entrepreneurs, Melanie is an optimizer – uncovering costly breakdowns and de-

railers while re-energizing profits–

ultimately freeing the entrepreneur to do more of what they do best.

Using her experience as an award-winning project manager in a Fortune

500 company along with advanced results generating tools like Neuro-Linguistic Programming, mindset mastery and cutting-edge business

growth, Melanie’s programs position her clients to outperform their greatest expectations while achieving success on their terms.

Melanie served as productivity expert for several organizations, is co-

author of Entrepreneur.com’s Start up Guide to Starting an Information Marketing Business and has her success tips featured in magazines such

as American Express OPEN Forum, Woman’s Day and the LA Times.

Melanie serves on the Executive Team for the Global Organization,

Women Speakers Association, as well as hosts their weekly #SpeakerChat on Twitter. She has shared her small business success

strategies at events all over the world with legends like John Assaraf, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Beverly DeAngelis.

Melanie is a proud lifestyle enthusiast and spends her free time in search

of the best spas and beaches in the world.

Introduction

“There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach

your goals only with the help of others.”

~ George Shinn, Owner of Charlotte Hornets basketball team




I’m an evangelist! Not the typical kind – the kind that knows what can

happen when you use leverage to grow your business. I’ve tried to grow my business with the bare minimum support – it was the most

frustrating, overwhelming and mind-numbing experience I’ve ever had.

Also know what it’s like to be liberated from the tasks that suck the life out of me so I can focus every day on the tasks I love the most – like

writing this book for you. The reason I feel so passionate about helping entrepreneurs achieve remarkable success with a dream team is because

I have been where you are now.

I know investing in yourself through hiring the right people to help you works. I can teach you how it works. I’ve seen it transform my business

and give me the lifestyle I dreamed of when I quit the corporate world and ventured out on my own.

Have you got a minute? Let me tell you my story:

My Story

Two and a half years into running my own business, I had an epiphany

which transformed my business, catapulted my income beyond the six

–figure range and finally allowed me to regain my sanity! It started with a call from my sister asking if I could meet her and my niece for

lunch.

My response was “No, I’m too busy finishing a project.” In reality I was always having to say “no” to such opportunities as I was working over 80

hours per week and was exhausted, frustrated and overwhelmed. I had three businesses with 17 projects all needing my attention right away! At

this point I had one assistant who was trying to help, but she was overwhelmed too.

That phone call from my sister hit home. This wasn’t the life I

wanted. Somehow my business had become my entire life and I never had time for anything else. The real kicker was that I left corporate

America so I could be in charge of my own time, but as busy as I was, I

had anything BUT my own time.

Not only that, but there was a part of me that knew in order to grow to the next level things were going to have to be different. I wanted to host

a live event and get more of my products online. I had a vision for




hosting hundreds of entrepreneurs in a group coaching program versus

just meeting with one person at a time.

I knew that to pull that off – I had to get more support. I needed someone that knew HOW to implement those programs so I didn’t have

to learn myself. I needed help from people who could take the ball and run with it – so I had the confidence to leap! What I was doing instead

was plodding along, feel disappointed that I couldn’t grow as fast as my colleagues were.

The only thing I needed was to be willing to take a leap of faith,

learn how to hire the right people, and delegate wisely so my support team was making me money!

As I contemplated my situation I realized that my unique strength, team

building, had been cultivated to my advantage during my years in

corporate America. One of my most valuable assets, the strength of team building, could serve me well for my own company! At

Motorola I had not really enjoyed managing people. I knew, however, that I had an intuitive ability to envision an outcome and be able to

attract key players to participate on projects who wanted to help me achieve that outcome.

At Motorola my team members did not work FOR ME. As their team

leader I needed to inspire and motivate them. They needed to go above and beyond ordinary work behaviors and assume responsibility for their

individual participation AND overall success of the team. In essence, the team I put together was a partnership under my visionary guidance. The

idea of attracting partners to help me create my big vision sounded pretty good to me!

My mission became to apply this principle, not just in one business, not just in the other businesses I was currently leading, but in every

business that I touched through my clients!

First I needed to create a team to help me grow the non-profit organization. As President-Elect, I assembled a volunteer team of

qualified individuals who came together, and helped me realize a

growth of 800 percent in less than one year!

Second I applied the same principle to the networking organization I

ran in Los Angeles. I invited a number of successful business owners to join me on my leadership board to create the most consistently,

well-attended networking group of any chapter in the entire




organization!

Finally, I used this principle of leveraging other peoples’ time to

my own core business and took it to a new level. Since my office is located in the comfort of my home, I didn’t want people traipsing

through my space. The luxury of checking email in my pajamas was NOT going to go away! This was key to my wanting to work with a

VIRTUAL TEAM. I started with 2 people from the virtual world, a bookkeeper and an assistant, who doubled as webmaster. Within

that first year, I almost tripled the previous year’s revenue— simply by duplicating MY time and energy through other

people.

Today I have a team of professional independent contractors, led by a virtual online business manager working for me between 20 and 80

hours a month who have the responsibility of implementing our vision

and profitably managing each function of the business. That way I’m freed up to do what I do best!

Here is an overview of the roles I outsourced to my team:

� Webmaster who handles updating the websites

� Program Manager for each product and coaching program � Business Manager who runs the team and ensures we meet our

goals � Customer Service Manager to support our clients questions

� Strategic Marketing Manager to handle the requests for speaking and interviews

� Personal Assistant to handle incoming phone calls, emails and calendaring

As well as routine projects such as � Graphic Designer

� Marketing Copywriter � Bookkeeper

� Accountant

� Housekeeper (can’t forget that one!)

Why do I share this story with you? For two reasons. First, because I want you to know that no matter where you are with

the concept of leveraging the power of a team, perhaps you can see yourself in my story. Perhaps by knowing that I’ve journeyed from

having no team, to a stressed-out, overwhelmed team, to a team that




is like a well-oiled machine, that you can do it too. The steps I’ll share

with you in the e-book will help you identify that you are ready for a team and how with a few simple strategies, you can build the

kind of team YOU want.

Second, because I want to inspire you with what a team can do for your lifestyle goals. Once I built a successful team, I was able to

enjoy my life again. In the summer of 2006, I spent three beautiful, relaxing weeks touring the South of France and the Italian

Mediterranean.

I didn’t check my voice mail, email or call the office once. My business

ran just fine – and I made money while I was on vacation. I’ve done the same thing over and over. In early 2007 I was in Maui and Kona,

Hawaii for two and a half weeks. I spent one of those weeks learning how to run a company like a billionaire. I heard many people I know

say they couldn’t attend an event like that because there is no way they could leave their business that long!

Between 2005 and 2009 I doubled my income each year, produced

several popular coaching programs and live events. In 2011 I again up leveled by team, re-engineered every single program I have while

launching our brand new Big Idea Incubator coaching the program and

still working less than 40 hours a week.

So do you feel inspired to learn how to create your own team? Are you starting to see why so many entrepreneurs are tapping into this kind

of leverage strategy? Let’s get into more possibilities.

Definitions

We will be using a number of terms that you may be unfamiliar with or

that have a slightly different meaning in the context of virtual teams. So, please feel free to refer to our glossary at the end of this book for

clarification of any terms or ideas that are new to you.

Chapter One: What is a Dream Team?

A dream team is a group of people who are integral to helping you

implement your big ideas and grand vision of success through a collaborative effort. The idea of a dream team is that you do what you do

best all day long – and your team takes on the tasks that free you up to do just that. For most of us, that means the day to day operations,




implementing the plan and handling routine activities that would typically

burn you out.

WHO Needs a Virtual Team?

After working with thousands of entrepreneurs over the last five years,

there is one thing I notice we all have in common. We have NO SHORTAGE of ideas.

But we do have a shortage of time. The fastest way to get more done is

to leverage your time by outsourcing to people who are more talented in specific areas so we can focus on what we do best.

“To get to the place we really want to be financially,

to make our dreams come true, we can’t do it alone.”

~ Jennifer Openshaw, Author, “The Millionaire Zone”

WHEN Is the Best Time to Get Support?

You will know that you’re ready to start building your team when you

want to start making more money, taking more time-off from your

business (perhaps to travel with your family), and pursue that THING that you were so passionate about when you first quit your J.O.B. and

ventured out on your own. But if you LOVE the drudgery of the day-today grind, wearing ALL the “hats” of the entrepreneur and your family

(or lack-there-of) isn’t so important, then by all means, carry-on!

Michael Port shared this important insight with me in a recent interview on how to know when you are ready to build a team:

“Generally I think you get to the point where your growth has leveled off and you

just don’t know how you could do that much more than you are doing now and

you spend the majority of your day doing tasks that don’t have to do with the

future growth of your business.”

Michael Port, Interview, “Virtual Team Building Secrets with the Masters”

WHERE Do I Go to Find My Team and WHERE Do They Work?

We will explore many options for finding team players later on in this book. But if they are “virtual” team players, then it doesn’t really matter

WHERE they work. You may have some team members in your city who work with you on-site, but others may contribute to your business

operations from anywhere in the world. Team members can function




(and often are much less expensive) in Asia, the Philippines, Canada or

other areas where the economy positions them to command a lower fee but a higher quality effort.

“The use of teams has become a common way to gain

competitive advantage in a global environment. The goal is

to leverage intellectual capital. The methods by which an organization

uses to manage (their teams)….can make the difference

between success and failure.”

~ Deborah L. Duarte, Nancy Tennant Snyder,

Authors, “Mastering Virtual Teams”

WHY Should I Create a Dream Team?

The bottom line? Because you can exponentially grow your revenue, your results and make a much greater impact on the world than you

can do alone. There will be many jobs you hate to do or don’t do well that if you continue to do them, you will get burned out, make

mistakes and miss golden opportunities because you are focused on the WRONG THINGS in your business.

It bears repeating, “You are ready to start building your team when you are ready to start making more money, taking more

time-off from your business (perhaps to travel with your family), and become passionate again about the THING you envisioned when

you first quit your J.O.B. and ventured out on your own.”

“All time has value: and the way you think about time and think

about yourself will affect everything that happens to you inside and

outside your business for the rest of your life, in short, you have to

value your time before anyone else will.”

~ Rich Schefren, Author, “Internet Business Manifesto”

How Virtual Teams Catapult Your Results, Increase Your Sanity and Free

Up Your Time

“This spring I spent two weeks in Turks and Caicos sipping

umbrella drinks and playing beach volleyball. The best thing

about this vacation was that I made more money that month

than I had all year. My team handled everything while

I enjoyed my two- week vacation.”

--Alexandria Brown, The E-zine Queen




The Power of Leverage

So what is REALLY important here; what shifted my mindset, freeing me from the burden of feeling constantly overwhelmed and scrambling

to succeed is this: I learned how to LEVERAGE.

What is leverage? Leverage is the ability to apply a little bit of

effort and get a massive result. Think of a lever – you move the lever a little bit and the lever applies the pressure to get a much

bigger result. For entrepreneurs, there are three kinds of leverage we can tap into: money, systems, time.

Let’s explore each of these options.

Money

When you leverage money, you make more money. The three easiest

ways are to:

1. Charge more

2. Offer your service to many (instead of one) 3. Package your service and automate its delivery.

Let’s say you are a coach and you currently make money by coaching

clients one on one for $100 per hour. You are limited by time and energy -- you can only make as much money as you can work -- usually about

10 to 12 clients per week. If you were to double your rates to $200 you would double your income. But if you charged $200 per person to attend

an event that 10 people attend for one hour, and then you have exponentially grown your revenue. Now let’s imagine that you take your

process and package it as an information product and you sell it on a website. You sell your package for $200. Let’s say with some really good

marketing you can sell 20 a week ¡V with no

extra time on your behalf whatsoever.

Let’s see how this breaks down:

Give yourself a raise (CHARGE MORE) $200 x 12 clients per week = $2400 per week

Offer a group experience (OFFER YOUR SERVICE TO MANY)

$200 x 12 clients in one hour x 4 hours per week = $9600 per Week




Package your information (PACKAGE & AUTOMATE) $200 x 20 = $4000 per week with ZERO TIME

Do all three and you will exponentially increase your revenue!

Systems

“The use of standard processes reduces the time needed for team startup and

may eliminate the need for unnecessary reinvention of the wheel.¨ ~ Deborah L. Duarte, Nancy Tennant Snyder,

Mastering Virtual Teams

Now let’s explore the idea of systemizing. To systemize is to take a process and identify and document each step involved so that anyone

could follow the process. There are two reasons why you would want to create systems so you can leverage your time.

First, most entrepreneurs get in a trap of recreating the wheel each and

every time they need to do something. A system lays out a plan so that every time you do that particular task, you don’t have to think, you

simply follow the plan.

Systems become increasingly imperative when a team is involved

because everyone has a different way of doing things if you want it done your way, you will need to document the steps involved.

The second reason to systemize is that you can automate much of what

you do. This is a necessary component of building your team effectively. When you are ready to add a person to your team, the system must be

in place for that person to step in and do the work effectively and efficiently. Here are a few examples of tasks can be automated:

- Follow up emails and cards

- Reminders for events, phone calls, etc. - Marketing materials on the web

- Purchasing your services or products

- Article submissions and press releases

I could go on forever but you get the picture. By developing and introducing systems to your business and virtual teams, you ensure that

tasks are done consistently and as you want them done.




Edward Deming, the father of the quality movement and the man responsible for Japan’s rise after World War II said,

“If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process,

you don’t know what you’re doing.¨

Quality experts tell us that the vast majority of any breakdown inside a business is due to faulty processes or systems, not human problems.

Time

The last leverage option, and my personal favorite, is time. You can

leverage your time by outsourcing. To outsource something is to assign a

task that you own and delegate it to someone else to perform for you. Think of it as cloning yourself to get more done. There are a few ways

that outsourcing works. One is hiring people to accomplish tasks or projects that you don’t like to do, can’t do or is not the best use of your

time. Another is hiring people to do what you do but do it for less money so you make a profit by outsourcing it.

This struggling business owner is missing opportunities and losing money because he is trying to do it all himself. (Not to mention how stressed

and overwhelmed he’s feeling). Not a good idea!

Successful entrepreneurs have learned to leverage the time and talents of other people to get things done. In fact here’s an illustration of what it

looks like to leverage the time and talent of others.




The Millionaire Business Owner has discovered that leverage allows him to apply a little bit of effort for a massive result. This picture above

shows how by simply outsourcing and automating, he has created exponential results. This successful business owner is in the driver’s seat

of his destiny. He is not allowing his business to run him ragged!

The Single Greatest Reason Running Your Business Alone Doesn’t Work

I was coaching a client one day who was feeling rather overwhelmed. I

invited her to start a process of writing down all of the responsibilities, projects, tasks and other “shoulds¨ that she had swimming around in her

mind. When she called in for her next coaching session, I asked her how many things she had on her list. She had filled four pages of stuff that

had to get done right now! As we went through her list the problem became crystal-clear, and it’s what I call the Multiple Train Syndrome.

Every role, project and task is a train that you must drive to the

station (the end goal). If you insist on driving all the trains yourself, you will never get them all to the station. Multiple Trains Syndrome

might be the reason why you aren’t accomplishing results fast enough.

So let’s put this into perspective:

If you are the conductor of all of these trains and they need YOU to put your attention on them in order to move forward AND you can

truly only focus on one thing at a time then every time you get on one train you HAVE TO get off the other one! Your trains will

take forever to get into the station.

The solution to Multiple Train Syndrome? Hire other people to drive




the trains forward for you. That’s where your team comes in.

To achieve an income and a lifestyle that you have admired in other successful entrepreneurs and wondered how to have for yourself, you

must you must learn how to use leverage. This is accomplished in the three steps listed above: money, systems and time.

Once you learn to leverage, your team will, in essence, replicate you (the solo entrepreneur) in areas where you (the visionary) are wasting your

time and talents in the day to day tasks that take care of your business enabling YOU to become the SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OWNER!

Time to Build Your Dream Team!

Now, let’s begin building your team so you can start planning for your bigger impact on the world, those lifestyle goals, the wealth you

desire and just getting more done!

The Eight Crucial Questions to Ask Yourself to Know If You Are Ready to

Build a Team

� You have more than 3 projects or ideas that will make you

money but you don’t have the time to work on them.

� In the last 30 to 60 days, you have had to say NO to at least two attractive opportunities because there isn’t enough time to do

everything.

� You are working 35 or more hours/week but not making as much money as you would like.

� You fall behind or don’t complete critical tasks like billing clients,

balancing your checking account, client follow up, updating your

own marketing materials, etc.

� You have more client leads than time to complete the work.

� Your revenue growth is stuck because you can’t work any more and in order to make more money, you have to work more.

� You want to take more time off but you can’t afford to lose any

time at the office ¡V you stop making money or things fall apart if you aren’t there.

� You routinely over-promise and under-deliver on your




deliverables to clients or vendors.

Total number of checked boxes: ________.

If you checked five or more boxes, you are in dire need of a good team.

Waiting to build (or strengthen) your team will critically impact your bottom line.

If you checked two to five boxes, you would benefit from a team and

should start now.

If you checked fewer than two boxes, are you sure you are REALLY an entrepreneur?

So now you have identified that you would benefit from a team, or more

importantly, you are in DIRE NEED OF A GOOD TEAM!

So now what?

Let’s review briefly what we’ve covered so far.

� You’ve learned HOW a team can increase your revenues and your sanity, as well as free up your valuable time.

� You’ve learned the power of LEVERAGE: through money,

systems and time, and how each of these items can exponentially increase your revenues while reducing your time.

� You’ve learned about Multiple Train Syndrome, why it’s not

effective to “just do-it-yourself¨, and why you want to have OTHER PEOPLE driving YOUR TRAINS into the station instead of

you.

� We’ve shown you the massive opportunities to create more of a

freedom-based lifestyle, accomplish exponential results and get back some of your sanity by leveraging the strengths of others.

� And of course, the most important question we’ve

answered so far is why an entrepreneur should build a dream team (and not just hire a random VA off the street.)

So in a nutshell, you have learned about WHY you need a dream team

as well as some key concepts that identify the NEED for a team. But this is still just the beginning! I am sure you are asking yourself,




“But what about WHERE I find these people

and WHERE do I start and HOW do I do it? I want to make more money AND

I want a better lifestyle as well!¨

In the following chapters we will explore in detail the HOW of successful team building.

1. You will learn HOW TO effectively and effortlessly delegate.

2. You will be able to identify and overcome the #1 killer of successful team building.

3. You will develop a quick-start plan for building your team. 4. You will learn HOW TO delegate your weaknesses and

strengthen your strengths.

5. Insider secrets abound! Catch EXPERT ADVICE on how THEY would have done it better!

6. How to effectively communicate with your team for increased results and greater efficiency.

7. Learn how to identify the team players who COMPLIMENT you for greater success!

8. Incredible team-building tools that you can use over and over.

Chapter Two: Dream Team Building Basics

In this chapter we will review some of the team building basics. We will expand the definition of the virtual team, and then we will discuss

some of the fears you must identify and overcome to properly leverage yourself and your business.

What Type of Support Is Needed?

There are three types of workforces in business: employees, assistants and team-players.

Employees are hired full-time within your business to work exclusively

for you. You are responsible for their payroll and taxes as well as additional benefits.

Virtual assistants are independent business owners who provide a service

such as a personal assistant or another area of expertise from another location. (1099 contractors, fee based, and pay their own taxes) Virtual




assistants typically see themselves as an “independent expert¨ that is

not a part of a functioning team but delivers a high quality product to their client.

The third type, a business management team, is where you hire a team

of independent contractors (or a firm who creates a team on your behalf) to run your business for you. If you are growing beyond the high five

figure mark, and don’t wish to have your own employees, this type of team is perfect to help you escalate your growth quickly.

The Entrepreneur’s Mythical Business Model

For many entrepreneurs, we build our business because we no longer want to work for someone else. We get tired of building someone

else’s dream and want our own! A seed gets planted that you can build your dream business any way you want it. And so we build a business

that seems to provide the ultimate freedom ¡V no employees, no hassles, no demands, no responsibilities to anyone outside yourself.

This is what I call the Entrepreneur’s Mythical Business Model. The

myth of I can build a business all by myself.¨ Sure you can. But it

won’t be very successful. Every entrepreneur I know who makes more than six figures and is really accomplishing everything they want has a

team.

Even though I’ve pointed this out to countless entrepreneurs, many fall short of ultimate potential, hold back from financial freedom and

stay convinced they can avoid building a team. So let’s explore some of these reasons.

The #1 Reason Why Entrepreneurs Fail To Leverage Their Time With A

Team

The number ONE reason why people don’t build a team is FEAR. This fear

can be broken down into three types of fear. I’ll introduce them here then go into them in more detail.

Fear #1: The Fear of Losing Money

Fear #2: The Fear of Having to Manage People

Fear #3: The Fear of Losing Control




Fear #1: Losing Money

There are so many issues around money for entrepreneurs: wasting money, spending too much money, not having enough money. For the

small business owner, any new cost can feel insurmountable. First, let me point out that to build a successful business, you will need to invest

in key strategies that are high-payoff. Knowing the difference between a bright, shiny object and a high-payoff opportunity is key. The best way

to do that is to identify what your priorities and values are and how this

opportunity will help you achieve them.

Secondly let’s address the mindset of seeing a team as a cost versus an investment. A cost is something that doesn’t have a real return.

However, building a team is an investment in your success. Look at it this way. How many opportunities do you say no to because you don’t

have time? What are you currently doing yourself that if you were to delegate it to someone else who could do it better, faster and cheaper,

you would free up your time to pursue those bigger, money making opportunities?

Entrepreneurs often believe they can’t afford help. Here is the real

question: Can you afford not to? What is it costing you to not accomplish your dreams? What are you giving up that was an integral part of your

reason for starting your business in the first place? (I bet freedom is in

there somewhere.)

What is it Costing You to NOT Have a Team?

Tracy Monteforte of WT Powers explains how

whenever she is hesitant about hiring a new addition to the team, or a new marketing idea, her husband

Pat, encourages her to think outside of the box.

Instead of saying, “We can’t afford to hire that

person, they are way too expensive¨, pose the question, “How can we afford this?¨ This is a

mindset shift that brings creative solutions.

I know there are sometimes budget concerns. And you should know how you will leverage your team to increase revenue and profit. This is where

one of your skills as a business owner comes in.

You will benefit by completing a “cost-benefit¨ analysis and a Return on Investment projections.




Identify how much revenue you need to make in order to cover the costs of hiring a team member. It should look something like this:

Budget for Webmaster: $40/hour, 10 hours/month: $400/month

My XYZ Product is $197. If I sell 2 additional products per

month, I will cover the cost of my webmaster.

My outsourcing priorities for my webmaster are:

� Send out 3 to 5 e-zines and marketing blasts each month � Keep fresh content on my website to increase search engine

optimization � Handle the special web pages and shopping cart needs for each

campaign

If you do the math, you can see that it becomes a “no-brainer¨ to

outsource even the simplest tasks! By outsourcing even three items to your webmaster, you will probably free up at least 3 - 5 hours a week,

which will allow you to focus on new money-making results.

From the Virtual Team Building Secrets Interviews

with the Masters, Alexandria Brown, CEO of Ali International, tells her story of how she came to the

realization that she needed to build her team and how she met her longtime virtual assistant and now

business manager, Liz Murphy. Ali needed to juggle a few financial matters to figure out how she was going

to pay Liz, but as she packed up a box full of receipts

and QuickBooks software, she experienced a sense of profound relief that she finally had someone on her team, ready to help

her.

Hire independent contractors, ones who consider themselves partners in the success of your business. There are obvious benefits to these

partners: no need for anyone to be in your space¡; no need to buy any additional office equipment; no employee benefits.

Be creative. Think of hiring interns, retirees, stay-at-home moms.

These non-traditional workers often are happy for the experience and the flexibility of the team experience in exchange for large paychecks.\




Fear #2: Having to Manage People

“It is self-evident that businesses, like people, are supposed to grow; and with

growth, comes change. Unfortunately, most businesses are not run according to

this principle.

Instead most businesses are operated according to what the OWNER

wants as opposed to what the BUSINESS needs.¨

~ Michael Gerber, Author, The E-Myth Revisited

This fear brings in a lot of stress and overwhelm. Fear is an acronym

for False Evidence Appearing Real. We often make up stories in

our head based on past traumas or bad experiences. Many corporate refugees who suffered major trauma or unpleasant experiences as a

manager in their career created an “ideal business vision.¨ that included freedom from employees. This fear leads to “It’s just easier if

I do it myself¡¨ thinking! The truth is that building a team is NOT THE SAME as having employees. A good team will have strong

personal standards, be responsible and be self-starters. Generally business owners who avoid building a team also don’t have systems or

standards in place and don’t know how to let go.

The secret to a good team is not to hire people to work for you, but to bring in partners to work with

you. These people are independent contractors, responsible for their own taxes, insurance and all

those things that can bog down a traditional business.

Will Craig, Founder of Coach Training Alliance,

structures each partner’s business in such a way so he doesn’t have to manage them. Will’s goal is to be

the best business partner possible, encouraging his team to be successful, because in the end this win-win scenario will make his

business more successful too! The mindset of a partner is infinitely different from an employee’s. When you take the mindset “you work for

me¨ out and replace it with ¨let’s build together¨ it creates a whole new dynamic!

The golden rule of thumb for virtual team building is: Hire to your

weaknesses not your strengths. Hire complementary skill sets to your expertise and you will find it a freeing experience.




When we hire people, we tend to hire those who are like us. It is

comfortable. We understand how they operate just like us! I was hired once to work with a company whose board of advisors was engaged in

initiatives to make a difference in the world. These board members were generally in accord with each other, with one exception how to get things

done. One of the members was consistently at odds with the majority on this topic and began to feel more and more isolated and that his opinions

weren’t valued by the group. I was able to work with the board of advisors to first examine and then understand that the strength of any

team involves balance and that this different board member was just looking at the problems in a different light and from a differing viewpoint.

I was also able to teach this board member to recognize his talents and

the value he brought to the table.

As entrepreneurs we must remember that people who balance us out

may think entirely opposite to us and constantly challenge our way of thinking and getting things done. That is actually a good thing.

If you are good at sales and client fulfillment, hire people who love to do the bookkeeping, appointment scheduling or customer service so

you know that these essential components are being taken care of with enthusiasm and pride.

“Most people are constantly trying to find room for the important

activities in their already overflowing schedules. They move things

around, delegate them, cancel them, postpone them all in the hope

of finding time for first things. The key, however is not to prioritize

your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.¨

~ Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill,

First Things First

Another thing to consider when hiring team members is that there are

two personal styles of instinctive behavior: starters and finishers. Neither is good nor bad.

A good example of this is the analogy of laying television cable. The

cable companies lay thousands of miles of cable, but the toughest part is the last 15 feet from the wall to the TV, and it’s not functional until

that connection is made. This is where the finisher shines. A quick summary is that a starter innovates and a finisher improves the

innovation. If you are an instinctive finisher, be sure to look for starters, there are plenty around!




Fear #3: Losing Control

You know the business owner who spends too much time on busywork and they spin around in circles all day putting out fires. They cringe at

the idea of someone else seeing their financials. No one can ever be as good at writing sales copy or sending out their e-zine as they are. The

idea of slowing down to train someone feels like a complete waste of time - why bother!

OK, how do you think Fortune 500 companies got where they are? There is not one successful business that consistently made a six and

seven figure revenue by doing everything themselves. It’s impractical and completely insane thinking! (Sorry, I just have to be blunt here.)

This fear can be conquered with a few simple strategies. You must first start with a mindset shift. Successful people leverage the power

of a team. If it can be done for Microsoft, it can be done in your business. Secondly you just need to create the systems to train

people properly. Procedures need to be in place so that in each situation that arises, the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented!

Delegation is vital to keep the business owner focused on growth (and

job security for the team!). Quality control must be exercised to ensure the product is delivered consistently. And again, communication is

essential!

To Delegate or Not to Delegate

“Why is it that some managers are typically running out of time

while their staffs are typically running out of work?¨

Kenneth Blanchard William Oncken, Jr.

and Hal Burrows

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey

I hope by now you see the value of delegation. I know it can seem

painful to let go.¨ But with the right systems, you never let go -- you delegate. The scope, time and budget of your business are still in your

control; you are just letting other people do the work.

The question now is, what do you delegate? 20% of your effort should produce 80% of your results. This means you should focus your time

and energy on what you do best and what only you can do. Everything else should be delegated.

To help you systematically determine what to delegate, it is important




to know what the Return on Investment (R.O.I.) is. Before you can

determine your R.O.I., you will need to know what you are worth per hour.

What are you worth per hour? Take your weekly income and divide it

by the hours you work, what do you get? This number will give you a general guideline on what makes sense to delegate. For example, if

you are worth $50 an hour and hiring an assistant for a couple hours a week would cost you $25 an hour, it makes sense to hire an assistant.

You will free up time and energy that are better spent earning more money.

What to Delegate First

It’s true that not everything can be delegated. It is imperative for the business owner to know what to delegate and when. Apply the following

system to determine what to hand off to a team member.

Decision Making Matrix (adapted from Stephen Covey.)




For instance, if I am worth $250 per hour, and I am writing my own

sales copy (which I could pay someone $75 per hour to do), then I am saving $75 per hour but could be billing $250 hour. The opportunity cost

is $175.

Three Sabotaging Syndromes That Can Destroy Your

Delegation Efforts and How to Avoid Them

Sabotage sets in when you do things from a place of unconscious habits

rather than doing what actually works! See if you can relate to any of the three sabotaging syndromes.

Bright Shiny Object Syndrome™

This is where you are running your business like you are a kid in a candy

store. You chase around fun, exciting opportunities without rhyme or reason. You say YES to an idea or opportunity and dedicate your hard

earned money, precious time or valuable resources without understanding how it will pay off in your business.

When you have a team Bright Shiny Object Syndrome™ will create

confusion, overwhelm and frustration for them as they won’t know what they should be focusing on in the moment.

Superhero Syndrome

“Your lack of planning does not constitute an

emergency on my behalf.”

If you’ve ever heard those words, then you may have the Superhero syndrome. This syndrome is when you make commitments that are

completely unrealistic. For some reason, you don’t think to check your calendar or think through your other obligations before you commit to

something.

You always seem to have more on your plate than you can handle, deadlines come and go, and your clients and vendors often get frustrated

with your tardy deliverables. For some reason, you think you can accomplish unrealistic expectations in record time.

This syndrome seems to trickle down to the team easily. You tend

to call your webmaster at the last minute with an urgent request (at

least once or twice a week.) You expect your urgencies to become their




urgencies. Stress abounds because there are so many priorities that

must be done now that overwhelm sets in, work slows to a crawl, and nothing gets done!

J.O.B. Syndrome

The J.O.B. Syndrome is when you run your business like it’s a job. You don’t have a plan, you don’t have a clear vision and direction, and often

you will be waiting for magic to happen so clients and opportunities can arrive at your doorstep (or website.) This syndrome is particularly

dangerous because it is a symptom of a much bigger problem – the problem of not having the proper mindset. You are probably stuck in the”

freelancer mode” where you do just enough to get by.

The danger in this syndrome is two-fold. First, you probably will resist building a team because you won’t see the value. Second, even

if you do bring a team on board, you don’t have the proper mindset to motivate and direct them properly.

How to Quick-Start Your New Team

Once you realize you need a team you are probably going to want to get started quickly. That’s how we work as entrepreneurs, an idea gets

in our head and we leap forward. I’m going to give you a few ideas here on getting started.

You may realize that this is a common problem when important steps

are missed in the beginning. Typically we rush to bring a new team member on board because we need help now. How can you fix this? A

few key elements can easily remedy about 85% of common hiring mistakes.

1. Create a vision statement. Make sure you have written out what you want your life and business to be like when you hire

the person. Don’t skip this step – it really is crucial to attracting the right people to co-create the experience you want.

2. Develop a job description. Map out exactly what you want the

person to accomplish for you. This will also help with estimating the number of hours to plan for. Many people want to throw everything

but the kitchen sink into their role description – that’s why in our Build Your Dream Team Coaching program I give you the standard

descriptions for every role you will hire – just so you know what’s realistic – and what’s not!




3. Identify your standards, values and vision for your company. If you don’t communicate them up front, how will you know if they share

your standards, values and vision? If your standard is to respond to phone calls within 24 hours and your VA’s is to return calls within 5 days,

you could have a problem.

4. Create a checklist of skills, work style preferences and resources team members must have. Do they need to have

experience in your particular trade/ industry? Do you use Microsoft Outlook and need to be compatible? Do you prefer to work with self-

starters who need little guidance or want to be intimately involved in the day to day operations with them?

5. Take time to interview and check references. Interview at least

three to five candidates. Ask questions like, “Tell me about a time when

you didn’t know how to complete a job, what did you do?” or “How did you learn how to perform your duties at your last job?”

Once you get the basics down, here are two quick-start strategies to

build your team.

Delegate Your Weaknesses

If you know what you do well and not as well, then you can determine

what to delegate first. Follow the model in the chapter on “To Delegate or Not.”

The reason why this is a first good strategy is that when you stop doing

the things you aren’t good at, not only do you have more time but you will also have more energy. There is something very freeing about letting

go of things you don’t do well.

One of the first exercises you must complete is getting clear on what I call your “Hidden Gold.” This is a process that is essential to get clear

one three things:

- What are the tasks and activities that make you the most money

- What tasks are not even getting done but in order to grow must - What tasks do you currently do but they drain you

- If you’d like help with this exercise, check out the resources in the back

of this book for what next step is perfect for you.




When pulling his team together, Alex Mandossian, founder of Teleseminar Secrets, points out that as

you add to your team you need to be hiring to strengthen your strengths and never to strengthen a

weakness. By knowing what your unique ability is, you can strengthen what you are really good at.

When you’re doing what you love doing, you never feel overwhelmed, you are energized. Find people

whose unique abilities complement your weaknesses. There are people who just love to email or call people to answer

questions. They find creativity in these areas that may seem mundane and overwhelming to you. The right person in the right spot will

strengthen your team. The right person in the wrong spot can never be a good team member and you will dilute all your efforts.

My Top 3 High Payoff Delegation Opportunities

Here are my top three recommendations to kick-start your delegation.

I highly suggest outsourcing all three as quickly as possible (unless it is your trade.)

Bookkeeping Most entrepreneurs I know would rather go to the dentist

to get a cavity filled than update their books. Invoicing is delayed for months until you have time or need the money. The bottom line: you can

outsource you bookkeeping for a fraction of what you are worth per hour, increase your energy since you aren’t procrastinating something you

hate to do, and probably find some hidden revenue that you didn’t even

know about!

Web Design Unless you are a wiz with web design, you are probably falling into the trap of “I’ll save money if I do it myself.” Very few people

really save money doing things mediocre by themselves. They just tell themselves that to justify a way NOT to do the things they really need to

do.

Even if you are really good at it, my guess is, it’s not really your highest-payoff activity. One time I was talking with a friend of mine who makes

between $25,000 and $80,000 per client. He was working on rebuilding a website that got lost in a server crash. I asked him, “Martin, why are

doing your own website? You have to be worth at least $500 per hour and you are doing something you could pay someone $50 an hour to

do.” It was as if I had struck gold. The thought had never occurred to




him before, he had just gotten used to doing it himself. Martin

immediately hired someone the next day.

Housekeeping This might seem obvious but it always blows my mind how many people don’t outsource this. I’ve heard everything from, “No

one can clean my house as well as I can” to “I can’t afford it.” Now unless you live in the Queen of England’s palace, you can afford it.

Most housecleaners charge between $10 and $20/hour. If you are doing your own housecleaning, you are seriously missing a major

opportunity here to claim up to 20 more hours a month to focus on money making tasks! Find a housekeeper and I’ll prove it to you!

Clone Your Talent

The second way to build a team is to find people who can do what you do…but cheaper. It’s like reproducing yourself into a bunch of “Mini-Me’s”

who help you serve more clients. At a certain point, when you get more clients than you have time, this is an excellent option.

Michele PW, founder of Ka-Ching Marketing, had a huge

breakthrough in her business when she began to

outsource her writing jobs to other copywriters who didn’t want to spend a lot of time marketing and selling.

They just wanted to write. The beauty is that she is doing them a big service – getting them jobs without

their having to market themselves.

Adam Hommey, a website designer and

former client in one of my Mastermind programs, said he realized he was getting so many

referrals he didn’t even have time to follow up with them. Adam is a virtual webmaster and had a false belief that he

had to do all of his own blog and website implementation because it was fun. We took him through a Hidden Gold

Strategy Session and found over 15 hours a week of tasks he could hand over to contractors who desperately needed

work. Now he is freed up to follow up those leads which lead to him doubling his client base (and of course, doubling his

revenue!)




Two Team Building Tactics

“There is no such thing as a self-made millionaire” ~ Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire Maker

There are two schools of thought on how to get your team started. Both have pros and cons. You have to decide what is most important

to you based on your values and critical priorities. If you aren’t crystal clear about your values and critical priorities, it’s important that you

find out what they are. There are several great resources out there, a few of which I’ll share with you at the end of this e-book.

Once you know your values and critical priorities identify which tactic best fits your desired outcomes.

The “Lean Machine” Tactic This method is to keep your team and

budget lean until the very last minute THEN build a team. The benefit

to this is that the business owner is able to keep profits at a premium during the initial growth period. This approach is to have a “lowbudget”

team with “make-do” skill sets where everybody does a little of everything. The perception is that this is an easier way to manage

the business because fewer people are involved.

The dangers to this approach may outweigh the benefits. Quality is usually sacrificed because of limited bandwidth and breakdowns are

inevitable. The business has limited growth potential because there is still not adequate manpower to accomplish goals. There is usually little

or no focus on team systems leading to time lost due to mistakes, lack of quality control and the necessity to recreate the wheel for repeated

tasks. Turnover of team members is inevitable due to stressful working conditions and the business owner incurs huge costs to retrain and

time loss due to anticipated learning curves. The business’ reputation

can be compromised due to non-delivery of goods or services promised. Most costly of all are the missed opportunities due to chaos

in the team model.

The ‘Strong Foundation’ Tactic This method recognizes the future growth of the business and begins to build a solid foundation for

success early. The benefit to this method is in building a strong team during “calmer” times so they have time to learn, practice and work as

a team to discover and solve issues and “bugs”.




This method creates harmony for the business owner, support

team, vendors and clients. The business owner will experience faster and higher payoff results because the owner can replicate

themselves, work more systems and achieve greater accomplishments. The short-term investment in building a proper

foundation for success will position the business for exponential growth. The drawbacks to this system are a few, but worth

mentioning. There may be a sacrifice of short-term profits. The business owner may experience an illusion of “standing still”, or lack of

accomplishment while building systems and foundations. The business owner may experience a fear of investing short-term without a

corresponding financial payout.

Which tactic best suits your desired outcomes and will be the

one you follow?

The “Lean Machine” Tactic

The ‘Strong Foundation’ Tactic

The Insider Secrets to Avoid Sabotaging Your Success (and

Your Team)

As entrepreneurs, our strengths can become our greatest weaknesses. By nature we are fast paced, highly creative risk takers. But when it

comes to building a team, it’s like trying to get a grasshopper to fly. It’s just not our natural way of doing things. Here are seven massive

mistakes entrepreneurs make building their teams.

1. No Role Description.

One of the biggest frustrations of having a business is managing staff.

It’s frustrating to have a team member who is constantly off the mark on what you need from them, but it’s equally frustrating on the other

end and not know what your boss wants from you. Imagine hiring assistants and then spending MORE time correcting their mistakes!

This can happen if you hire without a proper foundation for each

position. You need a well-thought out job description and expectations for each team member’s role. With this structure in place you will

have more time to focus on your business and away from managing people. Also keep in mind that the cost of replacing people (who aren’t

right for the job you need done) is astronomical. Not only is it the cost




for classified ads, job fairs, training programs, etc.-- it’s your TIME

that is the most valuable. Imagine how much more effective it is when people know what you expect from them!

2. Over-Delegating

The fact that you’ve seen the need to delegate is great. It shows you have vision for your company and you know you can’t do everything

yourself. The next trap to be aware of is the tendency to keep everything in your head and not give proper direction to your team

and wonder why your delegation isn’t working! You don’t want to burn out your team as fast as you hire them. Among other issues, over-

delegating can lead to losing clients due to lack of follow through and late delivery of services or goods. Proper communication will make

your team more productive, projects will be completed on time and your team will actually be happier!

3. Too Much Autonomy

You might think that since you have hired the right team members with the job descriptions you need and you’ve given the all the

necessary information to get the job done correctly, that your part is done, right? Not necessarily! The third mistake entrepreneurs make

is giving too much autonomy to team members. Imagine if you hired someone with all the credentials and references, but you aren’t getting

the results you anticipated. Giving too much autonomy means that

you don’t have checks and balances in place to track work progress, identify problems before they arise and ensure that your team

member is completing their task correctly. It’s not that you don’t trust your team, but this is YOUR business and you need to know what is

going on at all times. Being blindsided by a problem or delay is more costly and aggravating than taking a few minutes every week to check

in. Weekly status calls by phone and/or email are essential for you to make sure that unforeseen problems are avoided.

4. Under-Delegating

It’s hard to let go, I know. Your business is like your baby. But you will never become wealthy if you insist on doing everything yourself!

Not only will you burn yourself out, you will lose out on opportunities! And it’s impossible to have a big impact if you’re stuck on all the small

things. Don’t get trapped in thinking no one else could possibly do it better than you can. By insisting on doing your own bookkeeping (if

that’s not your “thing”) and updating your web pages, you are placing




a monetary cap on your earnings limited to the number of hours you

can work on your own. For every hour you free up you can focus more on the high payoff, revenue generating activities that only you can do.

Also, think of all the time you lose with your family, friends and community. What is this costing you in wealth and lifestyle goals?

Outsourcing everything that aren’t your unique strengths and abilities will free up your time for what is really important—like dinner with

your family?

5. Quick to Hire, Slow to Fire!

When you’ve reached a frustration level as discovered in the points

above, the temptation is to rush out and hire, hire, hire. Just hire someone to get the job off your hands! But when you get the wrong

person on your team, it’s much harder to get them out. Imagine attitude problems with your personal assistant, lateness and sloppy

deliverables. You discuss it with your assistant and everything seems to be fine for a while, then it slips again. Your best customer calls with

complaints. A new prospect gets cold feet and goes with a competitor.

You can’t afford this! Problem team members don’t go away by

themselves. But they can end up costing you a fortune if you don’t handle them right away! Do yourself a favor and take the time to find

out as much as you can about a potential addition to your team. And if you do hire the wrong people, get rid of them quickly! Don’t get

caught on a sinking ship.

6. Re-Creating the Wheel

How many times have you found yourself answering the same

questions over and over again? Or do you constantly search for your shortcut notes on scraps of paper or post its? Anytime you find

yourself doing or saying the same thing twice, it’s time to create a template. That way, the next time the same situation comes up,

everyone knows what to do. The more important it is to do a job a certain way, the more important it is to have a system, checklist or

procedure in place. Then you can stop worrying about it being done correctly and get on with what you do best! Keep it simple,

standardize your procedures and you’ll keep everybody on the same page.

For example, perhaps you insist on making all your own travel arrangements. Now think that if your billing rate is $250 an hour, how

much more sense it is to pay an assistant $25 to make them for you.




By creating a checklist including searching for the best rates, preferred

hotels and car rentals, you can leave the details to your team member. There are a million tasks that can be standardized so that team

members can take them over. The extra time you spend writing them down one time, will save you countless hours later!

“Everything is a system. The purpose of a system is to

free you to do the things you want to do.”

Michael Gerber, author, E-Myth Revisited

7. Right People, Wrong Place

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Make use of your team

members’ strengths to maximize your team. If you have someone updating your website who is great at the technical end of things, but

not so good at checking for mistakes in what is going out to customers, then this is the WRONG person for proofreading, but the

RIGHT person to handle the web jobs. Tweaking your process will allow you to have your assistant proofread your content before

handing it off to the web assistant! Finding the right seat on the bus for good team members can often take finessing, but remember that

good people who are loyal and hard workers may not initially be in the right position for your business.

Insider Secrets to Highly Productive Teams

I think one of the biggest fears an entrepreneur has when building a

team is “What if I bring people on who don’t complete their work properly?” But in reality, the biggest reason teams fail isn’t necessarily

because of the team member, it’s because the business owner doesn’t know how to lead them!

There are technically two ways a team can fail – poor people

management and poor systems. To have highly effective teams,

you as the leader need to develop your people and system skills. We refer to these skills as the art and science of teams.

Let’s start with people management. The most important aspect of

managing people (or in the virtual team model, their deliverables) is learning to delegate well. In my work, I’ve seen hundreds of people

buy into the “myths of delegation”:




Myth #1 – “No one can do the job as well as I can.”

Myth #2 – “If I want it done on time, I have to do it myself.” Myth #3 – “It’s too hard to teach someone else what to do.”

Myth #4 – “It’s just more work and more expense for me in the end.”

Myth #5 – “It’s too hard to communicate what I want.” Myth #6 – “It takes money out of my profits.”

Myth #7 – “It’s too hard to keep track.” Myth #8 – “I’ll lose control.”

Myth #9 – “I can’t trust anyone else.”

All these myths are exactly that…myths.

Once you see the value of delegating, you’ll work hard to eliminate these misconceptions from your thoughts. Here are just a few reasons

to master the art of delegation:

� The more you delegate, the more you can focus on your core

strengths, which means the more money you can make. � Delegation frees your time.

� It allows you to grow your business much faster than if you tried to do everything alone.

� Your prestige grows as you step into the leadership role.

Again, most people fail at delegation for one of three reasons: They didn’t understand the personality of those they are delegating to, they

don’t know how to motivate, and/or they didn’t have a system of delegation.

To help solve these challenges, let’s first explore the art of highly

productive teams. We will identify how to choose the right people for

the right jobs and how to motivate them. Then we will explore the science of highly productive teams using operations procedures, the

On-Time Results Model, and priority management

The Art of Highly Productive Teams

“Unless you know who you are, what you are prepared to do and

why, then you can’t hope to achieve anything very grand.”

Ron Sugar, Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation




Getting the Right Person for the Right Job

Have you ever hired someone only to realize later that they couldn’t,

or wouldn’t, do the job right? Or even worse, maybe you realized that they were not ethical or honest? You have to know how to hire the

right person for the right job.

Understand that people have very different work preferences, skills and strengths. I use a tool called the Insights Discovery System® with

my clients. It is a work-style indicator that helps me understand who you are and how you relate to the world around you.

When the tool is used in the context of a team, each member of the

team is profiled and provided valuable insight into their communication style, management style, problem-solving preferences and emotional

make-up. The power of this tool becomes apparent when members of

your team understand why other members think and behave the way they do. This dramatically decreases the stress and drama between

members. Team members learn how to utilize the unique strengths of each other to get the job done better and faster than before.

For purposes of this program, I’ll introduce the four main styles (there

are 16 variations in total) to help you understand yourself and your team better.

The Four Main Personality Types In the first season of the popular reality television show, The Apprentice,

the two final candidates, Bill and Kwami, were set up to manage two different projects. The winner was hired; the loser was fired. Kwami lost

– his team fell apart. What was the problem? Kwami was a “people-person” and focused on the personalities of his team, trying to make

them feel good. Bill, the winner and a “results-person,” focused on getting the job done.

Our personality preferences illustrate themselves in how we get things

done. Each person has a different personality preference in how they do things, which can lead to trouble when the wrong preference style

is matched with the wrong team role.

Kwami focused on people first. Bill focused on results first. One isn’t

inherently better than the other; they are just different. But for the project assigned to them, results mattered more than people. To get

hired by Trump, Bill had to step on some toes to get results, something




Kwami wouldn’t do. If the project had been different, if what had been

judged were people skills, maybe Kwami would have won.

Learning the Four Preferences How would you determine someone’s preference? It’s easy once you get

the hang of it. I use a specialized system that gives me a glimpse into someone’s personal style.

We all have elements of each style, and certain elements are more to our

liking than others. We tend to display characteristics of the style we prefer.

Throughout time, these four processing styles have evolved, yet the core

of the preference has remained intact. The four styles, or temperaments, are based on three key preferences which I will teach you through the

tool I use with my clients called the Insights Discovery System®.

The Insights Discovery System® is based on the four-temperament theory originated by renowned psychologist Carl Jung. Throughout

time, these four processing styles have evolved, yet the cores of the preferences have remained intact. The four styles, or temperaments,

are based on three key preferences:

1. Introversion and Extraversion – When you need to recharge do you go within or without? Do you prefer to be alone or with

people?

2. Rational Functions of Thinking and Feeling (how we make decisions) – Do you act from your heart or your head?

3. Irrational Functions of Sensation and Intuition (how we take in and process information) – Do you use your five senses

or your sixth sense – your intuition?




We all display a mixture of all styles… and we tend to lean towards or prefer one or two temperaments more strongly than the others.

Here is a general overview of the four temperaments:

How to Use the Insights Discovery System® to Hire Your Team

For each project, consider the aspects of the job that need to be completed, and which personality style would most likely be able to

accomplish that type of task. For example, if you need someone to set up, track and maintain a budget, asking a “sunshine yellow” type

would be a sure-fire way to fail. “Yellow temperaments” dread details – instead they prefer future visioning and creativity. An “earth green”

type would probably balk in a leadership position; they are more

comfortable with taking direction.

Cool Blue On a Good Day Cautious Precise Deliberate Questioning Formal

On a Bad Day Stuffy Indecisive Suspicious Cold Reserved

Sunshine Yellow On a Good Day Sociable Dynamic Demonstrative Enthusiastic Persuasive

On a Bad Day Excitable Frantic Indiscreet Flamboyant Hasty

Fiery Red On a Good Day Competitive Demanding Determined Strong-Willed Purposeful

On a Bad Day Aggressive Controlling Driving Overbearing Intolerant

© Insights. Andi Lothian.

Earth Green

On a Good Day

Caring

Encouraging

Sharing

Patient

Relaxed

On a Bad Day

Docile

Bland

Plodding

Reliant

Stubborn

© Insights. Andi Lothian.




This chart highlights the kind of tasks that align with each type of person:

You ideally want someone with each style on your team. That

creates a balanced, whole team. If everyone preferred the Yellow energy, they would all sit around thinking up cool ideas and nothing

would ever get off the ground. If everyone preferred the Blue energy, they would sit around and analyze everything to death before taking

any action.

What we have provided here will help you in general, however, for long-term projects, team building and company growth, I recommend

the Insight Discovery System® profiles and training to understand each team member in more detail. Many people have secondary

preferences that can dramatically influence their behaviors and

preferences, as well as blind spots of which they are completely unaware. For more information on how to incorporate the Insights

Discovery System® into your team building and management, see our Resources Page.

How to Motivate Your Team

Your team’s motivation will dramatically affect the productivity of a project team. There are several steps you can take to create a motivated

environment for your project.

There are four elements necessary for a motivated team member:

1. Understanding of the big picture. 2. Clear ownership of a detailed task.

3. Adequate resources ¡V the ways and means to complete the task.

4. Skills and talents are aligned with job requirements.

Apply these four elements in all of your communication, delegation

and management and you will see a marked difference from your teams productivity. If you continue to notice problems with

performance, then it is time to dig deeper to understand if the issues can be corrected or not.

This is when I pull out my Success Compass. The Success Compass

is designed to identify the true problem in someone’s results. I use it with my leaders, entrepreneurs and team members to quickly identify




the problem and a road map to get back on the fast track.

Success Compass

When using the Success Compass., there are four areas to focus on

for team motivation:

1. Do they have the proper mindset for the job (work style

preference may not be aligned)? 2. Do they have the proper knowledge or skill to complete the job?

3. Are there poor time management habits and focus challenges? 4. Are there issues in their personal or professional environment

that are toxic or non-supportive?

Typically, the only area that you can not help them is with #1, mindset. That is where a good coach comes in.

How to Give Feedback

Giving feedback is an art, so here’s a great technique that makes it easy to do. It’s called the “Feedback Sandwich.¨ Put your criticism

between two praises, or comments about what they are doing right. Just make sure your compliments are sincere. There’s not much worse

than inauthentic praise. So if your praise is true, say it. You can always find something that’s right and positive.

Here is an example of how to use a “feedback sandwich¨: “I really appreciate how you follow up with me on deliverables. I get so

many emails that oftentimes a request blends in. One thing I would appreciate is if you are feeling irritated or angry that you pick up the

phone and talk to me directly rather than send an email blast to everyone that has a negative tone. It’s really hard on the team morale

to read an email like that.

Is there anything I can do to help improve our communication on deadlines from your perspective? Thank you for being so committed to

getting things done on time. It is a characteristic I admire in you and really adds a lot of value.¨

Using the feedback sandwich minimizes defensiveness so that both

parties can have a constructive conversation on what needs to happen

for a successful outcome.




The Science of Highly Productive Teams

“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do,

and THEN do your best. If you can't describe what you are

doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.¨ ~ W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993)

Almost any business problem or miscommunication can be eliminated

with the right understanding of the policies and procedures. If you haven’t systematized your business, you will spin in circles,

reinventing the wheel on a daily basis.

There are at least five components to good team building and delegation:

1. Have a clear, defined, written job description.

2. Utilize systems, procedures and checklists for routine tasks and projects.

3. Take time to train and communicate your expectations using the On-Time Results Model.

4. Use regular check-ins to manage the process. 5. Communicate promptly and effectively if the performance does

not meet the requirements.

Training Using the On-Time Results Model

A clear understanding of the On-Time Results Model. will help eliminate much of the confusion in delegating. When delegating, this

simple method will help you remember the three core components you must communicate to the person completing the job. Your job is to

communicate the expected end result (scope), when the deliverable is due (time), and what the budget is (cost).

On Time Results Model

Here’s a checklist you can use when communicating to your team members what needs to happen:

� The desired outcome � Completion date

� The budget � What should be done on the project? It must coincide with the

policies and practices.




� How the practices should be applied. Include definitions,

instructions, training and helpful tools (forms, examples, templates, data, systems, etc.).

� How the tasks will be monitored � How you will manage follow-up and review

Priority Management

You can help your team manage their priorities and keep them apprised of what is most important. This means keeping the team aligned with the

overall vision and values of the project. How they process the values and vision will be unique to them. Each person on the team tends to create

his/her own definition of what is important based on his/her insight of the goal, and what they need. By including the team in the evolving

vision, changing priorities and new information, they will be equipped to make better decisions.

Task Management

Encourage your team to use good task management strategies. For instance, my business manager has created a project plan for every new

project as well as routine tasks. Picking the right technology to use is key – I it’s so important I dedicate an entire training session in my Build Your

Dream Team Program to the different types of technology for project management and other types of automation opportunities. Each task

should have a block of time in which they plan to complete it. This serves

two purposes. First, there is a placeholder for the task to be completed in and it makes it almost impossible to forget. Second, it serves as a check

point to make sure they have the time available to complete the task so we aren’t establishing an unrealistic expectation.

I also recommend at a certain point in the growth of your team to start

using a project management system. There are a few that I’ve personally tested and can recommend. Using a project management system is a

very powerful way to track all of the projects and deliverables, who they are assigned to and when they must be completed.

Conclusion

This book has given you a great overview of the power of creating your very own dream team. First you’ve seen how you cannot be hugely

successful on your own and have the time left over to actually LIVE. You’ve seen the benefits of building your virtual team for your business,

your family and your sanity. By this point you’re convinced that you want




your business to skyrocket and to live the lifestyle you dreamed when

you started your business.

Let’s review some of the tools I’ve given you to put your virtual team in place:

1. What to delegate and what not to delegate.

2. What to delegate first. 3. How to avoid the “Bright Shiny Object, Superhero and J.O.B.”

syndromes. 4. How to delegate to your weaknesses to strengthen your team.

5. We’ve examined two team-building tactics and their pros and cons. 6. We’ve shared some insider secrets to highly productive teams

7. We’ve explored “The Art and The Science” of productive teams.

We’ve given you the concepts, the terminology and the keys to build a

successful dream team, but in a way, we’ve just scratched the surface! Now you have the basics under your belt there are a myriad ways to

personalize these concepts to your own unique situation and business.

“If they don’t fail outright, most businesses fail to fully achieve

their potential. That’s because the person who owns a business

doesn’t truly know how to build a company that

works without him or her, which is the key.¨ ~ Michael Gerber, author, The E-Myth Revisited

It’s one thing to know you need something, but what will separate you from the rest of the pack is being able to put these ideas into action.

Get started here with our Recommended Dream Team Success Resources.

Bill Glazer, one of the world’s greatest marketing mentors says,

“No one gets rich alone.¨

The power of having a team to help you collaborate, implement and manage your success is what will propel you forward. To be at the top

of the pack, you must be willing to take action on proven strategies that get results. Holding back and waiting for “when things are right¨

is putting a ship on the Mississippi River and tying it to the shore so it

won’t move forward. You stop the flow and create a lot of extra work in the process.




CONGRATULATIONS! At this point, you have taken the first step in

taking your business to the next level of success through building a virtual team. To continue to learn about building your teams, as well

as managing, hiring and firing, and growing them, please refer to the resource section of this book.




Other Business Building Resources

The resources on this page have been selected especially for you so you can take the next step in building virtual teams or simply to

transform your business success. Each recommended resource has been proven with hundreds of business owners just like you to provide

simple, easy to follow recipes for inner and outer wealth. Enjoy!

Get out of Overwhelm

If overwhelm tends to creep in and take you out of

the game then you’ll find this audio program invaluable. I’ll help you uncover your sources of

overwhelm and give you some proven strategies so you virtually eliminate the situations that cause

you to spin in your head or lose traction and miss out on your big money-making opportunities. And

if you do find yourself creeping back into an overwhelmed mind, you’ll want to have my Brain Reboot hypnosis audio

to guide you back into power, clarity and momentum quickly. Includes a handy Action Guidebook for notes and quick access to your “overwhelm”

triggers list.

http://www.successconnections.com/overwhelm

Build Your Dream Team

Are you the bottleneck in your business? If you are ready to take your business to

the next level but don’t have the time or energy to fit more in then you’ll be ready

to build your ULTIMATE Dream Team. These 10 step system guides you through

every step you need to delegate the right tasks profitably by hiring a high

performance team who can truly liberate

you from the grind of running the day to day operations of your business.

Find out more at www.builddreamteam.com




Glossary

Band-width: How much time, energy and resources you have to build your business with.

E-zine: An electronic magazine or newsletter that is delivered via email

Entrepreneur: A person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

Finishers: People who are good at implementing and completing – usually other people’s ideas.

Leverage: The ability to apply a little bit of pressure and get a massive result.

Mindset: An attitude, disposition, or mood. When relating to an entrepreneur, it is their thinking and attitude of how they run their business.

Monetize: To make more money from the things you already do. The three easiest ways are to: charge more, offer your service to many (instead of

one), or package your service and automate its delivery.

Multiple Train Syndrome: Every role, project and task is a train that you must drive to the station (the end goal). If you insist on driving all the trains yourself, you will never get them all to the station.

Outsource: To assign a task that you own and delegate it to someone else to perform for you.

Shopping Cart: An online system that ties into your website to facilitate internet-based purchases.

Solopreneur: An entrepreneur who manages their business alone.

Starters: People who have lots of ideas and are have a lot of enthusiasm and drive for starting projects.

Success: Is different for every person in this world: it is usually having an abundance of something that is important to you. Sometimes it is money. But usually, money is a means to an end, offering you the ability to create more of what you really want, such as freedom to travel, more time to spend with your loved ones, or…[fill in the blank].

Systemize: Take a process and identify and document each step involved so that anyone could follow the process

Virtual Teams: A virtual team is a team of independent contractors who are integral to a team approach in creating a collaborative end result

the power of the virtual team - amazon s3of+virtual+team+ebook.pdf · the power of the virtual team...

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