Hello there, visionaries! I am thrilled to be writing this today with the help of Leona, my operations manager, and also Mel, our recruitment manager. We’re going to be sharing how we manage and build a team on our end, and also what company culture means to us.

These are the problems that I listen to all day long when I’m working with clients, and I wanted to bring in my team because I wanted you to hear it from their perspective.

How We Build a Team at Hello 7-Figure Freedom

Madeleine: What do you believe is different about the way that we build a team here at Hello 7-Figure Freedom compared to other places that you’ve worked?

Leona: For me, the way we build a team differently starts with the setting up of clear expectations from the start, all the way from hiring to onboarding to daily tasks. Once we’re in, we know what’s expected of us. We know what we need to do on a daily basis. We have due dates, and we follow strict SOPs, which serve as the guardrails of our company.

Mel: I agree. We are really, really big on SOPs. Another thing we always share with our clients is that when you’re hiring or considering hiring team members, you’re not actually hiring people to fill in the gaps for what you have now, but you’re actually hiring people to prepare you and the team and the business for where you plan to be in the next couple of years. You want to build a team for the future, not the now.

The Importance of SOPs

Madeleine: Why are SOPs so important when we build a team?

Mel: Going back to what Leona said, it’s part of us really setting clear agreements with people as we build a team. It’s not just, “You need to do this, and I need this by Friday morning at 8:00 AM,” and that’s all we give them. We have these SOPs in place all throughout the process to make sure that the team has the resources to do the task or the job that they need to do, and there are checkpoints and guidelines to make sure that they are progressing the way we want everyone to be.

Leona: If you have SOPs in place from the time that you hire someone new, it saves you a lot of time training them because you have the SOPs that they can follow, and we can make sure that they are successful and contribute value to the business from day one.

Madeleine: If you don’t know, SOP stands for standard operational procedure. These are primarily written, though every now and again we do some video SOPs. It’s really how we do what we do and how we get the results that we get for our clients as we build a team.

Zone of Genius

Madeleine: So what are the things that you appreciate the most about the Hello 7-Figure Freedom leadership?

Leona: For me, what I appreciate the most is the hands-on support from leadership, like the continuous coaching. We all know that there’s always room for improvement, and we’re constantly doing that here in the company. We make sure we learn every day.

Mel: For me, it’s that the tasks for everyone on the team are carefully placed in their zone of genius. We’re not pushed to take over duties that lie outside our strengths. And again, that folds into empowering the team and setting them up to succeed.

Madeleine: So what we’re hearing is that setting those clear expectations and empowering the team is important.

I spend a lot of time investing in my team. I believe my team is my greatest asset. And one of the ways that I invest in my team is through coaching them on how to do their job and how to show up.

I talk to them about my productivity habits and what I’ve learned over the years: how I utilize my time, how I batch my work, and how I get so much done. I share my mindset and my thinking behind why I do the way I do.

The Importance of Company Culture

Madeleine: We talk a lot about company culture at Hello 7-Figure Freedom. I think a lot of visionary CEOs think that company culture is something that corporations have, so why do you have a company culture in a small company?

Let me clarify: company culture is behavior-oriented. It’s how we show up in the company, whereas SOPs are more about how we get stuff done. They’re task-oriented. To me, they both function as the guardrails that we have in place for our team; the SOPs make it so that they’re not just a ping-pong ball inside the business with no guidelines for how to show up or how to do the task, which sets them up for success from day one.

The company culture is a bit different. It’s based mostly on my personal values or what I value for myself.

I value freedom. I value loyalty. I have very strong integrity. I value generosity. I value accountability. Those are our core values that we developed into the business, and I think this is a really important piece because so many CEOs are working so hard in their businesses, and from that space, it can be very hard to be generous or give freedom to your team members because you yourself are so burned out and stretched to the max. Obviously getting to the point where you have some spaciousness and some freedom yourself allows you to also feel that generosity and establish freedom for your team.

Obviously we’re all going to show up and get our job done and meet our deadlines and get the deliverables to our clients, but because freedom is a company value, we have enough flexibility in our schedule for people to take time off when needed.

Most of my team takes time away, though I literally have to twist Leona’s arm most of the time to not have her take her laptop with her. (Every now and again I succeed!)

I constantly tell my team that it’s so important to take time off to recharge our batteries. We know that for ourselves, but it’s just as important for the team. Working a team to the bone and having a bunch of people that are overworked and feeling underpaid creates an atmosphere of disgruntlement and resentment, and that’s not good for anyone. That’s a very different environment to be working in.

Thanks, Leona and Mel!

I firmly believe that I have the best team. I am forever grateful to both Mel and Leona, not to mention the rest of the team, for the way they support me and my vision. I am grateful every single day that I get to step into my little office here and connect with all of them and know that I have that support. I get to know that they are so dedicated to the vision that I’ve created and what I want to manifest into the world.

It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I know we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing and persevere in our mission to support other entrepreneurs to create community and joy for themselves.

As a CEO, there were days a long time ago that I didn’t even want to go to work because there was so much tension in the office. I had a bunch of disgruntled employees, and the situation wasn’t good, and it didn’t feel good to even be there. I didn’t feel supported; everything was on my shoulders, and it was stressful. I needed to build a team that supported me.

I still remember those days, and to now have this kind of support is amazing. I want to help build a team for every single one of you visionary CEOs; I want you all to experience having the support that you really need to bring your big vision into the world.

When you’re ready to take the leap to build a team that really has your back, we’re here and ready to help!

Are you wondering if you’re ready to take the next step in your business? Curious about whether you’re a good fit for our services? Take the free business assessment quiz to find out! And if you want to learn more, you can visit my website or schedule a call with me today. I can’t wait to hear from you!

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