Some days you're not out of motivation, you're out of the specific kind of brainpower that problem needs, and no amount of staring at it is going to bring it back. https://bit.ly/3UgulQ1

Some days you're not out of motivation, you're out of the specific kind of brainpower that problem needs, and no amount of staring at it is going to bring it back. https://bit.ly/3UgulQ1

You gave your team a bonus. It felt good, it felt generous, and as far as you were concerned, that was that. Well, not so fast. https://bit.ly/4i7Cxes

If your open enrollment strategy is "wait for the renewal packet and figure it out," I've got news for you. That's not a strategy. That's a deadline. https://bit.ly/4hZeZaH

Confession time. I watched a video this morning and my brain packed a bag and left the building. Somewhere it hit me that it's October, our three-year plan is behind, and my leadership retreat is a couple of weeks away. When did that happen? https://bit.ly/4zbMiyc

So you hired a person in another state. Then another. And now somebody's telling you the handbook you already paid for might not hold up everywhere your people actually live, BTW, there's a shiny fifty-state version for sale online that supposedly fixes everything. Let's talk. https://bit.ly/4y8rXcR

You hired good people. That was never the question. The real question is whether the org chart you built around them still makes sense, or whether you're just the switchboard everyone routes through because that's how it's always been. https://bit.ly/3SVxK6g

Your benefits carrier sends you a bill every single month, and you pay it. But have you ever actually checked whether that bill is telling you the truth? https://bit.ly/3UJ1Kmo

Can not...Will not...Must never forget

You already know the story. Someone on your team pushes back on everything, and you've been managing around it instead of managing it. That's the framework. This episode is the bill. https://bit.ly/4dhzehZ

The employee who's been there forever, who knows the business better than half your leadership team, and who has an opinion about literally everything you try to do. Sometimes that opinion is gold. But sometimes it's not disagreement, it's a full-blown pattern. https://bit.ly/460Bx5a

Your leadership team is not supposed to vote on everything. I know, I know, that sounds harsh coming out of the gate. But stick with me, because this is the thing that quietly wrecks more leadership meetings than anything else I see. https://bit.ly/3UVL9f2

Every founder loves the story of the kitchen table - two or three people, the shared bet on an idea, the late nights. That season is real. But there's a moment when the kitchen table becomes a leadership team, and the old way of making decisions quietly starts costing you. https://bit.ly/3UaTD1M

There comes a point in a growing business when handling HR yourself stops being a practical solution. The work is already there. The real question is whether you should still be the person carrying all of it. https://bit.ly/3SePpFK

You built your HR setup back when you had six people and a folder of templates you found online. That was the right call then. The question: is it still the right call now, or has it been quietly running on autopilot while your business outgrew it around the edges. https://bit.ly/4g8dJCk

There is a point in every growing business when being the founder who can handle everything stops being an advantage. You are still capable of answering the employee question, researching the leave issue - the question is whether you should still be the person doing all of it. https://bit.ly/4q9VuQ4

Outsourcing HR sounds like a simple decision until you look at what most founders are comparing it to: hiring one person in-house and expecting them to cover payroll, compliance, employee relations, recruiting, documentation, and everything in between. That's unrealistic. https://bit.ly/3TVWETp

Most founders think about HR the wrong way. They ask how many employees they need before it becomes necessary, as if there's a specific number where the obligation kicks in. https://bit.ly/4c033D6

Most small business owners think onboarding starts on the employee’s first day, but the employee experience begins much earlier.  https://bit.ly/4h0YXhz

When a great employee becomes a manager, it feels like a win. And it can be - but not automatically. Let's talk about what actually happens when your best performer steps into a leadership role without the skills, tools, or guidance to back it up. https://bit.ly/44wUtYy

Promoting a strong employee into management can feel like a natural next step. But knowing the work is not the same as knowing how to lead the people doing it. https://bit.ly/45bCHu0

Most founders think they know what their employees do all day. They wrote the job description once, maybe years ago, and they've been operating off that mental picture ever since. But jobs drift. Responsibilities shift quietly, one small change at a time. https://bit.ly/4yoaz4b

Exempt versus non-exempt status is one of the most misunderstood - and most expensive - employment classification decisions a California business owner can make.  https://bit.ly/44BJaOK

Every small business owner thinks they'll remember. Until eighteen months later, when three people remember it three different ways, and you're the one left holding a decision with nothing behind it. https://bit.ly/4y8oLyi

Good documentation is one of those HR concepts every employer has heard about, but very few are actually shown how to do well. https://bit.ly/4vh6hsG

You don’t need a formal HR department to start managing employees well. But the moment you make your first hire, HR work already exists, whether it has a department name attached to it or not https://bit.ly/43Zqybc

In this episode, I’m talking about one of the least-discussed parts of becoming a founder-manager: the anxiety that comes with leading someone else.  https://bit.ly/3SEIKV2

Hiring your first employee is a major milestone, but it also marks the moment you take on a new role: employer. The goal is not to build a large HR department. The goal is to build a solid foundation that supports your business as it grows. https://bit.ly/4w5EaNU

In this episode, I’m talking about one of the biggest shifts entrepreneurs experience but rarely prepare for: the move from doing the work to leading the people who do the work. https://bit.ly/4eDWUgB

None of us are free unless all of us are free Happy Juneteenth!