I was 24 when I started QALO as a college dropout with zero business experience. At 26, I was leading 50 people in an 8-figure business.
Here are 10 lessons I learned in those two years:
1. Trust is the top necessity in hiring.
Trust in an employee enables a leader to delegate, empowers the hire, and serves as the mortar between the bricks. It reduces the need for constant supervision, (which you don't have time for when you're starting), allowing managers to focus on strategic decisions and effectiveness rather than micromanagement. Skills and experience don't matter if you don't have trust.
There's debate on whether or not you should hire friends. I say yes. Friends, by nature of the relationship, trust each other, which can significantly streamline communication and collaboration within the team. They are often more invested in each other's success, leading to supportive work dynamics and driving collective growth. The only 🚩 to wave is if you don't believe the relationship can survive the moments of conflict that will come with working together. Then don't blow up the friendship.
2. We must protect this house.
I didn't know sh*t about business, but I knew our cultural identity and values. To solve my business incompetence, I over-indexed toward hiring people for culture as the top priority.
The most controllable function in your business is who you bring into it. You wouldn't let anyone whose character you're unsure of walk into your house and live among your family. Treat your hiring the same way.
3. Don't focus on bigger.
I don't remember talking about how big our business was going to be. We aimed to go deep from day one with a customer-centric innovation strategy. It was our job to identify the target customer and their job to give us the roadmap for growth. Even though our product was simple, our marketing approach was not. The better we understood the customer, how they engaged with our product, and what it meant to them, the bigger we would become.
We allocated everything to the one principle declared by S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-a, "If we get better, customers will demand we get bigger." Everything we did was customer-centric innovation.
4. Don't let the 🐘 stay in the room.
Unresolved conflict dilutes effectiveness. Have you ever tried to finish a piece of IKEA furniture with your spouse after a fight mid way through? The awkwardness in asking for an Allen wrench when you're trying to avoid talking can 5x the time it takes to finish the bookcase.
Ignoring conflict has no upside. We had it out over every issue early on.
Was it messy? Yeah. Did we handle the conflict well every time? Absolutely not. However uncomfortable the 24 hours after the elephant was asked to leave may have been, it doesn't compare to the feeling of getting squished by that elephant a year later.
In large companies, the cancer of politics remains localized longer. You can keep your camera off on a Zoom call. In a startup, the cancer metastasizes quickly.
Get the elephant out first.
5. Don't hire consumers and spectators early on.
Every early hire needs to be a culture contributor. In culture, there are consumers, spectators, and contributors.
- Consumers use the benefits but don't participate. They won't be wearing a costume on Halloween. You may hear things like, "Yeah, I don't do that fluffy BS. No, I can't turn my camera on. I'm about results."
- Spectators value the culture but don't build it. They are in the pack but not leading it. You may hear things like, "I love working here. The benefits are great and I like the chit-chat on zoom calls."
- Contributors build it and shape it for the future. They innately have the qualities you need to succeed. You may hear things like, "What can I do to help make this a better place to work? I know it's early, can I help build out the benefit plans for our employees?"
Your first 10 hires are cultural co-founders. Hold them to that standard and they'll be better for it, and your company will be too.
6. Growth has a correlation to courage.
Courage is a mental strength that I believe to be the most influential among company cultures. Company building is about rescuing the customer from their problem and ensuring they never experience it again. To run into the burning building, you either need to be the first to step, or you need to witness someone else do it first. If your employees see you run into the building first, they'll do the same, and growth will be the answer.
I was asked on a podcast during this time growing QALO, what is the most important character quality for a leader to have?
Courage is the only answer.
7. Etch-a-sketch the industry
Take everything you know to be true and shake it up. The industries ripest for disruption are the ones where "everyone does it that way." We made one change to a billion-dollar industry, we made a wedding ring out of silicone, and sold millions of them.
Watch this video for more inspiration: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeBWuPUAW65/
8. Ignore the rules
Humans are held hostage by "should." Not knowing what the world thinks you should do can be an advantage. We had no clue what we should do; instead, we relentlessly solved the next problem in front of us in the way we thought was most effective.
The word "should" devolves inspired creativity into industry standards that people satisfied with mediocrity think you "should" follow.
Think different.
9. Wear noise-canceling headphones
When you hit launch, put these on. Noise-canceling headphones allow you to focus on what you want to hear by blocking out external noise. The sound coming through those headphones should be from one collection of voices, a "customer choir." That's it.
I sold a silicone wedding ring, I've heard it all.
10. Avoid the Buzz Lightyear effect.
Our early employees are Woody from Toy Story. The trusted, reliable companion who's been there with us from the beginning when we were nothing. Then we grow up, get a bit more money, hire the exciting new Buzz Lightyear, and knock Woody out of his spot and under the bed.
Reward tenured loyalty and never forget who bet on you at zero.
I learned many of these the hard way, but I loved every second of it. I hope these lessons help you out.
With purpose,
KC Holiday
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