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IN THIS ISSUE

DEEPTHINK

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of helping many entrepreneurs start, grow, and scale their small businesses. Today, we are going to explore one of the most important building blocks for any successful business: How to build an effective and motivated team.

If you are just starting out or running an early-stage business, and you want to grow beyond being a one-person business, this guide will be a game changer for you.

So, what exactly do we mean when we say, "build a team"?

This is not just hiring people or filling positions. Building a team means bringing together a group of people who are effective and motivated. It means assembling people who get the job done and want to be part of the journey with you.

Here is something to think about: Research on small businesses in Nigeria shows that most employees leave their jobs in less than one year. Not two years. Not three years. Less than one year. This means that the people you work hard to hire, train, and depend on are often gone in just a few months.

Losing an employee so quickly doesn’t just hurt emotionally. It also costs you a lot of money. It costs you about 30% of an employee’s annual salary when you include lost productivity, recruiting, and training. If this cycle sounds familiar, you’re not alone, but there’s a better way.

Let’s be honest with ourselves about why building this kind of team matters so much.

First, the high cost of turnover is bleeding your business silently. Every time you lose someone early, your business loses money and momentum.

Second, let’s talk about what I call the “Founder Trap.” Many small business owners start small, maybe alone, and for good reasons. You try to do everything yourself. From sales to customer complaints, fixing problems at all hours, you carry all the weight. It can feel like proof you’re indispensable. You are the “Oga at the top”, the one who controls everything.

There’s a small business owner I worked with in the industrial clothing business. When he started, he was the beginning and end of his business. He tied everything to himself, even though he had two employees. One day, he complained that his business was not growing as quickly as he wanted.

Together, we reviewed his operations, and, through structured training, he learned how to build real relationships with his staff. He learned how to delegate properly instead of holding everything himself. Not long after, he shared most of his work among his staff, and created time to market the business and bring new orders which his staff fulfilled with minimal supervision from him.

He later told me that by delegating more effectively, he freed himself to focus on what truly mattered in the business. His business grew at an exponential rate in a short time. Today, he runs his business more efficiently, with four full-time staff and a part-time employee, all working toward growing the business to be bigger and better. That’s the power of an effective and motivated team.

When overwhelmed, many small business owners make the mistake of hiring the first person they can find just to stop the pain. But hiring the wrong person usually costs more than the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Instead, hire for a specific role, knowing the exact skills and mindset you need. Never hire until you find what you are looking for. Be patient enough to find someone who doesn’t just fit the job but also shares the values and culture of the business.

A job goes beyond the size of the pay cheque at the end of each month. Many employees leave their jobs when they don’t feel seen, when they don’t know if they can grow personally and professionally on the job, or when they feel they are being managed poorly.

To keep your best people, you need to:

Here is a “Done-with-You” approach to help you build your team:

1. Document Your Processes Learn how to document your processes. If a task only lives in your head, you cannot delegate it properly. You end up watching someone copy you badly under pressure, and then you conclude that delegation doesn’t work. You can fix that by creating clear and simple process documents anyone can follow.

2. Track Your Own Tasks Track your own tasks for one week. Pay attention to every task you personally touch, then categorise them. Ask yourself:

Tasks in the second category where someone else could do it with the right instructions is where you should start delegating. This simple exercise will help you find your next hire or delegation opportunity.

3. Write Your First Process Document Next, write your first process document. Just one task, clearly explained enough that someone else can follow it without you hovering over them. By doing this, your business will stop depending on your physical presence. This is the true meaning of owner-independence, which is the reason you started your business in the first place.

If you get this right, your business can grow beyond you. If not, you will keep hiring and losing people, your growth will hit a ceiling, and you will remain the bottleneck of your business.

I'm here if you want me to guide you through this transformation.

Get ready for us to work together closely as we build a business that works for you, not the other way around.

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RESOURCES

BOOKS

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