01:00:00:02 – 01:00:00:17 Rory Vaden We often. 01:00:00:19 – 01:00:06:26 Rory Vaden Think about using your personal brand to drive leads for your business to attract new prospects. But 01:00:07:00 – 01:00:12:23 Rory Vaden of the hottest trends right now, and one of the most important ways to be using your personal brand is to recruit. 01:00:12:26 – 01:00:17:09 AJ VADEN talent acquisition, talent retention. Everybody needs to be talking about that. 01:00:17:11 – 01:00:22:16 AJ VADEN there is an amazing opportunity right now to get talent that has not been available in previous years, 01:00:22:16 – 01:00:25:13 Rory Vaden How does your personal brand affect 01:00:25:13 – 01:00:26:26 Rory Vaden who you get to work with 01:00:26:28 – 01:00:27:27 Rory Vaden attracting talent? 01:00:27:28 – 01:00:31:28 AJ VADEN attracting is it’s the difference between being a magnet and a megaphone 01:00:31:28 – 01:00:34:10 AJ VADEN It’s putting out there who you are 01:00:34:13 – 01:00:35:29 AJ VADEN where somebody else would go. 01:00:36:02 – 01:00:37:16 AJ VADEN I said, what I’ve been looking for, 01:00:37:17 – 01:00:41:11 Rory Vaden I am joined, of course, by my co-host, best friend, business partner, CEO and 01:00:41:13 – 01:00:42:13 Rory Vaden AJ VADEN Vaden. 01:00:42:16 – 01:00:43:11 Rory Vaden This is 01:00:43:11 – 01:00:44:25 Rory Vaden the Wealthy and Well Known podcast. 01:00:44:28 – 01:00:49:07 Canned Open AI VO Ever wonder what it actually takes to build a reputation that generates revenue? 01:00:49:11 – 01:00:53:25 Canned Open AI VO Rory and AJ VADEN Vaden are the powerhouse duo behind Brand Builders Group, 01:00:53:28 – 01:00:55:21 Canned Open AI VO NYT bestselling authors and 01:00:55:25 – 01:01:01:16 Canned Open AI VO the personal brand experts who have helped some of the world’s most influential leaders scale their personal brands. 01:01:01:20 – 01:01:02:06 Canned Open AI VO Now 01:01:02:10 – 01:01:03:16 Canned Open AI VO they’re pulling back the curtain 01:01:03:16 – 01:01:06:11 Canned Open AI VO on how to capture attention, 01:01:04:27 – 01:01:06:11 Canned Open AI VO build massive trust, 01:01:06:13 – 01:01:09:07 Canned Open AI VO turn your expertise into a lasting legacy. 01:01:09:08 – 01:01:16:03 Canned Open AI VO Get ready to elevate your influence and your income. This is wealthy and well known. 01:01:16:06 – 01:01:24:08 Rory Vaden In this episode, we’re going to be talking about how do you attract better team members, better relationships in general, and what could be vendors, could be contractors. 01:01:24:08 – 01:01:24:18 Rory Vaden But 01:01:24:18 – 01:01:31:21 Rory Vaden how do you use your personal brand to build the team around you that you need to get your mission out into the world? 01:01:31:23 – 01:01:32:12 AJ VADEN In the house. 01:01:32:12 – 01:01:33:04 Rory Vaden In the house 01:01:33:06 – 01:01:38:20 Rory Vaden and this is a great topic for us to talk about and specifically for you to talk about. 01:01:38:22 – 01:01:40:03 AJ VADEN It’s a great topic to talk about 01:01:40:03 – 01:01:56:10 AJ VADEN talent acquisition, talent retention. Everybody needs to be talking about that. And there’s a lot of great talent on the market right now. And I, I just think that there is an amazing opportunity right now to get talent that has not been available in previous years, 01:01:56:10 – 01:01:58:16 AJ VADEN and it’s up to you to snag it. 01:01:58:17 – 01:01:59:06 Rory Vaden So 01:01:59:06 – 01:02:04:06 Rory Vaden how do you think about personal branding in the context of a recruiting conversation? 01:02:04:07 – 01:02:17:01 AJ VADEN Yeah, I think for the most part, it’s not all that different than what I would say in a customer acquisition conversation, but a little different in the fact of I really do believe that for the most part, 01:02:17:01 – 01:02:28:02 AJ VADEN when someone decides to work with a company, they are not making that decision based off of the company. They are basing it off of the leaders, the individuals of the company. 01:02:28:03 – 01:02:47:11 AJ VADEN They are going. No, I am choosing to come and work with these people. That’s who they’re going to be conversing with. That’s who they’re going to be spending their time with. You hopefully like them. Right? Hopefully you want to join a company where there is values, alignment. There’s a culture that you want to be a part of. And here’s how I know that’s true. 01:02:47:11 – 01:03:11:15 AJ VADEN I have done dozens and dozens of dozens of interviews this year as we’ve been growing our team, and I always turn it back over to them at some point and go, what questions do you have for me? My questions are done. Now. What do you have for me? And the best candidates always ask very similar questions and they’ll ask something around culture. 01:03:11:17 – 01:03:14:01 AJ VADEN They’ll ask something around values, 01:03:14:02 – 01:03:44:23 AJ VADEN belief systems. Because what they’re really trying to discover is, are you who I think you are, right? Like, what is it in this company that I would attach myself to? Right. I think it’s a good reminder to leaders of companies like you work 60% of your waking hours. So I’m not talking about sleepy time, but all of the hours you’re awake, 60% of those hours in a 40 hour workweek are at work. 01:03:44:25 – 01:03:59:07 AJ VADEN You better be aligning yourself with a company that makes you feel appreciated, valued, that you feel fulfilled, that you enjoy, that you like. Why would you join a company with a whole bunch of people that you don’t align with? You don’t believe what they believe and you don’t even like them. 01:03:59:12 – 01:04:07:12 AJ VADEN So I think a huge part of using your personal brand for talent acquisition is helping broadcast at a larger scale. 01:04:07:16 – 01:04:27:03 AJ VADEN Who you are, what you believe, what you stand for. Because at the end of the day, anyone you hire, that’s what they’re coming on for. It’s like, no, like we believe the same thing. I can get behind this, not just, hey, I’m going. Nobody goes and just works for a URL or a logo. Like, that’s not what’s happening. 01:04:27:03 – 01:04:29:18 AJ VADEN They’re going, I could work with that person. 01:04:29:23 – 01:04:47:06 Rory Vaden So true or false? When the leadership of a company has a recognizable personal brand, they are able to attract talent for less money or be able to get people they would maybe not otherwise be able to attract or afford. 01:04:47:07 – 01:05:19:27 AJ VADEN I don’t necessarily say less money. I think money becomes less relevant. I think it’s it’s not that you if you have a stronger personal brand, you can hire people for less because they just want to work with you. That’s not it. You need to attract top, top talent by paying them what they’re worth. But what I do think begins to happen is like the money becomes a checkbox, and now it becomes like, no, like money is no longer as important to me because all these, all these other buckets start getting filled up. 01:05:19:29 – 01:05:41:04 AJ VADEN Like, I love my work, I love my team. I think I’m contributing. There’s real purpose, there’s real value, there’s real impact to what I’m doing. Because at the end of the day, it’s like money. You can make money anywhere. Like you can make more money or less money doing the same job based on where you go. I think the difference is people start to realize it’s like it’s not all about money. 01:05:41:10 – 01:05:51:07 AJ VADEN As we all start to realize when we age a little bit, it’s like, no, it’s like I want to do awesome work with awesome people making a real difference where I feel valued and I have real contribution. 01:05:51:09 – 01:06:04:00 Rory Vaden Yeah. I don’t think it’s like an offset justification to go, well, I’m going to pay you less because we’re awesome. But it is it is one of those things where they go, they might take slightly less because you’re awesome, and. 01:06:04:04 – 01:06:08:14 AJ VADEN Because they know that I could take more money somewhere else and be miserable, right? 01:06:08:14 – 01:06:11:09 AJ VADEN So would I take a little bit less here and be really happy? 01:06:11:10 – 01:06:38:10 Rory Vaden Yeah, I think people are, especially post-Covid, you know, are much more present to the idea that money is not the top consideration. It’s like I want to have I want to be a part of a team with some purpose. So how do you do that with your personal brand? How do you and I’m talking like tactically, pragmatically, how do you communicate your values, communicate your mission, share these belief systems you’re talking about. 01:06:38:10 – 01:06:44:08 Rory Vaden Where do you do that? When do you do it. How often do you do it? Like what does that expression actually look like? 01:06:44:08 – 01:07:05:08 AJ VADEN So I would share the exact same thing to someone who is trying to do this for customer acquisition. And at Brand Builders we talk about this a lot in our community. It’s you have to go where your avatar is, right? If because I just I firmly believe you don’t have to be online everywhere. You only have to be where your customer is, where your avatar is, right, your ideal customer. 01:07:05:08 – 01:07:32:03 AJ VADEN And if your ideal customer isn’t online, what are you doing? Like, like if you run a family wealth office and like you’re not finding people on Instagram, then you they’re not a huge reason for you to be there. I actually liken that very much to this conversation of if you are using your personal brand for talent retention and or talent acquisition, then you have to go, where does the talent I want gather? 01:07:32:10 – 01:07:56:28 AJ VADEN Where are they at? Are you trying to hire local talent? Well, then you need to become the the local person, right? You need to be in all the things local. If you’re trying to hire internationally or it doesn’t matter. And it could be remote and hybrid. I think there is a conversation point there where where are the people I’m trying to attract for my company most likely to find me or hear about me. 01:07:56:28 – 01:07:58:15 AJ VADEN And that’s where you go. 01:07:58:22 – 01:08:18:14 AJ VADEN So if I’m trying to hire local talent, we live in Nashville, Tennessee. I am looking for Nashville based leaders and team members. Then I’m going to spend more time in the Nashville based market. So there are things that I have done this year that two years ago I would have been like, I don’t have time for that. 01:08:18:15 – 01:08:36:12 AJ VADEN That’s not relevant, but I have a mindset shift, like one of the things where it’s like, I got reached out to by the Nashville Business Journal about, hey, you’ve been nominated by someone in the community and previously, like We like we have been nominated Brain Builders group. I would have like deleted that. And I’ve gone like, that’s not important. 01:08:36:12 – 01:08:58:28 AJ VADEN I’m too busy for that. But because I’m in a very talent acquisition mindset right now, I’m like, yes, I will take the time to fill out this very lengthy survey. I will take the time to, you know, do all the things that you did. Because if you’re going to nominate me and I could qualify for one of the top 20 fastest growing companies in Nashville, then yes, that matters. 01:08:58:28 – 01:09:00:28 AJ VADEN I will say yes to any panel. 01:09:00:28 – 01:09:21:07 AJ VADEN I will do podcasts, anything around culture, leadership, teamwork. It’s a automatic yes. Not because I have time for it, not because I just love doing it. Because there is a purpose and intention of anyone listening to those shows would be someone who would be eligible to know what we do, apply for what we do, or tell someone else about what we do. 01:09:21:09 – 01:09:31:06 Rory Vaden Just a little shout out to BBG as a team. So what we did get an award. What number? What number were we. Oh top 20. 01:09:31:07 – 01:09:32:09 AJ VADEN Top 20. 01:09:32:11 – 01:09:35:00 Rory Vaden It was. What was it? It was the top 20. 01:09:35:03 – 01:09:36:11 AJ VADEN Growing companies in Nashville. 01:09:36:12 – 01:09:45:23 Rory Vaden In Nashville. That’s pretty awesome. And that is a thing right? You go. If you want to attract people who are innovative and want to be a part of something exciting, this building, it’s like. 01:09:45:24 – 01:09:46:15 AJ VADEN Pay attention. 01:09:46:15 – 01:09:46:24 Rory Vaden And 01:09:46:24 – 01:09:53:21 Rory Vaden what are they going to look at? Like, where are they going to look? They’re going to look at what are the fastest growing companies in Nashville. 01:09:53:21 – 01:10:03:02 AJ VADEN That’s it’s the same thing. It’s why in the past, you know, we applied to be on the Inc. 5000. We won the Inc. 5003 years in a row. 01:10:03:07 – 01:10:22:26 AJ VADEN Anywhere where I’m going. Is there a talent acquisition opportunity? The answer is yes. So that I can talk about our mission, our culture, our values, how we onboard, how we hire, how we attract, the mission behind what we do. Anything where I can tell our company story, it’s a yes, because that’s my job as CEO. 01:10:22:26 – 01:10:27:28 Rory Vaden So when you talk about talent acquisition, I think there’s a couple buckets here. 01:10:27:29 – 01:10:33:00 AJ VADEN There is I want to I want to just make one adjustment. I’ve really been saying talent attraction. 01:10:33:02 – 01:10:34:15 Rory Vaden Well, that’s what I wanted to ask you about. 01:10:34:16 – 01:10:35:28 AJ VADEN It’s really talent attraction. 01:10:35:29 – 01:10:51:02 Rory Vaden So what’s the difference between recruitment and attraction? And by the way, because this episode to me applies very much to, you know, solopreneurs, professional service providers. I think about real estate teams who are recruiting people. I think about direct sales organizations. 01:10:51:04 – 01:10:51:11 Rory Vaden Like. 01:10:51:16 – 01:10:55:00 Rory Vaden Who hires and then obviously small businesses for sure, 01:10:55:07 – 01:11:02:08 Rory Vaden but what you’re talking about to me is talent attraction. So what’s the distinction between recruiting and attraction? 01:11:02:10 – 01:11:03:07 AJ VADEN Yes, I love that. So 01:11:03:08 – 01:11:07:08 AJ VADEN attracting is it’s the difference between being a magnet and a megaphone 01:11:07:10 – 01:11:18:05 AJ VADEN okay. Right. A megaphone is telling everyone we’re hiring, we’re hiring, we’re hiring. Which you know, got to do that too. But talent attraction is more like being a magnet. 01:11:18:05 – 01:11:25:01 AJ VADEN It’s putting out there who you are in a sense, where somebody else would go. 01:11:25:03 – 01:11:26:13 AJ VADEN I said, what I’ve been looking for, 01:11:26:20 – 01:11:26:28 AJ VADEN like. 01:11:26:29 – 01:11:51:15 AJ VADEN I can’t believe, I can’t believe I just heard that. I can’t believe I just met you. Like this is what I’ve been looking for. That’s the difference to me. It’s a difference of putting out job posts of here’s a role we’re hiring for versus talking about who you are, what you believe, what you stand for, your mission, your purpose, your values, your culture, and having somebody else be magnetized, right? 01:11:51:17 – 01:11:56:19 AJ VADEN Sucked in of going. That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what I’ve been looking for. 01:11:56:21 – 01:12:01:12 AJ VADEN But when we get to the attraction part right, that’s just getting candidates in the door. 01:12:01:13 – 01:12:01:29 Rory Vaden Well. 01:12:02:01 – 01:12:02:27 AJ VADEN It’s like a lead magnet. 01:12:02:27 – 01:12:20:20 Rory Vaden It’s like a lead magnet. Tell me about your job. You have a strong philosophy about job descriptions and job postings because, you know, most of them are like boring. Boring. And you really believe. I mean, you created a whole clod project and skill for this internally that we all have to use. Now that’s like, what do you talk about? 01:12:20:20 – 01:12:28:16 Rory Vaden Just that as a tactical expression of like because I think that represents this difference between like, oh, I’m recruiting and I’m putting something. 01:12:28:16 – 01:12:29:09 AJ VADEN On the difference. 01:12:29:13 – 01:12:29:25 Rory Vaden Tracking. 01:12:29:25 – 01:12:52:26 AJ VADEN My person and recruiting. There are two very different things. Anyone can put a job post out there and hire someone, but I think that’s a reflection of who you attract. Recruiting is a sales job. It’s and let’s not forget like if you’re a leader, you’re in sales. Your job is to recruit amazing people and then keep them there. 01:12:52:26 – 01:12:58:15 AJ VADEN That is the same thing as client acquisition and client retention. A leader’s job is. 01:12:58:16 – 01:12:59:02 AJ VADEN People. 01:12:59:02 – 01:13:00:29 AJ VADEN Acquisition and people retention. 01:13:00:29 – 01:13:02:11 AJ VADEN Is the same job. 01:13:02:18 – 01:13:21:26 AJ VADEN And I think people forget now it’s a sales job and recruiting has to cast a vision. And you can do that in a job description. You can do that in a job post. But what most people do is they go, here’s a paragraph about the company, here’s a sentence about the role, and then here’s all the things the role is going to do. 01:13:21:26 – 01:13:48:03 AJ VADEN I think that’s very important because people need to opt in based on experience, based on qualifications and skills. Those are important. What I just firmly believe is that you’re missing the recruiting part, the attraction part, if you don’t actually put the vision in there. So what we adjusted is that all of our job postings, all of our job descriptions have a one page sales letter, a recruitment letter first. 01:13:48:06 – 01:14:11:28 AJ VADEN Then comes a little about the company, a little about the role and the job description. But that first page is more of a cultural values aligned standpoint of this is who. This is how you know that you are a great person for this company and this role. It’s a selling of this is where we’ve been, this is where we’re at. 01:14:12:00 – 01:14:32:16 AJ VADEN This is why I’m hiring and this is where we’re going. Do you want to come with us? And so these recruitment letters are vision statements. It’s a quick recap of 2 or 3 sentences about where we started to how we got to today. Why are we hiring this role and how you know if this is for you. So it’s more adjective related. 01:14:32:16 – 01:14:40:01 AJ VADEN It’s more vision related, it’s more purpose aligned. And then you end it with, and this is the ride we’re about. 01:14:40:01 – 01:14:41:03 AJ VADEN To go on. 01:14:41:06 – 01:14:44:09 AJ VADEN You want to. Come and it literally says. 01:14:44:11 – 01:14:45:25 AJ VADEN Want to come. 01:14:45:27 – 01:14:48:20 AJ VADEN If so, keep reading. And then it gets to. 01:14:48:20 – 01:15:09:13 Rory Vaden That I every time I hear you talk about this I’m reminded of this. So this is this is the this is from Ernest, Sir Ernest Shackleton. Right. So this is the famous job posting that that he did. This is like he was doing the endurance expedition. This is like from 1914 to 1917 to he was like an Antarctic explorer. 01:15:09:13 – 01:15:29:27 Rory Vaden And here was his job posting. It said men wanted for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return, doubtful honor and recognition in case of success. That’s so great. 01:15:29:28 – 01:15:31:04 Rory Vaden It’s a unique profile. 01:15:31:06 – 01:15:31:25 Rory Vaden It’s a unique. 01:15:31:25 – 01:15:33:01 AJ VADEN How many people did it? 01:15:33:02 – 01:15:36:21 Rory Vaden Yeah, well, I mean, whatever. He filled the voyage. He did, and it was true. But it’s like. 01:15:36:22 – 01:15:37:21 AJ VADEN But could you imagine. 01:15:37:21 – 01:15:38:03 AJ VADEN Reading that. 01:15:38:03 – 01:15:39:09 AJ VADEN And being like, yes. 01:15:39:11 – 01:15:39:26 Rory Vaden Yes. 01:15:39:27 – 01:15:58:11 AJ VADEN But for the right person. And that’s how, you know, for the right person. But if he had had on their need sailing experience and he’d do it, it’s like, how many nonsense resumes are candidate interviews would he have had to go through because you just didn’t get to the point? Yeah, like, this is what I’m looking for. 01:15:58:12 – 01:16:18:28 Rory Vaden You can throw the gantlet down and this is what, you know, a lot of times, you know, when my backstory we talk about when I went door to door in college, but really the records that I broke were recruiting records. I was really a recruiter, and I used to always argue with sales managers and other recruiters. I’m like, you guys are, you know, pandering around how hard the job is. 01:16:18:28 – 01:16:31:15 Rory Vaden I tell people this is the hardest possible summer job they could ever choose, but it’s also why they could make more money than ever before. Throw the gantlet down. Throw the challenge down like it’s exactly what. 01:16:31:15 – 01:16:33:13 AJ VADEN You’re saying. Rise to the occasion or opt. 01:16:33:13 – 01:16:49:24 Rory Vaden Out and that you want. It’s like you’re putting a signal out that repels the 95%. But man, the 5% go. Those are my people, right? It’s like, you know, honor and recognition and cases of success. 01:16:49:26 – 01:17:14:07 AJ VADEN But I do think like that is the difference between hiring and recruiting. That’s the difference between a attraction method versus a hiring method. And they’re very different. And I think that we forget as leaders, as entrepreneurs, it’s like, no, you have to put out there your personal brand. So all of these recruitment letters are from the desk of AJ VADEN Vaden. 01:17:14:07 – 01:17:37:29 AJ VADEN I write all of them because this isn’t just who they’re going to report to. It’s like, no, they need to know from the top, this is it. This is who we are at. Then down below it says you’ll report to it has all of that later on. But it’s like these come from the desk of the CEO. And it’s like, I want to be very clear that you heard it from me and my little words on the paper, this is what this was, this is what’s going down. 01:17:38:02 – 01:17:59:23 AJ VADEN And I’ve had so many people who have applied for these roles that probably would have never applied because they referenced the front page. They’re like, but when I read that, that was intriguing. That was inspiring to me. And others probably read it and scrolled past. That’s what it needs to be. What I don’t is what what I don’t want is a whole bunch of. 01:17:59:23 – 01:18:00:17 Rory Vaden Lukewarm. 01:18:00:17 – 01:18:05:02 AJ VADEN Lukewarm applicants because they’re like, oh, I have those skills. 01:18:05:05 – 01:18:23:16 AJ VADEN I can find the skills, I can build the skills, right? I need someone who embodies the values and the culture that can carry us forward. And I think that’s just a difference. Are you hiring for skill now? To me, skills is the prerequisite. That’s like, of course you have to have the skills. 01:18:23:16 – 01:18:30:22 AJ VADEN But there is a different level of cultural alignment where someone raises their hand and that that I want that. 01:18:30:22 – 01:18:52:08 Rory Vaden So you said something. This is one of our philosophies that recruiting is a sales job. I think a lot of small business owners just don’t believe they can get top talent, because they can’t afford to pay what the big companies can pay. Right? And it’s like you get the company card and you get all these amazing benefits and you get this top salary. 01:18:52:08 – 01:19:03:06 Rory Vaden Do you think that small businesses can, can compete for top of talent and and if so, why? And then also also how. 01:19:03:09 – 01:19:27:00 AJ VADEN Yeah. So when I made the comment earlier I think there is top talent on the market like never before. And there’s an opportunity for someone to go snatch it up. This is kind of what I’m talking about. And I really do think this started in 2020, but I think we’re catching an even bigger wave right now with AI and with the amount of larger companies releasing much of their workforce. 01:19:27:00 – 01:19:37:21 AJ VADEN Because I think for the most part, people are going, no, I want a different type of role moving forward, a different type of opportunity that I want to be able to make the money. 01:19:37:21 – 01:19:56:03 AJ VADEN But it doesn’t always have to come in salary. So I think that’s where small businesses get caught up in. Well, I can’t compete with that because when you look at just salaries, that’s probably true. Like we do not have the same budget that Starbucks does. Like I do not have the same budget Gary Vee does. We do not have the same budget. 01:19:56:06 – 01:20:21:00 AJ VADEN So I cannot compete on salary alone. So what do I have to do? I have to be creative and competitive with bonus structure. I have to be creative with education opportunities, advancement opportunities we have. One of our things is we’re going like there’s a balance thing that we can compete on. We have unlimited time off. I feel very good that our team does not abuse that, but I think it’s better than going. 01:20:21:00 – 01:20:42:23 AJ VADEN You only have two weeks. We’re looking at family dynamics and how can we compete on maternity leave, paternity leave? How can we, you know, compete on grievance grievance care? I’m looking at all the different things that we can compete on. And one of those when it comes to financially, it’s it’s bonus structure where it’s like we win together. 01:20:42:23 – 01:21:11:13 AJ VADEN So that’s where I think small businesses can get really creative of. I can’t compete on salary, but if you do what I think you can do and you prove an hour, why on your roll, we’ll share in it together. Because when there’s more money than there’s a pot to to pool from, and that’s something that we changed pretty dramatically a couple of years ago is creating a very highly competitive, incentivizing bonus structure, because we can afford that when there’s more money. 01:21:11:15 – 01:21:37:25 AJ VADEN But I can’t just, you know, I don’t have a monopoly tree in the backyard where I can just, like, make up salaries, that this is not how business works, but it’s looking at time off. It’s looking at other creative ways of doing company trips. It’s cultural alignment, it’s social activities, its involvement, it’s engagement. And that’s where as the when you think about talent acquisition, you really have to ask yourself, what is the culture that I’m trying to advance? 01:21:37:27 – 01:21:41:09 AJ VADEN that’s where I think it can be really good to be polarizing. 01:21:41:10 – 01:21:53:12 Rory Vaden Yeah. And I think you got this. There’s a culture piece here. There’s also just the vision of the company and what we’re doing and why it matters and why it’s good in the world versus like, oh, you’re going to work for be a cog in some big corporate machine. 01:21:53:14 – 01:21:58:22 AJ VADEN And that’s the shift that I feel like is happening where we can attract some great talent that wasn’t available. 01:21:58:23 – 01:22:26:23 Rory Vaden Also, I’m actually comfortable with you sharing the, at least conceptually, how we do the bonus plan, because I think a lot of people, you know, it’s like the David and Goliath thing, like you assume you’re at a disadvantage because you’re small, but it’s like, actually you have many advantages. And can you just explain to whatever extent you feel comfortable the concept of how our bonus plan works and, and what does that mean to literally win together and like some of the mechanics. 01:22:26:23 – 01:22:30:04 Rory Vaden So if someone’s never done that before with their small business. 01:22:30:05 – 01:22:57:02 AJ VADEN So there’s it’s not just in our bonus plan, but like in general we have a philosophy, a brand builders group. And these are just founder philosophies that we hope, you know, continue forever. But it’s a win together, lose together philosophy. And these apply to every role in the company. So like when we have big incentive trips, it does not matter if you are data entry or an assistant or you are the top producing salesperson or anyone in between. 01:22:57:02 – 01:23:01:01 AJ VADEN Everyone goes because every role matters. 01:23:01:01 – 01:23:03:08 Rory Vaden Meaning every person in our company. 01:23:03:10 – 01:23:22:17 AJ VADEN Role, it does not matter. Everyone wins when we win together and if we don’t win, no one goes. So it really creates a leveling of every role has power, every role has significance. So treat it as so. So the bonus plan applies to that as well. So we pay our bonus plan off of contribution margin. 01:23:22:18 – 01:23:23:21 Rory Vaden Oh gosh. What is that. 01:23:23:22 – 01:23:28:23 AJ VADEN Contribution margin is gross margin minus direct labor. 01:23:28:24 – 01:23:30:04 Rory Vaden Gross margin. 01:23:30:05 – 01:23:33:21 AJ VADEN Quick quick executive pop quizzes. 01:23:33:21 – 01:23:39:27 AJ VADEN So gross margin is revenue minus cost of goods sold. 01:23:39:27 – 01:23:41:00 AJ VADEN And a. 01:23:41:01 – 01:23:44:07 AJ VADEN Service business like ours that’s primarily commissions. 01:23:44:08 – 01:24:02:25 Rory Vaden Yeah. So basically you could think of gross margin as like how much actual money do you comes in the door from. Selling it. Right. Like it’s like minus the direct cost of like if we sell more, there’s just this much cost automatically going out the door. So it’s almost like real revenue. Yeah. 01:24:02:25 – 01:24:09:25 AJ VADEN So it’s just revenue minus cogs cost of goods for us and most businesses, that is commissions. 01:24:10:00 – 01:24:12:00 Rory Vaden Delivery commissions and sales commissions. 01:24:12:01 – 01:24:40:09 AJ VADEN So that gives you your contribution. Component one. The second component is direct labor. So what is direct labor. It’s any person. So these are salaries. It’s any person could be hourly contractor full time. It doesn’t matter. But any person who spends more than 51% of their time in revenue generating activities. So there is admin labor which is operational or management labor that’s not included. 01:24:40:10 – 01:24:41:16 Rory Vaden So executives. 01:24:41:17 – 01:24:50:00 AJ VADEN Right. So you take the gross margin and you subtract out your direct labor because both of those contribute to the cost of selling. 01:24:50:01 – 01:25:01:00 Rory Vaden Yeah. So it’s basically like it’s basically like going okay, you take out the actual cost of goods and then you take out the salaries of the people who are also part of cost of goods. And that’s, that’s the real. 01:25:01:00 – 01:25:01:11 Rory Vaden Number. 01:25:01:16 – 01:25:03:12 Rory Vaden Contribution contribution margin. 01:25:03:13 – 01:25:30:11 AJ VADEN So it’s like what is left after all the money spent to acquire the money that you have. Yeah, that is contribution margin. So we have a baseline of a number. Just a flat number set of we have to hit this number and contribution and margin. But once we hit that, every single person in the company is eligible for 10% of their base salary in bonus. 01:25:30:13 – 01:25:31:13 AJ VADEN But then. 01:25:31:19 – 01:25:39:25 Rory Vaden Once we go above that minimum threshold, everybody automatically gets a like a 10% pay increase. But it’s just a bonus. But they get it right up front. 01:25:40:01 – 01:26:03:22 AJ VADEN Of whatever is your base salary. You get 10% of that. But where it gets exciting and this is where you can just really get creative and you can really build a plan that competes with bigger companies that you couldn’t otherwise. For every additional $100,000 over our baseline, every single employee. So it can get expensive, but it’s not expensive if you’re generating more revenue. 01:26:03:22 – 01:26:15:03 AJ VADEN So this is but you got to have somebody who’s thinking creatively of like, do I have a shared mentality? Right. And it’s the concept of, would you rather have a whole bunch of a tiny. 01:26:15:05 – 01:26:17:18 Rory Vaden Pipe, like a big piece of a small pie or. 01:26:17:24 – 01:26:19:12 AJ VADEN Yeah. So I think it. 01:26:19:14 – 01:26:19:27 Rory Vaden Is a. 01:26:19:27 – 01:26:29:03 AJ VADEN Bigger it’s a, it’s a conversation in that. And that’s just a decision we’re making to attract and retain top talent. But then for every 100,000 over that baseline. 01:26:29:04 – 01:26:30:04 Rory Vaden In contribution margin. 01:26:30:05 – 01:27:00:13 AJ VADEN And contribution margin, everyone earns an additional 1% of their salary all the way up to 40%. So you can earn up to 40% of your salary in bonus every single year. But the the power in that is like everyone plays a role. And when when we win, everyone wins. But if we don’t hit it a nobody winning. And so this what it should do is create a culture of personal accountability of. 01:27:00:16 – 01:27:14:24 AJ VADEN And this is a these are back to. It’s like once you have your point of orientation of what type of company do I want, then you build everything to support that. We are terrible micro managers. I don’t want a team that has to be micromanaged. 01:27:14:26 – 01:27:16:17 Rory Vaden Autonomy is one of our core values. 01:27:16:18 – 01:27:41:25 AJ VADEN Initiative, autonomy, personal growth. Those are all core values because we know that’s that’s what’s required for the company to grow beyond us. So we are building every other component of our compensation plan, talent acquisition and retention plan to support those core values. And we can all do it together. But also it’s like we’re not going to go earn the bonus ourselves and then hand it out. 01:27:41:26 – 01:28:01:19 AJ VADEN No, we collectively have to do that because we can’t hit those numbers just the two of us. But it’s the same thing with when we do a big company trip. Everyone goes, and I think some of those things really do help. No matter what your role is, there’s power and feeling acknowledged and a part of the bigger picture. 01:28:01:22 – 01:28:13:18 AJ VADEN And then also it’s like then you can start competing with some of the big boys in your industry that you’re not there yet because you’ve gotten creative on the on what I would say is the outliers of the core role. 01:28:13:19 – 01:28:34:03 Rory Vaden Yeah. This reminds me there’s a concept in Robert Kiyosaki book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, where he’s talking about the difference between like, wealthy people and everyone else and basically like scarcity and abundance. And he says, you know, poor people say, I can’t afford that. Wealthy people say, how could I afford that? And this is that same concept applied to to recruiting and talent acquisition to go. 01:28:34:04 – 01:28:58:03 Rory Vaden It’s one thing to go, I can’t pay those salaries. And there’s a functional truth to that. But then you go, how could I do it? Because what we’re doing is we’re paying up to 40% more than their salary as a bonus, but we only pay it if it’s there. And that’s a really righteous way to do it. And a lot of people again, the, the, the, the winner going on the Shackleton journey says, sign me up like I’ll be paid for my results. 01:28:58:03 – 01:29:07:03 AJ VADEN But that’s also a great filter if you can just be upfront with these things, because the person who just wants it are going to opt out there, like, I don’t know, that feels. 01:29:07:03 – 01:29:07:29 Rory Vaden Like I don’t want to be paid. 01:29:07:29 – 01:29:26:20 AJ VADEN Yeah, that feels different. That feels risky. Where it’s like the more risk, the more reward. So I think there’s all those things where it’s like, we want to build a culture of people who want big rewards because they’re willing to take bigger risks. That’s how we grow as a company, but that’s a decided decision. Not every company wants that. 01:29:26:22 – 01:29:53:10 AJ VADEN Not every base of employees want that. But that’s where you say everything else you build around. This has to come from what’s the culture you’re trying to support? And we’re trying to support an entrepreneurialism environment where we have anyone in the company can have untapped income. Anyone can have lead source pay, create leads for the company, have affiliate pay like anyone can sell something, not just a sales team. 01:29:53:16 – 01:29:56:14 AJ VADEN Those are cultural standards that we’re really trying to cultivate. 01:29:56:15 – 01:30:12:02 Rory Vaden All right, so there’s the last question. How do you draw the line between corporate values and personal values in this recruiting and building your personal brand? Do you see a difference between you share both of them. 01:30:12:07 – 01:30:13:05 AJ VADEN Sure do. 01:30:13:08 – 01:30:26:23 Rory Vaden how do you justify going? I’m going to share my personal values out there. And I think that that’s the way to recruit even even though knowing that there may be people who don’t share those, even people who would maybe want to work here don’t have your same personal values. 01:30:26:23 – 01:30:44:19 AJ VADEN I share both because it’s a, it’s a litmus test of can can we still have difference of opinions and still successfully work together. And I think you can. I think that people can share different beliefs and cohabitate and coexist beautifully. 01:30:44:22 – 01:30:53:10 AJ VADEN I think the challenge is when there’s underlying differences that no one talks about. I think all of that’s eradicated when we just all know where we stand. 01:30:53:13 – 01:30:57:03 AJ VADEN In fact, because I did an interview yesterday, 01:30:57:06 – 01:31:05:02 AJ VADEN I shared the exact same three things on every single interview. Anyone in our company, anyone who’s ever interviewed with our company has heard these three things. 01:31:05:05 – 01:31:10:01 AJ VADEN And it’s like there are three things that you need to know about us before you continue in this interview. 01:31:10:05 – 01:31:27:20 AJ VADEN first, as we run this more like a family owned business, it’s not anywhere in our core values. You’re not going to see it in our brand mantra, but these are three personal things that you need to know about us that are just true. And for some people, that’s going to feel good. Some are like, no way. I do not want you to know anything about my personal life. 01:31:27:20 – 01:31:47:07 AJ VADEN And if that’s you, you should probably just go ahead and tell me now and we can call this. We’ll call it a wrap. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that we are not a faith based company, but we are faith based entrepreneurs. So you do not have to share our faith. But you need to be okay with me sharing mine and you all you were. 01:31:47:07 – 01:32:09:01 AJ VADEN You will hear Jesus. You will hear Scripture. You will hear me talk a lot about God. Those are my beliefs. You don’t have to have them. But you do have to be okay hearing about them. And in our own company, we have people who are very declared agnostic. We have people who are practicing Islam. We have people in our community who practice Judaism. 01:32:09:01 – 01:32:24:10 Rory Vaden We had one of our employees tell us recently that we we are some of the best Muslims they’ve ever met because of we actually, even though we have different religions, but caring for people and loving on people is a shared philosophy. Even though we have different religious backgrounds. 01:32:24:11 – 01:32:36:05 AJ VADEN And it’s like I just I know it works because I see it work every day. It’s like we have people who absolutely do not believe what we believe, and we love them and they love us, and it works. So I’m very. 01:32:36:06 – 01:32:36:26 Rory Vaden It can be done. 01:32:36:27 – 01:32:40:26 AJ VADEN It can be done regardless of what you would hear otherwise. Like you can be done. 01:32:40:29 – 01:32:57:16 AJ VADEN But I think but this is an alignment of like my personal value. Sit on top of this, because at the end of the day, you’re not working for a company, you’re working for people. And I don’t want any surprises. Like, I know one needs culture shock. This is not a bait and switch environment. When I hire you, it’s a big investment for me and you. 01:32:57:17 – 01:32:58:17 Rory Vaden You need to know what you’re getting. 01:32:58:20 – 01:33:17:09 AJ VADEN You need to know what you’re getting into. And I believe the same in sales because recruiting as a sales job. But the last one is that Roy and I have an extremely high tolerance for change and for the right person. That sounds exciting and like opportunity and like innovation and growth for the wrong person. That sounds exhausting. Like we don’t know what we’re doing. 01:33:17:15 – 01:33:35:28 AJ VADEN Like there’s no stability and there’s insecurity. And that’s just not a good fit for you either. All of those things can be great somewhere else. But if any of those things, those three things are unsettling to you, you should not continue. But if they all align, let’s go. Let’s continue the conversation. 01:33:36:00 – 01:33:52:27 Rory Vaden I love it, I love it. Well, personal brand, you know, we say it is the formalization, digitization, monetization of your reputation. It’s really a word reputation. When you look at recruiting, recruiting is connected to reputation. Do people trust you? Do they want to work with you? They want to have relationship with you. And that’s one of the reasons why this matters. 01:33:52:27 – 01:34:25:23 Rory Vaden So if you know someone who is building a mission that really matters and they deserve to have A+ talent on their team, will you just send this episode to them and be like, hey, I think this can help you attract the people that you deserve to have because your mission is worth it, because we hope it inspires them and shows them some tactical ways where they can compete with, you know, the the big companies and the big guys because there’s something extremely exciting, beautiful and attractive about small companies and small teams doing big things in the world. 01:34:25:23 – 01:34:42:06 Rory Vaden And so we would love that. We’d also, if you’re enjoying this podcast, please rate it, review it wherever you listen. And if you’ve heard enough to go, you know what? I want to become an insider of the Brand Builders Group community. I want to be a member. I want to interface with other people who are on this journey. 01:34:42:06 – 01:35:00:24 Rory Vaden I want to get more exposure to the tactics that we teach. Go to free Brand Call podcast, Free Brand Call Podcast and request a call and we’ll talk with you. You’ll talk to us one on one. We want to get to meet you a little bit, hear your story, and see if you both could be a good fit for being a part of our team of customers. 01:35:00:24 – 01:35:15:05 Rory Vaden And if we could be a good fit, potentially to help you grow your business and your impact and your mission. So that’s what we’re here for. And also, as always, keep coming back. We’re so grateful for you. Go out and teach what you know to the person you once were. We’ll catch you next time on 01:35:15:05 – 01:35:16:17 Rory Vaden the Wealthy and Well Known podcast.