We’ve all heard the story about some guy who lived in a garage, came up with an idea and became a millionaire! Pure luck, some might say.
People tend to think that successful business owners are lucky, or had magical inspiration one night that made them rich. This is one of the most common myths, and the truth is that not a single successful person is lucky. They have worked from the bottom to the top to create and manage their business.
There is no secret formula for being successful. Yet, we can learn from business owners the lessons they had during their path as entrepreneurs. This way, we may avoid mistakes and also get inspired.
Sharon Koifman, DistantJob’s President and Founder, shares five powerful lessons he learned on his way to becoming one of the top leaders of the remote recruitment industry.
- Believe in The Power of What You Do
- Culture is Connection
- Failure is The Key to Success
- Treat Every Employee Equally
- Trust Your People
Believe in The Power of What You Do
Your success is not only because you created a product/service that made you earn money. It’s not about being able to explain what you do or what service you provide. One of the keys to success is knowing why you believe in the power of what you do.
When you believe in your company, it’s contagious. Many people will believe in it too. Keep in mind that selling a product or service that is not common will never be easy. For Sharon Koifman, when he started a remote recruitment agency, it was a completely new service. Ten years ago, most companies only recruited locally. They stayed with the talent they had in a defined radius. Nowadays, circumstances and technology have helped to change this perspective.
Having and selling an innovative service was a challenge. But it was also what made Sharon successful and the first remote leader to have this unique recruitment model.
His success was due to hard work, learning from mistakes, and the simple fact that he believed in his model.
He asked himself two questions before founding DistantJob:
1) How do I become more successful?
2) How do I deliver the most value in the world?
Culture is Connection
You’ve read many books about company culture, how to create one, what it takes, or even to understand what culture means. There are different opinions on this, but they all lead to the same words, such as ‘company’s goals,’ ‘values,’ ‘objective,’ ‘sense of belonging’ ‘ethics,’ etc.
And even though all of these words make sense, Sharon Koifman understood that culture does not mean having a manual with the values, goals, and objectives of the company. It’s not about going to drink beers after work or organizing social events for everybody to bond. If that was the case, it would be impossible to have a culture in remote teams because no one can meet physically.
Sharon learned through his leadership experience building a remote recruitment empire that culture means connection. It goes beyond establishing your goals and your company’s value. It’s about creating an environment – a virtual environment (in this case) – where everyone feels connected, taken care of, and that their opinions matter. You might be thinking how did he create a virtual company with that kind of culture. His answer is pretty simple: ‘Because I care.’
On this video, Sharon talks about the importance of culture in the workplace and how to create connection when you have a distributed team:
Failure is the Key to Success
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of small businesses fail during their first year. And up to 50% of small businesses fail in their fifth year.
Many years ago Sharon Koifman founded an outsourcing company named Empire Host. He thought it was going to be successful, as most startup owners do when they create their business. Yet, he realized that outsourcing as a model is very challenging, and companies often don’t get the talent they were looking for. He had to sell the company because it was not giving the expected results.
Having this failure was what led him to his next success. He kept in mind the reasons why his previous model had failed, and this was a boost to create new ideas, a new mindset, and at the end, to founded DistantJob. A company that allowed him to provide the best remote tech talent to other organizations.
It’s all about experimenting, not being afraid to fail, and a lot of hard work.
Treat Every Employee Equally
All companies pay employees differently because they have different responsibilities. VPs, CEOs, directors earn much more because they have more tasks, more projects, and are managing teams. But, if you treat managers differently than other employees because they have a higher position, it’s likely that the other employees will feel undervalued and deliver mediocre results.
“You have to treat everybody as if they were earning $300,000 a year. If you treat someone as if they are cheap, you’ll get cheap results.”
For example, if you work with juniors or interns, never treat them as if they are less than the manager that is above them. When you treat everyone equally, not only your retention rate increases but also employees feel valued and work even harder.
Trust Your People
Trusting your team is not only avoiding micromanagement and giving employees plenty of responsibilities. It’s normal to be careful when you recently founded a startup. You might have to micromanage at the beginning. But trust is not only about delegating. It’s also about listening and opening up to your employees.
A company’s success is not the product of the hard work of one person. It’s the combination of the hard work of everyone.
However, trust is only possible when you have the right team with you. Sharon Koifman revealed that his business was successful not only because he had the innovative idea of changing the way people recruit. But because he trusted the people he worked with, people who also shaped the company’s culture and believed in it. As a result, he has employees that have been since the early beginnings of DistantJob.
He knows the gratification of having the right team, and that’s why he offers the same experience to other companies.
Hire the Right Team
To trust and build a great company, you also need the best team beside you. Employees who not only do their work but also believe in your company. Want developers who integrate into your company? Who also believe in what you do?
At DistantJob, our team of experts, know everything about recruiting the right IT talent. Not only hard skills and amazing experience but also developers who integrate into our company’s culture and processes.
Hire the right people by expanding your horizon.
