Building Your Team

Behind every successful person is a team of people who help them reach their goals.  Whether you’re a company with 1,000 employees or a music artist with an entourage of workers, at the end of the day most entrepreneurs don’t run their businesses alone.  If you’re capable of running your business by yourself, by all means, go for it but there is nothing wrong with needing a little help.

For example, Jazmin Truesdale is not only the CEO of Aza Comics but also the head writer.  She creates fantastical worlds through her writing but she can’t draw to save her life.  After holding auditions for many months, she was able to find the perfect illustrator for her company and added him to her team.  Together she and Remero Colston were able to bring the Aza superheroes to life with quality writing and illustrations.

Think about your project/product/business.  Can you do everything by yourself?  If not, try to find talented qualified people that you can trust and form a team.  Make sure that each person understands their role in the company and is held accountable.  Your team can be a group of people that you hire to do work (outsourcing) or people that work within the company (partners, investors, employees).

When establishing your team write down guidelines for how the company will operate.  This is called an operating agreement.  It is a document that is signed by the team that explains the chain of command (president, vice president, etc.), equity (what percentage of profits every person will receive), and the responsibilities of each person on the team and other details.

It’s ok if you don’t have your team right now.  Sometimes you don’t know what you need right away.  As you develop your business/idea/product you’ll have a better understanding of the kind of people you will need on your side to be successful.