Grant Botma - The Problem Isnt Their Paycheck: How to Attract Top Talent and Build a Thriving Company Culture

In the United States, 87.7 percent of employees are not working up to their full potential.

When you read that statistic, how do you feel?

Do you wonder if its true? Are you curious how that number can be so high? That stat is almost unbelievablebut its completely true. To get to that number, Deloitte surveyed three thousand US workers who worked at least thirty hours per week across fifteen different industries, at all different job levels from frontline sales to middle management to senior positions. This study was extremely comprehensive, so we can trust its accuracy.

Or do you not have to wonder if that number is correct? Do you already know that its true? You can feel it; you know that most employees do not live up to their potential, because you see it every day.

Maybe your first reaction was, Yeah, I know. My team isnt living up to their potential, and as a result, I have to pick up the slack .

Maybe by this point, youre numb. You dont feel anything when you read that statistic because youre too tired to care.

Whatever you feelor dont feelright now, the numbers dont lie. There are a shockingly high number of people going to work every day and not fulfilling their potential.

But who cares, right? How does that affect you?

When you have a team of people who are not living up to their potential, the joy you once had in owning a business dies.

You give your employees a job, you help provide for them and their families by giving them an income, and youre left wondering, Shouldnt they do better? Cant they do more? Youre frustrated that theyre not giving their best. And then, after investing so much time and energy into teaching those employees how to do their jobs, you get to the point where you depend on themand they just leave.

Out of nowhere, seemingly on a whim, your employees can just say, See you later, whenever they want.

That hurts. It erodes your trust in people. After such a terrible experience hiring people who ultimately dont work out, who can blame you for saying, Im never doing that again! You got burned.

And where does that leave you? You become an owner - operator instead of the owner. The entire business and all the daily operations depend on you. You literally cannot take a vacation. You have the money to do so, but if you even try, you cant go anywhere without being tied to your phone the entire trip.

Youre profitable because you have a great business. You have a product or service that people need. You likely dont have a problem getting customers to pay you, but you have no idea how to scale your business. Externally, you appear successful. Youre making money and you have ambitionsyou know you should be doing morebut you cant because you dont have time. Every second is spent maintaining your current customer base and executing on existing businessinstead of looking for ways to level up.

This isnt what you wanted when you started your own businessand this isnt how you want to continue. Maybe youve even thought about selling the business just to get your life back. Youve worked so hardfor what?

Youre tired of the hustle. Your family is tired, too. Your kids miss you, and your spouse wants you back. The business has gone from something you pursued together to a point of contention in all the relationships that matter most to you.

You want to enjoy it again. You want to have your business be the provision that you always dreamed it would be. You want a lot of income, yes, but you want freedom, too. Free timemore time with your familybut also freedom to act on the ideas and creativity and entrepreneurial spirit that you have within you.

You want to get out of the daily operations. You want to stop selling. And you want to do the things you care about. You want to have a trusted team of people who support you and your business so you can grow and impact more people. With this in place, you will be acting on the most valuable ideas you have inside you.

You see that other businesses are doing this. If they can do it, why cant you?

Let me be very clear: you absolutely can do this, and Im going to show you how.

Ill show you not only how to attract amazing people to build the team you want, but Ill also reveal a motivational hierarchy that exists within all of usallowing you to retain these awesome people and get the most out of them. With this new framework for motivating your employees, you can experience the freedom of a business that is truly thriving. You can spend time doing the things that matter most to you .

Your company can go to levels you never thought of before. You can achieve a level of growth you never expected, receive awards and accolades you didnt even know existedall of which points to making more of an impact on your community than you ever imagined when you first started your business.

Instead of being told that youre successful, you can actually feel it . You have an overall sense of amazing gratitude for your team, your life, and everything thats brought you as far as youve come. You have a level of pride that youve never had before. Youre proud of your success, and you are so proud of your team, but more importantly, youre proud of the huge impact youre making on people.

You will feel deeper joy and pride because theres so much substance behind it.

And where does all this substance come from? Something as simple and straightforward as making a mindset shift in the way you motivate your employees. Creating a company culture where each and every person makes a difference. Building a business where peopleincluding you!can flourish.

After making this paradigm shift, theres no way you would ever consider selling your business. Even when you retire, you may not get out of your business completely. Retirement, for you, might mean continuing to scale your team and your growth so that your role transitions into being an ambassador for the business. A person who comes into the office to give high fives and write checks. A leader on fire with the amazing impact being made on other people.

Youll find so much joy and meaning in doing what you were meant to do that its what you want to do forever. You can even create a place that the people you love the mostyour childrencan be a part of. Your business can go from being the burden it currently is to ultimately becoming your legacy.

How do I know all of this to be true? Because Im living it!

Like most people who start their own businesses, nobody taught me how to be a CEO. I had to figure that out all on my own. Youve likely been in the same positiontrying to be the owner, operator, lead salesperson, janitor, even the IT person. Every area of your business is dependent on you, each and every day.

My business was doing well enough; we provided a great service with a really great product and people were coming to us, so we didnt have a problem getting business. But I didnt know how to manage my tiny teamor how to attract more talent. I read conventional management books and tried to implement the techniques they offered. I looked back at what I had learned in college, earning a degree in business. I tried to recall all the traditional pieces of wisdom associated with being the boss.