- So, how long were you a soloprenuer,

and how did you decide,

like, how did you decide

on that first hire?

What did you look for?

- I would say

for the first hire,

you're gonna suck.

Because it's the first one.

Right? You're gonna hire the wrong person,

you're gonna trust the wrong person,

and then that persons gonna quit.

It's gonna piss you off.

It's all part of the process.

- [Interviewer] Right.

- So, knowing that your first hire is gonna

be your worst hire.

- And then that way you'll know

what to look for. - Yeah, You'll know.

Yeah, but I would say like the core values

of my company nowadays,

we have loyalty,

harmony,

extreme ownership,

high performance,

and continuous improvement.

So, out of the core values,

a sheet that I have.

So, let's say if I sit down

with someone,

who potentially I would hire,

show them these five core values.

That's what Team Dan Lok stands for.

And that already turns away most people.

Because they,

in terms of harmony,

in terms of high performance.

Because most men are not high performance.

I tell them point blank,

you're looking for a nine to five,

this is the wrong place.

- Yeah. - This is not it.

My team isn't a nine to five.

This is Saturday, everybody.

- And even if they do,

they lie about it, they wouldn't last.

- They will not last in a week

in my organization.

Period.

So, I tell them upfront,

if you are not putting in the effort,

everyone on the team will see it.

'Cause none of us are nine to five type people.

We are in sync.

We are messaging each other at 2 a.m. in the morning.

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

- We get shit done.

Like, this is Navy SEAL.

You don't wanna be Navy SEAL,

don't join the Navy SEAL.

Right?

So, I'm very clear upfront about expectation.

So, we have either people join the team,

they'll say either hell yes or hell no.

Right?

What you don't want is kind of people

in the middle.

Like hell yes or hell no.

In the middle is hell.

- Right?

So, hell yeah, I wanna be part of that.

Or hell no,

I don't wanna be part of that.

- That's great,

that's just not for you, right?

- [Interviewer] Generate fight or generate (mumbles)

- So, the first one I would say is

perhaps your

executive assistant.

Because that's the first person

that can free up a lot

of your time.

It will feel a little bit weird

when you

give away

someone to manage your calendar.

- [Interviewer] Yeah, right?

Like how someone tells you what time,

how it should be organized.

It would feel a little bit weird,

When you have someone checking your email,

it will feel a little bit strange.

But, that's the first step.

- [Interviewer} Yeah, 'cause that's the stuff

that really eats away your time.

- Yeah, so when you free up that kind of time,

then you might bring

on a marketing person.

You might bring on a salesperson.

Depends on the business.

How it drives your revenue.

(fingers snapping)

So, you have more revenue,

then you can bring in more people.

Then eventually,

you might bring

on a financial person,

like bookkeeper, accountant

to help you do that.

Then, someone is managing the numbers.

Then, eventually you might bring an operation person

to help you actually run the business.

I have eight executives

on this level

to manage different things.

And then they have more people.

So, that's what I have.

But, one at a time.

One at a time.

But, culture

eats

strategy

for breakfast.

Culture eats strategy

for breakfast.

- Right, right.

- You could get this strategy,

you could have the best strategy,

you don't have the right people,

the right culture,

none of this would work.

- So, you got to be clear

on your culture

and keep hiring people.

- You have the right culture,

anything would work.

Because your team would figure it out how

to make it work.

- Figure out the strategy.

- If one strategy doesn't work,

you pivot,

you do something else.

It doesn't really matter.

But, the team is what makes it really work.

And that's a level that people need to get to.

I was telling Vince the same thing.

Every person that he has,

he outsourced

and he knows.

He can see why he couldn't scale.

Because those guys,

who he outsourced to,

is working with four other guys.

You want your people

to be living and breathing

your business.

So, when you have that kind of momentum

and that kind of team,

you can do anything.

You can literally do anything.

- Awesome, thanks so much, man.