Thomas Jelneck Thomas Jelneck

Transformation

What Happened To My Company
When I Shifted My Hiring Practices

I've made tons of mistakes as a business owner. I've worked with the wrong clients. I've let a company bully my team for way longer than I should have. I've not always been the best at planning the future of my organization. I've of course learned from each and every one of those mistakes the hard way, but the biggest mistake I've made was hiring the wrong people. And, unfortunately, I didn't learn from that mistake as quickly as I should have.

More often than not, I've rushed into a hire. I've looked for the skillset that I know we needed to drive our clients farther, and I've done a pretty good job of finding THAT skillset. To be honest, most of the hires have been out of necessity. Perhaps a team member is moving on to another opportunity and I need to quickly react. Sometimes we've on-boarded a new client and now need a team member that possesses a certain skillset QUICKLY. I've been hiring for skillset and necessity. This has proven to be completely, 100% wrong. I've read all of the cheesy quotes, hire for character, not skills, hire for personality, not skills and during one time period at my company, I completely, and foolishly ignored ALL of that.

The Cancer
 

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My company is fairly small. We have, at any given time 12 team members. We do have a vast network of contractors, but our core is 12. Being so small, I pride myself on knowing what's what with each team member. I look at them as family, I take the role of 'provider' to them quite seriously. I care about them. One morning I woke up to find a dreaded Glassdoor post. The post made some pretty heavy accusations. It expressed concern about transparency within the organization. It expressed concern about pay, about some paranoia, about how over-worked they are and how about how the owners, my wife and I, are cheap. It hurt. It hurt a lot and now, this post lives on online, and obviously, doesn't help the perceived reputation of my company. Rather than getting defensive, which honestly, was my first instinct, I realized that I could dig into this and learn once again. Was I being cheap? Maybe. Was I not being transparent enough with my team about financials or anything else? What did I need to revisit and pay more attention to? What I discovered next blew my mind.

After dwelling on this post for a bit, I decided to dig deeper. The thought of someone leaving an 'Anonymous' post really bothered me. I'm an approachable individual. I do tell my team time and time again to come and chat with me if they need anything, so why was this person hiding behind a veil? That's when I dug deeper. I had a cancer within my organization, and this cancer had spread already. I started poking around, and discovered a whole underground tone. A tone of negativity. A tone of US VS. THEM. A tone that disgusted, and troubled me. One example, my wife and I decided to take the team for a nice Christmas meal and I was really excited to give them each a small cash token of our appreciation. We probably invested about $1,400 that day, between the meal, the cash and the bowling that we did as a team afterwards. Granted, this bonus wasn't huge, it wasn't over the top, but to be honest, it was a sacrifice that we made for them. We did it to show some gratitude for them. It obviously wasn't enough. Posts went between these team members about how one's boyfriend get six times the Christmas bonus that she got, and it went on and on. Ouch. After digging even deeper, the messages between them got even darker and one, even went as far as to attack my youngest daughter with some snide comment. I had a problem. I had a spreading cancer. I had a cancer that if not stopped, could spread and contaminate my small business even farther. It had to be stopped.

The Cure

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Some of the gang moved on to pursue other opportunities, and I had to make some difficult decisions about another that just needed to go to stop the spread. After a really challenging two or three months, the cancer was cut out. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't fun. It is partially still going on as another ugly Glassdoor review got posted even 3 months after. Obviously, these past team members had felt wronged. They had felt as if they deserved so much more. They had felt deprived in some way, shape, or form. Despite leaving for other jobs on their own accord, they decided to keep attacking. They keep attacking a company that offered them a chance right out of college, they kept attacking a company that gave them advancement, even after a few months, they kept attacking a company that tried to take care of them with benefits that my wife and I make personal sacrifices to make sure that they are taken care of. The bottom line, I took it personally, and their attacks just proved to me that I did the right thing. They are now, all gone. I obviously needed to do some team member replacement, and I thought long, and hard about what I wanted my team to look like.

Here's what I came up with. I need a team who cares. I need a team who loves other human beings. I need a team of people who don't feel as though they are entitled to getting a raise 3 weeks after they started. I need a team who isn't looking for their next vacation a month after they started. I need a team who loves to work with others and not throw each other under the bus. I need a team who knows how to respect others and understands the flow of things in a business. I need a team of solid human beings. I got them.

The New Team

Just how would I build this new team of loving human beings? Time, patience, and intentionality. I needed to insulate my company and my clients from another outbreak. I did just that, but with a whole new interview process. I took the time to write up what my expectations were of each new, and existing team member. I approached interviews completely differently. I wanted to know about them. What makes them tick. What they feel. How they feel. How they care. What they're passionate about. What they aren't passionate about. How they feel about the world around them. Do they have the ability to care about the world around them? Are they considerate? Do they have a sense of entitlement? Do they LOVE to please our clients? Are they Debbie Downers? You get the idea. I interviewed humans, not producers. I went through a few and then I found them. One, by one. Kind, humble, eager, aware of other human beings and their feelings, understanding, empathetic, caring, loving, polite, and each had an understanding how they fit into the big picture. Oh, and by the way, they had skills, and what skills they didn't have, they were more than willing to learn. I now, have a team that gels. A team that cares. A team that understands their place in the world. I love my team, and I'll never have it any other way ever again. I'm not constantly worrying about what they're saying, I'm not worried about who is going to stab who in the back, I'm not worried about who is going to go rogue, and have a temper tantrum, I'm content, and so are they. And God forbid, one of them should decide to pursue something else, I'll do it again, the exact same way. I'll hire for character, attitude, disposition, compassion, humanity, and then skills.

Walking The Walk

I caused this mess, and as a CEO, all of it was on me. I was foolish to think that hiring for skill alone would fit the bill. I was foolish to think that people would simply conform to an environment and look out for me, and the company that pays their bills. I'm an idealist. I believe in people. I trust people. I trusted some of these people way too much, AND trusted that they were looking out for the greater good of the company, and not always themselves. I don't want to stop believing in people, but I've learned that the people that I hire need to actually believe in other people as well. They have to truly care about the greater good. They have to care about others first, and then be driven to use their skills to enhance our clients needs. I've been scarred, but through the scarring have now built a killer team of amazing humans who happen to have mad skills. Through this experience, I've learned a great deal and have taken steps to improve our company culture, workloads, and more. This whole experience was by far, a tremendous learning experience and for that, I'm grateful.

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We recently started working with a new organization that caters to the residential needs, and vocational placement of mentally challenged adults. I took a few team members to the site to get to know their organization a bit better last week. My team made me so proud during that visit. They were compassionate, empathetic, energized, and exhibited the love of other human beings like I never had previously expected. They were awesome, and I'm so glad, and proud to have them all. Mission Accomplished. THIS is what makes my organization tick today, and again, I couldn't have gotten here without going through a little bit of hell.

So, just a quick bit of advice, if you sense a cancer in your organization, don't hesitate like I did. Move swiftly to cut it out, and rebuild if you have to. Hire for personality, hire for culture, hire for humanity, hire for a well-blended team, THEN hire for skill, and teach whatever deficiencies exist. The payoff, in the long run is tenfold. Thanks so much for reading.

Tom

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Business, marketing Thomas Jelneck Business, marketing Thomas Jelneck

Status Level = EXPERT.

How To Attract Media Coverage Through Digital Marketing.

So many people ask me how I've managed to become a trusted media provider of Tech & Digital Marketing content. The simple answer? I'm an expert. The more complicated answer? It took me years to finally come to the realization that I have to tell my story. I have to be comfortable enough to tell the world that I'm an expert. Once I did that, everything changed.

I'll never forget... Looking down at the caller ID in my office and seeing the Daily Buzz calling me. The Daily Buzz was a Nationwide morning program filmed live here in Orlando. They had done a Google search and found me under a keyphrase like Social Media Expert. After a few appearances on the Daily Buzz, my phone rang under. This time, it was the local Orlando Fox affiliate. They came to my offices and shot a piece on Social Media. Not long after that, I was appearing in their studios, sometimes taping 2-3 segments at a time.

This earned media coverage has been a blessing, one that I NEVER take for granted, one that helps instill confidence in my prospects, one that helps me stay on top of the ever-changing tech and digital marketing space. I've had the great fortune to appear on TV now over 260 times. As a side effect, I've also been on other media outlets and channels, have been covered in the USA Today, have been on a global station, CCTV a few times, it's been amazing.

So, how can you become a trusted expert? Well first and foremost, you have to know your stuff. Read EVERYDAY, absorb your industry, go to the networking events and hang out with smarter people than you. Read industry publications, subscribe to every bit of information that you can in order to constantly improve yourself. Next, the hard part, TELL the world that you're an expert. People want to buy from experts, they want to know that you / or your company is the absolute best. No one wants to work with a novice, ever.

9 Ways To Help Build Your Expert Status Level

  • Start a blog. Keep it up. Share your thoughts, share your wisdom, share your feelings about the state of your industry.
  • Keep your social media on point. Tweet and post about your industry, share your insights with substance, remind people that you are the expert in your space.
  • Build your tribe. I can't stress this enough, surround yourself on social media with influencers who believe in you and your expertise. Feed them, enlighten them, entertain them.
  • Build a media list. Find the right people that you want coverage from on social media. Be a real human being, don't spam them, don't solicit them, but feed them and help to make their jobs easier. Reporters need your help, they need your expertise, make it available to them.
  • Be gracious. If you do get a media hit or inquiry, be nice. I can't state that enough. Try to be as accommodating as you can to help the reporter get the information that they need.
  • Be thankful. After a media hit, remember to thank the media outlet / reporter, etc.. Professional courtesy goes a long way.
  • Market your media hit. Don't forget to post your media hit on social media, boost it on Facebook, upload it to your website / blog, it helps to attract other media outlets and builds credibility for your company / business.
  • Google is your friend. Be certain that you are keeping your blog / social media channel / youtube channel current. The media USES Google to find experts like you.
  • NEVER, EVER sell your products or promote yourself during any media hit. It's perfectly acceptable to say who you are and what you do, but, this is not an opportunity to sell, EVER.

Again, the hardest part of all of this is telling the world that you're an expert. I'm actually a very shy individual and don't thrive on telling people how awesome I am. It's hard, but it HAS to be done. No one will recognize you as an expert if you don't recognize yourself as one first.

Thanks for reading and good luck out there!
Tom

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If I can help your business grow and thrive with expert Digital Marketing / SEO guidance, please call me. In Orlando, 407-830-4550, Nationwide: 866-998-6886.

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Business Thomas Jelneck Business Thomas Jelneck

It’s Not You, It’s Us. Oh Wait, No, It’s You.

Being in business for over 10 years has exposed my company to a wide variety of characters. I’ve meet amazing people. I’ve meet not-so-amazing people. I’ve meet people who would give you the shirt off of their back, I’ve met people who live to rip other people off. I’ve met people who tell the truth, I’ve met people who don’t have an honest bone in their body. Over the years I’ve learned MANY lessons. Lessons of humility, lessons of practicality and PLENTY of lessons about humanity.

I do consider myself a good judge of character but sometimes, I completely miss the call. I’ll see a prospect that I think we should pursue, their story checks out, their budget seems legit, they talk the right talk, they agree and shake their head when I try my darndest to manage expectations, I take on their project and within a month, I regret every second of it and EVERY dollar of it.

We recently took on a digital marketing job that was packaged just right. It looked right, the product looked right, the foundation was in place, but when I met the folks in our conference room, I could tell that something wasn’t quite right. I should have trusted that feeling. 2 months went by, after we went overboard explaining what to expect out of an SEO campaign and then they wanted to meet. No big deal, it will be an opportunity to show them the amazing results that our team has produced. Analytics were all way up over the last 3 months, search results were WAY up way quicker than expected, leads were up by 60% over the previous quarter, things were looking way up.

24 hours after that productive meeting, they fired us. The ex-client exclaimed how SEO just takes way too long. They noted that they received 0 leads, (totally incorrect.) They noted that their search results were not as expected (despite several number one rankings in 2 months). They noted that their son-in-law could do the job and will do it for free from here. This is always frustrating for my team. They truly put their hearts and souls into each client campaign. They all go the extra mile, they all take a loss personally. I feel partially responsible for that. I should have said no to their business from the beginning. I should have realized that they would bail as soon as they actually started to get rankings. This would probably explain why they had been through 4 SEO / Digital Marketing companies in a one year period. Lesson learned.

A wise man once told me, you can’t expect your business to grow if you never say no. In fact, I read an article just this week that illustrated how some of the world’s most successful CEO’s say no 78% of the time. Saying no means saying no to new business that just doesn’t feel right. Saying no means not letting customers work around your boundaries. Saying no means not dropping your pants on pricing just to get the business. Saying no can sometimes SUCK. But, it HAS to be said. It’s not easy. It’s not fun. It’s NEVER popular, but at the end of the day, it’s your organization. It’s your products and services that people need. It’s your business process, employees, your bottom line, your life. I should have listened to that wise man AND my gut with this particular client.

The bottom line, if you ever feel that the person / company you’re about to do business with is not above board, you owe it to yourself, to the integrity of your business, to the sanity of your employees and to the bottom line of your company to walk away. Practice saying no. Practice it often. You can still provide excellent customer service by creating boundaries. Could you lose clients? Sure. Will some clients expect a YES all of the time? Yes. The truth is, great clients will understand that you need boundaries, that you have a process, a system and a method to your operations. Those, my friends, are golden clients.

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