❤️

The cheapest employee can become your most expensive decision.

Company owners love talking about cost.

How much can we save on salaries?

Can we hire someone cheaper?

Can we squeeze another 10% out of the payroll?

It's understandable.

But there's a problem with treating people purely as expenses.

Exceptional people aren't expenses. They're multipliers.

A great salesperson doesn't just sell more.

They can teach the team how to sell.

A great operator doesn't just complete tasks.

They can redesign the system.

A great leader doesn't just manage people.

They create an environment where other people perform better.

That's why I believe three things matter enormously when building a company:

Hire exceptional people.

Don't hire someone because they're cheap.

Hire someone because they're capable of creating disproportionate value.

Give them autonomy.

If you've hired someone exceptional, don't suffocate them with unnecessary approvals.

Give them the objective.

Give them the resources.

Give them the responsibility.

Then get out of their way.

Autonomy isn't the absence of accountability.

It's accountability with trust.

Pay them exceptionally well.

If someone creates $1 million of value for your company, fighting over whether you should pay them $100,000 or $120,000 may be one of the most expensive arguments you ever have.

The best people have options.

They know their value.

And eventually, they'll go somewhere that recognizes it.

You don't build a great company by minimizing the cost of every person.

You build it by maximizing the value created by the right people.

There is a difference.

Of course, paying more doesn't magically create exceptional performance.

You still need high standards.

You still need accountability.

You still need the right culture.

But when you find someone who consistently delivers, solves problems, takes ownership and makes everyone around them better...

don't nickel-and-dime them.

Make it obvious that you want them to stay.

Because saving $20,000 on a great employee can easily cost you $200,000 in lost opportunities.

The real question isn't:

"How cheaply can I run this company?"

It's:

"How much value can I create with the people I have?"

Cost-cutting is easy to measure.

Talent is harder.

But over a long enough period, exceptional people tend to make the economics look very different.

**Don't build the cheapest team.

Build the team you'd be afraid to compete against.**