Good employees are hard to find.

I recently lost a very key employee and I got to tell you I'm bitter about it. I took this guy out of university and he had almost no professional work experience whatsoever. And I gave him an opportunity and I taught him and I trained him and I invested in him and finally when his project that I had him working on became successful, he realized that he became more valuable to me and to the company. and he walked into my office and he asked for a 300% salary increase because he realized that if he was taken off of that project that it probably would have fallen apart. That hurt more than I could tell you because I was the one that was there for a year plus training, growing, molding, and coaching him to get him to where he needed to be that he could actually manage that system. I'm not going to take it away from him because he actually was brilliant at what he did. I was so impressed and so enamored at what he had built. And I would tell him a lot, you know, my I don't know if you're familiar with the five love languages. There's gifts, there's acts of kindness, there's time. Mine happens to be speech. You know, some bosses when you do good for them, they'll, I don't know, buy you something or take you out. I don't know. My act of praise is I tell the person, the employee or the person, whoever it is, how great they are and how great they're doing. The problem is with the wrong people, that can actually backfire because they'll use it against you. They'll say, "Wow, if I'm as great as this person says I am, then I must be that valuable and I'm going to go and get a 300% raise." So, I actually gave them the raise, by the way, when they asked for it. It wasn't a 300% raise, but it was almost a two 200% raise because they really did deserve it. They really were doing a great job. And I was happy to do it. I remember when I told them, I said, "No problem. I'll give it to you, but I want0% allin." So, although I was admittedly a little bitter about the raise cuz I felt like I trained you. I'm the one that made you more valuable and now I have to like suffer the consequences. But hey, if that's what it takes to keep you happy, I'll do it. Let's roll. Month goes by, two months go by, 3 months go by, person is, you know, going, okay, I can't say I I saw that gusto that I saw in the beginning, but they were doing their job and I was satisfied. Then a few months ago, this person starts almost like slacking off. I I'm giving them work to do and I notice that it's getting done but half or it's getting done but slow and it's getting done but with a lot of push back. A lot of push back. And again, maybe it's my fault. Maybe I gave them too many compliments that they felt like they almost became like the boss. It it was a crazy thing to witness. So, I run a fairly large organization and I I just don't have time to babysit people. So, I took them aside and I expressed how I was feeling. They said that they understood and they went back to work. Man, it was good for another month. And then it started to fall apart again and I and and I noticed that their attitude was just way out of check. They were one of the first people that I had hired for that division. And as that division started to grow, they felt like maybe they were on top of everybody else and they had this sort of attitude that stuff was beneath them. And I continued to talk to them and try to get them back to the table cuz this is a very important role for the company. And I tried everything. I tried being nice. Um I tried being stern. I tried complimenting. I tried withholding. I tried I I I really tried everything. And I sat down. And I talked to them again and then I talked to them the last time. I said, "Look, if we can't figure this out, we're not going to be able to work together anymore." And I went on another week and then he just gave me this face when I asked him to do something. And the next morning, I found myself not wanting to go upstairs into my own office because I I didn't want to see his face. And I was sitting in the lobby talking to my clients, talking to my partners, talking to different people because I did not want to go upstairs. And I said, "This is absolutely ridiculous. I'm literally avoiding my office to avoid somebody's negativity." So, I took out my phone and I texted him. I said, "Please leave the office. Leave all of your electronics in the office that belong to the office. Go home. Enjoy your weekend." It was a Friday and we could talk on Monday. I wrote They wrote back, "Am I fired?" I wrote back, "That depends on you. If you want to continue working here, I need you to make a one pager. Use chatubt if you want explaining to me how you're going to change your attitude, how you're going to change your work ethic, and why you even want to work here anymore." Within 1 hour, I got a message, and he texted me, "I resign." And two feelings came across me. Feeling number one was relief that I don't have to deal with this person anymore. Feeling number two was a sense of betrayal. And actually feeling number three, I felt bad for them. I felt, wow, how silly is that person? I pay and I pay well. and that person is fresh out of university and I'm that person's first real job and I'm the person's only reference on their resume and they're making such a life decision and I felt bad and I said to the I said to him I'll tell you what why don't you wait until Monday you could think about it let's not make any decisions while you're emotional and let's talk on Monday Morning comes. Hi Barl, thank you for the opportunity. I resign. Why am I telling you this? Two reasons. Reason number one, he didn't quit Monday morning. He quit 3 months ago and I've been paying him ever since. It's called silent quitting. And there are people in your organization right now, I could guarantee it, that have silent quit. And if you allow them to quit before you fire them, then you had them poisoning your office every single day that you didn't rip off that band-aid. And reason number two why I'm telling you this, the second that he resigned, I went to go find a replacement. But this time, I did it smart. I didn't look for a new fresh kid at a college or even an older person that's fresh and doesn't know what I need them to do. I looked for somebody who had exactly the skills and experience that I needed. And that means no training, no handholding, no babysitting, no price gouging. And I am thrilled to tell you that I found who I think is going to take my company and that division specifically with God's help to the next level and really create explosive growth without the explosive drama. I'm in the recruiting business and there's an expression that the shoe makers kids are the last ones to have shoes and I'm busy all day helping people helping companies find the best most qualified talent possible and yet when it came to myself I hired somebody out of college. How does that even make sense? So, I called my team and I said to them, "Treat me like a client. Recruit for me the best person possible for this position. I'm going to pay the full commissions to you guys as I usually do for our clients, and I want the best person possible." So, I don't want to say where this person came from, but let's just say they came from Apple. But don't tell anyone. That's just between you and me. Anyways, I'm excited about it. It's going to be awesome. It's going to rock and roll. If you are a business owner and you have had this situation, it absolutely sucks. But God does everything for a reason. And I'm convinced that that person was taken out of my office to eliminate the toxicity and so that I should get a much better person in itstead. And as a plus side, I actually got to experience my company from a client perspective and it was a beautiful experience. If you have a rotten apple in your organization or if you have somebody that has silent quit in your organization and you don't want to plaster that job all over job boards because you don't want that person to see because chances are they're checking the job boards, by the way, on your dime. Please reach out to me or my office. We would love to help you find your next rockstar. Let's go. Thank you so much for watching, guys. Please do me a favor. Leave a like, leave a comment. It means the world to me. It helps the algorithm go woo. And uh we could all we could all be friends for longer. I love you guys. Have a great day. I'm pulling for you. God bless.