Build a team of entrepreneurs for your small business

Pawl Cubbin ZOO Group

When we think of entrepreneurs, we think of the lone innovators, creative and daring risk-takers.  Imagine the possibilities if you could cultivate these skill-sets in your business, where you can have a team who can out-think and outpace your competition.

The model I’ve created for my business does just this. Now, I have teams of entrepreneurs in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and they are starting to punch well above their weight in the creative industry.

It all starts with hiring key people who are natural entrepreneurs, and who desire to create meaningful work that they can be proud of.

To fuel the entrepreneurial drive of your team, be sure to encourage these three things:

  1. New ideas

Your business will benefit from employees who are more autonomous by nature, those who are bringing ideas to you rather than you having to ask for them. Be open minded about ideas even if they aren’t viable, as there still may be something of value within that you can work with or expand on.

Be open to new ideas that can change how people work. It can be a little scary to throw out conventional ways of working but business is changing so quickly these days, one size rarely fits all.

  1. Risk taking

You’re not an entrepreneur if you’re not taking risks. Naturally, your entrepreneurial team will want to take risks as well. If one of your team members has a big idea that is a little too “out there,” encourage them to work as hard as they can to pull it off – it’s often not as easy as it looks and this is good for them to understand early on.

  1. Incentives

One way I’ve created a team of entrepreneurs is by giving key people equity in the business. It’s this that underpins our entrepreneurial and collaborative culture, enabling our agencies to punch above their weight with talent and quality of work. It gives the team an additional incentive to think laterally about what will bring in new revenue for the business and themselves.

Creating an entrepreneurial culture in your small business is often frightening, exciting and dangerous, but with the right kind of people, you can achieve and even exceed your goals faster.

Pawl Cubbin, Founder, ZOO Group