Welcome to Fight Talk. My name is Christian Young. We are family, but this is business. Hi, my name is Christian Young and this is Fight Talk. Today we're going to talk about teams.
One of the most interesting parts of being an entrepreneur is when you get to grow your team and having appropriate governance and discipline around your team is critically important, particularly if you're employing people from your family. One of the challenges that I personally experience as an entrepreneur is really aligning the discipline and accountability that's necessary in order to employ people. You really need to consider how it is that you manage the situation because consistency and policy are going to be your best friends. I've had a lot of clients who've talked about their family businesses and how, you know, people may take a little bit of advantage of the fact that they're working for cousin so-and-so or uncle so-and-so.
And I think that one of the challenges that I've really seen is once you've kind of let it get out of hand, how do you rein it back in? How do you not just fire your family? How do you make it so that you can show up to a family reunion and not get kicked out because you fired half of your cousins and all of your siblings? Part of that is really sitting down as a part of your overall governance of your business, especially when you're considering bringing on team members and considering how you would like for things to run and how you're going to hold yourself accountable for being consistent, but also hold them accountable for being consistent. And sometimes it may not be something where you can directly manage those individuals.
You may need to bring in an outside party to help you really navigate some of the pitfalls of employing your family, especially as your team. Now, I've been talking about family, but that can also apply to friends. Some of the best teammates that I've ever had have been my friends, but we all have a common understanding of the fact that this is still business and we still have to deliver.
So... When you're thinking about how you're going to fill your team out, making sure first that they have the right skill set and you're not just throwing a job out to throw a job out. But then secondarily, understanding how it is that you want your team to function and what the ground rules are to play the game are critically important, especially as you continue to scale and grow your business. As the scaling of your business is probably one of the most critical times and one of the most important facets.
of being able to create a more sustainable business. So it's just not all on you as an entrepreneur. I have family and I have friends in my company. And fortunately, there's been mutual respect across all areas because, and it's funny because like my chief of staff will tell you that with my family members, I am very cognizant of like, are they performing?
Because if they're not, I'll fire them tomorrow. And I tell them that not every day, because that's probably bad. But I at least let them know, like, hey, we're not playing any games. This is real business and we want to make sure that we succeed. So either you want to, like, take this seriously as though you would take it if you were working for someone who you were not related to.
Or, you know, you may need to, like, be here on more of a volunteer basis so that I'm not diverting revenue to compensate you and you're not delivering on the requirements of your employment. Hello, and today we're here with my friend and also fellow entrepreneur, Lisa. She is the founder and CEO of Miss Peas Gluten Free, and I am excited to talk about working in teams when it's your family.
So welcome, Lisa. Thank you. I appreciate it.
And can you tell us a little bit about your business? Yes, I am the owner and founder of Miss Peas Gluten Free, where we produce delicious, nutritious. healthy gluten-free snack foods with the current concentration on our gluten-free granola okay yes we love our granola because it's not only good to you but good for you no added processed sugar sweetened with organic liquid stevia and honey organic flax organic chia organic coconut oil organic gluten-free oats and organic spices we are coming for your health Okay, I support that. I was like, and a whole lot of organic things in it. So, you know, that's always definitely very appealing.
Can you tell us a little bit around why you decided to go into this space? Yes. Right around the age of 42, things started to bubble over for me.
I had acid reflux. I had digestive issues. I had severe so much.
So my husband was like, you too pretty to smell like that. Oh, wow. Okay. So, you know, got to make a change. So I went in search of what was going on with me.
And, um. Things, instead of getting better, got worse. Because that was around the same time that I lost my mom.
So my symptoms got 10 times worse. Finally, I saw a doctor. They were like, stop eating fruits and vegetables.
Stop eating dairy. Stop this. Stop that. Nothing was working. I went to a training and a classmate was like, yeah, I'm gluten free.
I was like, girl, what is that? I had never heard of it. When she explained her symptoms, I was like.
That's what's happening with me. So I returned home. I threw out everything that had wheat, rye or barley, which is gluten, put myself on a gluten free diet and felt so much better.
OK, yes. Then I went looking for good gluten free stuff. Oh, good luck. Good luck.
And in 2009, everything tasted like cardboard. I said, my mother cooked. for us from the South Side of Chicago.
So I began baking, came up with these fabulous cookie bars and then granola and I would take them to work and the staff were like, girl, we don't know what gluten-free is, but this is good. They was like, it should be in stores. They did not tell me how hard it was. So, okay.
So you started your business. And one of the things that I have always found interesting about your business story is the fact that it's very family centric. Everybody, I think you're related to everybody that's in your business. And I just wanted to talk a little bit about how that works, because I know from my perspective in working in teams, when you are a entrepreneur, a founder.
CEO, however you want to term it, teaming can be an interesting experience. And when I think about teaming with my family, I think immediately for me personally, I think no. But you are a brave soul who has embarked on that journey.
Can you tell us a little bit about it? Yes, absolutely. And you're correct. It can be very challenging.
Because you have to realize that there's always got to be a separation between our business relationship and our personal relationship. And balancing both can be very, very challenging. I work really, really closely with my youngest daughter. She and I, you know, we have essentially built this piece together.
Her input, my input. And there are days when we're like, girl, don't talk to me. I'm going over here.
You stay over there. separate corners separate corners and then my sister is involved and when I run into something that I can't quite think it through I call her she's like how about this and I'm like wow and she does demos for us she's phenomenal we recently went to Malibu we have products of vintage grocers in Malibu California and She was giving her spiel and a friend went with us and she's like, oh she's good. I was like, honey She ain't got nothing on me.
Let me show you So it's always a little competition with your family And then getting my husband involved and my grandkids so I keep the whole look come on over here. Everybody's employed. Yes I support it. Yes. I got more time than money and y'all need to help me out here.
Okay, I'm gonna pay you this and pay you that Except with the grandbabies, they always want to negotiate. That 10-year-old, I'm like, can I get you $2 an hour? She's like, I'm going to need $5. Really?
Really? But it gets to be a whole lot of fun. And you keep those creative juices moving because they're constantly saying, well, have you tried this?
Well, what do you think about that? Well, Grandma, I want to do this. I'm like, oh, well, let me look at it. Let's see. But.
It can be a lot of fun. It can be a little stressful. But in the end, family is always going to be there. And that is what's most important.
One of the things that I talked about earlier is the fact that you still want to be invited to the family reunion, even if you've potentially separated some of your employees. Also have the same t-shirt issue. Yes How do you manage through? Like the cut the not necessarily I don't want to call it conflict because that gives it a negative connotation But how do you manage through those? Tougher moments when you have to like fully put on the I am I am kind of the boss.
Yeah crown Yeah, and I do have to wear that and it does get heavy. I believe my family knows and loves me enough to understand that with the business, it has to be a separate entity. Our relationship is over here. The business is over here.
If you are working in the business and you are not holding up your share, then you can't work in the business. But we still have to be able to be family. So.
That happens. You know, I had my brother doing some things and then he wasn't. I'm like, we just gonna let you sit this one out. OK, so we'll catch you next time. Like, well, I mean, that's brothers.
I have a brother. So, you know. Oh, I got three. Oh, OK. You're beating me for sure.
So I think that like one of the things that I've at least in my teaming environments have have really tried to balance is making sure that people have a great. experience while they are working for with however you want to term it, me. Yes. And how do you strike that balance of making sure that they have a good experience in working for you? Yeah.
And it can be a little challenging. We have students that are working with us now, and I find that relationship to be more challenging because they are young. They are impressionable.
While I want them to have joy in what they're doing with Miss Pease, I also want them to realize that this is a business and we have to make our goals. So setting goals, letting them know what those goals are, setting expectations, making sure they understand those and then holding them accountable as well as holding myself accountable. And let's do this.
I mean, letting them know I'm not perfect. I'm not asking you to be perfect. But I am asking you to bring your A game when you come in here. Let's get this done. And that seems to work out.
Have you noticed that there's a gap between how, like, say, your newer incoming, like, student interns want to work and your more established employees who have kind of been working for a long time behave? Yeah, there is a big gap. And that's what.
I'm finding with the students. And instead of me telling them, I'm asking them. So what is it going to take for us to help you to get to the best level you can get to with Miss Peace?
Tell me what you need. Tell us how to make you the most effective employee we have. Because a lot of them, especially the younger ones now, are very free thinkers.
You know, they show up when they want to show up. And when they don't want to show up, it's like, well, I can't quite make that. And so I try to balance with, OK, if you're not going to make something, you got to give me enough time to find somebody else and not just bring it on me. But just striking that balance like you guys are part of our growth. We're growing.
We're an emerging business and we need your input in order to get to the next level. And they really like that kind of ownership. thing oh they need us hmm I think that that works and how do you balance that whole like making sure that people are well informed about your overall vision while you know they have competing priorities be it from your students who want to try to you know capture lightning in a bottle potentially and then also your family that's like well you know we got to go to work because otherwise mom will be she gonna call us and I don't want to take that kid I really don't want to take that call. Exactly.
I'm really not trying to hear her today. Exactly. I get a lot of that. Striking that balance is very, very delicate. I am mom on one hand.
I am wife on the other hand. And just coming together and letting them know that I'm not doing this for me. This is for your future. I did 27 years in federal law enforcement.
So I got a retirement. I'm trying to make sure you good. Also another reason why you don't want to take that call.
Exactly. Because I'm building, we're building something that is going to sustain you for years to come and just getting them to envision that, to understand that, to buy into. that this is for you because by the time miss peas is world known lisa probably won't be here it'll be all on you guys and if you're here from the beginning you know what needs to be done let's just get it done i tell tell my kids my grandkids my husband look business first everything else is gravy let's do this first so they starting to get it only been eight years it takes time these things take time definitely so now you're in what vintage grocers in in malibu you're in whole foods yes you are in mariano mariano so you're growing we are growing we're in fresh time and we just made our first delivery to living fresh market okay in um park force congratulations yes thank you so now that you're growing How does that impact your teaming model, particularly with family? With family and our teaming model, I just finished a book called Traction.
And so we are looking to implement that process into what we do, which means finding the right people in the right seats to move the business forward. It can be a challenge. But my thing is, is if I put you in this seat or you earn this seat, you have to be able to perform in it. And if you cannot, then you and me will have to look at what the next step is.
And that next step could be finding the right person for that seat and finding the right seat for you. And again, my family knows that I am so passionate about growing Miss Peas. Because I really want to leave a lasting legacy for my grandchildren's children.
I want Miss Pease to be around. I wanted a sustainable company, which means building it correctly and slowly. Painfully slowly sometimes. But they clearly understand that.
So you might have to pay those grandchildren in equity rather than in cash. Yeah. I might have to. They want cash.
They want money right now. But I know what they need. So it'll be like, OK, I'm gonna put this up, but I'm gonna give you a little bit here. 80-20 rule.
I tell them all the time. So what is the toughest part for you as a business owner who's trying to grow, who's also trying to make sure that you have the right seats, right people in the right seats and still be invited to the family reunion? And also nurture new people with free thinking minds who work as an optional thing, which is a little bit different than how maybe we were raised.
Yes. So, you know, how do you manage through all of these? I'm not going to call them competing priorities.
I'm just going to call them priorities. Yes. For me, the biggest motivator in my life is my spirituality.
I know that God has a plan for me, for my life, for what I do, for what I bring. If I didn't know him, I'd have quit this long time ago. I'd have been like, nope, I'm not doing that.
But because I know and because now I am learning to not just trust in God, but trust in my gut, because I think that he gives us that. So I say. God and gut. When those two come together, you on the right path. If something's a little off, you know it.
Your body feels it. It doesn't come together right. And sometimes we're a little quick to judgment.
We want something before it's time. So I'm learning to slow down, wait and listen for that voice and understand my gut. I just told another entrepreneur this and she's like, I'm working with a guy and he wants 30% of my business.
Girl, did he work to get you where you are to earn that 30%? If not, listen to your gut and listen to your God. Those two will never steal you wrong.
So then what would you do now that you're like seasoned? You said it's been eight years. You've been working with the family. You understand like you come from up. Federal law enforcement background, which is completely different than making gluten-free granola.
So different. What piece of advice would you give to someone who was embarking on a business and they said, I want this to be a family business? One, you have to know thyself and can you work with your family?
Look around your family before you make that decision and see what they have to offer. Are they the right people to go into your business? Sometimes they are not.
But many times the joy of building something is building it with the people you love. And I love my family. Some days I don't like them.
but I absolutely adore them. They are some of my favorite people on the earth. And who else to build a business with and in honor of but family?
I still don't know if I'm going to work with my family, but I will, you know, take that into my mind and maybe, like, reflect on it, maybe select a few people. Yeah. The ones that don't come through for you now.
The ones that will show up. The ones that will show up. That's standing on the corner there. They can stay out there.
Yeah, they can stay. Thank you for joining us today. Can you give us a little bit of information around your socials?
Absolutely. You can find us at MSPS Gluten Free, which is our website. All of our social is MSPSG Free. That is Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. And our social media manager makes sure that we are getting those emails out there and we're getting ready to have our subscription base.
Well, you'll be able to enjoy your Miss P's gluten free granola at the lowest possible prices. So check us out. Check out the website. Check out our newsletter. And we appreciate you.
Absolutely appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.
All right.