#41 Fully remote teams, firing yourself, and retention with Brian Roland.

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Brian Roland is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Abenity, the 6x Inc. 5000 Company that’s powering corporate perks for top brands, including U.S. Bank and MasterCard.

What we talked about...

• Coffee snobbery and a herniated disc.
• Starting Abenity as a fully remote team in 2006 led to his obsession with coffee.
• On founding the company with his brother and bootstrapping to millions of members and nearly $10M in annual revenue.
• Brian fired himself after thirteen years. He hired a CEO and President to run the business.
• Improving performance reviews and providing feedback.
• Focus on building momentum and scaling your business.
• Thirty team members across ten states - fully remote.
• Covid redirected their focus.
• Social mission sponsoring children with each client via WorldVision.
• “Just show up. You’re looking for the people who are looking for you.”
• Adding a task management platform like Asana to help communication.
• Hiring team members who already have relationships with staff is important.
• Open jobs are not advertised. They only tap their existing team for recommendations.
• Trust, respect, and accountability are already there as they onboard new people.
• The dangers of hybrid work and loneliness.
• Using DiSC personality assessments to determine how they will work remotely.
• Manage output over activity.
• Read Faith Driven Entrepreneur: What It Takes to Step Into Your Purpose and Pursue Your God-Given Call to Create by Henry Kaestner.
• Contact Brian at BrianRoland.com. Check out Rules of Engagement for Fully Remote Teams.

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