Scaling and Management Advice (4)
Hello stackers, I was hoping to get some kind of direction when it comes to managing and scaling teams.
I've been an affiliate since 2011/2012, and for most of the time I was a one man show. In 2014, I hired my first media buyer/assistant, and slowly grew from there. We now have a handful of guys in house at all times (4-5,) and about 15 remote workers. These people handle media buying, analyzing stats, pretty much everything.
What I really would like to have is insight into how other big teams reach massive scale without being totally bogged down, because as of now, I'm spending far too much time baby sitting my team and making sure things go right, as they can be quick to get out of hand if I'm not available - though for the most part things are self sufficient. I'm bringing on someone I've known for years to help manage this week who has a history of management (restaurants,) and even dabbled in IM years ago himself. I'm hoping this is going to help me get on top of things to the point I can step away, but I still feel I'm lacking direction in a major way. At this point if this doesn't work out, my only thought left is to go to some kind of head hunting agency and find a college graduate who knows management/marketing, but there's no point if I can't structure things better and understand a better way. I am basically willing to spend anything to simplify this business, as I've slowly learned how much I despise managing people and I certainly can't continue doing things this way for long without becoming totally burned out.
Can anyone recommend any resources where I can analyze other businesses (specifically IM related) and their structures to get an idea of a good flow? It's funny, I never saw the value in having a mentor more than I do now, and never really took this business as seriously as I do now, I never thought I'd have to move to some corporate structure (naive me!)
If you really, truly never want to manage them, then you need to find someone to do that for you, and learning how to manage them is beyond the point.
Furthermore, being a manager doesn't mean you have no work to do. Why do you think managing positions are so well paid? Because they are easier? 
Seems the best option for you is hiring someone who can manage the team for you, at least to a greater extent... A COO if you will, while you are CEO and don't deal directly with so many employees. Maybe someone in your existing team can fill in that role, with 1-2 months of training?
Feel free to hit me up, I have had a few employees for the past 8 years or so...
Managing and motivating employees is the hardest thing there is. I think I could write a book about it.
What works well in my opinion after 7 years in this business having worked with +100 interns/employees over that course of time:
- Objective: give them a short term and long term objective to work towards
- Salary: provide a fixed salary that is good enough to live on AND a bonus structure that goes proportionally up and down with the achievement of objectives. I suggest 60% fixed salary 40% variable bonus (with no upper limit). Make the bonus that big that if they get to +100% on it, they can go champaign showers and live big
- Autonomy: people work better when they can work autonomously on a project instead of you watching over their shoulder.
- Manage on objectives, not time. Be flexible with their personal work-life balance
- Set clear rules and examples. Above all, the most important is trust. If an employee does something that makes you lose all trust in him, fire him without a second of doubt. On the other hand, rely on the advice and opinion of employees you trust and give them more responsibility.
In short, the carrot and stick approach.
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