In episode #802, Eric and Neil discuss the #1 thing you need to grow a business successfully. Tune in to hear what you absolutely must do to be a success. Eric and Neil have committed to throwing a FREE Marketing School Live Event in Los Angeles, once Marketing School reaches 1M downloads in a 30 day period. Take action: Rate, review, subscribe, and SHARE. Check the progress here! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:27] Today’s Topic: The #1 Thing You Need to Do to Grow Any Business Successfully [00:35] The #1 thing is not a marketing tactic, it’s people. [00:50] Without a great team, you are not going to grow your business. [01:37] CEO’s have three responsibilities: Keeping money in the bank, driving the vision, and recruiting. [01:47] The Dropbox CEO recently talked about how recruiting is always top of mind for him. [02:16] Bill Gates said the first 20 people at Microsoft built the company. [03:03] If an employee isn’t a cultural fit, they aren’t going to stick around. [03:15] Only hire people who are smarter than you and from whom you can learn. [03:25] Make sure you really interview each applicant and talk to their references. Figure out if they are truly a good fit. [03:47] Always test people out. [03:56] Make sure multiple people on your team interview each person. [04:11] Make sure they lay out a plan of action for their first few weeks or months at the company. [05:05] Do indirect reference checks (basically, be a detective). [05:30] Sometimes, Eric has gotten glowing reviews and other times, he has gotten more realistic information. [06:15] You have to have each person ask different types of questions in the interviews. [06:32] The CEO of Drift secretly tests people in interviews: he gives each candidate a cup of water and sees if they throw it away at the end of the interview. [06:35] Eric also does this and doesn’t hire anyone who doesn’t clean up after themselves. [07:18] If you can get people who can do the work, but won’t be a long-term fit, you are rolling the dice on mercenaries. [07:48] That’s it for today! [07:54] Go here to see how many downloads the show is getting. Also rate and review to help Eric and Neil meet their goal of 1 Million downloads per month. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.