Hi there and welcome to the Everyday Entrepreneur podcast where I, Caitlin Fritz help you reach your entrepreneurial potential. Together we can build your dream social impact business so that you can leave a legacy beyond your nine-to-five. Hello, hello! Welcome to this episode of Everyday Entrepreneurship. I'm your host, Caitlin Fritz, and I'm so happy to have you here. It's finally turning the tides here in the UK. We're seeing some glimmers of sunshine and spring, maybe even early summer. And if you're new here, welcome. I'm thrilled to have you here. We talk about everything you need to know about building, growing and scaling an impact led business. I've supported hundreds of founders worldwide to build from the very early stage to scale with Funding and all their businesses. So we share with you the tried and true lessons, tips and practical advice here on everyday entrepreneurship. And today I'm really excited because this was actually a question that was. dropped in my messages and I thought would be really practical because I've heard this time and time again. What happens when someone is not pulling their weight? in your core business team. Oh, so that's what we're going to talk about. So I'm just going to paraphrase a little bit about what was sent in, uh, the question, and then we're going to jump into my about five tips on what to do if you have this unequal team relationship or dynamic in your business. So, um, to paraphrase, And dear Caitlyn, uh, together we are a team of ambitious postgraduate founders building a tech application. There's a few of us who have been working on the project since we were in school, when it was a group project. Now that we are out in the quote unquote real world, it feels like our business has turned into a group project. Meaning that There's an individual who's not pulling their weight, meeting their deadlines, or giving the same passion and sacrifice that the rest of us are. What. Should. I. Do. Ooh! So! Um, thank you, we can call this, uh, group project conundrum writer. There's a few things. So, first off, I love when business ideas happen in really safe spaces such as universities, but Whenever these ideas and projects turn into the real world and real companies, I do feel like there are growing pains when it comes to the founding team. It's natural. People get attracted to other priorities, people might have other full time jobs, there might be levels of interest and passion that vary across the team. So So what you told me, this, though it might feel really, you know, harrowing in your myopic world, is actually way more common than you think. So here would be my five recommendations if I was talking to you. and your team. So first off, you didn't tell me how many people were in your team. You said a few. So I'm going to say there's about three of you in my head. So maybe two people are more committed, making those sacrifices, putting those hours in at night. Maybe someone has even committed full time to working on this. And there's one individual who is kind of the problem or the one who is not pulling their weight. So the first tip I would have to communicate and manage expectations. So oftentimes when we are building a business for say a school project or a competition, we're in this kind of Candyland safe space when you're actually implementing and executing, it's a lot harder and a lot more time and effort. So I think those expectations when it comes to time that's going to be committed, energy, effort, deliverables, communication styles, all of those expectations should be communicated often. And from the So, in receiving end, everyone should be able to vocalize their own expectations when it comes to the business. So for example, if the individual who's causing a bit of problems is working full time, you cannot, you really can't, you know, hold them to the same expectations as someone who is committed full time on the business. There's only 24 hours in a day. So as a team and as individuals, all of you should be able to outline what expectations you have for each other. and for yourselves and be able to communicate them in a safe and effective way, not from a place of emotion or resentment or anger, but really as a clear lay it out on the table. conversation. So that's my first tip is to manage expectations and communicate with them. My second tip for anyone who's building a team, a partnership, really any kind of a founding unit, is to have a founder's pledge or a founder's agreement. The moment you decide you want to take this as a commercial venture. So a founder's pledge is kind of a founder's agreement before you even start making money, maybe even before you're incorporated. It's a simple document where you can outline, like I mentioned, those expectations, what each founder is willing to give. Give, maybe in terms of time, money, effort, etc. And it's kind of like that contract that holds and glues your team together. A more formalized founder's pledge is called a founder's agreement. This I consider absolutely business critical. If you are registering a business and becoming directors, co directors on company's house or wherever, You need to have a founder's agreement. A founder's agreement is like a prenup. It's the conversation in the document that says, hey, if we get divorced as founders, this is what happens. And I recommend you have this conversation The moment you incorporate plan for the worst hope for the best when I had my first founders agreement conversation We literally sat with two glasses of wine Walked through it discussed it as adults being able to like, okay, if this is the worst case scenario these are all the things that happen, but we aim to make this business productive and profitable and Have a really long and healthy founder relationship Oftentimes these founder agreements get swept under the rug and oh, we're so busy in building the business, the product, registering, trademarks, blah, blah, blah. I'm telling you, if you do not have a founder's agreement and you have co founders to do that. So that is my second tip is to come up with a Founders Pledge or Founders Agreement because when you do get in these situations, when the individual is not pulling their weight, you're able to refer back to that contract, that pledge, or that legal agreement to be like, hey, on this agreement, these were kind of The third tip I would give, which it sounds like this person has already been working with this team for a while, they went to university together, is communicate at the first instance. It's kind of like managing those expectations. It is much better as a founding team, as leaders of your company, to communicate and kind of flag when someone's not pulling their weight, deliverables aren't being done on time. Don't wait till two weeks after the deadline to have this conversation. Because here's the thing. People are people. Life happens, there's stress at work, family, deaths in the family, there could be something going on that maybe you're not even aware of in this individual who's not pulling their weights live. And if you can have that dialogue. earlier, you will be able to adjust your plans, um, be able to flag these kind of hurdles and what kind of ripple effects it will have towards your processes. But also it will make a much, I would say, safer place from a psychological safety point of view, that you can have open conversations when things are hard, when people are overwhelmed, when people are stressed, because well being should be a core tenant within your leadership team. Because when founders are well, businesses become better and well. So communicate at first instance, and make it more of a conversation than a slap on the wrist. Now, my tip number four is, say this has been happening for weeks on end, you've had the conversations, maybe you've had a conversation around managing expectations, and this person is still not delivering, then I think there needs to be a plan, kind of an improvement plan, a plan moving forward, something that you can put on paper to be like, hey, these deliverables are due. on X, Y, and Z dates. This is our plan moving forward. We've incorporated maybe some new processes or, hey, we got you this task management app, if that will help take some things off your workload. And if these can't be delivered, then we need to talk about maybe the future of your role in the company, or maybe something along the lines of, hey, like, we need someone who's more committed to be in the founding team. It would be great to have you as a contractor or as a supporter of our business. By having that plan, You're able to say, these are the things we need. Are you able to commit to them? And then if they are not able to commit to them, that leaves to my tip number five. To the writer, which is honestly the hardest thing, know when to let go. If there's an individual who's consistently not pulling their weight, not managing their time, their expectations, not following to plan, As a team, which it sounds like you have, say, another co founder or a third co founder, you need to know when there's someone not productive in your business. And that means letting them go. This is why I always say, when you hire your friends, you should be able to fire your friends. So if you're not able to fire your friends, I don't recommend starting a business with them. Because there's a saying in startup world, hire slow, fire fast. And the point is, when there is this sort of individual, whether it is a founder, a team member, whatever, and they bring negative productivity, um, negative energy, Incomplete deadlines, they're really dragging your progress down. It's kind of like, you know, a virus you don't want to spread throughout the company. You do not want that kind of ethos, work effort, energy to be spread across other founders or other team members. And also, as a, as a startup, you need to work on the efficiencies of time. So if it's going to take you, if this person is causing you weeks on weeks delays, that means it's not only hurting your morale, but also the business. And I think having that conversation of winding that person down or creating an off ramp for that individual is important because you need to know when to cut the cord if someone is not serving you. Those are my five tips if I was dealt the same hands as you. To the individual who wrote me in, and I love hearing these kind of conversations or really topical trends that are happening in your business or in your startups. So if there's a question you want to dive into on the podcast, we can keep you anonymous like we did with this writer. There's nothing, uh, There's nothing wrong with that. Just drop me a line, drop me a DM, drop me an email, as I would love to share that kind of insights and tips and knowledge and story with other individuals in the everyday entrepreneurship community. So, uh, writer, let me know if these tips were applicable to you or to the general public, guys. Let me know if you have any tips that you have done when it comes to someone not pulling their weight. In your business venture, if you like this episode, be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to quality audio content and be sure to check out more learnings on my Instagram and my newly kind of revamped YouTube. So if you like hearing me, you'll be seeing for me soon. Thanks again for listening. And until next time, this is everyday entrepreneurship. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Everyday Entrepreneurship. To stay tuned and most up-to-date, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. You can follow me Caitlin Fritz on Instagram. And if you have any questions about building your business with Impact, drop me an email with the link in the show notes.