When business owners complain about hiring I sometimes can’t hold my tongue. “Yeah, it's brutal out there. How much of your marketing budget goes towards recruiting and hiring?” They look at me like I have two heads. “What the heck are you talking about? Of course I don’t spend marketing dollars on employees. I spend marketing dollars on getting customers. Is that even a thing?” These business owners, and I would venture to say MOST small business owners, just sit back and HOPE that a unicorn walks in the door. They pray that the best, most loyal, hardest working employee who never makes mistakes are just browsing the free classified section of Facebook Marketplace, sees their job posting, and bends over backwards at the opportunity for average compensation at an average company with non-existent marketing. You, as the leader of your company, have to hunt them down and convince them to come to your company. You have to build a company that attracts these A players and then go out and get them! Nearly every single competent employee I’ve ever hired already had a job when I hired them. I took matters into my own hands, took ownership over the shitty labor market, and did the work other companies weren’t willing to do to find and attract these people. Hiring costs money. It takes a lot of time. But, making the active effort is how you grow.