How Jennifer Lee expanded her team with Raptive’s Recruiting and Organizational Design solution

Building a team is an exercise in trust. And when you’re new to growing a team, it can be daunting to bring new team members into your inner circle. 

We wanted to help creators navigate this process with confidence, which is why we offer the Recruiting and Organizational Design solution. Our internal team building experts put together an exclusive resource that all Raptive creators can rely on when growing their team. 

Raptive creators at the Luminary level have a unique opportunity to work closely with our experts, who will help you develop a personalized organizational structure and guide you through the hiring process from start to finish. 

We talked to Luminary creator Jennifer Lee of Kirbie’s Cravings, who used the Recruiting and Organizational Design solution to step outside of her comfort zone when it came to expanding her team. 

Featured Creator

Jennifer Lee, Kirbie’s Cravings

The Challenge

Like many creators, Jennifer Lee began building her team by tapping into her network of trusted friends and family. Her husband and a family member both helped with aspects of the business, but she knew it was time to grow even more. 

“I had reached a point where I knew I had grown the business as much as I could and I needed to expand outside of my circle,” she said.  

“In the last few years, I was really struggling to find a work and personal life balance. The stress of working all the time was affecting my physical and mental health and that ultimately led me to the decision that I needed to start building a team I could trust so I could take a step back from my business.”

But when you’ve built your business from the ground up, it’s tough to bring others into that closely-guarded circle of trust. “I was hesitant for a long time because I didn’t really know how to navigate the hiring process on my own. So when I saw that Raptive was offering Recruiting and Organizational Design solutions, I immediately signed up.”

Jennifer worried about how complicated and time-consuming the process would be: reviewing resumes, interviewing, considering legal issues, training the new team member, and more. She was also concerned about finding quality candidates in her specific business niche. 

The Approach

“We had a very cautious and thorough approach with the first hire to really ensure I chose the best fit,” Jennifer said. 

The Raptive team helped Jennifer develop a screening process and written exercise to narrow down final candidates for interviews. She also met regularly with the team to review each candidate and talk through any questions she had. 

“The Raptive team was so knowledgeable and experienced which helped me feel more at ease with the hiring process,” she said. “I appreciated how accessible they were to help me every step of the way, from reviewing resumes to drafting contracts, answering HR questions, helping me negotiate pay rate and more.” 

Once she hired her first new team member, she took things slowly with the shift to a new team structure.

“One of the hardest things about transitioning from family-based to a broader team was trust. It is so difficult to trust and give a complete stranger access to critical and confidential business information.”

Jennifer started out by taking a more highly supervised approach and becoming more hands-off as her new hire gained experience. 

“Once I felt confident that the team member was performing the tasks well, I gradually gave them more access and responsibilities.”

The Outcome

“Since the expansion, Kirbie’s Cravings has doubled the new content it publishes. We now reach a wider audience and saw 35% growth of overall subscribers,” Jennifer said. “I’ve also seen between 15- 30% growth across each of my social media platforms.”

Jennifer has also been able to take on new projects to spur even more growth. Her readers had been requesting recipes in types of cuisines she didn’t feel she had the expertise to develop, which was something her new team member brought to the table. 

“This has allowed me to offer new recipes and content on Kirbie’s Cravings that I wasn’t able to offer before. Because I have a team now helping with different aspects of the business, this has also opened up time for me to explore new opportunities for the business that I previously had to pass or put on hold.”

I could have started expanding my business a long time ago if I hadn’t been so hesitant.

Since signing up for the Recruitment and Organizational Design solution, Jennifer has hired three new team members, taking more control over the process with each hire. Introducing new team members outside of her family and friends has also had unexpected benefits when it comes to communication.

“With your inner circle, you sometimes have to tread more carefully because you do have a relationship with them outside of work. But with managing an outside team, I can freely express any concerns I might have with the work or any changes that I think need to be made.”

“Their response is always very positive and along the lines of, you don’t need to apologize, this is what you hired me to do. This has been very refreshing and has ultimately helped me communicate well with my team members.”

Jennifer recommends building a team to anyone who is thinking about it, particularly those who are on the fence about looking outside of their circle. 

“If you don’t have to go about the process on your own and you have a resource like the one Raptive is offering, it will make things a lot smoother and easier.”