Leadership: People, Customers and Planning

Billed publishes these leadership articles. They're grouped by what you're trying to do, with a line on the topic of each one.

Managing people

Hiring, evaluating and managing a team.

Hiring your first employee
A business's first hire: employee or contractor classification, the cost of employment, the hiring process, onboarding and payroll.
Employee performance evaluations
Evaluating employee performance: how and when evaluations are done, what to watch for, and what they're for.
Improving workplace performance
Addressing poor performance at work, including expectations, deadlines, training and consequences.
Building a remote team
Hiring, onboarding and communicating with a remote team, along with pay, contracts, security and documentation.
Company culture
Shaping a small company's culture through behaviors, hiring, rituals, decision-making and recognition.

Relationships with the people and businesses you work with.

Customer loyalty
Earning repeat business through consistent delivery, communication, pricing, recovering from mistakes and customer feedback.
Handling difficult clients
Difficult client relationships: wording, expectations in writing, change orders, payment problems and when to end the relationship.
Business partnerships
Running a business partnership: written terms, incentives, communication, conflict, finances and exit paths.

Planning where the business goes and keeping track of its money.

Setting business goals
Setting and reviewing business goals, including SMART goals, OKRs, leading and lagging indicators, and goal owners.
Business growth strategy
Choosing where a business grows, unit economics, a one-page strategy, risk, and when not to grow.
Managing business finances
Business finances for owners who aren't accountants: separating money, bookkeeping, financial reports, budgets, taxes and controls.