What an Operator REALLY does…[my rant]

Summary

• When I look for operators in our portfolio companies, I define them as scalers, not administrators. They should scale your business through the proper systems and people.
• Operators need to complement visionaries. The person who starts a business is often not the right person to scale it once it's established.
• Visionaries should partner with operators, so they can focus on creativity and innovation while the operator focuses on growing the business.
• A true operator doesn't just build SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), but instead fosters a team and culture that drives the company forward.
• Try to find operators who understand the importance of cultural alignment and can manage and lead a team effectively.
• The best operators focus on driving revenue and growth, not just managing back-office operations. They should embody and reinforce the company's value system.
• Management in different departments should handle the creation and implementation of SOPs and systems, not the operators. Operators should work on higher-level strategies.
• Operators serve as a filter between the visionary and the rest of the team, offering necessary feedback and communication but not acting as a bottleneck.
• Visionary leaders often underestimate what an operator should do; an operator should be central to communication and strategy, not just overseeing the back-office.
• Good operators don't overwhelm a company with systems. Instead, they aim to increase revenue and strengthen the team's culture and values.
• When your business reaches the point of scaling beyond $5 million a year in revenue, you need an operator who is passionate about the company's mission and values, not just rules and systems.
• If you're a visionary with a business between $3 and $10 million, you should seek an operator who can make your life easier and align with your long-term goals, not one who bog down the company with unnecessary processes.

Video

How To Take Action

I would suggest focusing on finding the right operator who can complement your skills if you're a visionary. You should look for someone who isn't just interested in making SOPs, but who can really help scale your business through establishing a strong team and positive company culture.

A good way to start is by redefining the operator's role in your company. Make sure they're not just managing the back office; they should be actively involved in increasing sales and driving growth.

To implement this, first, create clear communication channels between you, as the visionary, and the operator. Ensure they serve not as a bottleneck but as a filter for information and feedback within the company.

Next, it's important to have your operator work closely with management to develop effective SOPs and systems. However, their primary focus should be on leading the company towards your long-term goals, not getting caught up in day-to-day administrative tasks.

When hiring an operator, prioritize those who are passionate about your company's mission and values. They should understand the importance of cultural alignment and be able to manage and lead a team effectively.

Encourage your operator to foster a values-driven culture rather than one that is ruled by SOPs. This means finding someone who is adaptable and able to guide your company through growth without overloading it with unnecessary processes.

Remember, good operators don't just build systems; they drive revenue and reinforce the company's value system. They make your life easier and align with your long-term vision, helping your business transition from $3 million to $10 million and beyond.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"Great operators are brought in to change a culture, to innovate a culture, to drive revenue, not to put SOPs in place"

– Leila Hormozi

"The best companies in the world are run by value, not by rules"

– Leila Hormozi

"An operator should be driving revenue while the visionary's out there thinking about like five years in advance"

– Leila Hormozi

"If you have a sizable business and you're above five million a year in revenue, that's what it needs to look like"

– Leila Hormozi

"You need someone who's so loyal to you to a fault, someone who wants to protect you at all costs"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

and the first thing a true operator tells me when i say what are you going to do to impact the business they're going to say i want to make sure that we're culturally aligned i'm going to say i want to make sure there's no culture issues in the team i'm going to turn around the culture if i need to what is that welcome my channel my name is laila hormozy cosio of acquisition.com which portfolio of companies does about 100 million per year in revenue and my goal with this channel is really get you from wherever you're at your business between 3 and 10 million for free that being said today's video i don't have notes and i don't have slides and i don't have a script this is just a video that i felt like i needed to make because of a lot of conversations i've had in the last week and uh i feel a little fired up about it and so not sure how it's gonna go or if i'm ever gonna post this video but we're gonna find out so i have been uh quite frustrated this week because i'll tell you one of the main things that we do not mean but one of the things that we do with uh the portfolio companies that we take on is we often identify or find an operator for those businesses and now let me define operator an operator is not somebody who's like a [ __ ] office administrative clerk who sits behind a desk and you know does your billing okay i think that the term is misused and misunderstood an operator is somebody who's going to scale your business through the proper systems and people people will probably come before systems typically an operator is complementary to the visionary and so often the people who start businesses are not the people that should be scaling them the person who gets the business from zero to one million is often not the person who gets it from one to ten or twenty or thirty often the person who gets it off the ground is much better than going off to the side making creative things the rest of the time because they're very good at starting things not good at scaling things and so often what you want to find is you've got a starter and a scaler and they pair together and so i consider an operator to be a scaler now what i have noticed in the last few days what i've been frustrated by is my probably inability to articulate this to people and people's inability to understand it because there's so much [ __ ] out there about what an operator is i think everyone comes to thank operator and they think oh god yeah i don't want an operator because you know the last one i hired just so many systems and sops and i'm like i'm swear to god if one more person says oh i can't wait to get an operator in to build sops i'm gonna [ __ ] shoot myself like that is not what an operator does or at least not a good operator does is cheryl sandberg writing sops all day what you know i feel like it's [ __ ] bad [ __ ] i'm like so frank sops jesus christ she's building the [ __ ] team and so it's just something that's really been frustrating because in order to get your business to where you want to go if you're at seven figures you want to get to eight figures eight figures i wanna say it's between 10 and 15 million that you really an operator that's gonna be able to get you to 25 30 40 million this is where people really misunderstand what that person is supposed to be doing and i think actually for the ceos and for the founders who are visionaries they underestimate how much an operator should be doing and so they often think that they're in the background making sure the back of house is together that's often not what's needed you need basically the person who is your hands meaning you communicate with this person and basically nobody else on the team that's often what a lot of visionary leaders need they need someone who is not just a doer is also a leader is also a manager can also implement anything that they're asking for and also provides filtering to them and can basically give them feedback so they're not just giving the visionary feedback uh to the team about like hey these are the things we need to do because you know so-and-so said so they're also saying here's the feedback from the team to you so they serve as a filter or buffer between the two right so they are a filter from the typical visionary to the team and then they're a filter from the team to the visionary not a bottleneck a filter and so i've been trying to wrangle my head around this because i realized that i haven't been able to articulate this well and i think that those are probably the two best ways that i could is that this is not um an operator quote is not i don't even think i'm gonna use the word operator more it's a scalar it's somebody who's going to scale your business they're the one to ten you're the zero to one and they're not a bottleneck they are a filter they're not someone should stop information from flowing to you they should basically decipher the information filter the information sort the information and then provide what is most important to you so you have to spend hours and hours digging through things hours and hours talking to people hours and hours figuring out what's going on in the business and so because of that that's really what an operator operator is supposed to do when i hear about people that are telling me and they're basically putting process and sops and systems on a pedestal like the first thing i think is like you're so [ __ ] when you actually have a real business because like right now sure you can spend all that time and like little task management sops and all things that's to make up for value the best companies in the world are run by value not by rules if you want to run by rules you will have people who do not have values people who have strong value systems they are not attracted to businesses that are run by rules and lots of operators run things by rules that will not scale your business you cannot scale i mean you could scale things by rules but that is essentially not going to be i don't think anyone watching this channel wants that what that creates which is the culture of fear and a bunch of people who can press buttons and they can't make any decisions on their own once something goes wrong there's no sop for that oh well then i don't know what the [ __ ] to do you see it's a lot like big big corporations and that's why i'm not an advocate for an operator coming in and putting a ton of sops and a ton of systems in place the right operators guys i interviewed top notch operators all the time they would never come in and bombard a company with systems never they all know that one they're there to make sure that we generate more revenue more sales we grow the business they're revenue driven they're revenue drivers i had an operator that i was interviewing today she's been doing this for 20 years and she's absolutely stuck and she literally said to me she goes yeah i mean well who else is supposed to drive revenue in the business and i'm like dude amazing but that's not what anyone thinks they don't think you drive revenue nobody thinks i drive revenue they think oh you take care of little back office [ __ ] that is such a misinterpretation an operator should be driving revenue while the visionary's out there thinking about like five years in advance or like making things making creations that's essentially like what a lot of people in this day and age do and so it's a little frustrating but i i wanted to try and break it down this video which is turning into a rant i don't know what it is we're just gonna say because i i just i hate seeing so many people think that they have this great person on their team when they don't they're like no they've made so many sops you should see this book when someone gets hired i had someone tell me this like dude when someone gets hired we have a 75-page manual and i was like barf 75 pages dude who the [ __ ] reads that and let alone if you read it do you remember any of it you know what i mean not me i don't give a [ __ ] so like when i think of a true operator that's somebody who's going to come in and say do we have a value system in place to get us to where we need to go and the first thing a true operator tells me when i say what are you going to do to impact the business they're going to say i want to make sure that we're culturally aligned i'm going to say i want to make sure there's no culture issues in the team i'm going to turn around the culture if i need to great operators are brought in to change a culture to innovate a culture to drive revenue not to put sops in place to put systems in place and put processes there you can have a project manager an administrative assistant or another manager pretty much any department do those things and so i think oftentimes people think they need an operator who can put systems in place and processes and document things and they they hire somebody and pay them way too much money to do those things because what is actually the trick the case is that their managers that are below the operator suck a manager of their own each department should be able to put process in place that's part of a manager's job you don't need an operator to do that you need better people below the operator and so often what you think is a need for an operator is actually just a deficit on other teammates and so you have to coach those teammates up or coach them out either one but you don't need an operator put sops and systems in place and so um i wanted to make this video just to explain the nuance to that because i think it's something that's a lot misunderstood misinterpreted it's causing a lot of people a lot of pain in their businesses because they keep people on the teams they keep people very close to them who don't do any of those things and i think that first and foremost like if you were to look at a lot of the best operators of all time you wouldn't go in and say that that person's an operator you would say that's the ceo that's the person leading the business that's the person driving this ship you wouldn't go in and say oh that's like uh you know they're building all those sops that's not what it looks like and so if you have a sizable business and you're above i want to say five million a year in revenue um that's what it needs to look like and somebody who doesn't embody your culture who believes that sops and systems are king and god like that kind of person is gonna prevent you from scaling to the next level and so i guess honestly i think i'm making this video i'm trying to figure out why while i'm making it because what is most frustrating to me is to see somebody who's like a brilliant visionary and they have a [ __ ] operator it's because they don't understand what that's supposed to look like and i'm like dude this is the reason why we can't grow this business or we won't be able to grow this business and i feel like sometimes i just want to jump into certain businesses because i see like there's this brilliant person who has like these amazing ideas who like anyone would be lucky to work with and they've got someone next to them who's like not doing the work not doing the job they're not leading the team it's just frustrating to see because if you're that visionary maybe if you watch my channel and you're a visionary that's the kind of person you need you need someone who's so loyal to you to a fault someone who wants to protect you all at cost and someone who wakes up every day thinking about who not about what not about sops they think about the team they think about values think about the mission and that's what they're driven by about building an amazing team building a place people want to work building a place that we're constantly growing every year we're surpassing our goals someone who's driven and hungry and so i think that often what happens is that in those visionary roles you think i need something so opposite where i am but at the same time if you get something that's so opposite how do they take anything off your plate if they don't have any of the same skill sets something to think about and so i felt the need to make this short video um i hope if you don't understand what an operator quote is supposed to do and you are between 3 and 10 million in revenue this video can be a little bit enlightening to you and if you're an operator and you're new and inexperienced like i just plead to you not to get on your high horse and think that like every time you enter a new business like you need to put in all these processes and systems to validate your worth because that's not what people want that's not what a visionary leader wants they want you to make their life easier not to make it harder and so you've got six systems now you've got to go through and i need you to log into asana and hubspot and the crm and all these things like there's no black and white and you've got to do what works for the company and what was that visionary and bombarding people with systems and processes and sops that they're never going to use but it makes you feel important it's just not helpful for the business so with that i'm out what's up guys thank you so much for watching my video and this channel i want to go ahead and encourage you to subscribe so you can find out when i have new videos that are releasing and if you really really like the videos go ahead and share with somebody else you know all right thanks and we'll see you on the next one