In the Office: Honesty in expectations helps subscription box startup have it all
If you are an entrepreneur, honesty with yourself and those you work with goes a long way.
Honesty will get you to the top.
Business owner Paul Jarrett knows this all too well. He and his wife, Stephanie, run Bulu Box, a health and nutrition subscription box service based out of Lincoln, Nebraska. When they first began the business in 2012, Paul just wanted to build a successful company, have it be acquired and make a lot of money. Those intentions worked for a while, but then a little self-awareness crept in along the way.
“We were doing phenomenal as a company, but I just kept feeling like it would never be enough,” Paul says. Noticing how hard Paul was being on himself, Stephanie’s intuition stepped in.
“She said this phrase to me I will never forget,” Paul says. “She said, ‘The way you talk to yourself––insisting that you do better, work faster––would you speak to your mother like that? Would you speak to me like that?’ And I said, ‘No, absolutely not!’ Then she said, ‘Well, then why are you talking to the most important person in the world like that?’ That was such a powerful statement to me! At that point, I realized this work is so much bigger than making money.
“On a deeper level, I started to realize what it meant to have it all.”
Today, they do have it all, because they are loyal to what it takes for their business to succeed.
“We know now that we can have a positive impact on everything we touch if we are really thoughtful about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Paul says.
And they are responsible with their expectations.
“What drives us now is creating wealth, opportunity and jobs for people and empowering others to succeed,” he says. “Everything we do, we try to make it a win, win, win. We don’t just want to help people, we want to take people to the next level and allow them to take us to the next level, too.”
Transparency in the workplace
At Bulu Box, every employee matters to the company’s success, and all employees must be on the same page in order to succeed. It’s a big part of their culture, and it begins from the moment they meet a potential employee.
It begins with honesty.
“I have a letter that I read everybody during the interview process, and I try to scare them away, honestly,” Paul says. “I read about our essence and our core values, and I say if you feel like you don’t have these specific behaviors within you, then it’s only a matter of time before this company won’t work out for you.”
All employees also receive the book Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan and are told, “This is what our entire culture is inspired by. If you disagree with anything in that book, or you don’t believe in our core values, then it’s not going to work out for you. I want the phone call that says, ‘No, thanks,’ because then we just shortened the dating period, right? It’s like getting it all out there on the first date!”
Their four core values are Fearless, Foundership, First Class and Fire the Assholes, and all employees abide by them wholly.
Fearless
Fearlessness is a trait Paul picked up while working with Complete Nutrition before he started Bulu Box.
“Our CEO had this mentality of charging forward like a rhino,” Paul says. “You have to be fearless, and the positive thing about that is it’s empowering to people, but it could also come off as aggressive, so don’t be mean about it.”
Paul encourages his employees not to seek permission, but to ask for forgiveness. “It’s better to move and get shit done than to wonder ‘what if,’ right?”
Foundership
Foundership is a made-up word, a combination of having ownership and being a founder. “We want people to treat the business like it’s their own,” Paul says. “I tell people if you’re walking through the warehouse or the office and there is a piece of paper on the ground, pick it up. That is the essence of Foundership. Own this thing, and treat it as if it were your own.”
This carries into meetings as well. If there is a question on the table, Paul asks employees in return, “What would you do if this were your business?”
“And people change their answer!” he says. “They first tell me what they think I want to hear, not what we should do. But challenge me! I am not correct just because I’m at the top. It’s their company, too.”
First Class
First class is a value that keeps their employees competitive and strong.
“The subscription box industry is really blowing up right now, and we want to be known as the best,” Paul says. “We are no longer just a startup, so we don’t just need to get the job done. Now, we need to be perfect and get the job done. When you win first place, start preparing for the next competition.”
Fire the Assholes
At Bulu Box, who the person is matters, too.
“I had a terrible boss when I worked in New York City,” Paul says. “The Devil Wears Prada had nothing on this guy! But that experience was a really big wakeup call for me, and we just decided when we started our own company that even if it is the best person driving a ton of profit, it is not worth them having a negative influence on the team.”
These core values aren’t just discussed during the hiring process. They are reviewed every quarter as well. At that time, they also finalize goals for the quarter, give a “state of the company” address and host a board meeting.
“It feels like a lot of planning, but it’s important,” Paul says.
Moreover, they have a grading sheet each quarter where managers grade their employees on each of the four values.
“There is no explanation, just a plus or a minus on each value,” Paul explains. Along with that, they discuss their GWC — an employee’s Get It, Want It and Capacity to Do It. Do you get your job? Do you want to do your job? And do you have the skill set to perform your job? If you don’t get all pluses, an action plan is put together for the next 30 days and so on until the strike is corrected. If an employee hits three strikes, he or she is let go.
“Everybody knows exactly what it takes to get fired here, but people really do appreciate that we are transparent.”
Accountability in the workplace
Employees appreciate the honesty, and they like being held accountable, too. Their offices even have an Accountability Chart on the wall that lists their core values, their decisions, who they are targeting from a marketing standpoint, the three reasons they are different, and the numbers they are trying to reach in 10 years, three years and one year. The chart also shows what exactly they are working on that will get them to their 10-year vision.
“It holds all of us accountable, including me!” Paul says.
The candor at Bulu Box works for them, and it’s a respectful choice that puts the employee first.
“At the end of the day, people really are all that matter,” Paul says. “We just want to put people in a position for success that creates wealth for the city. That’s what interests me, that’s what I want to do.”
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