Hard Truths about Building a Team in the UAE | Lara Geadah (Dubai PR Agency) | HR Sisters Podcast

Lara Geadah: I was only 23 when I opened my company. You need a lot more emotional intelligence, a lot more human skills.

Host: I didn't want to have anything to do with being an entrepreneur. But enough about me. What did you learn about building a team?

Lara Geadah: You can't expect them to work after six and give you the same level of energy. I was not a very nice boss.

Host: Out of the three things that you said, none of them are skills related.

Lara Geadah: Not your mom, I'm your boss. I can joke around, we can go out, we can have drinks, but when it's work, it's work. But there are financial repercussions. That's one of the things that has helped me. Stop saying that sentence over and over again. People leave, even if they stay with you for 10 years, they will leave one day. When I found my people, that's when I became successful.

Co-host: Now you're able to lead your organization rather than manage the people.

Lara Geadah: My motive, it's not to get the best work possible from this person, is to maintain that person within my company for as long as possible. It's not just a financial transaction thing. It's also like the human element. It's important. Yes, I see Power women.

Narrator: It's a wrap. Welcome to the HR Sisters Podcast season three. Today we're joined by Lara Gadea, founder of Cameo comms, one of UAE's most forward thinking PR agencies. What especially stood out to us about Lara's journey is how she intentionally built her business, challenging traditional PR models and focusing on something many overlook. Measurable impact through performance pr. This episode is all about Lara's story about how she built her business to last and even pivoted, uh, along the way. Because behind every brand story are real people making hard decisions that building and shaping how a business grows over time. So let's get started.

Host: Welcome to the HR Sisters Podcast season three.

Lara Geadah: Thank you for having me.

Host: Thank you for agreeing to do this for us.

Lara Geadah: I'm always down to do anything with you guys. You're always doing the funnest ideas, podcast videos. So I'm here for it.

Host: Oh, awesome. Yeah, we do try. Absolutely. So the first and most important question. How are you doing?

Lara Geadah: I'm doing well, you know, given the situation, very grateful to be in the uae. Um, you know, the government is doing a lot to make us feel as safe and as normal as possible. Sense of normalcy. Business is good. Of course, we lost a couple of clients. Uh, some projects are on pause, but we're going. Everything is great. So very grateful and happy.

Host: Amazing. We have a Cute origin story.

Narrator: I don't know if you know this.

Co-host: I actually, I'm very curious to know what this origin story is.

Host: Do you remember where we first met, Lara?

Lara Geadah: Oh, wow. Yes, I definitely remember. So we met through Zeno, right. Uh, we were both invited to speak on the radio. Uh, and we had him with us as well. That was how we met. But I feel like we were connected before that on LinkedIn.

Host: Were we?

Lara Geadah: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah, because I knew about you. I mean, it's my job to know everyone, right? Because I work in pr, so of course I knew about you. Uh, and I came on the radio and then we met in person there.

Co-host: Correct.

Lara Geadah: And then you became a client. Right? Um, and then, yeah, we stayed in touch.

Host: So, yeah, we originally met on the radio.

Co-host: On the radio for what, like, what was the discussion about?

Host: So it was, I think it was one of the morning shows.

Lara Geadah: Yeah, it was about, uh, new businesses, Right. Opening new businesses. And then Zeena was with us also. She was producing that show. Um, yeah, and we had Hiyam, um, with us, so a bunch of different startups and entrepreneurs. And we were talking about do's and don'ts and what to do and what not to do when you're incorporating at the beginning and not cutting costs, which is where you also come in.

Host: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And in fact, I remember from that session I spoke about something to do with recruitment and then you said you had a similar experience when you started your business on how you first hired your team. So tell us about that.

Lara Geadah: Yeah, so I started my business six years ago and when I first started, I really wanted to keep it as small as possible. I wasn't really thinking of growing the company too much. I wanted a lean approach and that was my vision from day one. Um, so I wanted to go about things in a very, uh, systematic way. I went through the normal routes, um, LinkedIn for hiring, uh, connections, all of that. Uh, I did not reach out to previous workspaces where I used to work. That is a very common method actually in marketing. You usually tend to work with people you've worked with before. I really wanted to start fresh, be honest. Even though I had, I left on very good terms, I did want to start fresh and I wanted to go about things in a very systematic way. And so I did that. Um, I'll be honest, there was a lot of trial and error. I did try working with a lot of different people, different personalities, and it was a journey, uh, self discovery journey. I learned a lot about myself and about people and about how to manage people. Because I was only 23 when I opened my company, so I was very young. And at that age, really, I feel like you need a lot more emotional intelligence, a lot more skills, uh, human skills. You need to have developed a lot more of these to open a company.

Host: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh, I think we need to, like, you whiz through that so quickly. And there's a lot to unpick. Right. First of all, congratulations for setting up your business at 23. That's incredible and, you know, really, uh, inspirational. I'm sure a lot of our audience will, will resonate with that.

Narrator: I wish I had the courage, I

Host: didn't even have the foresight to think of setting something up.

Co-host: You had a different plan at that time, right? When you were of that age?

Host: Yeah, absolutely. I didn't want to have anything to do with being an entrepreneur. But enough about me. More importantly, let's go back to the discovery. You know, what was your trial and error? What did you learn about building a team back from when you were that young? You're still very young, but, uh, younger.

Lara Geadah: So, you know, I've always been a very systematic and disciplined person. And, uh, sometimes when you embody certain characteristics, you expect that people, when they do work as well, they follow the same work ethic. But that's not the case. Especially if you're the entrepreneur here, you're the business owner, you're always going to give your full energy into something, but you can't have the same expectation of your employees. You can't expect them to work after six and to do the same level or give you the same level of energy and effort. And at 23, I don't think I realized that. It's like, why aren't you giving the same level of energy I'm giving? And now when I think back, I'm like, wow, I was not a very nice boss, you know. So, uh, looking back, I'm just kind of like, wow, yeah, I did have a lot to learn. But on a more serious note, I learned, um, I think I developed a stronger sense of understanding of what someone needs to grow, um, and trying to be more of a visionary when I think, uh, of people and when I hire them thinking how I can create a win win situation. So when I hire someone, I think, okay, how can I benefit this person not just in the next six months or 12 months, and not just financially, but also from a career perspective. How can I keep them motivated and interested in working with me? Um, thinking ahead two years, three years down the line, can I keep providing and being that anchor? Uh, so I think that's what changed mostly is like me thinking more in a future, uh, centric way. Because, you know, with agencies, pr, marketing, all of that, there's a huge turnover. Right. People always leave, especially in the creative industries. You know, they stick around for one, two years and then they want something higher, they go to the next place.

Host: Why is that? Like, why is that typical of the industry?

Lara Geadah: It's because creative people don't really like to stick around in one place for too long. They like a challenge. And because this is how you just make more money on the long run. You know, I mean, if you stick around, you're gonna get the 1k increase every year, 2k increase every year. But if you go from, if you're jumping right across industries, maybe it's 6K here and 7K here and, you know, 8K there. So it's, it's a faster way to progress your career. Um, and that also brings me back to my point of when I'm looking to hire someone, I also don't want them to be that financially driven. I want them to focus on other parts of their lives as well.

Host: Yeah.

Lara Geadah: Um, I always look for people who invest in themselves. So someone who's very well invested in their own journey, they want to, uh, upskill them. Um, they want to upskill, they want to learn new things. Uh, they always find a new hobby, they want to work on their minds, their bodies. I feel like these people not only resonate with me as a person and so we can understand each other and we can communicate better, but also they'll thrive in an environment like Cameo because it's an environment where flexibility is very much required of that person.

Co-host: Right.

Lara Geadah: And so a person who enjoys learning and pushing themselves, they'll really enjoy working with me because they'll be put in a situation where it's like every day is different. Right. One day we're, uh, handling, um, some client complaint, if they're account facing or client facing, and the next we're sending out a press release. So it's a lot of different things that they're going to be doing. So that flexibility is really important to me.

Co-host: Yeah, I think what you said was very interesting and I, um. Because each industry has different behaviors when it comes to talent, right? And your industry that you're, uh, part of, which is the pr, advertising, the creative space, and you have candidates that have a CV of like 2 years, 3 years turnover. If another industry saw that, they would not know what to do with this person. They would not be able to look past these short term assignments and be able to recruit. But I don't see that being your industry. It's a norm, right?

Host: Yeah.

Co-host: When you still get good talent despite jumping across.

Lara Geadah: Yeah. You have to read between the lines. You can't just look at the CV and what they've done. You have to look at how they behave and how they answer certain questions. It's always in between the lines and you can tell if a person is going to commit to you or if a person is going to back out at the first sign of a struggle or the first sign of an inconvenience.

Narrator: How.

Host: Tell us how you would. How you can.

Co-host: Everybody wants to know.

Host: Everyone's know. How do you tell?

Lara Geadah: It's experience, to be honest with you. It's like I've. I've worked with so many people by now and hired and fired and I'm someone who's, like I said, like, I'm very disciplined and I expect the same level of discipline. I'm not a micromanager. I'm someone who expects a job to be done at a certain time. I don't care if you finish by four, you can leave. But I mean, if it's not done, I. I need it. You know what I mean? And we gave our commitment to the client, so we need to send it.

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Host: So tell us about, um, like three things that you would look for, someone that you would hire, and then three things that you've learned from someone then and you've had to let them go.

Lara Geadah: Yeah. So the first thing I look for is flexibility. I say this in all my interviews. Like it's from the first couple of sentences. I'm very straightforward with the person. I'm going to need you to be flexible with me. Uh, like, um, PR can be, uh, a, um, ton of different things or it can be just sending out press releases. But if you really think about it, PR can also be posting on social media occasionally. It can also be a client asking you to take a couple of pictures of them, uh, when they're hosted in a podcast. I don't want someone coming and telling me, hey, I don't know how to take pictures. Because you can learn, you know what I mean? So that flexibility and not being too rigid in the sense that if someone asks you to do something and it's not in your jd, you're happy to do it because you want to learn how to do it, you're happy to do it. The second thing I look for is attitude. Like having a positive attitude. Someone who's positive m. Like that can do attitude. Right. Of course there are certain things people can't do. Right. I don't know how to do it. Something like that. Okay, fine, if you don't know how to do it, no problem. I'm going to teach you. But I don't want someone being like, very, um, pessimistic because I'm the opposite of that. Um, even when it comes to friendships, all of that, I know for sure that if I'm gonna work side by side with someone, I need that positive vibe. I need it.

Host: You need the right energy, right? Because ultimately you work with people. So if you're not feeling that positive energy, everybody feeds off it as well.

Co-host: Most of the time they feed off the entrepreneur who, because you have, you're looking at three people, but three people are looking at you. Right? So if you give that positive and you don't get it back, then that exchange doesn't happen. So, yeah, it makes total sense 100%.

Lara Geadah: And then the third thing is integrity. Um, I want to be able to trust the people I work with and I want to work with good people. Um, because in this industry it's very easy to cheat, to steal. You can, you know, it's all about the accounts and the relationship you have with the client. Right. And I wouldn't be here if I weren't able to establish these long term relationships with a lot of great clients that, trust me, I'm very thankful for that. But when I'm hiring people and putting them, uh, face to face with these clients. They're working directly with these clients. Uh, I'm also counting on them to send me something on time. I need to be able to trust them. And so trust and integrity are also very important. It takes you back to the human part. It's like having an eye reading between the lines and seeing are you really working with someone who's ethical. Um, so these things I, I never used to look at before when I was younger, I, I only looked at the skill set and how far someone is willing to push themselves. But I think I really do care about these more because I can teach skills. Right. Especially in pr, which is very, very much reliant on connections and contacts. I'm not looking to hire someone who has these connections because I have these connections. I want someone who can come and work with me and I'm happy to teach and guide and, and give, but I need that honesty and integrity. Otherwise there's no relationship.

Host: Yeah, that's so interesting. Right? Like out of the three things that you said, none of them are skills related. Everything is non skills related. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs can relate to that. Right. If we could find a formula to box this, to be able to assess this for candidates, that would be great. And so, you know, I think it's an important lesson as well for interviewers or hiring managers to look beyond the cv, look beyond the skills, and look at things like attitude, integrity, um, you know, being honest. And how would you, how would you assess this? Is it a gut feeling or is it something that you ask them?

Lara Geadah: So I think people reveal themselves within the first two, three months, right. Um, and it's usually in a note favorable situation. Like let's say a client comes back and she's unhappy with the work. Of course, people can sometimes be unreasonable, right? Um, anytime you're paying for something, you're going to have certain expectations. And some people can be, um, it's a graph, right? Some people are very reasonable, some others are not. And we're not always going to have the best clients. Sometimes we're going to have unreasonable requests. I want to see how the person deals with that. I want to see that they can hold their own ground. I don't want to work with kids, you know, and I say this sometimes, you know, I'm not a mom, I'm a boss. And I'm very kind as a person. So sometimes I can be taken advantage of in that sense. You know, I've had situations like that where it's like, oh, yeah, I mean, they'll do the same mistake over and over again, even though I voiced it one, two, three times. Uh, for example, showing up late, right? It's something you can control, you know? But I mean, it's something I say. Everyone laughs. You know, when I say it, it's like, come on, guys, I'm serious. I'm serious right now. You know, I'm not your mom. I'm your boss. Because I can. I can joke around. You know, I can. We can go out, we can have drinks. I'll call you babe. We can be friends. But when it's work, it's work. You know what I mean?

Host: I think we should turn that into a meme. Um, I'm not your mom. I'm your boss.

Lara Geadah: Yeah, everyone laughs every time I say it. You know, except for the person I'm saying it to. The other people on the morning call, they're laughing their ass off. You are. They like laughing. Uh, and so, yeah, I use it a lot because sometimes you're also working with people much younger than you. And so when they're much younger, it's like, oh, look, they want to push your boundaries. Oh, she didn't say something today. She didn't say something tomorrow. Let's try again the next day. Let's try the next day. No, it's a boundary at the end of the day. And so there are also systems we put in place to make sure that the lateness doesn't happen over and over again. I've worked also with, um, freelancer to help me with these new contracts, these new systems we can put in place so that we can make sure that this, um, isn't just a conversation or just something that you're trying to impose. No, it's something that legally, someone has signed on, and so there are financial repercussions. Um, that's one of the things that has helped me. Stop saying that sentence over and over again.

Host: And that's also really interesting, right, Because a lot of people, when they start, they don't put these things in writing. They just think a conversation would do. Like I've said it ten times. Um, so the importance of having documentation to get someone to sign a contract to. You know, people talk about employee handbooks, and, you know, sometimes we hear, well, no one's going to look at an employee handbook. But that's not true.

Co-host: That's not true.

Host: Actually, employees want clarity, not read from

Co-host: page to page, like page one to page 100. But that handbook has come in to use and referred to by, you know, so many in so many different ways. It's been sometimes a saving grace and sometimes a protection and sometimes just knowledge which gives, you know, the outcomes are like many of them, 100%.

Lara Geadah: And uh, I'm a core believer in this. We have a guideline for everything. And so for me, I'm a very systematic person. I think I mentioned this uh, already. So when um, uh, account manager will make a mistake, I don't shout, I don't scream, I'm a very composed person. But I say, yeah, look, we need to go back to the guideline sheet, go back to the guidelines, update the guidelines with this new thing that uh, we need to add. So for example, anytime you send out a press release, you need to check XYZ before the press release goes out. We cannot send out a press release before we have an approval in writing from the client that they're happy with the copy. We cannot do X, Y and Z before this happens. Anytime a new mistake happens, that guideline sheet is updated to make sure this mistake never happens.

Co-host: And again, that's a very good way of keeping that guidelines fresh and live as a live document.

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Host: yeah, as I think about it, I think a lot of companies do like these process documents, but they do it once and they never look at it again, they never refresh it. It's just uh, a one time exercise. And if you as the owner of the business or the leader doesn't actually refer back to that constantly, then your team is not going to take that seriously. Right. And these are important moments to reinforce how you do things and how you don't do things. You know, I think eventually this informs the culture of the business as well, which is what I'm hearing from you, that you're very systematic, you have very clear guidelines, you have things documented. Um, and you know, this, I'm sure has helped you to build a business that has lasted, yeah, 100%.

Lara Geadah: And let's be honest, people leave right at the end of the day. Um, no relationship lasts forever. People will leave at some point or another. Even if they stay with you for 10 years, they will leave one day. And so that handbook is going to, uh, come in very handy when you have it, when that person leaves. Because it's not like you're going to call up the person every day. That person has a life. And so these guidelines make it so much easier for you to replace, to bring in a new person, to train the new person. Um, so for me, I swear by

Co-host: these guidelines, I think what you're talking about is, in HR space, we talk about is knowledge retention. And by you updating these SOPs and the guidelines and so on, what you have created is, is structure in a creative environment. And that is, um, something that maybe is your competitive advantage as well.

Lara Geadah: Yeah, 100%. My vision for Cameo changed around a year and a half, two years ago when we launched Performance pr. My vision was to create the most efficient PR agency in the world. Right. PR can be very inefficient. It can get very inefficient in so many ways because you can spend hours coming up with ideas that you will never execute. You can spend days reworking things, you can spend so many times trying to pitch an angle and no editor is responding to you. So I've done so many things and I've invested in so many areas so that we can be as efficient as possible. Because for us, it's a volume game. So it's not about having that one high paying client and retaining them for 10 years. That's not our game. It's not our space aerospace is to work with as many clients as possible and to secure as much coverage as possible for these clients. We're almost doing only distribution by now. No strategy, no copy. Uh, even though we have the capacity to do that. But that's my vision for the company. And so we're working every day closely together to accomplish that vision. And so for us, processes really are very important because it's a volume game.

Host: Yeah. I think even from just our experience of working with Cameo, Right. We felt the efficiency of things moving, of updates, of responsiveness. And that was responsiveness.

Co-host: Definitely felt.

Host: Yeah. And that was a, uh, new refreshing experience for us as well. You know, we've worked with multiple vendors, but this level of responsiveness, uh, and we saw the results of, you know, we saw those. You reached out to us when we rebranded the podcast to the HR Sisters Podcast, you know, to even give us that insight. Like, look, you have something here that you need to talk about. Um, and you helped us put our own words into better words, if I may say so.

Lara Geadah: Thank you.

Narrator: Right.

Co-host: Yeah. It brought more meaning to the concept or the ideas that we had, which we were just rambling on to you and you took that and you made it so, you know, like, it came, came back as a bouquet of flowers as opposed to just a collection, a bunch of flowers.

Lara Geadah: Thank you so much.

Host: I, I remember when we actually read the copy that you first sent. We're like a. This feels like a human has written it. This feels like a human has listened to what we have to say. And I think it also came from a place that you actually understood where we were coming from. Because you're an entrepreneur yourself, right. You were a business owner and you led a team. So you understood the pain points that we solve for other entrepreneurs, for other business owners that have a team that don't have that want to do right by their team, but don't have the training, the skills, uh, or the time to attend to their people as much as they'd like to. And so you were able to take that from us and then articulate that back to us so beautifully. Uh, we were like high fiing ourselves when we got.

Co-host: You made us look cooler.

Lara Geadah: I'm so happy to hear that. Yeah, honestly, HR is so important. I mean, people are everything. Without the right people on your side, you can't do anything. I can't be going around, I can't be in a podcast right now filming. I can't be going around promoting my business if I didn't have a team I trusted, you know, so for me, it's like when I found my people, that's when I became successful. That's when I could actually comfortably, uh, work with clients and feel that I could confidently provide them a service that I was confident with. You know, it's all about confidence when you have the right people on your side. So HR is very important to keep these people happy, make sure they're attended to, make sure they're getting everything they need. Very crucial.

Co-host: What you're talking about is now you're able to lead your organization rather than manage the people because you've created structure, you've created, you know, you've set your expectations, you've documented that. So, you know, they are able to run with their guidance being already established. And now you can move to the next thing. And the next thing. Yeah. Something entrepreneurs are also trying to figure out. And you've probably shared that.

Host: Yeah. What's one decision, uh, that you made with regards to your people, let's say earlier on, that impacts you today, good or bad?

Lara Geadah: So, um, like any young entrepreneur, I was very ambitious. I wanted to grow and I Thought that if we were bigger than what was required, we could get more and more clients. And so I didn't want to go. I mean, I went on a path that was quite risky because the market here is not very stable. A client might cancel two months in, even though they've signed a one year contract. And come on, at the end of the day, you're not going to go to court and do all of these things, things. So they might cancel two months in. And I had so much of this happen. I had like a team of 10 people. Now we have like five people, ah, five, uh, that are full timers that work with us every single month and then the rest is freelance as and when is needed. But at the time we had a lot of, uh, employees. And for me it was so hard to sustain, especially because the relationship we had with these clients, the clients, they could leave anytime. There's no trust, there's no stability. And so in a market like this, I decided that, okay, I'm not, I'm going to pull back, I'm going to go to a lean approach. And this is also where the whole idea of performance PR came in. I thought, okay, with performance pr, it's a very efficient way of working with clients. Clients will not be paying as much as they would pay any other agency. But at the same time, I'm going to have a very lean approach and it's going to be very easy for me to scale back and scale up based on the business demand, um, while still having that attendance and still having that responsiveness that's very crucial for the clients. And so right now I have a setup that's perfect. It's a very lean approach. But at the same time, none of us are overbooked. I have time on my hands. My head of comms, my designer, my head of pr, we all have someone on our hands at any point in time to do maybe more, um, work as and when it comes in. So we have that. It's a lean approach, but at the same time it allows room for that responsiveness. It's not like in other agencies where sometimes it's like you're working on these big accounts and the account manager doesn't even have time for the client. You never get a response back. And they're paying two, three, four times the amount. So it's like I never wanted to put a client in that situation ever, ever, ever. Because that's what you're paying for at the end of the day is to work with a human.

Host: Yes, yes. I think in this day and age, that's so important. Right. I think, um, as much as we are in the age of AI, there's also businesses that want to speak to a human and get advice from a human or validate the advice they've got from AI as well. How do you think your leadership style has evolved over the years since you first started?

Lara Geadah: That's a really good question. Um, right now I'm a lot more, like I said, process oriented. So for me, of course I'm a kind person. I care about people a lot. I want to make sure their needs are met. So I do have that human element. Um, I focus a lot on, um, not micromanaging. So we have a morning call every morning. This is where I brief in the tasks and I follow up on previous tasks and then I let everyone be. Everyone is doing their thing. I don't micromanage. We don't even use the office anymore. Uh, our release expired and we're not renewing it because we don't want to use an office because no one likes to come to the office. Yeah.

Host: Really?

Lara Geadah: Yeah, including myself. Like, I despise it.

Host: Really?

Lara Geadah: I hate it.

Host: You should come to our office. We love coming into our office.

Lara Geadah: Really?

Host: Yeah, absolutely.

Lara Geadah: I really like to explore.

Host: I hope our team thinks so as well, by the way.

Co-host: I would say they do because I remember when we asked them to work remotely, it was raining, right? And instead of us, um, telling them like, work another day remotely, they're like, can we come to the office now? Not yet.

Host: Not yet.

Co-host: It's like, uh, it's boring out here.

Host: Can we go to the office?

Co-host: No.

Lara Geadah: Cuz some of our members, they live a bit far and so what happens is like, they don't want to waste too much time commuting. It's more relaxing for them. So, and for me, I like to be out and about. I like to go to different coffee shops. I'm a content creator. I'm creating content for my business. Every day I need different backdrops. It's just a very modern PR agency. You know, sometimes we're out in shoots for clients and so for us it makes more sense. So I brief in the tasks in the morning and then, um, I check in the next day. I make sure they're done. Um, my team sends me the tasks, I oversee everything, I make sure everything is okay. And then if anything is needed on an ad hoc basis, I'll call up my team members and I'll ask for something. Everyone is very responsive. So for me it's like I'm going to give you flexibility, I'm going to give you freedom. But when I need you on the spot, please be here, please be there. Um, I don't want people disappearing throughout the day. What's the purpose of having someone full time if they can be responsive? So m. I am very much someone who gives people freedom, gives people flexibility, all of that, as long as you deliver the work on time.

Host: Yeah. What do you think has helped you retain your best people over time?

Lara Geadah: Um, I think, of course the financial element is important, so you need to make sure you're giving an increase. And also I have very interesting financial structures, so I don't just rely on a base fee. I also do a per account fee. So when the business is more, um, when the business, when there's more business, the, ah, easiest way to say it, there's more money coming in for everyone, for myself and for the employees. And when there's less business, there's less money coming in for everyone as well. So they have a base salary and then they have an additional, um, specific percentage coming in for every, uh, account. And we call it a success fee fee. So once you've successfully. Yeah, once you've successfully completed this campaign, you get this amount.

Host: Amazing.

Narrator: Yeah, that's, that's very.

Co-host: I like that too, because it has a, like you said, the positiveness. Right. Comes right from it.

Lara Geadah: Yeah.

Co-host: And instead of a closing fee, which you could have called as well, it's

Lara Geadah: successful success fee 100. Because I also need people to get excited when we get a new client. I, I want to feel like we're all excited, we're all working together. We're a small business at the end of the day. So I need that positivity. I don't want people working when they're upset and stuff. It drops off on the rest of the people. So everyone needs to be happy and excited and toned up like, yeah, new client, let's do this.

Host: If you had to give your younger self advice, based on your experience of all these years, what advice would you give? Or if someone came to you, a new entrepreneur, what advice would you give them?

Lara Geadah: I would say take it easy. And you don't need to expect people to do perfect work. Network. It's okay if they submit an 80% job or 70% expand on that.

Host: That's really interesting because as you know, leaders and entrepreneurs and you obviously have like these high expectations. How can you be okay with 80%?

Lara Geadah: I'm okay with that because at, uh, the end of the day, you want to Keep people happy. Imagine you come into work and people always. Your boss always tells you, this is wrong. This is done like that. This is done like that. You know, you choose your battles. You pick your battles. You don't have to, um, expect the person to show up with a perfect job every single time. So I do a balance. Sometimes I'll train the person like, hey, this is how this is done. And then other times, I'll do the remaining 20 or the remaining 30 myself. It doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't take up too much of my time. And at the same time, it's something that. Okay, I understand. This person has already done 70% of the work. You know, glass half full. This is amazing. You know, um, and so I want to keep this person happy for as long as possible. That's my intention, my motive. It's not to get the best work possible from this person, is to maintain that person within my company for as long as possible.

Host: That's a great perspective, Lara.

Co-host: I feel like it's a mic drop moment.

Host: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Lara Geadah: It took me a while to learn this.

Co-host: You have to be reasonable with what your expectations are, and you actually get better over a period of time. Like the compounding m interest of swords.

Lara Geadah: Yeah. 100%. It's the best. It's a winning strategy. That's what it is. At the beginning, when I was younger, I really wanted perfection, and so I thought that I was helping people. When I would tell them exactly how to do it, I thought I was training them. But people, including myself, don't always want to be told, uh, do it like that. Do it like that. You know, people sometimes just want to be told, good job. You know, they have a million things apart from work on their plate, and so sometimes they just want someone to let it slide or to tell them, good job. This is perfect to take off of their plate. So for me, as an entrepreneur, getting people who are loyal to me and working with me full time, I'm more than happy to get 70% of the work done.

Host: That's very interesting. I love that. What else?

Lara Geadah: So this is my number one thing. The second is, like, take it easy. Right? You don't need to rush into, um, I mean, take it easy emotionally. Right. Because we get so worked up as entrepreneurs. Oh, but she's doing the same mistake twice and three times. It's easy to be like, so in the moment, and you're upset, like, why? Like the situation. I told you about how I sometimes tell them, I am your boss. I'm not your mom, it's easy to sometimes get upset, like, hey, why is this person doing the same mistake over and over again? And so this is actually where the process comes into place, is where you put this. Okay, listen, if you're going to be late every single day, there's that penalty that's going to be imposed on your contract. It's nothing personal. It's just a system I've put in place so that when these things happen, I don't need to be aggravated. Um, it's all legal, it's all fair.

Host: That's another really unique perspective, Lara. I love it. Because what happens here is then your employees are not taking it personal because you can almost assign it to the document. Like, this is the process, right? And when people are clear on the process, then you're not thinking, oh, Lara, is this to me today, like, no, it has nothing to do with Lara, this is the process. Um, and if I come late repeatedly, then this is how that would be addressed.

Co-host: And also, these things are already shared, right? So it's not like, oh, you know, suddenly this has been. Because then it seems like you're reacting and that reaction may be taken poorly, but here it is. Consequences are already being well established. Whether it is, uh, they go through a disciplinary of some other penalty, but it is all pre established, so the consequences are known to them. And that's where that employee communication comes through as well, that you've already told them. So when this happens, it helps avoid this happening for a very long time. But if it happens, you have your process to guide that.

Host: I think this applies literally in any situation. Right. If I'm thinking aloud right now, Imagine traveling and they tell you you have to be there by like three hours before the flight to check in, and you choose not to be there. There's a consequence that's been outlined to you. So then you don't reach there. Yeah, you don't, you don't reach. Then you're like, oh, this airline is being mean to me. No, it was very clearly documented. This is the expectation. And so when you have that expectation documented, it's just clear to everyone.

Co-host: And even the airline has something to fall back on. Right. We already told you that you have to be here within three hours. Uh, otherwise, you know, we cannot check you in. So you chose to ignore. Then you know, there are consequences 100%.

Host: It applies to every situation.

Lara Geadah: Every situation. Like, look at Dubai even. It's like with the fines, if you're driving too fast, I mean, you get a fine.

Host: Yeah, it's as simple as that.

Lara Geadah: Exactly. It's very simple. So now people don't want to go against the law because they don't want to go broke.

Co-host: Also, like, they want you to change behavior. I remember 10 years ago, uh, this story where Dubai police made an announcement. In fact, uae, uh, made an announcement that there'll be zero deaths on the roads. Okay. Zero fatalities. And most of them were skeptical about this vision that they had. But from that time to the driving standards that we experience now, there is so much difference. Because we've been here as long as, um, you know, as we have, we can see the driving behaviors change a lot. Same in Abu Dhabi, where they change the traffic rules. And they made it like people held accountable. It's not about fines. And for instance, in Abu Dhabi, they'll discount your fines. But it has bought a change in behavior. People are not just trying to avoid fines. They have become better drivers. Whether they figured it out for themselves or not. Gradually the behavior has improved. The, you know, um, the fatalities have gone, there are accidents, but there are not that many fatalities. Uh, so. Yeah, so they are, you know, there is a purpose and there's a method to doing this and you have implemented, uh, it. So well done.

Host: Are there, are there more where that comes from, Lara?

Lara Geadah: Yeah, I think I have a lot.

Host: Yeah, go for it.

Lara Geadah: These two are definitely the biggest ones.

Host: Give us, give us two more because I love it so much.

Lara Geadah: Uh, let's think so. I think one of the things I also started doing as I became older is. Yeah, like I said, like detach from the emotion. So try to think ahead. What is going to create this situation that's not very amicable and try to avoid it with contracts as such?

Host: Um, yeah, I think that's a really important one. You know, there's different ways you can look at it and all of it leads to the same thing. To say, have documentation to protect yourself, to protect the, the employees, and to provide clarity for everyone.

Lara Geadah: Yeah.

Co-host: And not to make. As entrepreneurs, we don't make emotional based decisions. Make rational decisions.

Lara Geadah: Exactly.

Co-host: And that documentation will help you in that moment when you're emotional to use rational. Yeah, rational. Rationality.

Host: Rational thinking.

Co-host: Rational thinking. There you go.

Lara Geadah: Exactly. To stay, to stay composed, you have

Co-host: to stay composed because you don't have to be reactive. It's. Your emotions are getting invested, your energy is, you know, being drained as well.

Lara Geadah: Yeah, exactly. You have to stay composed as much as possible. No one takes anything personally. It's just business. Yeah.

Host: I think as you're talking. Right. I'm trying to reflect on my own journey as an entrepreneur and I think those learnings resonate with me as well. You know, maybe three years ago if something didn't get delivered, I would just get so uh, not, not even upset, like anxious about it, you know, like why aren't they delivering? Um, and now physical, you know, viscerally. I used to feel it and now I've, you know, I'm like okay, 80% is done. Let's just nudge that 20%. It makes life so much easier for everyone. Like for me, I'm also not maybe the client from hell. Um, and everybody together does better work.

Lara Geadah: M 100%. Yeah. One more thing is like defining your non negotiables, right? What are the things that are your non negotiables when you're hiring? These things you can't go without based on prior experience. So you have to have a certain amount of self understanding what triggers me and what I'm okay with, what I'm not okay with. For me, I'm not okay with someone who's gonna disappear throughout the day. I think I already mentioned it. I need someone I can trust, I can rely on because there's. We don't work from the office and even if they were to work from the office, I don't want to go to an office and feel like I have to manage someone. So I have to be able to trust that person so that I can go and live my life during the day. I can go to whatever coffee shop, I can do my thing. So um, for me I define my non negotiables. One, I need an ethical person, someone who isn't going to uh, go slack off during the day just because I'm not sitting and watching them all day, you know. So that's like a non negotiable for me. A self driven person that understands and respects the fact that I'm an independent business owner and that I need them to show up and deliver a certain amount of work every day. And then the second thing is flexibility. That's a non negotiable for me. I can't have someone who's gonna tell me no. I only send out press releases. I cannot also uh, uh, do content for the client if the client asks me to, you know, or no, I can't at all. Also engage influencers like that. Flexibility and can do attitude is a non negotiable. So when I started hiring and firing, understanding what I really need, I started outlining my non negotiables from the first interview. So I don't waste anyone's time. These are my non negotiables. Are you sure you're okay with being flexible? I'm happy to pay you a little bit extra, but can you be flexible? And if I get that okay, and not just an okay, but I can feel in the energy that that person is very comfortable with it, then yes, I'm happy to proceed with the person.

Host: You know, in our previous. In the first episode of the season, um, the guest spoke about how he makes it abundantly clear to all of his team team that he's bringing on board to say, because we're a small business, there will be 70% of your job that is quite, for the most part defined, but 30% of it might be a bit of something else that is difficult to write on paper. But this is the nature of a small business, right? You have to be flexible to be able to take on other things and be okay with it. And if it's something that needs to be taught, we'll teach you. But we need that attitude to say, hey, I'm okay to do something more than what's written on only on my job description, 100%.

Lara Geadah: Um, that flexibility is something that's lacking right now, to be honest with you. M, it took me a while to find people who were flexible enough with me. And I've always had these conversations with people. It's like, yeah, I do expect you to be flexible. You're working in a small company and this will always be a small company. That's my vision for it, is to keep it lean. And so I need people who are flexible who are willing to do a bunch of different things, whether you're a designer who's happy to also learn how to make logos. Because I'm not the kind of person who's just going to throw stuff at you. I'm always going to be here to guide you, teach you to bring trainings on board to do all of these things. But you need to meet me halfway. It's a teamwork. So if I'm investing in you, I need to see that level of investment back. It's not just a financial transaction thing. It's also like the human element. It's important.

Host: And as a past client, Lara, we can tell you, you've achieved that. You have a wonderful team, you do great work.

Lara Geadah: Appreciate that.

Host: And my final question for you today is, where do people find you?

Lara Geadah: So they can find me on Instagram, um, Cameo comms. M. They can also find my personal on Instagram. Lara works in Dubai, uh, where I post a lot about work but in a more casual way, I would say. And also on LinkedIn. My full name, Laura Jada is on LinkedIn.

Host: Amazing. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, Lara. It was a pleasure. I feel like we should be applauding.

Narrator: Yay. It's a wrap. If you stayed with us till the end. Thank you. It really means a lot. But before you go, a small ask. Turns out that 86% of you watch but haven't subscribed yet. Subscribing helps us keep these conversations going and bring you more insights just like this. So please hit that subscribe button. If there's someone you'd love for us to feature on the podcast, drop their name in the comments below. And if you're a founder with a story of building something that's lasted, we'd love to hear from you too. Thank you again and see you in the next episode.