The Importance of Specialists in Team Success

Your Marketing Team Can’t Do It All Ever heard this before? “We just need one marketing person to handle everything.” Emails, SEO, social media, content, ads, analytics, branding, design… ALL of it. Sounds familiar? If you’re a marketer, you’ve probably been that one-person marketing department at some point. But here’s the truth (and why businesses get stuck): 👉 Marketing isn’t one job. It’s a collection of highly specialized skills. 👉 One person can’t be an expert at everything. 👉 Lack of expertise = lost revenue, wasted efforts, and stalled growth. What Clients Actually Expect from Marketing Teams 🎯 🔹 They want content that converts… but that takes expert copywriting. 🔹 They want better rankings… but SEO requires deep technical knowledge. 🔹 They want high-performing ads… but media buying is a science. 🔹 They want engaging social media… but trends change daily. 🔹 They want data-driven decisions… but analytics is a different skill set. One person? Handling ALL of that? It’s an impossible ask. The Opportunity: Build, Upskill & Specialize 💥 For Companies: Stop treating marketing as a “one-person show.” Instead: ✅ Invest in specialists or fractional experts for high-impact areas. ✅ Use automation to reduce workload & focus on strategic efforts. ✅ Encourage team collaboration instead of overwhelming individuals. 💥 For Marketers: If you’re that “do-it-all” person, it’s time to level up! ✅ Find your niche—SEO, Paid Ads, Growth, Content… what’s your strength? ✅ Upskill & stay ahead of trends. AI & automation are shifting the game. ✅ Position yourself as an expert, not just a generalist. Here is One of My Case Study: How Specialization 10X’ed Results. A startup I worked with struggled because their “marketing manager” handled everything. The result? ❌ Low engagement ❌ Poor ad performance ❌ SEO barely moving The Fix? ✅ We split roles into specialized areas: → A performance marketer to optimize paid campaigns → A content strategist to drive organic growth → An SEO expert to fix technical issues Result? In 6 months, they saw a 3X increase in traffic & 2.5X lead conversions. The Takeaway Marketing isn’t a one-person job anymore. It’s time to scale smartly, invest in expertise, and empower your team. 💬 What’s one skill you think every marketing team should specialize in? Drop it in the comments! ⬇️🚀

I get asked all the time how I build strong systems in remote markets. As I continue to scale, many of my new acquisitions are hours away from my home base. So, here’s the playbook. When you take over a property, your standards need to be rock-solid, no matter where you are. One way we ensure this is by bringing our *A-team* along. For instance, if we’re diving into some serious rehabs, we’re bringing in our top rehab crew. A few months in, those same pros start training other teams, so by the end of 3-6 months, we’ve got a new rockstar crew ready to roll—Team 1 and Team 2, both crushing it. Training and development are non-negotiable if you want to uphold world-class standards across the board. We replicate this approach in every area of the business. As we continue to grow, we need fresh talent. These new hires train with our best and most experienced, learning the ropes and embracing our core values. And the cycle continues for each takeover. The best part? We keep 70-80% of the work centralized at our home office, thanks to technology and AI. We don’t need a huge staff to maintain high standards through our processes. I’m all about specialists—every team member is responsible for 1-2 things they excel at. Specialists are more efficient and effective across all markets compared to having one property manager on-site juggling 20 different tasks. For us, we need a certain unit count for our employees to do less things (aka, being specialized in their role). This is where economy of scale is key. It lets us allocate payroll strategically, ensuring our teams can execute at a high level within any territory. Building strong systems in remote markets means setting high standards, using specialist teams, leveraging tech, and scaling strategically to keep performance top-notch everywhere.

Think about what happens in a hospital when a complex case arrives. The emergency department handles the immediate situation, knowing exactly when to bring in specialists. They start with their core team and nurses to establish patient history. Then, as needed, they bring in a trauma surgeon for critical procedures, an anesthesiologist for pain management, and department specialists for targeted interventions. Everyone works together, with defined responsibilities. This is precisely how modern organizations should work with specialists: bring in targeted expertise for critical challenges while your core teams maintain broader operations and provide the crucial context for success. This is what excellence looks like in a blended workforce: Clear roles, clear ownership, shared success. I saw this play out recently when a company's payroll team faced a perfect storm: new technology implementation during an unprecedented surge in their peak season. Their core team kept daily operations running while specialists drove the tech transition. The result? The new system launched successfully, payroll continued without disruption, and the core team emerged stronger. At Workerbee, we're helping organizations achieve this clarity and impact through the power of blended teams. How are you balancing your core team's mission with specialist expertise? Let's discuss below. #FutureOfWork #BlendedTeams #WorkforceStrategy #WorkforceRevolution

Don’t Over-Leverage Yourself or Your Team Overloading yourself—or depending too heavily on one person—is a recipe for inefficiency and risk. When you spread resources too thin or expect one individual to juggle too much, it creates dependency. If that person leaves or falters, you’re left scrambling to fill the gap. The solution? Specialization. Focus on one area of expertise and work with specialists who excel at theirs. Build a network of skilled professionals, each dedicated to their specialty. This not only improves quality and efficiency but also creates redundancy—ensuring you’re never reliant on a single point of failure. Work smarter by building a strong, diversified team. Your future self will thank you.

Your team isn't bad at their job. They're doing too many jobs. The "we all wear many hats" approach sounds resourceful. In reality, it's inefficient and expensive. Here's what happens: → Your designer spends 3 hours writing copy (that a copywriter would nail in 45 minutes) → Your copywriter spends 2 hours on project management (poorly) → Your project manager tries to do client strategy (and confuses everyone) Result: Everyone's working hard, nothing's getting done well. This isn't teamwork. It's organizational chaos. The fix isn't more training. It's better role design. Define clear specializations: - Person A owns X completely - Person B owns Y completely - Clear handoffs between specialties - No overlap, no confusion We've hired 94+ people in Latin America. The most successful agencies give people one core responsibility and let them master it. The struggling ones have "versatile" team members who are mediocre at everything. Specialists outperform generalists. Especially when you can afford to hire enough specialists. Focus beats versatility. Every time. --- ♻️ Share this to help someone focus their team. 💡 Follow Brian O'Connor for more on hiring to scale your teams. --- 👋 P.S. Whenever you want your hiring done for you, click "book an appointment" on this post or on my profile

The Non-Obvious Truth About What REALLY Drives Financial Advisor Productivity Just wrapped up another eye-opening session at Future Proof City Wide in Miami Beach where Michael Kitces dropped some surprising research bombs about advisor team productivity that contradicts much of what we've been told for years. As firms frantically invest in technology to boost productivity, Kitces' data suggests we might be focusing on the wrong things entirely. Here's what stood out from his "Optimizing Advisory Teams for Peak Productivity" presentation: 🔍 The typical advisor spends only 60% of their time on client-facing activities, with the remaining 40% consumed by admin, investment management, and internal meetings (I've verified similar numbers with our consulting clients) 📊 Contrary to popular belief, advisors at larger firms aren't necessarily more productive - Kitces.com research shows solo practitioners often manage similar AUM per advisor as enterprise firms 💼 Technology adoption doesn't automatically translate to productivity gains - firms with more tech tools sometimes show LOWER productivity (this is going to be a tough pill to swallow for many #wealthtech vendors I know) 💡 Team specialization drives better outcomes than adding more generalists - firms with specialized roles showed 15-20% higher productivity metrics than those with similar-sized teams of generalists ⚠️ The "middle stage" growth trap is real - practices with 3-5 team members often hit efficiency walls that aren't overcome until reaching 8+ team members (I've observed this countless times with mid-sized #RIA clients) The implications for wealth management are significant. As the industry continues its consolidation march, firms may need to reconsider how they structure teams rather than simply adding headcount or technology. The most successful firms aren't necessarily those with the most advanced tech stacks, but those who've thoughtfully designed their human capital strategy with clear specialization paths. This research challenges the conventional wisdom that technology adoption is the primary driver of advisory firm efficiency. Instead, it suggests that organizational design and human capital decisions may be the more critical factors in creating sustainable productivity improvements across wealth management firms of all sizes. #wealthmanagement #financialadvisors #financialplanning #technology #FutureProof

Key to Unlocking Profits and Growth 💡 Talent Transtion! What yes! Picture this A close-knit crew guiding a startup to initial success. They're all-rounders, wearing multiple hats. Now, as you cross the $3M mark, this approach can become a limitation. It certainly will by the time you get to $12M. Highlighting the need for specialized skills is vital. Transitioning talent means more than adding jobs; it's about strategically infusing expertise. For example, a company I helped had hit a growth plateau. They were operating on an "all-hands-on-deck" model. Bringing in specialists for finance, logistics, data analytics, and customer service enabled them to refine operations and boost profit margins. This strategic move ushered in a new era of growth, making their business more attractive for future growth or exit opportunities. Cultivating leadership that recognizes the need for specialized roles is also crucial. Leaders must be proactive, creating an environment where new expertise can thrive without losing the essence that made the company successful. Is your leadership team prepared to transition talent for sustainable growth and freedom to innovate?

modern rules for modern teams: 1) feedback loops: faster feedback builds better teams, results, and trust. create environments where everyone is direct, clear, and you iterate quick. 2) conflict in the beginning is ALWAYS good: people overestimate their ability to manage + work with others. conflict = opportunities to figure out gaps in working relationships. early fights show you where roles blur and assumptions clash. 3) specialists > generalists when building out a team: deep expertise beats broad knowledge. great specialists cost more but deliver exponentially better results. they become force multipliers when you start to scale. 4) de-centralize decision making: good specialists also leads to quicker decisions + output. they're closest to the problems and know their domain best. no bottlenecks means faster execution. trust expertise over hierarchy. 5) build systems, not heroes: a one-man show is only good for so long. systems that are plug and play and even the average hire could carry out win long-term. good systems scale. they don't break when stars leave. anyone can learn them.

A Lesson from Stephen Nedoroscik The other night, during the Men’s Gymnastics Olympic Finals, Stephen Nedoroscik showed us what it means to focus on one thing and excel. Sitting calmly on the sidelines, glasses on, jacket zipped, he looked like just another spectator. But then came the moment—Stephen stood up, took off his jacket and glasses, and walked over to the pommel horse with a purpose. It felt like a Clark Kent transformation. And when he took his turn, he delivered a flawless routine that secured Team USA’s first Olympic medal in 16 years. Stephen’s focus on mastering the pommel horse, rather than trying to be a jack of all trades, highlights an essential lesson: specialization can lead to extraordinary results. In a world that often pressures us to be good at everything, Stephen’s journey reminds us that honing one skill can make all the difference. As leaders, it’s a powerful reminder to encourage our teams to develop and excel in their unique strengths. It’s not about spreading thin across multiple skills but mastering one that can make a significant impact. So, what’s your pommel horse? How are you focusing your energy on what you do best, and how are you supporting your team in their areas of expertise? P.S. It’s not just about having a range of skills; it’s about knowing when and where to apply your strengths. Stephen Nedoroscik showed us that sometimes, focusing on one thing can lead to extraordinary results. Let’s celebrate the specialists who make a difference!