Hi there!

My name is Ben Burns. I’m a designer, creative director, and maker.

I started my business to take control of my day. Then I spent years working for it instead.

Sound familiar?

Every project runs through you. Nothing ships unless you push it. Your income is capped by the hours you can personally work. Nights and weekends have quietly become the norm. If you took a week off, the whole thing would stall.

And the creative work... the stuff you actually started this business to do? You can’t remember the last time you had space for it. You’re always in production.

At some point every creative founder hits the same wall: you can’t do more without doing less. And to do less, you have to let go.

That’s harder than it sounds. Hire too early and you’ve bought yourself an expensive hobby. Hire for the wrong thing and you end up working for your employee. Hand things off without clarity and they come right back to you, half done.

The art of leading is the art of letting go. Most of us were never taught how.

What this is

Scale Your Team is the workshop I taught at last year’s Maker Division retreat in Las Vegas. It was built for a small group of members who flew in for it. This is the first time it’s been opened up to everyone.

It is not a hiring pep talk. It’s a working session on the three decisions that actually matter: what to take off your plate, when you can afford to, and how to hand it off so it stays off.

You’ll leave with a filled-in set of worksheets, a hiring decision you can defend with your own numbers, and a brief you could hand to your first hire (or your current contractor) tomorrow morning.

Two live sessions, two weeks apart, then a recorded third part where we crunch your numbers with a team in the picture. The gap between sessions is the point. You can’t make a good hiring decision from a feeling, so we’re going to get you some data first.

Here’s what we work through on the 17th:

• Time inventory. Where your hours really went. Where you’re overspending. What you skipped.
• Hat Racks. Every hat you wear, sorted into what you’re great at, what you suck at, what’s blocking revenue, and what you refuse to give up.
• Hiring traps. The three hires creative founders make too early, and why.
• The Hiring Flowchart. Run your tasks through it and land on kill, delay, systemize, delegate, or hire.
• The Hiring Readiness Framework. A four-step staircase (reduce the work, prove demand, gauge bandwidth, check the money) that tells you yes or no.
• How to lead. The spectrum from monopolizing everything to abdicating everything, and the middle where teams actually get faster.
• The Delegation Canvas. Pick one task that drains you, write the brief, then practice handing it off to a partner in a live role play.
• Role Scorecard. Turn your canvases into a real role, with a job listing you can post.

Then Part Three, Profit with a Team, lands the week after: margin, capacity, utilization, and the one number that tells you how much hire you can afford. Watch it with your own numbers open and the two spreadsheets in front of you.

You’ll go home with eight worksheets, including the two Google Sheets, and a 30-day replay of both live sessions and Part Three.

A quick word on the price

It’s higher than our other workshops. This isn’t a two-hour webinar. It’s two live sessions, five hours with me on Zoom, a recorded session where we crunch your numbers with a team in the picture, and eight worksheets, including the two spreadsheets I use to run the numbers on my own team. It costs $499. This weekend it’s $399, because you’re the first group outside the retreat to get it.

Why me

I grew a design studio in a brand new city from zero to a team of five. I’ve led creative teams inside agencies. And I’ve made just about every hiring mistake there is to make along the way.

I remember being terrified at the thought of hiring someone. I remember my first hire. I remember handing off half a task and then redoing the whole thing myself at 11PM because it was “faster.” I remember hiring for a shiny new service I hadn’t sold yet and watching the money go out the door.

I also remember the first retainer where the math finally worked: a designer costing me $1,600 a month on a client paying $2,000. Four hundred bucks of profit. Not much... until I realized that client was only using half his time. That’s when a team stopped being an expense and started being a business.

None of this is theory. It’s the stuff I wish somebody had sat me down and explained before I signed my first offer letter. So that’s what we’re going to do.

Grab a seat before Monday night.

See you inside,

Ben Burns
Co-Founder
Maker Division

Questions you probably have

I don’t have a team yet. Is this too early for me?

Nope. Most folks who sign up won’t have one. Half of this workshop is figuring out whether you should hire at all, and what to do instead if the answer is not yet. Showing up before you hire is the whole idea.

I already have contractors. Will this still help?

Yes. If you’ve ever handed something off and had it boomerang back, the delegation half of the day is for you.

Who is this not for?

Anyone who wants a bigger team so they look bigger. Headcount is not the goal here. Anyone who thinks hiring will fix their pricing. It won’t. If you want to charge more, charge more. And anyone running a team of ten who needs an HR department. Different workshop.

When does this start?

• Tuesday, November 3, 11AM to 12PM ET: Part One, the live kickoff
• Tuesday, November 17, 11AM to 3PM ET: Part Two, the live workshop
• The week after: Part Three, Profit with a Team, recorded

Both live sessions are recorded. The replays and Part Three stay in your account for 30 days.

What if I can’t make it live?

You’ll get the replay of both live sessions in your account for 30 days, along with Part Three. That said, the live role plays are where this clicks, so come if you can.

How much homework is it?

About five minutes a day for one week. You log where your time goes and bring the totals on the 17th. Skip it and you’ll still learn plenty. You just won’t have your own numbers to work from.

What exactly am I getting?

Two live sessions with Ben, five hours on Zoom. Eight worksheets, including the two Google Sheets: Financial Fundamentals: Team Edition and Project Profitability. Part Three, Profit with a Team, a recorded session where you crunch your numbers with a team in the picture. A 30-day replay of all of it. The worksheets and sheets are downloads, so those are yours for good.

Is this financial advice?

No. None of this is financial advice and it shouldn’t be treated as any. I’m a guy on the internet who has run creative teams, not a financial advisor, and everything here is for educational purposes only. Before you make a big money move, talk to a pro.

Do you offer refunds?

Because this includes immediate access to your account and community, we don’t offer refunds. That said, if something feels off, reach out. We’ll always do our best to make it right.

I’m already a Division member. How do I get in?

Head to the Announcement channel in the community for your link.

I have a question that’s not answered here.

Send an email to support@makerdivision.com and we’ll be happy to help. All we ask is for patience getting back to you over the weekend.