Shawn Lovejoy, formerly a real estate agent from St. Clair County, has self-published his own book “Building a Killer Team: Without Killing Yourself or Your Team.”

The local author shared his background and final product at the Rotary Club meeting on Tuesday. In his book, he shares the pillars of success that he says will help an organization begin to grow as it expands out through personal workplace relationships.

Lovejoy left the real estate business to work in ministry.

“I always felt like a business guy trapped in a pastor’s body. and churches are known for being really good on Sundays, at least above average on Sundays and really bad with their business practices between Sundays.”

Lovejoy says he made it his mission to help churches improve their businesses practices to be more successful. Eventually, he decided to hand off the church he had built and went full-time into consulting with churches and businesses.

He says he loves doing it because he has a team spread across the United States dedicated to the passion of a business he fell in love with. It aligns with a love he already had for business after working at Lovejoy Realty.

“I get to play in the family business and develop some of my own,” said Lovejoy.

Lovejoy says he consults for a $9 billion dollar a year company out of Manhattan.

“We help leaders and their teams grow stronger and faster through our Gears of Growth framework by walking alongside the team.”

Lovejoy has studied organizational growth over the last 20 years and said most often he sees businesses fail because of a lack in organizational health. He says a lot of that starts by making sure the company doesn’t have a toxic culture in interpersonal relationships.

“You got to have a great culture, you got to have a great team. and you got to have systems that you work ruthlessly and relentlessly,” said Lovejoy.

His previous book, “Measuring Success,” he explained the importance and impact of relationships within a company, something he believes is the element people are most likely to be proud of as time goes on.

“It’ll be the people you’ve reproduced yourself into,” said Lovejoy.

A lot of his own personal success has come from imagining running his business daily to be ready to hand off to the next owner.

“If you build it as if you’re going to exit it, it all won’t rest on your shoulders. You’ll build a framework, processes and good systems, and you’ll be forced to build a team and scale it. The company will be less fragile,” said Lovejoy.

“Building a Killer Team: Without Killing Yourself or Your Team” can be ordered at www.killerteambook.net.