Day: August 3, 2025

• CEO Eli Rubel has founded multiple companies and said he’s conducted around 500 interviews.
• Rubel shares his interview strategy and how he landed on “what gives you energy and what takes it away?”
• He said the way candidates respond is almost always directly related to what he sees in performance.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eli Rubel, a 37-year-old Denver-based serial entrepreneur and CEO of Profit Labs. His identification has been verified by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

At any given time, I employ between 40 and 50 people on a full-time basis. I’ve probably interviewed around 500 people.

I created my first company, an enterprise contract management software in 2010, and sold that business in 2014.

Next, I bought a commerce business, spent four years turning it around, and sold it. Then, in 2019 I started a marketing agency called Matter Made, and in 2022, I started a second agency called No Boring Design. Today I still own both of those businesses but I have talented leaders run them. I just started a third agency called Profit Labs, which is a bookkeeping and accounting firm for agency owners.

It took a lot of reps to figure out what felt like a genuine interview process for me. Now, I can trace every one of my best and worst hires back to this single interview question.

My go-to interview question has evolved

Originally I used to ask candidates, “have you heard of the zones of genius?” Most people hadn’t heard of it at the time. I think it’s more popular now and it’s the concept that everybody has a zone of excellence, competence, and incompetence. So I would ask them “Can you walk me through your zones?”

I discovered that the problem with the zone of genius question was that if you say zone of incompetence, people are on the defensive. They may think that they need to be careful about what they say because they’re in an interview.

It’s still one of my favorite questions but it evolved into the question that I eventually got to, which is, “what gives you energy and what takes away energy in a working environment?”

People tend to answer the question honestly

That one question has made or saved me more money than any ATS or hiring tool I’ve ever used.

When it’s framed like that, it feels like you’re an ally by asking the question. It’s kind of like, “hey, I’m here to protect you from the things that don’t that take away your energy.” So I think people are just much more at ease and authentic when they answer the question.

There is no right or wrong answer because ultimately I’m looking to figure out if this person is going to be well-aligned for the role. I don’t want them to be a bad fit just as much as they don’t want to be.

For example, if they’re interviewing for a facing account manager role and they answer the question by saying, “I love dealing with people and that gives me energy, and what takes it away is when a client pushes back on an idea that I share,” that would be a huge flag for me.

That tells me this person is not right for an account manager role because they’re going to get their ideas shot down all the time. It’s a red flag as it relates to this role, but it’s not a bad thing in general.

Maybe there’s another role that is better for them, though. If I know what their skill set is, I can find a place for them where they’re not pitching ideas to clients that are going to get shot down, but they can still leverage their skill of dealing with people.

It’s almost always the case that whatever they responded to the question is directly related to what I later see in manager feedback or in performance reviews.

• Keeping track of family activities and appointments is a big task when you have four kids.
• Frustrated with my family’s disorganization, I implemented weekly family meetings.
• We go over schedules, determine rides, dole out allowances, and more at these hourlong meetings.

A few months ago, I was standing in the kitchen talking to one of my kids. Within 90 seconds, my other three kids and husband meandered in and started asking me more questions.

All at once, I had five voices hurling questions and requests at me. One wanted a ride to an extracurricular activity. Another asked when their dentist appointment was. Someone else was hungry.

I’d had enough.

We were all fed up with communication issues, last-minute requests and reminders, and overall disorganization. That’s when it dawned on me that we needed to have a sit-down, weekly family meeting.

For some, I’m sure this sounds too formal and constricting. However, before our weekly family meetings, we were always scrambling and rushing to get someone where they needed to be with everything they needed, like sports gear or snacks. Now, those stresses don’t exist. It has been a life-altering change for us.

These days, we meet every Saturday for about an hour (or as long as it takes) to discuss schedules, plans, requests, chores, and anything else that needs addressing. Here’s what we prioritize at our meetings.

Syncing schedules is our main goal

The No. 1 reason we started having family meetings was to discuss our plans for the coming week. Each family member has an electronic or paper planner that they bring to the meeting.

When we gather, each family member takes time to share what they have on tap for the upcoming week. This includes appointments, sports practices, games, meetings, and any social events that occur outside of school or working hours.

Each person is responsible for recording what’s shared to their own planner to prevent any “I didn’t know that was happening today!” moments. My husband and I are also able to determine right then and there who’s-taking-whom-where-and-when, as everyone presents their activities.

This is also a time to make special requests

We have two teens, a preteen, and a fourth kiddo who is almost a tween. When we have our family meeting, they each get a turn to share what they need for the upcoming week and ask permission for anything else they’d like to do, such as attend a social event, like a swimming party or movie night. When we negotiate rides, we also agree on pickup and drop-off times.

Sometimes they use this time to request that we grab a certain snack from the grocery store for them to share with friends, or if they need more of a particular school supply. We’re then able to immediately add that item, virtually, to our online shopping cart so we don’t forget about it.

This is when our kids get their allowance

Once a month, at our family meeting, we give the kids their allowance. We usually do this at our first meeting of the month, and it is up to them to make sure the money lasts the next few weeks.

This time also allows us to address any questions or requests they have at that moment, such as asking what they’re responsible for paying versus us.

They also might”pay up” for anything they owe another person, such as when a sibling loans them money or when someone might take on someone else’s chores in exchange for a few dollars.

We also have check-ins and make announcements

At our meeting, each person also gets time to share how they are doing, what they are looking forward to, and what they need help with.

For my kids, this often means talking about academics, such as any areas of struggle that may require some tutoring support. Each can also share any announcements they have that pertain to the group. I shared my new teaching job with my kids at our last meeting.

The meetings have taught my kids how to negotiate

Our meetings often operate as a “suggestion box” for our crew. For example, we recently brought home a new dog, and we were struggling to name him. We passed around a paper at this meeting, allowing each person to write down the top three dog names they wanted considered. (I am sad to report that we have yet to name the dog, but we are trying!)

This is also the time when the kids may bring up a struggle they’re having within the household, which often has to do with chores or rules. We are able to discuss these issues as a family and make adjustments as needed.