Hiring: When to Bring Someone On
Owning a business is both fun and a lot of work at the same time.
From managing customers to building your brand to keeping your administrative work flowing, you are doing a great deal to keep your business thriving. It requires early mornings, long nights, and weekend hours. Even though it can be time consuming, you have a routine that works.
Humans are designed to establish a routine. It provides us with a sense of control, stability, and predictability which allows us to feel more prepared. In general, we crave routine. You have established one for your business. You’ve got a calendar that schedules out all of your time and even though it is hectic, you have managed to get it all done. But we often begin to feel the burden of doing it all ourselves. We don’t have time for family and friends or we are so involved with lose sight of the bigger picture.
As your business grows and you begin to take on more work, your routine and to-do lists might just suffocate you. Perhaps it is time to lighten the load and let someone else into your business.
Are you ready for a team?
A team can be a game changer for a small business. Having loyal, dedicated employees can continue to set a positive tone for the company and can help it expand in ways you never thought possible.
New people bring new ideas. Collaborative energy can help you and your team grow the company and establish more efficient workflows for client work, business promotion, personal growth, and administrative tasks.
It also might be nice to have someone to talk to. Entrepreneurs have many exciting opportunities but it does come at a cost and one of those costs is loneliness. A team would help assuage that feeling.
Adding a team member is a big deal and one that should take careful consideration.
Let these questions help you decide if a team is right for you and your business right now.
What type of work takes up most of your time?
Does that work contribute to the growth of your company?
Would a team allow for a better division of tasks?
How do you see your business growing?
What are your goals for your company?
Can a team help you achieve those goals?
These are some pretty big questions. They seek to get you to think deeply about the forward progress of your business and how a team either would or would not help in those endeavors.
For example, if you find that 50% of your day is bogged down in scheduling meetings, calendar prep, and note-taking perhaps hiring a virtual assistant to take those tasks off your plate and allow you more time for client facing work and business growth would be a good move.
But if your tasks are easily managed by just you, it might make sense to grow yourself and your brand as opposed to taking on the task of hiring and training new people.
Can you afford it?
You may really want to expand your business and bring new people on board, but you can’t do that without paying them.
Evaluate your finances:
How much money are you bringing in per month?
How much would you be able to offer a potential employee?
How many hours per week would you like them to work with you?
By looking at your business finances this way, you will be able to determine if you are financially ready to bring someone new into the picture.
A new employee is an investment, not only in compensating them for their work but also the time it takes to train them. The onboarding process is a huge financial and time investment. It requires you to dedicate more of your time to training them and getting them started which can add up to a big expense. Factoring in this process is huge when you are considering bringing an employee into the picture.
When does it make sense?
You should hire someone when:
Your day-to-day tasks aren’t helping your business move forward
Client work gets rushed or put aside because of administrative duties
Your goal is to grow the company in areas you are unfamiliar with
The company could turn a bigger profit with more hands on deck
The company is financially ready to take on an employee
You should not hire someone when:
Your workload is easily managed or there isn’t enough to keep your new hire busy,
Your finances aren’t stable enough
Your business goals can be accomplished alone
You may also want to consider hiring a consultant or someone to work on one specific project. This would temporarily lighten your work load, while providing fresh eyes to the project. You also may be able to outsource an hour or two of accounting per month to help get your bookkeeping in order.
There is no right way to grow a business. Maybe your business will grow by adding team members or maybe it will grow with your own personal development and ideas. By evaluating the needs of your business, you will be able to determine if hiring a team is the right move for you. We can sit down and look at your cash flow, weigh the benefits of hiring someone or just adding a partner such as an accountant to help. Schedule your call today.