How to hire for your business
Hiring in your business is something that can be really scary. A lot of people don't know where to start. Because of that, they actually hire for the wrong thing, or they hire the wrong person for the job they need done. These people usually end up having a horrible experience, and they swear off hiring thinking it will be easier to do everything on their own. They think that hiring will be too time consuming due to the hiring and training process. Those are the biggest pain points that I see from people who know they need support in their business. But they haven't made that leap to hire someone to start outsourcing. And for a lot of you, this is really holding you back in your business.
If you're a solopreneur forever, I respect that and that's totally something you can do. But, you need to know when something's got to give. And then when you identify this isn't working on the long term, that something needs to change, you need to know if hiring someone will solve your problems.
When should you hire?
The first thing I really want to talk about is figuring out when you're at the point of something's got to give. Is hiring the answer to that? Obviously, if you're to the point where you are working constantly, you feel indebted to your business, you don't feel supported by your business, you can't stop thinking about work, or you're kind of just dreading it: Congratulations, you have made your business into a job. That's not the purpose of building your own business. If you wanted to do that, you could just go out and get a 9-5 job, have the health care, have the benefits, have the dedicated vacation time and be done with it.
The whole point of starting a business is doing something that you really enjoy, and building a business that allows you to build the life that you want outside of your business. If you are unable to live a life outside of your business, you don't have a business, you have a job. So, if you are at that point, something's got to give, and it's pretty easy to identify that part of it.
Now, here’s what I really like to look at when I have people coming to me for a digital strategy intensive, or my coaching clients, and they're asking: “Okay, I know something's got to change, but I just don't know what it is. Do I need to outsource? Who do I hire? What do I need? Can I get away with not outsourcing? How do I even afford to outsource?”
Before Hiring: Track, Document, Audit.
First of all, if you have been following along at all, you know what I'm going to tell you; I'm going to tell you that you absolutely need to be tracking your time. Our memory and thoughts are lying to us a lot of time. Sometimes, you think that you don’t spend much time on that one task, but if you're tracking your time, you might realize that you’re actually spending more time on that task than you should. Because of funding so much of your time on it, you might even come to realize that you need to outsource this task. You could also realize that you're really not spending that much of your time on it, you just don't enjoy doing it, which is okay. Knowing how much time you're spending on tasks is key, because it's going to make it 10 times easier to identify what you need to outsource, and what you're really going to benefit from in terms of hiring. So, if you haven't already, start tracking your frick*n time people. It's going to give you such a wealth of information. It's so so worth it.
The other thing is, start documenting everything that you're doing. I don't care if you're going to outsource or if you're not, if you don't have things documented, you are going to get to that place where you say, “I don't have time. I need to hire, because I don't have time. But I don't have time to hire, because I don't have time to train.” So, start documenting all of your processes.
Whether you document in a Google Doc, whether you just record videos of you walking through how you do things, schedule a social media post, write, create a flyer, etc.; Walk through that process and document it. It’s going to allow whoever you hire, if you hire, to be more easily trained themselves. And even if you don't hire for that thing, you can look at it from a more objective point of view and decide to review, change, or tighten some of your processes.
After you start tracking your time, and after you've started to document everything, you're then going to look at every task that you're doing, and you're going to think, “Can this be systematized, or can we set up a better process around it? Can this be automated? Can this be outsourced?” It doesn't matter if you're not ready to outsource right now, you still want to go through all of your tasks and identify which of those three stages you’re at, or could it be more than one of those things? Maybe you need to set up a better system and process around it, and then outsource it.
You're going to find that there are some things that just need a system and process set up around it to go from something that takes you three hours down to one hour. Can you template something out? Can you start to duplicate it, and use what you've already done each time, instead of starting from scratch every time? Now that you are tracking your time, you know that thing that used to take you three hours is now only taking you one hour. You just freed up two hours of your time per week. Congratulations!
Next, you're going to look to see if there are any tools that you could utilize to automate your tasks. Those tools are often going to come with budgeting. But, guess what? Nine times out of ten, paying to automate something is going to be cheaper than outsourcing that task. And then, you're not reliant on a human being or managing a human being. So, that's the next thing you're going to look at; Do you need to tighten up your systems and processes around your tasks? Also, have you documented that process?
This new tool that you’re using to automate this process might cost a little bit out of your budget, but it's saving you five hours a week. The question is, “How could you reallocate that time that you're now saving to go out and get more clients and increase your revenue?” That increased revenue will then pay for that tool. Sometimes you're going to look at a process, and see that it can't be automated with the tool, but you might find that the process can be outsourced.
What I often look at when we’re wondering if we should outsource is, “Do I hate doing this thing?” Or, “If I hire out for this thing, is it going to save me a significant amount of time, so that I can go out and do lead generation and focus on a revenue generating activity?” Because that's another key: So many people just outsource whatever they think they don't want to do, or whatever they think they should outsource without thinking if this is a revenue generating activity that they are outsourcing. If it's not, are you reallocating your new found time to focus on revenue generating activity? Because, if you don't do that, you're going to hire someone, and you're going to immediately start to feel like your expenses are getting higher while your revenue isn't going up. Your profit margins will be too tight, and you won’t make enough money.
If you set unrealistic expectations on your new hire, it's not their fault. You might have hired them for something that's not a revenue generating activity. That's on you as the business owner-to go out and focus on those revenue generating activities with your newfound time.
You might as well say, “I just want to work less in my business so I'm going to go ahead and outsource these things, but they're not going to be revenue generating activities. I'm saving four hours a week by hiring this person. So, I'm going to take three of those hours and not work. Now, I'm working three hours less per week. One of those hours is going to be dedicated to revenue generating activities, so that we can not only pay for that person, but also increase the revenue.” These are all things that people don't often think about. These are all things that you need to look at in your business before you pull the trigger on hiring.
How to hire?
In terms of, “How do we hire? Who do we look for? How do we do that? Where do we find them? What do we ask them?” We're going to talk about that next. But, these are really the key questions you need to look at in your business, as a business owner with the business strategy.
Because you are tracking your time, you’ve identified what you need to outsource, and know about how many hours per week or month you need to outsource that task for. And you have documented the process and the system around that task, so that you can make it easier to onboard that person. Now, what the hell do you do?
Look at the tasks that you need to outsource for first. Look at how long that's been taking you. You're going to add a little bit of buffer onto that time, because at least just for the first few months, that person is going to take longer than you. See if there's a theme between those tasks. You might find that you actually need to hire two people for less time, because these tasks are so different. As an example, you might actually need to hire a social media manager, but also an admin person to help you with the client management.
You can totally hire different profiles for different posts, and then only hire them for the amount of time that thing takes. If you need a social media manager and a graphic designer, why do you need someone who's excellent at social media, and can also create all the graphics for your business? Hiring one person to cover all of your tasks in your business is actually dangerous. Because, if that person leaves or doesn't work out, you're in a really tough position. If you hired two people to do pretty specific things, you can cross train them a little bit.
When hiring, you don't want a unicorn. You want people who can do what you need them to do. It's all representing the same amount of hours. Don’t look for a unicorn that will spend five hours a week on social media, spend three hours a week on helping you with client management, and they're going to spend four hours a week on graphic design. Instead, hire someone to do that special license, someone to use social media five hours a week, hire someone else who specializes in client management and admin stuff for three hours a week, and hire someone else who specializes in graphic design to do that four hours a week. You're still only paying for a certain amount of hours. So many people do this when they're first hiring, and it’s insane. Because, guess what? That graphic designer person is going to have a higher hourly rate than my person who's just helping you with admin work. So, you're actually paying a higher rate for that admin work than you need to groundbreaking, but so many people who are just first starting to hire don't think about these things. And it's going to benefit you so much more to do these things, and be super specific about what you need from them.
This is going to make such a big difference for you. The likelihood that you're finding that unicorn, and they're great at all those things, at a price point that you want is rare. You're not setting yourself up for success by doing this. It's going to be hard to find that unicorn. So many people don't think about these things when first hiring. Why would they? They’ve never done it before. I just really care, because I think that people hire in a way that doesn't make sense. And then, they just write off ever getting support in their business, when getting support in their business is really what they need. They just haven't done it correctly.
The other question is, “Where do you find these people?” I am a huge fan of using referrals and Facebook groups. That is where I have found most of my team members. I think they're a really great source. Oftentimes, if you're in a Facebook group, you can actually post very specifically what you're looking for, and you can actually ask for recommendations from people. It's a great way to, at least, get a warm introduction to someone.
I don't typically look on Upwork and Fiverr. I like to tap into the existing network that I have with Facebook groups. I know a lot of people who use Upwork and Fiverr, and you can hire really affordable outsourcing there. What I would really look for with Upwork and Fiverr is identify a kind of a more specific project that someone can do for you to test them and see if it's a good fit. Then you can open it up for them to work with you longer term. So, that's what I would really suggest doing in terms of vetting them.
Sometimes, I get 1000 responses to my Facebook group, or 1000 responses on Upwork. Now, I don't want to go through all of those, because I don't have time for that. The key is to be super specific about the application process, and that can actually make people weed themselves out. In order to apply, have them email at a certain address, and they need to use a specific subject line. If someone comments on that Facebook group post, but they don't send you that email- great, you don't even have to think about them. Because, they obviously didn't take the two extra seconds that it took to read your post. If they send you an email, but it's not the specific subject line, you don't have to even pay attention that person, because they obviously can't follow directions. Ask them to send their availability, and ask them to send their rate. Some people won't submit their rate right away, and I think that's fair.
Typically, I will also ask for some examples of work, or more information about what they do. If they don't send those things, I don't even need to get on a call with them, because they obviously can't follow instructions either. All this usually will whittle it down to less than 10 people. Then I'm only reviewing 10 people. And from there, I usually only schedule 3-5 calls, maximum. I guarantee, you're not hiring for just anything. That's rocket science-more than one of those candidates is going to be a good fit. You don't need to get on calls with all of them, it's fine. If you get on those five calls, and you don't like any of those people, guess what? Now you can go out and schedule more calls with other people.
During my scheduled calls, I'm really getting a feel for the personality and the culture fit. I'm super clear on how I work, how my team works, and what my expectations are. I ask them if that seems okay for them. I typically ask, “what's their experience?” We will talk about their rates. At that point, we will go over how many hours a week I need, if there's specific hours I need them available for. We'll go over all of that during the call.
After the call, you can usually feel if the person is really good, or not so much. It's like a gut feeling. Just trust it. Then what we do, is we decide one person that we're going to hire, and we go ahead and let them know.
Typically, for the hire’s first month, I'll give less work than I actually need to outsource for them. So, if I'm looking at 20 hours a month, I'll do a test run for 10 hours this month. And I'll start to off-board things on to them to do a test run to make sure it is a good culture fit.
The key is to avoid putting all of your eggs in that basket. If it doesn't end up working out, set the expectation super clear from the get go. That's always going to be a huge benefit for you. And you've already systematized and set up processes around everything. Explain them how they can train themselves, and that you are available for questions after they've reviewed everything, because that's going to be really key.
If you have someone who's asking you questions that you've already answered in the documentation, that's a red flag. They need to go and look for it, the answer is there for them. And these are really things that are going to make hiring really seamless for you, and not a chore. I think this is something that a lot of people struggle with.
To sum up, we've gone over how to identify if you need to outsource, and if you need to set up systems and processes around something. Can you automate something? If you are going to outsource, what do you outsource for? How do you figure that out? And then once you've decided what you're going to outsource for, how many hours you need? How you go out and find that person. How do you interview that person to make sure it's good fit? How you make sure that they're getting onboarded without spending so much time on it.
I know that hiring can be super scary and overwhelming for a lot of people, especially if you're already an extremely busy business owner. But this is the way you do it. This is the way you get support. This is the way that you build a business that allows you to build the life that you really want to be living right outside of your business.
