Published:
01/03/2014 04:07am
You Are Not Alone
As we move through this holiday season, there's a lot to do. Juggling family expectations, events with friends, and keeping your business shipshape can start to feel overwhelming.
And it's not only this time of year. Any business that is growing is also changing. That can start to feel like a lot for one entrepreneur to handle.
The good news is, you don't have to do it alone.
One of the best assets you can have in your business is a great team.
Adding the expertise and energy of new people to your business allows you to expand your scope, and frees you up to do the work you are great at. Getting the help you need to do the day-to-day tasks also lets you step back a little and focus on the bigger picture.
This doesn't mean that you have to enter into hiring in a huge way, renting office space to house them, worrying about covering salaries.
The awesome presence of the internet has allowed business owners everywhere to access team members all over the world. So, no need for the ongoing fixed expense of bricks and mortar to come into the picture unless that is what you want for your business.
You also don't need salary to enter the picture. With virtual almost-everything out there in the world, you can have access to a wide array of experienced and motivated people who can offer their unique genius work to complement yours and to add to the blend that is your business.
Each of them can be hired on a contract basis for a specific project to complete a particular aspect. That frees up your capital and frees them up to accept other work.
Still, spending money can feel like an obstacle to hiring. One way to look at hiring contract folk and the cost associated with that is to compare what you could be doing with that freed up time.
If you hire someone to do website programming, you could be spending that hour on income-generating work like marketing to move a client from prospective to paying, preparing a presentation, or working on a project.
Plus, you are likely to be paid at a much higher rate than the person you are hiring.
To give you a household example (and I highly advocate this approach too), if you hire someone to clean your house for $40 an hour, and you spend that hour generating income at your hourly rate of $100 an hour, you have just earned yourself $60 by not cleaning, and by doing your best work. Plus, you've supported someone else in their business.
It's an all-around win situation.
When you start to look at the numbers of hiring, it can be tempting to try to get away with paying as little as possible. Don't do it. It's unfair to the person you are hiring, and you are supporting them in being less than who they can be. You are also saying that you don't value the full extent of what they are offering.
Pay a fair fee, and know that you are living in an abundant universe. By your actions, you make it so.
To make this process of bringing on new people to work with you in your business, it's important to be able to communicate to them what you want them to do. Unless you are hiring a strategist, you need to get clear yourself up front and tell them what you need.
Once you define what needs to be done, determine what aspects of that can be delegated.
Often, the best place to start to add team members is to hire a virtual assistant or VA for a few hours a week or month.
VAs are multi-talented people, as a general rule, and can provide you with a range of services, from help with your blog to making travel arrangements. Some focus just on online work, so check with them when you have your first call.
Be thorough in determining if a prospective team member is a good fit, not only in terms of skills but also in attitude. This requires some practice on your part, and you will likely have some glitches. I sure have gone through a learning curve on this process!
Just know that you are learning, and be willing to make adjustments as needed. Fortunately, hiring on a per project basis is really beneficial, because it keeps your financial risk at a minimum.
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