Is your business still a one-man band? Here’s how to know when you’re ready to hire some help.
It’s fun running a business on your own, but it does have some limits. If your long-term goal is to grow big then eventually you will need to hire someone. But when is the right time? Becoming responsible for someone else’s income can feel daunting. Hiring that first contractor can feel like a huge leap and many small business owners wait too long before making the jump.
These are a few signs you may be ready to hire some help, whether it be contractors for specific tasks (VA related things, a web designer, SEO help) or actual hourly/salaried employees.
- You’re turning away potential clients. Do you have new clients knocking at your door but not enough time to serve them all? Are you constantly running out of stock on popular items? This is a big sign that you are ready to expand. You could hire an assistant to take on simple but time-consuming tasks so you can spend more time with your customers. Or maybe you need some sales people to help you sell your product/services. Figure out where the bottleneck is happening and consider hiring help to increase your client/customer capacity.
- Your current clients are complaining. Are you getting emails from clients complaining things are moving too slowly? Or that the work quality is suffering? This is a sign that you have spread yourself too thin, and hiring someone to help could really make a difference.
- You don’t have time for invoicing and paperwork. Constantly behind on paperwork? Delegating this to someone else will not only take the stress off you but will help keep you in your passion zone.
- You’re feeling a major learning curve. It could be building your website, writing content, analyzing SEO, marketing, advertising or anything that you simply don’t have the skill set for. You could spend hours upon hours figuring it out on your own OR you could pay someone who already knows how to do it. Do you want to spend your time or your money? If you don’t have a certain skill that is vital to growing your business, it could save you a lot of time and even money to hire someone else to do it for you.
- You are multitasking frequently and/or staying up until 2AM. Are you answering emails while on the phone with clients? Are you staying up until 2AMmore than a couple times a month? Hiring help could greatly improve your quality of life and help your business run more efficiently so you can be 100% present with whatever task you’re working on.
- Will they be charging by the hour or per project?
- How will your project be managed?
- In what format do you need to deliver your brief to them?
- How quickly can the agency respond to you submitting tasks?
Do you resonate with 2 or more of these points? It might be time to bring on your first contractor or employee.