Every business is different and every business owner has their own set up goals and aspirations. If you’re looking for more freedom and less time working inside your business, growing a team might be on your bucket list.
But simply hiring people to work with you isn’t going to give you any kind of freedom–especially if you’re not ready. You need to be equipped, both financially and with systems in place, if you want the freedom a team can provide.
Think you’re where you need to be in order to hire a team? Make sure before you take the plunge.
Know Your Financials
You don’t want to bring on contractors or employees without having your financials solidly in place. You need to know that you have the budget to pay for a new hire, and that you’ll be able to pay for their services down the road. There are few things worse than bringing someone onto your team, coming to depend on that role, only to find that you weren’t really prepared for the expense.
[bctt tweet=”Don’t bring someone onto your team & depend on them if you can’t afford them in the long run.” username=”NNBSolutions”]
Brain Dump Tasks
Before you decide to hire someone, you need to know what role you’re looking to outsource. It’s hard to take an objective look at what you want to let go of until you know exactly what it is you do in your business on a day-to-day basis.
Brain dump every role you take on in your business, categorized by topics–sales, marketing, networking, bookkeeping, client work, etc. Then write the tasks that you take care of in each of these categories. Even the tasks that seem unimportant, write it down.
Evaluate Your Tasks
If you want to start outsourcing to team members, you need to do so strategically. Let go of the tasks that are better served by someone else. Ask yourself: What are you not good at? What do you never seem to find the time for? What do you hate doing? Answering these questions will help you to identify the roles you should outsource first.
[bctt tweet=”Know what you’re good at and not before deciding what to outsource.” username=”NNBSolutions”]
Outline Processes
Bringing someone new onto the team requires training, even when you hire someone with expertise in their field. As the business owner, it’s up to you to let team members know how to do something inside your unique business. You have a certain way you want things done, whether it’s a client assignment or something to help you market your business.
I make a list of the steps for a certain task, then record a video of me actually doing the task. This helps me ensure that the entire process is complete from beginning to end, and gives the team member a visual–which helps to improve comprehension and lowers the chances of error.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Your team members will come to you with their own unique ideas and ways of doing things. While you can teach them your processes, they are not you. Even when following your systems, your team members will not do the task exactly how you would. Sometimes, they do it better. Other times, you may need to course-correct a bit. But always keep lines of communication open and give feedback often.
It’s difficult to grow a business if you’re the only person inside and doing the work. A team can help take things off your plate so you can do what you do best. You just need to be able to do it right, with the right systems in place and the finances to back up your hire.
