Most start-up businesses do not have the budget to hire employees for full-time positions. They can’t hire someone until they can afford their salary. They can’t afford their salary until they expand the business. And they can’t expand the business until they can hire someone to help make it happen.
They choose to wear many hats and do-it-all, until such time that they burn-out and need to re-think the viability of their business.
Don’t let this happen to you. Rather, follow these steps.
First Things First
Don’t assume the first hire will be full-time. Actually, it’s usually better to start slow. This not only makes it more doable financially, it allows you to evaluate the person before making that person full-time.
Often you can bring someone on for a lot less money than you may have thought. A lot of my clients have started with an assistant (or a virtual assistant) at just 5 hours/week. At $15/hour, that’s only $300/month! And you’d be getting 20 hours of their time to help manage the business.
No Magic Formula
A really common mistake I see is assuming that, since cash is so tight, they couldn’t possibly afford to hire someone. Don’t jump to conclusions. Tie your investment in salary to the incremental business the new hire will bring.
A client of mine owns a bakery business. He hired an assistant at $2,000/month. Each cookie brings him $1 of profit. In order to cover the salary expense, he needed to sell 2,000 cookies per month.
You may find it easier to justify making the investment in your employee’s salary when you consider that you can deduct it as an expense of your business.
Simple Math
How hard was it for my client to get those extra sales? Well it wasn’t THAT hard. And as a bonus, he had an extra pair of hands and extra time to focus on his marketing and business development. In fact, he hired one more person since then and is serving more customers than he ever could have on his own.
Trust Your Entrepreneurial Abilities
If you did the math and feel like you can make those extra sales happen, it’s time to make the move. This is the only way to break out of the chicken and egg situation.
If you wait until conditions are ideal, you’re always going to be running a one-person business and get the same results year after year.
If you are a small business and would like to stop losing time. on future hiring mistakes, tweet me on TWITTER, like me on FACEBOOK join me on LINKED IN – and let’s talk. Check our Human Resources Consulting services . We are Human Resources Specialists.
