It’s your business and you’ve invested the sweat and the capital to bring it to success. Good for you. But many business owners hit a ceiling at this point when they realize that they can’t do it on their own anymore; they have to bring someone else on board.
If your business is at that point (or nearing it), you need to put a little thought and strategy in place before you pin the “in training” badge on employee number 1. Otherwise, a few months down the road, your business could look very different than how it looks today.
1. Determine your vision.
The very first thing you’ll want to do is figure out your vision for the company. In the beginning, you might have started a business for unstated reasons like “I want to own a business” or “everyone else has a small business” or “I think I can do that better than other companies can.”
While those are acceptable reasons to start a business, they won’t help to motivate your employees. Frankly, your employees don’t care why you started the business. They will only succeed (in your eyes) when you determine your vision or direction for the company and share it with them.
Don’t have a vision just yet? Better take a day or two and come up with something. You’ll be surprised how it helps your decision making, too!
State your vision in words that express a future state of being, like: “we will be the Internet’s leading provider of argyle socks” or “we will be Google’s top ranked site for collecting chewing gum wrappers.”
2. Ask yourself, do I want to give up a portion of my business?
Yes, you will still own your business and provide the over-arching direction, but having someone else work with you means you’ll have to make concessions. If, for example, you give them a project to run with, they may perceive it slightly differently than you imagine it will turn out. The result could be good… but different. And when that happens, you’ll have an adjustment to make in your own mind about the business you’re running. It’s a basic delegation skill that a lot of managers and entrepreneurs have to work through.
Consider the tasks you’re delegating and rate them on a scale of 1, 2, or 3 for how you’d feel if they didn’t turn out exactly the way you want. If you don’t care, just hand it to your new employee. If you do care, be sure to give very detailed instructions and a good vision for the finished product.
3. List the things that need to be done and highlight the things that you like to do… and have to do.
Don’t pass off tasks that you like to do just because they seem like something an employee should do instead of a boss.
You’ll gain your future employee’s respect by doing the work that needs to be done and you’ll keep your passion for the job on those tough days (there are always tough days!) by doing the things that you like to do.
Like mopping the floor? Keep it and farm something else out to your employee.
4. Determine if you really need an employee or just some freelance help.
Some sites like www.guru.com and www.elance.com offer a surprisingly large variety of work available through freelancers, which helps you keep control of your business and your budget and still gets the work done!
Congratulations on getting your business this far. If you’re hitting a ceiling, consider these 4 things before putting a “help wanted” ad in the paper.
