Hiring 101
It can be hard for business owners or managers to delegate or hire someone new.
Many business owners I work with are still trying to do everything themselves. They’re not living the ideal lifestyle they dreamed of because they’re still working way too many hours and can’t go on vacation. If your entire business is centered on you, then you can’t step away. At some point, these solopreneurs get fed up with living like this and decide to hire someone. It doesn’t have to get this point. You should hire someone as soon as you can afford it. First, there are a few mindset shifts solopreneuers need to make before they can get comfortable with hiring.
Mindset shifts:
1) I can do the work faster, better, and cheaper.
Many managers who struggle with delegating have this mindset too. Your personal growth and the business’ success will cap out at a certain point if you’re trying to do everything. Think of all the busywork you do that does not generate revenue or a return on your time. Imagine if you could offload those tasks and focus on strategy, streamlining, and meeting with prospects. I hate to tell you this, friend, but you are not perfect. More than likely, there is a virtual assistant or freelancer that has a skill set that fulfills your weaknesses and can help with the busywork. So let’s shift this mindset to, “If I outsource the low ROI (return on investment) items, then I can focus on the bigger picture items and make my business more profitable.”
2) I can’t afford to hire someone.
Maybe. But you won’t know until you analyze your financials and start to budget this in. Are there areas you are spending your money on that aren’t necessary? Look at each expense and identify if there is a direct return from it. If not, is there a more affordable option? For example, perhaps your advertisements are not generating leads and you need to try something new or allocate that money to something else. Start saving money as if you were already paying for labor and see if you can afford it. Flip your mindset to, “If I had an employee to help, I could increase sales revenue and the investment in that employee would pay off.”
3) What if I train this person and they leave?
Turnover is the part of the employment game. It happens. However, if you are a good leader and create an enjoyable work environment, you should not experience high turnover. You can also mitigate this risk by documenting the employees’ processes and tasks so a new employee can be trained quickly. The more documentation you have, the less time it will take to train someone new. When this fear enters your mind, remind yourself, “I will hire the right person, it will be a good fit, and their help will be still worth it even if they leave.”
Once you overcome these limiting beliefs, you can prepare to hire someone new. Below are my top 3 suggestions to ensure you hire the right candidate.
Hiring tips:
1) Hire for character, not knowledge or skills.
This may seem counter intuitive but knowledge and skills can only get an employee so far. If the individual is not a good fit with your company, team, and personality, then it doesn’t matter how smart they are; it’s not going to work out in the long-run. Patrick Lencioni recommends hiring someone who is hungry, humble, and smart in his book, The Ideal Team Player. This is a good start but I would also suggest evaluating your company and team culture and whether the applicant would mesh with that. Be very clear when communicating the culture and typical day to the candidate. Is the company very competitive or is it more laid-back? What are the core values? What are the unspoken rules?
2) Use personality tests to measure character.
You can get a sense for whether the prospective employee would be a good fit by using personality tests and value assessments. Here are 3 of the most commonly used assessments in the workforce:
Meyers Briggs Strengths Finder (Ex: Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judgement)
DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, or Conscientiousness)
Enneagram (Ex: 1 - 9)
I prefer the Enneagram because it is most precise, affordable, and advises how to work with the candidate’s personality. If you have existing team members who have not taken a personality assessment, make sure they do so you both understand how to get along with each other.
3) Hire specialists, not generalists.
It can be tempting to hire someone that can do it all or is just like you. We all have a tendency to like those who resemble us. Trust me, your business will benefit more by having an employee who has different skills and knowledge than you. In addition, you should hand off the tasks you are not good at, or have a low ROI. I would first evaluate all of the tasks that need to be completed by the team and identify which ones do not generate any revenue. Create the job description around those tasks and try to find a candidate that can do that type of work.
Bonus tip: teams operate much more efficiently if each person has a clearly defined role and is responsible for an entire job, start to finish. When the whole team knows who is doing what and trusts that person to complete all of their tasks, then less time and resources are wasted. This is just another good reason why you should delegate!
Finding a good candidate takes time and it can be nerve-racking but it means you’re one step closer to having more balance and a successful business!
You can find out what your leadership ability is and get suggestions for how to improve with the free quiz below! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment!