Running your own business, whether that’s in the form of a blog, or consultancy, or any other form of business can be draining. As the owner, you’re the first employee. You’re also the only employee in some cases. It’s stressful, hectic, and tiring. It’s not for the weak. As your hustle grows, however, you might begin to feel a little burnout. It’s not necessarily because you have lost the passion for the business, but just that the work is starting to overcome your ability to stay awake. Starting your business is the first hurdle you must overcome. Knowing when you should hire help is the second.
Should you Hire Help?
The answer to this question will likely haunt you for a while until you come to a decision. If you hire too early, you might struggle to pay the help, or have to pay yourself less than you are. Or you might find that you don’t have as much work as you thought you did, and lose the help due to lack of work. Hire them too late, and you end up playing catch up to try and keep the pace.
If it’s such a hard decision, how do you decide? I think you have to seriously consider a few questions.
- Can you afford help? Seriously consider whether your company has the resources to pay for the help. If it doesn’t, it’s time to take a very serious look at the methods you’re using for your company, and if there are ways you can improve the business in order to fund this expansion. Don’t be afraid to look for someone to help part time, or to try out a virtual assistant to help with smaller tasks that you can offload.
- What sort of help do you need? Before you really get down to finding someone to help, you have to know what it is that you need help with. What are your strengths that you must keep doing for the business? Keep doing those. If you’re the face of the company, you’ve got to keep doing the PR work. Find the things that you don’t like doing, or that take you away from the strong work of the company and hire help to do those things.
Where can you hire help?
If you’ve answered those questions, you’re well on your way to hiring help for your burgeoning empire. Now, it’s up to you to find the help. Where you look will depend on what it is that you need help doing. Depending on the area you live in, there might even be local help that you can find. Local can be a great place to look for an accountant, for example. Accountant help is probably something that you’d rather have local anyways.
But, if you’re just looking for a little part time help writing content or scheduling social media, there are plenty of places that you can look. Check out online exchanges like Upwork or TextBroker. You can find any number of freelance workers there who will work in a very temporary manner but that can also be more long term if you desire. Fiverr can be a great source of help for simple one-off projects. If you’re looking for design work, someplace like 99Designs might be a good place. If you’re lucky enough to just be looking for some help with managing growth, maybe all you need is a business consultant.
Find Referrals when you Hire Help
Another great place to look is in professional groups on Facebook. Look around for groups that are for entrepreneurs, business owners, or that are related to your trade. Join them, and participate, as they can be a great source of knowledge for you. They can also be a great source of help. If you’re looking for something in particular, you can usually post and ask for referrals for someone who does what you want to have done. It’s a great way to find someone who has done that work before and done it well enough to earn a referral from another business owner. And there’s a pretty good chance that the person who you are referred to is a small business owner as well.
Yes, owning a business can be hectic. Yes, it can be stressful. And, yes, it can mean working more hours than you’ve ever worked before. But, it can also be immensely rewarding and freeing. You’re doing your work, your way. And people are paying you to do it. What could be better?
Don’t be afraid to hire help for your business, but make sure that you’re doing it the right way. Don’t rush to hire someone, but, similarly, don’t wait too long either. It’s your company, run with it. Enjoy it. And hire help when you decide it’s necessary.
I started this blog to share what I know and what I was learning about personal finance. Along the way I’ve met and found many blogging friends. Please feel free to connect with me on the Beating Broke accounts: Twitter and Facebook.
You can also connect with me personally at Novelnaut, Thatedeguy, Shane Ede, and my personal Twitter.