How to Make Your First Hire for your Biz
Your business is growing and now you get to hire someone. Woo! You get to bring some people into your biz because you know that your dream can’t work without a team. I’ve gotten a lot of advice and have a lot of advice on this subject that I’m excited to share with you today. Here is a very real-life view of how to make your first hire for your biz.
I want you to know what a luxury it is for you to be able to start and grow a business. I know it can often feel overwhelming when you’re not growing fast enough or have enough money to reach your goals, but you are doing a great job. You get to go at your own pace and build a business the way you want to. It can be scary when it’s time to hire out someone else that you have to pay regularly. But you just have to take that faith-filled step forward and it’ll bring you exactly where you need and want to be.
And don’t worry! I am here to cheer you on every step of the way. You can tune into my weekly podcast or follow me on TikTok where I’m always sharing tips on how to help you grow your biz and give you that boost of confidence that always helps when you’re in the thick of it.
How to Make Your First Hire for your Biz
I’m just going to come right out and say it–there is not a “one size fits all” answer to knowing who to hire first and how to do it. If you’ve been one of my Money Makers, you know I always bring it back to your goals. If you know your goal, then I will know how to take you there–and this definitely applies to hiring people.
I’m going to walk you through a series of steps that will help you determine your next best step. But before I jump into those, I need to make a PSA that you are the boss. And while that may be obvious, it may not be as obvious that you need to have the boss mindset when you start to hire people. So if you’re truly ready to make your first hire, it’s time to boss up baby! And make some decisions about who the best fit is for your business. Are you ready? Let’s do this!
How to Make Your First Hire | Step #1: Make a list of all the things you do in your business.
I want you to write a list of everything you do in your business. Now, make a list of all the things you should be doing in your business. OK, now circle all the ones that can be done by hiring technology or a program to do for you.
For example, Descript is a transcription service. So I can record my podcast and Descript automatically transcribes it for me. This saves so much time for my podcast editor and my blog writer because they have the transcription to do their job.
Another resource I use is Honeybook. Honeybook is awesome because it has all of my client management in one place. It’s where I create and house all of my contract templates and email templates where I send out a contract and invoices. (Use this code to get 50% off!)
So I would look into what sources you can use to help automate your work. Rather than hiring a person to do this work for you, find programs that can do it instead. It’s cheaper this way and it’s a better use of time for you and your hire. It does take a little bit of time to set up these automation processes at first, but once you do it you will be thanking yourself every day after!
How to Make Your First Hire | Step #2: Look at your list and figure out what are the small tasks that you feel like you do all the time.
Once you’ve figured out what tech you can “hire” to help automate your work, now you’re ready for the next step. It’s time to figure out what small tasks take up a lot of your time. Do you feel like you’re constantly responding to emails or comments and DMs on Instagram? If so, it might be time to hire an assistant.
Hiring an assistant is a pretty easy hire and it’s not super expensive. You can get a virtual assistant who can respond to your messages, manage your calendar, etc. This will save you a lot of time and it’s a good place to start.
How to Make Your First Hire | Step #3: Look at your list and decide which ones you need an expert for.
Maybe you want help with your website, so you could contract out a website designer. This is a really good option because you could set it up to where you only hire them for a couple of months. Once the job is done their contract will finish. This helps you know you’re spending your biz money wisely.
If you want consistent help with a few things, then that is great too. I pay a bookkeeper because that’s not something I’m an expert in. I actually hate it and I’d have to learn a lot of things in order to be good at it. And I don’t need to do that because someone else is already really great at it.
So don’t feel like you have to be the expert in every area of your business. You can hire out help where you need it. You can focus on what you’re the expert in and have team members help support your business by working in their area of expertise.
How to Make Your First Hire | Step #4: Look at your list and prioritize which tasks are most important.
In order to figure out the tasks that are most important to you, ask yourself three questions. Where you are getting overwhelmed in your business, how you are acquiring new clients, and what your main source of income is.
Knowing the answer to those three questions will help you know where to hire someone. That’s why I said earlier that your first hire is not a “one size fits all” answer. Figuring out where you’re at in your business will help you know where to concentrate your efforts.
For example, I was talking to a potential client on the phone the other day about her marketing strategy. She is an interior designer where most of her clients come from word of mouth. Therefore, Instagram/social media isn’t super important to her right now because that’s not where her clients are coming from. So I recommended to her to not hire my agency to run her Instagram, but instead focus on building a beautiful brand or website (which she could hire my agency for).
Depending on where you’re at in your business and where your clients are coming from will help you know where to put your money and what type of work you need to hire help for.
How to Make Your First Hire | Step #5: Take action as soon as you can.
Once you’ve made your priority list, try to take action as soon as you can in hiring help. And also make sure you have this list ever-growing and accomplishing. This list will be ever-changing because your business is constantly transforming into your dream biz. It’s pretty miraculous to see this happen. Especially as the business owner since you’ve built it from the ground up before anyone else was involved.
I am trying to hire a few more people right now because my agency is growing pretty quickly. I am planning to take some time to train my new hires to get them ready for what’s up ahead. So it’s OK to take some time to fill positions and train them in what they will be doing.
How to Make Your First Hire for your Biz
Now that you know how to make your first hire for your biz and are really ready to take that next step, I have to recommend my team. If you are wanting your first hire to be someone to write your emails, blog posts, design a website, or help with social media, we are the experts for all of that. My team is seriously the best of the best! (Hire my team HERE.)
I’ve trained my team to be the experts in all of these things and it’s brought forth unbelievable results. We will help you create a plan that is backed up with purpose, research, and strategy. We have quarterly calls with you to help you continue growing your brand. And I manage the people so all you have to do is give us the work and we will do the rest! I know how overwhelming it can be to have to worry about training someone else and managing them, so if you’re in this spot of wanting this kind of help, my team is really the best!
If you’re not quite ready to hire someone, get your business set up to be ready for when you are. Think about what systems you can put in place now that will make it easier on you later. And come follow me on Instagram @iammichellegifford and DM me any questions you may have. I’d love to chat!
