7 Tips For Hiring Help In Your Online Business

If you haven’t taken the leap in hiring someone for your business before, it might seem like an impossible idea. But here’s the secret to taking your online business to the next level: you’ve gotta build a wolfpack.

Hear me out, because I want to share our “wolfpack business model” with you:

Wolf families consist of an extended mix of males and females that live and work together to survive successfully in the wild, also known as a wolfpack. Wolves are known to be fiercely loyal, hard workers and amazing communicators. Strong communication between pack members allows wolves to care for each other, delegating daily tasks to other wolves as needed. Cooperatively, a wolf pack family ensures that the entire group will thrive as a lean, mean unit.

On their own, however, one wolf can’t nearly get everything done in a day.

Sound familiar?

If you’re currently juggling it all in your biz, we want to convince you that building your own wolfpack — aka hiring help! — maybe your next big boost upwards.

Stop trying to be a multitasking Octopus floating around in a sea of burnout.

You’re a wolf. You’ve just gotta build your wolfpack!

When it comes to your biz, we know that it’s hard to imagine anyone taking care of it like you would. We want to show you how putting together the right team can make a transformative difference. Trust me, we know! We’ve been living by the “wolfpack” business model for the past 9 years. Our team is continually growing and our clients have noticed the added value. Even better, we’ve seen considerable growth and been able to take on bigger projects that have increased our monthly revenues.

I bet you’re thinking, “Wait a second, guys. I have lots of good reasons not to hire someone!”

We’re listening.

Let’s consider some of these reasons and see how well they hold up.

You are a goddamn multitasking superhero, so you don’t need anyone to help you! Right?

 

 

Let’s think about this another way…

Of course, you can handle any aspect of your business, you built it! But do you need to do it all? The time you’re spending scheduling clients, writing emails, DIYing your website and organizing your sales funnel means time away from everything else. What about that new idea for that product or service that you’re wildly passionate about?

Just think, if a virtual assistant could handle your daily admin tasks, you’d find yourself with extra time on your hands (you heard me right!). This time could be used to develop more money-making products and services,  take on a larger number of amazing clients or even hop on that magical unicorn called “work-life balance”. When is the last time you took a vacation, had the time to book yourself a massage, or spent a whole weekend one-on-one with your kids without getting pulled away for something?

A wolfpack can help you make this happen.

I know what you’re thinking now – “there’s no way I could afford the expense of hiring someone!”

This is an opportunity to invest in your business by hiring. Instead of spending hours away from your clients to create an email campaign – hire an expert to do help you launch it. Not much of a writer? Hire someone to help you draft a series of blog posts that will impress your website visitors and instantly position you as an expert in your field. If your website design is taking up hours of your day… maybe it’s time to outsource it!

Every time, you’ll save yourself time. And time is money, friends.

Your clients will NOTICE the difference, all because you traded money for time, dedicated your best self to customer service efforts, and decided to commit to quality work from a niched professional.

Listen, I understand that it seems like an increased cost… at first.

But the financial return of your new leads and clients will more than pay for it!

 

 

You may be thinking, “but I don’t have enough clients to fill up someone else’s time!”

That’s truly the great thing about our online economy. You can find creative contractors that work independently and simply hire them based on time or project. Instead of turning away clients during peak times and losing revenue, you can outsource it to someone you’ve hired. You don’t have to turn down a big project that just isn’t feasible with a team of one! You’re gonna hire a wolfpack to take on the project with you and impress your clients with your diversified team.

“Okay, okay! But no one can do the job as well as I can… right?!”

We know that your business is based on your sweat, tears, and passion. It can be hard to let go and trust someone else to take the reins. You’ve got your process down pat and everything is running smoothly. So why mess with that? The feeling of “I can’t trust anyone else with my business!” is real here. You may have been promised deliverables by a “professional” in the past only to receive an end product that wasn’t on time or simply wasn’t good enough. As business owners, we’ve experienced the same challenges.

This is why having a clear-cut process is key when transitioning to a team. Having your workflow functioning well means you’re already halfway there. You can absolutely teach someone how to contribute to the same high-quality product you already deliver.

You know, the things that your clients KNOW you for!

With your process and strategy laid out, all it takes is investing some time in on-boarding and training your new hire. If you’ve taken the time to concretely lay out your process (and you should, if you haven’t already!) and are willing to invest some time in training your new hire, you can trust that they’ll be able to handle it for you.

So now that we’ve convinced you that hiring someone can work for your business, let us give you some tips on HOW we do it. Our wolfpack has been growing steadily for the last year and we’ve been able to pin down our successes and mitigate the challenges with transitioning to a team.

 

 

Our Tips On Hiring Like a BOSS (or an alpha wolf)

 

“Ok, I’m ready for my wolfpack! How do I do this?”

Our best advice is to remind yourself that now is the time to let go and TRUST the process. You’ll need to take a step back to get a good view of the real business development happening in front of you — and don’t forget that extra revenue generation!

Whether you’re new to this side of the wilderness, or a seasoned wolf finally ready to bring on more help, here are our tips for you.

Get Clear On The Help You Need

⁣Do you need someone to take over the administration? Do you need a sales person to handle the sales funnel? Each type of team member comes with their own unique qualifications, experience and price tag. Put together a job description by considering your needs, organize a list of what’s out there, and talk to your industry partners!

Look At The Numbers

Figure out your business margins – how much more can you earn in comparison to what you’ll be paying an employee? What price point can you afford? Set concrete goals; whether it’s gross revenue, the number of new projects/clients you want to take on or the number of hours you want a new hire to work for you.

Create A Workflow

Creating a workflow (a timeline plan of your basic operating procedures) can outline what to do and how to do it so that whomever you hire can fully grasp your expectations and replicate the amazing work you’re already doing. Writing it out into an accessible document will provide a concrete reference for anyone you hire and will minimize your time invested in onboarding and training. This solid foundation will go a long way in creating confidence and consistency within your team. And remember, this workflow will evolve with your business! So it’s okay to be continuously improving and tweaking these procedures.

Who knows… maybe your new hire even has a creative idea on how to improve a process you’ve been stuck on!

Prepare For The Project

Each project or task can have its own unique expectations and nuances. Carefully outlining this upfront will avoid confusion and wasted time. Do you need someone part-time, full-time or just for this project? Does this project require specific skills or experience?

Advertise The Position And Conduct An Interview

Post the position on several channels like Indeed, Google Jobs, Facebook Jobs, and industry-specific websites. Think of where these creatives may be and make sure it’s easy for them to contact you for application details.

How do you know who to hire when so many people look great on paper?

A simple interview and an opportunity to showcase skills will let your ideals hires shine through. Set up a video chat to get to know them, and create a mini project or task for them to do! Encourage them to strut their stuff.

Take The Time

Take the time to lead them through your process and show them the outcome! Schedule meetings to check in and review the projects together, and commit to communication efforts that work for everyone. Did you know that just “sixty-one percent (61 percent) of employers agree or strongly agree they communicate successfully.”? Ask your team how they’d like to hear from you. We’ve personally seen that a quick fifteen-minute video conference call can clear things up faster than thirty emails back and forth!

Understand Learning Curves

There will be a period of adjustment for everyone. As your hire will be busy learning your processes and expectations, you’ll have to learn how to trust someone else to do the work and adapt to a wolfpack (or.. team!) mindset.

 

Personally, we’ve been growing our team of contractors for the last nine years and been through our share of learning curves when it comes to hiring. Hopefully, the things we’ve learned can make the process quick, easy and successful for you. Currently, our wolfpack consists of virtual assistants, copywriters, designers, and developers. Without them, we simply could not operate our business at the level that our clients deserve and we’d love to help you do the same.

Wolfpack, baby!

Ready to outsource your marketing, branding or website design?

We’d love to hear more about your struggles and help you to get clear on your needs.

Click here to schedule a free marketing discovery chat with us!