EPISODE 49:

My Million Dollar Hiring Lessons

Show Notes

 

I had to unlearn so much crap in order to hire a team.

A lot of entrepreneurs have blocks around hiring. It can bring up a load of money stuff.

In today’s podcast episode I talk about my million-dollar hiring lessons and how to create a team that grows with you. 

First off, if this topic is making you feel anxious, you’re not alone. 

I don't like managing people, I'm a lone wolf, I had so much resistance to hiring. I actually screwed it up many times over.

When I started out in 2010, I was a workhorse. 

I literally did everything myself. I built my own websites, did my own videos, edited them, created social media content, made graphics and kept the books. 

As I grew I had less and less time for admin stuff. I needed to focus on income producing activities. I desperately needed more bandwidth and some time off.

I screwed up my first hire – I didn’t know how to manage people; it took so much time and energy. So I didn’t give them any work and just continued to pay them. 

Finally, I found my right hand woman, Amber. I got to a million dollar revenue with just me and her.

She helped with customer service stuff and consistency, making sure my newsletter went out on time. 

Then I started to experiment with getting other people to help me launch courses and books.

I gotta say: hire experts; they’ll be a bit more expensive, but you won't have to train them. And you probably don’t need someone full-time at the start. You can increase hours over time. 

I’ve actually grown my business with a very lean team. 

And I'm a completely hands off CEO. 

Mark, my husband, is my COO. He manages all of our staff. 

We've got three part-time community managers, two social media assistants, a virtual assistant, bookkeepers, an accountant and a marketing assistant. 

All are contractors doing a number of hours that works for us and them. Probably the equivalent of about 5 or 6 full time employees in terms of hours. 

One of the biggest mistakes I made at the start of my business was hiring people who were like me. 

They all quit after our onboarding session to go and start their own business! So I learnt the hard way, hire for the gaps, to cover your weaknesses.

My advice is to find the thing that stresses you out most and start there. I hated doing my own customer service and bookkeeping so I outsourced these first. 

I used to spend so much bandwidth helping customers with simple things, I had no time for marketing and getting more clients. It was stopping me from making money.

If household stuff zaps your energy, outsource more in your home life than in your business.

Here’s your homework:

Make three lists.

One - what is stopping you from making money? 

What is holding you back from launching your course, finishing your book, taking on more clients? 

Maybe it’s tech. Hire somebody to help you finish your course, to do the logistics, to set up your tech. 

Two - what are the things that could make you even more money? 

For example, this could be something like Facebook ads or affiliate launches. 

Three – what’s causing you stress and taking up bandwidth?

For me that was actually unrelated to business. Laundry took up so much bandwidth! It was causing arguments and making Mark and I resentful of each other. We outsourced it!

 

In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Exactly how much help I have in my business
  • How I dealt with the stress of laundry! 
  • Where you’re stopping yourself from making money
  • How I screwed up my first hire
  • Why you need to hire out your weaknesses

Links

Transcript

About the Show

Chill & Prosper is your weekly dose of money mindset, marketing and humour from best-selling author and entrepreneur Denise Duffield-Thomas.

Denise's philosophy is that there is ALWAYS an easier way to make money and that's what she's here to help you do. Each week, you'll get actionable advice to help you make more money, with less work. There's no need to hustle - let Denise show you how to embrace the Chillpreneur way.

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