As a successful solopreneur, you might be struggling with the evergreen problem of work/life balance. That will inevitably take you down a path of thought that has you considering bringing on someone else to help out with the business. Every quarter, you think about it. And every quarter, you reject the idea.
Instead, you search for yet more tools to make life easier as a busy solopreneur. There is no bottom to the deep well of tools that can help you out. But the one thing those tools cannot do is add more hours on the clock. Bringing in an employee has the potential to do just that.
But before you start taking applications, there are a number of things to consider, not the least of which is your status as a solopreneur. Are you really ready to go from being a loner to a people person? What level of employee are you considering? Are you looking for someone to come in and do some of the entry-level work?
Or are you looking for someone to take on a more professional role? Right now, you are all-powerful. That changes the moment you bring another person into the picture. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Just be sure you are ready for that change, as well as the following.
Training
You already know how to do every job in your company. The person you bring on, though, will not know how to do any job in your company. That is not to say they will be unqualified. But you have your own way of doing things. And you will want whoever comes in to honor those preferences. No matter how simple the task you want them to do, there will always be training involved.
Even if you are an excellent teacher, you will find that the right employee training software will help a lot. You don’t have to be an enterprise-level organization to benefit from training software. The benefits can be appreciated from the first day. Good training software helps employees learn at their own pace and in their own way. Such programs can also come in multiple languages.
A person who speaks passable English might not be able to learn as well in English as they can in their native language. Software training can also accommodate accessibility needs such as low vision. Be sure to research the best training tools before bringing an employee into your business.
Temp Vs. Hire
Bringing on some extra help does not automatically require you to make a hire. You can bring in high-level help via a staffing service. Staffing for success has changed in recent years. You can bring on project managers, hospital administrators, and top engineers via staffing services. This is an excellent option for solopreneurs who are testing the waters of expansion.
First, it is a good way to see if you are ready to work with another person after doing everything by yourself for so long. Second, it is the perfect arrangement for when you know you need help but are not sure how long you will need it. Another benefit is that you will be able to scale up or down as quickly as you need to.
As an app developer, you start on your masterpiece and gain the attention of a big company that wants to use your app. Suddenly, you need 10 qualified developers and testers to hit your deadline. A staffing service is a much better choice than hiring in that case.
Do You Know How to Interview?
A lot of solopreneurs are lousy at interviewing new hires because they have never needed that skill in the past. They can get themselves into trouble by asking the wrong questions or failing to ask the right ones. There are questions that you are legally prohibited from asking.
Do you know what those questions are? The difference between being charming and sexual harassment is a lot less than you think. The same is true for the difference between exercising a preference and discriminatory hiring. Before you bring in a candidate to interview, be sure you know what you’re doing. It is the difference between growing your company and tanking it.
It might be time for you to bring on some extra help. Start by fleshing out training tools, deciding between temp and hire, and learning the ins and outs of proper interviewing.