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The Time is Right to Hire!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

—MARGARET MEAD

It’s true. Few things make such a difference in your own business, your life, the life of others and the economy as a whole as when you hire an employee. It’s almost impossible to grow a company of any size and worth unless you expand beyond yourself. If you want to grow your business, at some point, you’ll have to decide how and when to bring others on board.

Hiring an employee—even a part-timer—can enrich your experience as a business owner and lead you toward personal and financial growth. Let’s face it—until you hire someone else, even if you’re self-employed, you’ve basically created a job for yourself. That means that when you stop working—even for an hour—you’ve stopped making money. When you hire someone else, you’re creating a business. If you structure it correctly, you can make money when others work.

What’s more, by hiring someone to assist with your business and treating them well and fairly, you’re providing a valuable, respectable job for someone, enabling them to support themselves and their family. It’s one of the most satisfying, rewarding things that you, as a businessperson, can do. Sure, there are challenges. But when you create a good job for someone, you’ve changed the world for the better.

Hiring is a big step. It involves a lot more than just a desire to grow. But if you plan carefully, select the right people, and learn basic skills on how to be a good boss, you’ll be on your way to higher income, greater satisfaction, and a successful, healthy business.

More customers. More sales. Less grunt work. A healthier economy. Creating good jobs for others. A re-energized you. Add it up and you’ll see why hiring your first employees can lead to a new wave of growth for your business and more satisfaction in your life.

Of course, you’re ready to make the decision to hire—that’s why you’ve picked up this book. You know you need staff to get your business launched, to handle the demands of your burgeoning business, or to augment the talents or skills you lack.

But you’re also a bit spooked by all the other stuff that comes when you have employees, things such as:

Deciding what responsibilities to give to your new employee

Figuring out how much to pay and how much you can afford

Finding, interviewing and selecting the best person for the job

What benefits and personnel policies you should adopt

Following and understanding employment and other labor laws

Dealing with the paperwork and payroll

Managing and leading others, becoming a boss

That’s where this book comes in. It will guide you—clearly—through all the basics of what you need to know to find, hire, pay, manage, lead employees and stay well within the law.

Becoming a Boss

Especially if you’re managing people for the first time, you need to start thinking of what type of boss you want to be.

Let’s be frank: You’re not going to learn to be a great boss, leader and manager over night or from just a book. It takes time. It takes experience. And it takes a commitment to learning the skills and attitudes to manage and lead others. That’s an ongoing process.

When to Make the Leap

It’s time to hire if you:

Need employees on Day One of your business

Turn away work from new or current clients because you’re over-booked

Can’t find time to send invoices to your customers

Can’t get out from under your paperwork

Lack time to pursue new product ideas and/or new clients

Need someone with specialized skills critical to your business

Want to grow a business you can sell one day

Having Employees Enables You To…

Serve more customers.

Produce more products or services.

Add additional skills & talents to your business.

Spend your time on more money-producing activities.

Use your time on the things you do best and like to do.

Make money when someone else is working.

Grow your company.

Benefits of Hiring Employees

Grow Your Business

Hiring an employee helps you be more productive. You have more time to focus on growth—to develop innovative new products, reach out to your customers, spend less time on administrative tasks, or simply focus more energy on your work.

Concentrate on the work you do best

Increase your sales

Manage more customers

Balance your weaknesses

Create a business that you might eventually be able to sell to others

Change Your Life

Working alone can be lonely. It’s hard to make all the decisions by yourself, stay motivated, handle all the day-today tasks of running even a very small business. Having someone else on board brings you more talent and skills.

Share some of your workload

Spend more of your time on work you enjoy

Reduce isolation

Turn to someone else; bounce ideas off of them

Recharge your battery

Change the World

In 2007, there were 21 million businesses in the US with NO employees. Some will never have the income to support employees. But if a mere 1% of those businesses hired just one employee, they’d create 200,000 new jobs! You can be part of that.

Create good jobs for other people

Create an atmosphere in which people are treated fairly and with respect

Increase employment in America and reduce unemployment

Improve the economy

But this book definitely helps you get started. You’ll be armed with enough of the basic knowledge you need as an employer. You’ll get the guidance to help you conduct an effective hiring search that should result in finding a great employee. You’ll feel more confident that you understand the laws and day-to-day processes of dealing with employees. You’ll think through your company’s policies and benefits and what kind of corporate culture you want to cultivate. Finally, you’ll take a look at managing and leading your staff. You’ll be on your way to charting a path toward another successful chapter in your business’ story.

Bad Economy, Good Time for Hiring

Weak economy? High unemployment? Sure, it’s scary to think about expanding your business and taking on employees during uncertain economic conditions. But believe it or not, recessions and depressions have historically proven to be great times to start or grow a business. And a time of high unemployment may be the very best time to add to your staff.

More than half of all companies that make up the Fortune 500 or Dow Industrial Average were started in a recession or depression. Statistically speaking, you’ve got a better chance of becoming a huge American corporation by starting in a bad economy.

Take a look at some of the companies that started or expanded substantially during recessions or depressions: Microsoft, McDonalds, Disney, Hewlett-Packard, Whole Foods, General Electric, Adobe, J.Crew, Intuit, Alcoa, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Applebees, Costco, Chilis, Odwalla, Sara Lee, Sears. The list goes on and on.

HIRE Learning

Small Businesses:

Generate more than 45 percent of total private payroll

Create 60 to 80 percent of new jobs annually

Employ half of all private-sector employees

Hire 40 percent of all technology workers

—Small Business Administration

Yes, it seems counter-intuitive, but it’s actually not a fluke. Bad economic times mean great opportunities for companies willing to expand, be aggressive, and take risks. That’s because you’ll find:

Weaker competition. In bad economic times, big companies tighten their belts, cutting back on marketing, new product introductions, research and development, expansion. That makes it a better time for smaller, more aggressive competitors—like you!

More flexible customers. In good economies, customers don’t switch providers much. But when times get bad, they look for new, better, cheaper alternatives. They’re far more open to trying new things and new companies.

Lower costs and better terms. Suppliers are more willing to deal during bad economies. In fact, in good times, many suppliers won’t even deal with new, small companies.

Lower rents. If you need expanded space to accommodate your new employees or launch your new business, you’ll find all types of commercial real estate less expensive—office, retail, warehouse, manufacturing space.

Debunking Hiring Myths

MYTH	REALITY
Hiring an employee costs too much money.	Your income is limited if you work only by yourself. Hire smart and your new help enables you to make more money.
I must offer employees a whole range of costly benefits.	Legally, the number of benefits you must offer is surprisingly small. However, you’ll probably choose to offer more to get the best employees.
I’ll have to pay payroll taxes as well as salary or wages.	That’s true. Budget for these as you plan. And when legal, you can use independent contractors without paying taxes.
I don’t have enough money saved up to hire full-time employees.	You can start small—hiring part-time workers or contractors.
I don’t have enough space in my office for an employee.	Many businesses can have employees who telecommute at least part of the time.
I’ll spend all my time on paperwork, managing payroll, and figuring taxes.	A wealth of services, like online payroll, help you handle these quickly and easily.
Managing other people will take up too much of my time.	Once you get systems in place, you should have more time for doing work you’re best at.
Employees are lazy, more trouble than they’re worth.	Most people are eager to do a good job. Train them well and manage fairly, and they’ll work hard for you.

High Unemployment = Lots of Great Prospects

Frankly, when unemployment is high, it’s a buyer’s market for those hiring. You’ll find better workers, at lower cost, willing to be more flexible.

Certainly, a job loss is devastating to the people who are laid off. However, this means that some of the most skilled workers are available to help you take your business to the next level. And although it’s awful when recent college graduates can’t find good jobs, that means there are lots of eager, smart, young people you can add to your team.

Times of high unemployment offers employers:

Cheaper labor. Prospects recognize they may have to take lower wages or salaries to get a job.

Talented employees. In good times, it’s often hard for small companies to compete against big corporations for the best people. In bad times, even highly talented, experienced employees are willing to work for small companies, or have been laid off from corporate positions, bringing unmatched experience to you.

Flexible workers. Job prospects are more willing to work around your needs and schedule, including being more open to part-time work or off-hours.

Greater choice of independent contractors. Just as more prospects are willing to work part-time, you’ll find a large pool of talented people willing to work as independent contractors, exploring self-employment or making money until they find another full-time job.

Experienced retirees. Recessionary conditions mean many workers accepted “early retirement” packages, while other retirees have seen their retirement savings and investments decline. This means many more experienced workers are looking for part-time or full-time roles to use the skills they’ve gained over a lifetime.

Even if your dream isn’t to start a multi-billion enterprise, history shows that if large, long-standing corporations can take-off during a challenging economy, your company can too!

Envisioning the Growth of Your Business

Before you begin the hiring process, you need to begin to make the “mental leap” to this next stage of your business. Perhaps you’ve been a “solo-preneur,” working on your own, maybe basing your business from your home. Hiring someone will make a major change in your lifestyle as well as your business. Perhaps you’re starting the type of business that requires one or more employees right off the bat, such as a restaurant, store, or manufacturing plant. Besides building a business, you also have to build your skills as “boss”—spending part of your time managing and leading employees.

Where do you see your business in a year? Three years? Five years? How does having employees or other workers help you achieve your goals? Think about adding employees within the context of your larger business goals.

Use the worksheet “Goals for Growing My Business” to consider what you want your business to look like in the next few years. That gives you a context for deciding what type of employees to hire and how soon.

The fact is, adding an employee to your business is one of the most powerful methods for bringing in more work from new and existing customers, delivering a higher level of service or giving yourself the time to brainstorm innovative new products and services. In other words, you can hire your way to growth.

The Ultimate Social Responsibility

Many entrepreneurs hope that their businesses will have a positive impact on society—that their companies will not only make a profit but help to make the world a better place. They’ve identified a product or service that people need or want and hope to fill that void. Most care about their communities, the environment, helping reduce poverty. But few people talk about the tremendous positive impact that creating a good job has on society as a whole. And how satisfying it truly is—if you allow yourself to recognize the importance of creating jobs.

The ultimate act of social responsibility is to create a job—a good job—and then to treat your employees fairly and decently. Think about this for a moment: did you ever have a job where they paid you a good, competitive wage, in a work environment where people were given respect and thanked when they did a good job? Where you had a chance to have your ideas listened to, where there was no discrimination or bias? If you did, you know what a wonderful difference it made in your life. Every day you had a chance to spend your hours in a positive environment—even if you had to work hard. If you didn’t—and most people don’t—then you can imagine how wonderful such a work environment like that would be.

You—as an employer—have the opportunity to create that kind of situation for others. And that’s an incredibly important contribution to the world. That doesn’t mean you can’t be a demanding boss—you can indeed demand hard work and high standards. But if you can create a job, pay fair wages and benefits, respect and acknowledge your employees, and create an environment of fairness and acceptance, you can go to sleep at night—every night—knowing that you have changed the lives of others for the better. And they, in turn, will change yours.

worksheet: Goals for Growing My Business

Specific Goals:

Enter the number or amount you hope to achieve for your business in one year, five years, and ten years.

Priorities:

Rate your priorities for your business.