What You Need to Know Before You Hire Support in Your Coaching Business
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If I had a dollar for every time I saw a post that said “I’m looking for a VA, please comment with your services and rates below”, I might be a very rich lady.
All kidding aside, when I see those posts, I literally cringe. I know that the business owner is in for a heap of frustration and wasted time trying to bring on a new team member, and they are probably at a point of desperation when it comes to needing to free up some time and energy.
So let me give you a few pointers to make the hiring and onboarding process as painless as possible, and help you find your new dream team member.
Know WHAT you need off your plate. Take the time to go through your tasks and categorize them into things that only you can do, what you hate doing/drain your energy/takes a ton of time that you don’t have as a business owner, and all things in between.
The goal is to get the tasks in that first category being done by someone else ASAP.
Having these written out gives you clarity on the type of person you’re hiring and exactly what you want them to have experience with and be responsible for.
Identify WHO you need to hire. Looking at those tasks from above, are you hiring a VA? Social Media Manager? Copywriter? OBM? Are you looking for someone long term to grow with your business or is this position project based? When you’re clear on exactly what you want this person to do for you, it will help you know what you’re looking for.
WHERE do you find this rockstar? Start with your network, your audience, and a few facebook groups. I highly recommend having an application process with a form that you can pull down their responses — you don’t want to be drowning in email here. Narrow down your applicants and interview the top few — no need to get on a call with everyone, you want your application process to be specific and help do that for you.
What’s next? If you take ANYTHING away from this post, please, please, please get yourself a contract. Any time money exchanges hands you should have one. Protect yourself! Typically contractors will charge a monthly retainer up front, that’s common, but if something happens and they don’t deliver, you want to make sure you have grounds to get your money back if they ghost you. (Don’t let me scare you, but better to be safe than sorry!) If you need access to a contract, check out The Contract Vault.
Now, as a business owner, if you’re looking for dream team members to grow with you and your company, you’ve got to be the leader that they want to stick with long term.
What kind of boss are you going to be? Too hands on and you might smother your team and make them feel like you don’t trust their work, too hands off and they may feel like they don’t have your engagement or support.
A great question to ask yourself: Would you want to work for YOU?
Hiring a team can be uncomfortable if you’ve never had to manage the work and outcomes of others before, but the result of freeing up some of your time can be life changing — and business changing.
xo,
Robyn
PS: Have you hired someone and it didn’t work out? I’d love to hear from you! Share your story below or email me at hello@operationswizardry.com
