41. Building A Team: Bringing On Full-Time Employees

This week, we've got another great episode about the next step in building a team: bringing on full time employees. Before you run away, hear me out! Although I know you may not be in the place to be making these hires right now, you will be one day. And setting up a strong foundation now will make all the difference when you are ready to start making those hires! Last week, we talked about how to prep for building a team, so I think this is another great foundational piece you need when building the team of your dreams!

Before we dive into all of that though, I want to share my new FREE guide with you: My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint. It's a step-by-step guide of what to do to make $3,000 on your next mini sessions... all on ONE date. Whether you've hit that goal before or just want to see if there's other ideas to try, grab this free guide. It's jam packed with tons of great information for you! And now... back to our topic of the day: bringing on full time employees!

How do you know if you're ready?

It can be tricky to know if you're ready to hire someone full-time. But, a good rule of thumb is to look at who you have working with you already. If you've got a few subcontractors working for you (maybe your editor, virtual assistant, and social media manager) but you're still ready to continue scaling, it might be time to consider a full time hire. While you have these other people working under you and you realize you could afford to bring someone on for 40 hours a week, you might also be in the position to consider that hire. I recommend having 3-6 months of that person's salary in the bank before you commit to anyone though, so that if something happens, you're protected! It's not just for me: it's for them. I want them to know that I'm taking the responsibility of hiring them seriously and I want them to feel secure in their choice to work with a small business. So to me, that's the first step of knowing you're ready to hire someone full time!

Who do you hire?

There's two places to hire from: IN the industry and OUTSIDE of the industry. There's pros and cons to both. When you hire within the industry, you have someone that's more likely to be familiar with the software and systems you use. That's definitely a plus! But, there's something to be said for training someone from the ground up. In my business, we've hired three other people beyond my husband who are full-time and we've trained every single one of them. For us, it made sense because we have really specific processes we want to use and want them to know. Not to mention, our employees are amazing and super smart so it didn't take long to train them! Additionally, when you hire someone who isn't the expert in what they do, it's a little bit cheaper. Again, you have to train and teach them, but for us, that made more sense.

Now, if you're wondering where to go to find these amazing people, make sure you join Behind the Lens and watch my masterclass on Outsourcing! I share all sorts of tips, including where I go to find the amazing team members I have!

What do you look for when you hire?

For me, I've always hired for personality and trained for skill. It's more important that I find the RIGHT people for my team. Teaching them to do a job is easy! We're big on knowing our team members strengths and weaknesses here, and using that to our advantage as well. It's no secret that my full-time employees' positions have changed and evolved since they started, but it's all been for the better. We've actually had everyone take the Strengths Finder test so we can make sure we're doing what really aligns with who they are and what makes them unique. It's been really eye-opening for all of us and allowed us to put our employees in their zone of genius, which is truly the best for all of us.

I honestly still have to pinch myself that this is real some days. If you had asked me a year ago if I'd have multiple full-time employees, I'd say no way. But it's been amazing to help my business grow and scale. I love being able to serve more of you well because of my incredible team. I hope this little snippet into how we hired full time employees is helpful for you! Make sure you join Behind the Lens and learn more about my outsourcing tips there - and tune into the podcast episode above to hear all about my full-time employees right now. These ladies are amazing!

Links Mentioned

+ My $3K Mini Sessions Blueprint

+ Behind the Lens

What We Discussed

How do you know if you're ready? (3:15)

Who do you hire? (5:46)

What do you look for in a hire? (9:27)