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So you’ve got a startup running and you’re making a bit of money. You’re starting to realize that you can’t run your business alone anymore, so you want to hire a few people to help you. You’ve looked at the costs of hiring freelancers and the types of services they can offer, but you’ve decided that you’d rather have some long-term remote employees instead. Or maybe you’re willing to rent out an office and hire people to come into your office instead. Either way, building your team up from scratch can be tricky as it takes a long time to recruit the right people.
But before you even consider putting out some recruitment message or job listing, you’ve really got to prepare your business for more people. So here are some tips to help you out.
What are your employees actually going to do?
It’s a huge mistake to hire employees without having any work for them. You might be so used to handling your business by yourself that you don’t know how to actually delegate tasks and make good use of your employees. But don’t worry, this is actually kind of normal.
Before you hire anyone, remote or not, make sure you actually have some tasks for them. Your very first employee is probably someone that will handle a variety of tasks. You can think of them like an assistant. This is someone that can help with everything from social media to marketing–it really depends on what you need.
But with that said, you might actually have a task for them that’s completely unrelated to what you currently do. For example, maybe you’re already set up with a website and an online store, but what you need is a dedicated marketing expert to help you advertise your products and find people who are willing to review your stuff. This process takes a lot of time because it involves getting your name out there and communicating back and forth with other people. As such, it’s a good idea to hire someone that understands this kind of marketing and influencer industry so that they can focus on it while you do something else.
Failing to have a job for your employees will just end up making you feel like you’ve wasted your money on the whole recruiting process. It’s also going to make your employees leave because they’re not really progressing in their career or doing anything productive. It’s all going to be a huge waste of time, so make sure you have a clear idea of what you’re hiring for.
Financial responsibilities with your employees
The obvious thing here is that you need to pay your employees–but how is this going to take place? Do you want to pay them via something like PayPal? Are you going to bank transfer them like other companies? What about benefits and taxes?
From seeking a federal EIN filing service to establishing clear payment procedures, everything you do when it comes to paying your employees needs to be detailed and documented so that there is absolutely no confusion. The moment you’re unable to pay your employees on time is the moment they start looking for another job!
Some business owners prefer having something more flexible, such as being able to pay their employees whenever a job is done. In this case, you’re better off hiring contractors or freelancers that you work with on a regular basis.
There are also payroll systems that you can establish so that your employees are paid on time and at regular intervals throughout the year. It takes a lot of the work off your hands, and it can be a fairly simple process to set up if you’re willing to spend a bit of time on it. Alternatively, you can also work with a bookkeeping service to help you pay your employees instead.
Building a working relationship with your employees
Lastly, having more people in your team means that you’ve gotta get used to them. You need to make sure that they fit with your office culture and that they’re happy when they’re working. When you open your own business for the first time, you don’t really worry about things such as company culture. But your actions will dictate how your business is run, and this will in turn affect how your employees act in different situations.
Building up a good working relationship with your team takes time, and it’s important to try and find people who you synergize with during the early stages of your business.
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