Are you feeling stretched? Like there aren’t enough hours in the day and you never have enough time to do the really important or really enjoyable work. I would like to offer three tactics to help you avoid such situations and then raise some questions that will help you find the office support you need.
3 TACTICS
1. Do not assume that you want to do this.
Many financial services professionals believe they must grow their business for reasons of status, family obligation, a sense of duty, etc. Those reasons may actually be motivating to you, or you may actually want to grow your business for other reasons. Before you get more resources to handle your increased busyness, check out whether it would be more satisfying for you to scale back. Too many professionals go all out to grow their business to a point beyond which they derive satisfaction and success. Only get support if you really want the growth that requires the extra work.
2. Do not hire someone because of your relationship with them
It is very common, particularly for those hiring their first employee, to hire someone they know. That someone is the son of a good friend or is your sister-in-law’s brother may be a good reason to invite them to your next party, but it is not a good reason to hire them. Hire someone who can do the work that you need done.
3. Do not assume you are best served by an employee.
Before you look to hire an employee, it is best to identify whether the work can be outsourced. Before you take on the challenges of finding and managing an employee, think about whether your office support could be better provided in a different manner.
- Rather than hire a full-time bookkeeper as an employee, could you use the services of an independent bookkeeper? All the better if the bookkeeper does the books of others in your field and understands the issues relevant to your business.
- Rather than hire a full-time marketer as an employee, could you use the services of a local marketing company? It may cost you less and you would get the services of an expert who has expert colleagues.
- Rather than hire a full-time assistant to manage your appointments, could Outlook do the job? Much of what previously was done by employees can now be done with technology.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with building your business. I’m just saying that you should only grow your organization if that’s the best way for you to get the support and satisfaction you need.
