Want to Hire In Your Business? Prioritize Your Goals First

by | Oct 30, 2019 | Business, Career Planning, entrepreneur

What happens when business is flourishing and your one-woman-show can no longer keep up with all the competing demands of, well, everything? You conclude that you need help. And trust us, help is a good thing! But how do you decide exactly what kind of help you need first when you know that you could in fact have about 5 different roles filled? 

We know the answer isn’t as simple as “You need to prioritize” but that is exactly what we are going to say: you need to prioritize your needs in alignment with your goals. Your goals are unique to your business, which means there is not a clearcut answer here, because what might make sense for one might not make sense for the other. 

Let’s pretend you are a maker with a product-based business and your plan is to design a new line and double your output. Are you the only person who can make your products? If so, then look at the time consuming tasks that take you away from creating your product. Those are the areas that you could outsource or hire someone to do. Alternatively, if you can teach someone to make your product (as we imagine all you makers taking in a deep gulp at the thought of trusting someone else to do this!!!), you could bring someone in to help with the making while you focus on some other business building activities. 

Yes? 

Another way to look at this is to look backwards. Pretend it’s one year from now and you have reached the goal you set out. What did you have to do to make that happen? You need to be clear on your goal and what has to happen before you can start to think about who is the right person to bring on first. 

We love our notebooks and sketching and making diagrams and mind maps and charts and all kinds of things where we can use highlighters. This is a perfect ‘if this then that’ kind of exercise. Start off by simply jotting down notes and then start to organize things. Begin with the end goal and write out the things that need to happen in order for you to achieve them. This is where the prioritization starts and the ‘if this then that’ can begin. Look at each task/activity and start ranking them in order: In order for me to do that, then I would first have to do this. Get yourself a clear picture of ALL THE THINGS and the general order that they must go in and when they should be happening. 

Then you can start asking yourself “Can I do this on my own? Do I HAVE to do this on my own?” Keep in mind that there are only 24 hours in a day, and we don’t want you to be working 24 hours a day! Out of all the areas that you identify that you could use the help, map out what it would look like to have people do these things for you – the tasks, the time they would free up, the stress they would remove, and of course, the cost of engaging with them. Can one person do multiple things for you? Do you need a specialized person for some tasks? Work on defining the roles. 

Based on the order rank of when things should be happening, which of these roles seem to be the most relevant right now to reaching those goals? Looking at our maker example above, say you could hire someone to help with the crafting, but priority wise, you won’t need them until 6 months from now. In which case, what kind of help would be beneficial now? Is it a bookkeeper to help you free up a few hours a month, hours that you could spend designing that new line? Or maybe a virtual assistant, who could help with social media, ordering supplies, and managing your customer journey, which would give you back several hours a week – hours that again, you could spend designing, making, and doing money-making activities. 

Building your team is a big win! Don’t let hesitation or confusion stop you from growing your business because you can’t get past the ‘But how do I even know how to do this’ stage.  

Did this topic inspire you? Members of our Hustle + Flow Business Mentorship have just worked through this very topic during our ‘Establishing Your Annual Plan + Refining Your Brand’ quarter. We love helping women confidently communicate their value in business, which includes the need to be confident about business plans! Want to know more about our quarterly membership? Click here to learn more! We’re opening our waitlist in just a few weeks for our next quarter starting January 1, 2020.  

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