Episode 240: How Do I Know If I Am Ready To Hire?

Are you wondering if you're ready to take the next step and hire employees for your business? Tune in to today's podcast where we dive into the question of "How do I know if I'm ready to hire?" It's not an easy answer, but we have some expert advice to share with you. Get ready for an exciting and engaging discussion on the challenges and considerations of growing your team. Remember, it's going to get worse before it gets better, but with the right mindset and preparation, you can make the transition smoothly. BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS: Do you have time to lay the foundation? (5:17) How are you going to nurture and coach? Where are you getting your leadership skills? (7:08) It's going to get worse before it gets better. (9:20) Think about how much people are worth to your business because that mindset is will change what you are willing to deal with. (12:09) Special Offers $10 Hire Challenge! From May 1st – 31st. A $525 value for just $10! Bella is that committed to helping you scale! www.jumpconsulting.net/challenge Links Interested in getting more hires? Get more information on the Challenge starting May 3rd, visit www.jumpconsulting.net/challenge Free Facebook group, Jump Start Your Pet Business https://www.facebook.com/groups/jumpersnetwork/ To sign up for Better Marketing With Bella Semester 2, visit www.jumpconsulting.net/marketing To email Bella if there is anything you’d specifically like to hear about, email her at [email protected] Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? We would love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link – Bella In Your Business Click on the ‘Subscribe’ button below the artwork Go to the ‘Ratings and Reviews’ section Click on ‘Write a Review’ Transcript: This is episode 240 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I'm Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you've seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you're about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin' in this next episode of Bella in Your Business. So what do you say? Let's get ready and jump. Welcome to another episode of Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta and today I'm going to continue on the hiring train, you guys. I've got a lot to say about this and it was actually inspired by one of you amazing people who reached out to me in a DM on Instagram. The big question was, how do I know when I'm ready to hire? They really wanted to know, right? And so I wanted to talk about this on the podcast. I love it when I get questions from you guys because it truly does tell me what you're thinking and what you need to know. So if you are in that position where you're wondering, when can I hire? What do I need to hire? When is the perfect time to hire? I’ve got news for you—there is no perfect answer. I'm so sorry, okay? But I am going to tell you some factors to consider, and that's something that you really have to think about. I think that a lot of us feel like it has to be the perfect storm. We actually have that problem with everything in life. People think that there has to be the perfect timing for things—the stars have to align, you have to have everything taken care of. And while that is true to an extent when it comes to hiring—you can’t just do it suddenly—you do need to do some things leading up to it. I believe a lot of it comes down to mindset. And here's why: you're going to fail a lot. You just are. The minute you can get over that failure and accept it is when things will really be beneficial for you. Because if you understand that you might not pick the right person, or you might end up asking the wrong question, or you might think you found the perfect person and then they quit three weeks later, you could see that as failure—or you could see it as a learning curve. Your definition of failure and what you do with it is vitally important. I want to encourage you to think of failure as a learning experience. What did you learn from it? What could you have changed? Sometimes you can’t change anything, right? Because you can only change yourself—you can’t really change other people. But you can get better at predicting things. So the very first thing I would say when you’re asking, are you ready to hire, is this: how good are you at failure? Because if you’re not and you’re willing to learn, it’s going to teach you a lot. And if you are good at it, then you’ll be fine. The other thing to consider is time. How much time do you have? There is a lot of time required in creating or getting ready for it, but there’s also a lot of time needed to nurture it. Let’s talk about time first. The time to create SOPs—standard operating procedures—does not mean a handbook and a training manual. A handbook and training manual is one thing. That’s the Bible of your company. That’s the thing that explains what you do when you need time off, or how to scoop a litter box. But a procedure manual is a step-by-step checklist: what we do when we come into a house—first, turn off the alarm, then let the dog out, then check the water bowl, find the cat, and so on. You need systems and procedures for everything. How do you send those text messages? What do you put in them? What does the anatomy look like? How do you greet a customer on the phone, on email, or in person? All of these things matter. You should know that no matter who you send to a house, the client gets the same experience. One thing I was talking about this morning was pictures. How do you actually send a picture to a client? Do you want one staff member who edits all their photos beautifully while another sends poorly lit pictures from bad angles? How do we systematize that? How do we make sure every single employee is giving the client the same kind of picture? That’s a small but important thing that you might not have accounted for. Along with that, it’s not something you always have to do alone. I am the co-founder of Pet Care Team Training, and at petcareteamtraining.com/freevideos, you can see five sample videos. It’s a series of 13 two-to-five-minute videos that are congruent and streamlined, teaching things like how to send care notes, take good pictures, and recognize bad ones. So, are you ready to hire? Do you have the time to lay the proper foundation? You can’t invite someone into your house if you don’t have a bed for them to sleep in or food to feed them, right? It’s the same thing here. The next question: are you ready to invest in people? I mean monetarily. If you balk at spending $117 for an online training or $1,000 for a customizable handbook and manual, okay, go do it yourself—but then it comes down to time. Do you have 50 or 60 hours to create that handbook and manual? Then add more time to hire a film crew and create videos. Everyone learns differently—you can’t just tell them something. They have to read it, see it, and experience it. You have to keep investing time in them. Just because you know something by heart doesn’t mean they will. You need to invest in your people and be a good leader. Also with time—what kind of personal development are you doing? What kind of books are you reading? Who are you surrounding yourself with? Are you expanding your mind or just surviving day to day? We can only empower and train people in our business to be as good as we are. We have to give them tools to help them succeed. Next, nurturing. How are you going to coach your new hires? It’s like what I do with you guys—I repeat lessons in different ways because sometimes you hear them, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you’re having a good day, sometimes you’re overwhelmed. That’s how we work. We have to nurture our people with patience and consistency. When they make mistakes, ask: is this a “me” problem or a “them” problem? Did I not present it well enough, or did they not follow instructions? If they don’t have clear instructions, it’s on you. If they do, and still don’t follow them, then it’s on them. You need to understand that and coach accordingly. Leadership requires self-awareness. You have to keep learning and growing. I don’t think I’ll ever be a perfect leader—there’s always more to learn. Leadership starts with yourself. If you can’t lead yourself, how can you lead others? You have to create safe environments where people trust you. So are you ready to hire? Are you ready to nurture relationships? These are rhetorical questions. Sorry to those who wanted a clear yes or no. It’s not one-size-fits-all. Are you ready to rise to the occasion? You might think hiring will instantly make your life better. But no—it gets worse before it gets better. There’s always a honeymoon phase, and then challenges hit. It happens. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s why your mindset needs to be strong. Mindset is crucial. When failure happens, think about how much each person is worth to your business. Let’s say your business makes $100,000 with five employees and you don’t work in it. That’s $20,000 per person. One mastermind member said it costs her $358 to onboard a new employee. Some might say that’s expensive. But if that $358 investment helps bring in $20,000 in revenue, that’s only 1%. That’s a fantastic ROI. That’s how you need to think about hiring—an investment, not an expense. And when frustrations happen—like someone eating cheese from a client’s fridge—pause. Yes, that actually happened, and someone got fired over it. But think about the bigger picture. How much are people worth to your business? Knowing that changes what you’re willing to invest in them, both time and money. The initial investment of that handbook, that training manual, those SOPs, and online video training—all of it makes a huge difference. So, are you ready to hire? Only you can answer that.