Lean On Me: 3 Ways You Know You Are Ready To Hire In Your Business

When you're doing your lady boss thang, successfully operating your own business, there comes a moment when you're ready to expand your productivity and hire an employee to help you achieve those goals. Girl, this is a powerful and sometimes scary moment that all prosperous businesses must navigate. This step needs careful consideration because it can make or break your enterprise's revenue stream. 

So How Do You Know You're Really Ready To Hire? Make sure you can check these three boxes before you make your first hire. 

Liquid And Ready To Roll

Winning as an entrepreneur means knowing your business's financials inside and out. Operations must remain profitable and expenses manageable with any addition of your new hire. You gotta get your girl scout on and be prepared for anything. Have a steady, liquid financial base ready in case of any emergency or unforeseen expenses and maybe keep some thin mint cookies as back-up!

One rule of thumb is to have several months of cash in the bank to cover business expenses plus the salary of these potential employees. Although some suggest that 60 days of finances available to cover costs is okay, I suggest you have an even wider safety net of at least six months of liquidity before you start to sprinkle jobs around like fairy dust. This leaves you able to cover any changes necessary if this hire doesn't entirely suit your company or if some additional expenses arise. And something almost always arises! 

If you aren't quite ready for a full-time salary, you could safeguard your business by going down the intern, part-time or contractor route. Then, you can see how this employee fits your company’s vibe and needs before making a longer-term commitment. Remember, it is an investment in your company, so make the right choice so that both your business and the new employee will profit.  

Will Your Hire Benefit Your Biz?

Your business strategy must be laser sharp and calculated, never haphazard. So when you're getting close to hiring, you gotta figure out exactly how they will benefit your business. Use these questions as guidelines to help you get it sorted:

• What goal will the hire accomplish? 
• What are you looking to accomplish by hiring assistance? 
• How will this ultimately help your business grow? 
• Will it help you spend more time on income-generating tasks? 

If the answers ain't clear, you ain't ready! Simple. Maybe you need to take a step back and see if your plans to conquer the business world are solid? Do you have specific goals visualized yet? If you don't know what your assistant will accomplish or how they will help scale your business, pump the breaks, and wait a bit longer before hiring. 

Develop your business plan and SOPs for the next year and follow them carefully as you make strategic decisions like hiring. Keep in mind that each employee is an investment that can either boost your business or drain your enterprise. Hiring well will allow you to focus on the more important and profitable activities. 

Onboarding That Flows

Before you pull the trigger on hiring a new prospect, get your systems and processes in place for a flawless onboarding process. When the business is ready for another set of hands, you need a smooth and effective onboarding process. Any new hire needs effective training so they can get a handle on the business activities and how they fit into these processes. 

Remember, they aren’t mind readers, so for them to truly understand your business operations, you gotta have documented how to complete each task and be able to demonstrate this to your new staff member. Otherwise, onboarding can become time-consuming and challenging rather than a relief for entrepreneurial stress. And nobody has time for that! 

Remember, in my last blog, how I told you that SOPs were the bomb? Well, this is where they really come in handy. Don't forget that any new employee is an investment of your time and your money but done right, can have ample rewards. To achieve maximum benefits, you gotta have them well defined SOPs to make onboarding a breeze. Good SOPs are the heart and soul of an organization. 

One of the main objectives of hiring someone is to make your work life less stressed. Using the SOPs will make everything clear and free you up for the real business of making the green. Show them how you want things done and then celebrate when you delegate.

Ready To Be Queen Bee?

It doesn't mean you have to be Beyonce, she’s already sewn that role up, but when you put your slay shoes on and want to take your enterprise to the next level, you don't want to stumble. You wanna strut that business stage like you run the world. Who run the world? Girls! Obviously! 

It's an exciting moment, but you need to be ready to take the next steps with ease and confidence. When you first wore heels, you had to learn to walk before you could do The Single Ladies dance routine. Now when you can dance like Ms. B in stilettos, it's time to scale your business and grow your staff. To succeed, you have to be wise and check off the three essentials of adequate finances, a solid understanding of how the hire will help your business, and SOPs that streamline the onboarding process. 

Once you have these established, you are ready to hire your first employee. Taking this step at the right time and choosing the right person for your business goals, helps you reap the twin rewards of greater support and reduced stress—two treasures for any entrepreneur to possess.

If you need a little extra encouragement, check out my Breakthrough to Excellence podcast for more tips on entrepreneurial success, overcoming entrepreneurial burnout, and building a flourishing business. Whether you are a newly launched entrepreneur or a long term business owner, the podcast will empower you to own your power and advance your career in the direction of your wildest dreams. Here's to conquering your entrepreneurial dreams with grace, passion, & grit!