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Getting Ready To Hire Your First Assistant
There comes a time in every entrepreneur's life when they realize they just can't do it alone. They realize they're maxed out - either on time or ability - and there's no way their business will grow until they start delegating some tasks.
If that sounds like you, then keep reading. And if that doesn't sound like you, then keep reading.
No, that wasn't a typo. No matter what stage your business is in, there are a few steps you need to take right now to prepare for growth and to prepare for hiring your first assistant.
Usually, when it comes to hiring an assistant, I hear two objections. The first is "Oh, I could never afford an assistant" and the second is "I can't trust anyone to do it right." And the funny thing is, I was in both of those positions myself at one time or another.
When I first started my business many years ago, I was fortunate enough to land some big contracts with some big clients. The crummy part was, these contracts required lots and lots of hours of work.
And I just didn't think anyone else could understand the scope of the projects like I did; no one else would have had the anal-retentive attention to detail that I had; and if someone made a mistake, ultimately it was my name that was on the line. So I ended up doing it all myself.
When I realized I hate working with big corporations and shifted my focus to working with entrepreneurs and start-up businesses, my income was cut dramatically. Actually, "cut" is probably an under-statement; "butchered" is more like it. Sliced, diced and shredded. Pulverized. Vaporized.
The point is, my income just wasn't there. And at that point in time I figured I could never hire an assistant.
But I also knew I was working insane hours. And a lot of what I was doing was non-income-producing tasks. Things like sorting and filing. Cleaning out email. Going to the bank. Running to the post office.
My time was so filled with these other activities that I didn't have time to work on growing my business. So I bit the bullet and decided it was time to bring on an assistant.
I'll walk you through the process I went through so hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and triumphs.
Triumph: I started small at first, and that is something I would recommend that you do also. My first assistant was Paige and (although I'm sure she wouldn't like to hear this) I would classify her as a "kid".
She started out by doing little tasks like filing and stuffing envelopes for my direct mail clients. And even though each task took her longer to do than it would have taken me, it freed my time up to concentrate on revenue and growth activities.
Mistake: I brought Paige on without a clear cut plan. I kind of threw odd tasks at her as they came up. I didn't have a plan ahead of time of what she would do or how she would do it. I'll show you how to avoid this mistake in a minute.
Mistake: Expecting Paige to read my mind. I have been so spoiled by the ever-so-wonderful Michelle! I can come up with a vague idea, just a whisper of a thought, and Michelle will take it and run with it. She doesn't need much direction. She doesn't need much guidance. It's as if she "just knows". Don't expect that from your assistant!
Paige needed direction. She needed me to tell her, step by step, exactly what to do. Even now, after we've been working together for a while, there are times that I don't give her thorough directions and the results are, let's just say "less than optimal". Be prepared to spell out to your assistant exactly what you want done.
Triumph: Figuring out what Paige was really good at and utilizing those strengths. I soon discovered that Paige has this amazing talent for staying calm. Nothing ruffles her feathers and nothing causes her to go off-kilter.
I started letting her handle clients who were past due on their invoices. She could get on the phone, in what could have ended up being a "yucky" situation, and calmly arrange a payment plan. Because of her demeanor, both she and the client ended up satisfied. If I had hired an agency to deal with those situations, I'm not sure what the outcome would have been.
Mistake: Not being prepared for a "no Paige" situation. Even though I started giving Paige step by step directions for every task, they were only verbal directions. Paige had everything in her head.
So when Paige left on a 2 week vacation, I was stuck doing all her tasks on my own. If I had had written directions, I could have easily brought in a replacement while Paige was gone.
Even If You're Not Ready To Hire Your First Assistant, Here Are Some Steps You Should Be Taking Right Now...
1. Keep Track of What You Do.
Take a few minutes every day to jot down the things you're doing. Keep a simple note pad with you, and every hour just write down all the tasks you've done. And I do mean everything.
Don't skip the little things like checking email. Or running to Kinkos. It's these little things that keep you from your revenue generating activities.
Jot down everything, but don't worry about getting too specific. You just want a list of basic activities. Do this each day for an entire week.
2. Decide What Can Be Delegated.
Go through your list and cross out any revenue generating activities. Next, cross out any activities that involve direct contact with your customers or clients. These are the types of activities that you will mentally have the hardest time letting go of so we won't even take them into consideration for now.
You should be left with a list of non-client, non-revenue activities. Look for any activities that appear on more than one day and circle them. Now, look for circled items that appear multiple times in one day and place a star by them. If you checked your email 6 times on Tuesday, it should be circled and starred.
Any items that are circled and starred are huge time vampires that are seriously cutting into your ability to generate a higher income. These items should be delegated as soon as possible! Next, prioritize the circled items that will also be delegated when time and budget permit.
3. Start Creating Your Operations Manual.
Next time you go to do one of your time vampire activities, allow yourself a few extra minutes to write down, step by step, exactly how you do that particular activity.
Write down every single little step, even if it seems like a no-brainer. Since many of my delegated activities involve technical tasks and software programs, I actually take screen shots of my computer screen and include those in my directions.
Create a directions page for each one of your time vampire activities. It will be a time consuming task in the beginning, but the end result will be a gigantic payoff!
Now, when you're ready to bring on your first assistant, you'll have exact step by step directions for everything you need done. As your assistant grows with you and as you're giving him or her additional tasks, be sure to create directions sheets for each of these new tasks (the creation of the directions sheets can be delegated to your assistant).
You'll end up with a complete operations manual that can be used by any new assistants in the future.
I really want to encourage you to bring on an assistant sooner rather than later. Do like I did and start small. Even if it's a high school kid for one hour a week to file papers, the important part is developing the mindset of being able to delegate.
And then, you need to dedicate that freed up hour solely to a revenue generating or business growth activity. You'll be amazed at how quickly you see progress, and you'll be wondering how you ever lived without your new assistant.
So, grab yourself a notepad and start jotting down your daily activities. And prepare yourself for your business explosion!
About the Author Karen Scharf is an Indianapolis marketing consultant who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several whitepapers, free reports and checklists, including her FREE Can-Spam checklist and FREE email pre-flight checklist to ensure your emails get delivered, get opened and get read. Download your copies at http://www.ModernImage.com.
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