Hiring Your Savvy Team

When I first started my own business, I knew that there are certain things that I cannot do on my own. And I must admit that it has been blocking me in terms of really moving  forward with my business.

So the very first thing that I did in terms of hiring was hiring a copywriter or someone who can help me with my written contents. That is when I luckily met Anita Dawn, who is an amazing copywriter and owns Anita Dawn Creative. She has really helped me a lot with my website blogs and weekly newsletters especially in my starting years. I am really so thankful for having her as my first partner.

It was just so amazing to let go of that certain hindrance in my business. And I have also realized that the more I accept the facts on my strengths and my weaknesses, and learn to delegate it to other people, the more it makes my business run more smoothly.

I know how it feels with the many hesitations and all. So I’d love to share with you how I conquered my fears and finally did it! 

Know your strengths and weaknesses

Written content is not really my strength. And from that very thing, I already know what to hire first. Earlier, I mentioned about hiring a copywriter. Did you know that I had to hire multiple virtual assistants, too? 

Now that I have such an amazing team who is really helping me with my social media contents, I really realized how much at ease I am to create that consistency that I want. 

Don’t get me wrong! I still design all of the social media graphic contents, but the posting and  the written contents are no longer done by me. 

But!  It is  guided by me, right?  It’s through my guidance, my instructions and all the tone of my voice that VAs are helping me with, and again it helped me not to be into the rabbit hole of creating content. Such a relief!

Find the right people

Looking for the right people for your business is just like looking for your ideal clients. 

First, list down the skills and knowledge that you would be needing for the job. Then identify if you will be requiring them to have an experience or not. 

Second, start with the search! So what I normally do to find the right people that I need is that, first, I ask for a referral. Ask around who these people are who offer these services that you need. I just love to trust the recommendations of the people that I know, as normally, they already have an experience working with these people that you are looking for.

Last but not the least, when you find prospects, set a meeting, interview them, ask direct questions, and give them a chance to ask you too. This way, you will be able to identify if you are a perfect match. Instincts are real and sometimes, you will just have a feeling that this is the one!

Be clear and specific with what you want and need

What are the things to be done? What would be their responsibilities? What are the requirements needed in order to apply for the job? These are a few questions that you also have to list down and answer. 

For example, I needed someone to post on my social media, create the content text of my graphics based on my tone of voice, and be responsible for monitoring all the things about it. 

Just a tip, make sure to be as creative as you can when you write this job post to attract your ideal team members!

Delegate, set expectations and create a system

I know there's something that us, busy entrepreneurs, would like someone to hit the ground running as fast as possible. But in reality you just really need to immerse these people into your system.

Never anticipate that your team will always be able to read your mind. Be straightforward and tell them what you want to achieve and these are your thoughts. Remember not to overwhelm your  team. After you explain, let your team ask you questions and verify. Then let them have the freedom to implement what it is. 

But you need to make sure that when you are hiring people to be part of your squad, understand that you need to guide them on what you want them to achieve so that they can deliver a successful output for you. 

What I love about my VAs right now is that they really have created a system to support me as well. So they have their worksheets, they have the Google Sheets to tell me what their recommendations are. That is the first thing that we actually did. We did the recommendation process about the things that I want to achieve. Gladly, they have that experience already so I just love how it is.

Continuous training and learning

Does this sound familiar to you?, “Oh I kinda want to hire someone but I don’t have time for training”. 

That, for me, is the biggest thing that you need to avoid. You still need to allocate enough training for your team to know. 

I understand that once you have provided all of that useful information, like “this is what I do,  these are my accesses, these are my credentials, and this is how you do it. Now go ahead and do it!” 

They need to have the initiative to implement things and to implement also what they would like to achieve for you, right? 

Don’t forget to allow them a period of getting to know your brand and getting to know your process. 

The number one fear that entrepreneurs always have is money, right? Where would I get the money? Will I be able to retain the income that I have if I ever hire someone?

But I always believe that when you focus on things that you're good at, you will be able to generate income through that. And then you will be able to have the support that you can pay other people who are doing the other things for you. Those things that you are “not so good” at!

I totally understand that you want to save, but know that saving the money doesn't necessarily save you time because it consumes a lot of your energy and effort. So what really happens is that it only eats more of your money-making activities, only because of that thinking that you want to save. Did I make sense? 

But you know what? When I started to let go,  it really helped me a lot not only in terms of my business growth but also with my very own self-care and well-being.

So yeah those are just my thoughts for hiring teammates for your squad.

If you have any questions about my Savvy tips, I’d really love to hear from you in the comments below!

Stay Savvy!

Joanna