Fact: I wouldn’t be where I am today and I wouldn’t have been able to scale and plan for what I’m growing into today if it wasn’t for bringing on a team of people to support me. 

I’m a big believer in getting systems, teams, and automation in place so you can optimize your time, but I see so many business owners get stuck on the team part, aka hiring. Does this sound familiar?

Ask yourself this: if you were able to simply step into the things that you love doing in your business, and you had the people that fit within your profit margins supporting the rest of your business, what would that look like? How would that feel?

Starting here, with these questions, was how I was able to build my entire team, and it has created so much time, space, joy, flow, and emotional stability in my business – not only because there are things off of my plate, but because my team also creates emotional buffers between clients, students, and customers!

Mindset roadblocks? Ditch ‘em.

If you think you need to hire for your biz but just can’t bring yourself to actually do it, ask yourself why? One of the most common mindset blocks is around hiring for things are that are directly client-related – like content creation for your biz. This is where thinking about the big picture is essential! Think about it this way: if you’re putting out content, you can support more people and draw more people into your business, which is exactly what is needed to grow your biz long-term…..right!?

If you can come at that mindset block from a different perspective and look at it as a revolution in hiring where you start off with hiring for things that clients are actually paying for, you can then get more comfortable with hiring for things that clients are not paying you for. 

Think of hiring as an investment – and you may wonder what the ROI is of this investment, but it’s up to you to determine that. How will you spend the time you now have free to create revenue for your business?

Future You Is Calling

Who is that future version of you, and how are you going to become that version of yourself? Future You is probably not doing all of the small administrative things that you may find yourself bogged down with – in fact, Future You probably has a team to handle the operations of your business while you focus on scaling!

That future version of me, the Million Dollar Kelsey, is not editing her own podcast, or doing her own financials, or posting to Instagram (though I do love engaging so the future me might still manage this!). There are just things that Million Dollar Kelsey will not be doing, and those are the things that I’m starting to hire out for now so that I can leverage my time right and get that much closer to becoming Million Dollar Kelsey.

As I’ve hired out I’ve been able to create a lot more time and space to do some of the dreamy projects that make me feel really alive, instead of being in the details of the doing – doing client contracts, and development, and all the day-to-day things that make a business run. The truth is, all of those things were actually holding me back from growing and dreaming into this next level!

So, like, how do you know when it’s time to hire?

When you’re in the weeds! If you feel like you’re overwhelmed and just barely able to prioritize client work while also doing #allofthethings, it’s time to find somebody who can step in and take some of the load off of you. 

But Wait….

Before you even begin to hire a team, there is something that you should be doing: creating systems and processes in your business, and documenting everything. 

Standard Operating Procedures will become your new best friend, I promise!

Spending two hours to create a SOP will pay itself back in spades by freeing you up to focus on things that are going to really move your business forward in an incredible way and create a better client experience for the clients you already have.

Success is in the Rest

Growth comes from being able to recharge and rest, and every time I’ve had one of those genius ideas we all get sometimes it’s because I had the time and space for me to rest and recharge – and I’ve always experienced a huge upsurge and growth as a result!

When you can build more rest into your days, your life, and your business, you’re going to find more success because you have that time and space to actually grow – instead of just hustling and burning out.

One of the big things I make room for? Space. Why do you think you get your best ideas in the shower? It’s because in the shower your brain has been given a little bit of space, and in order to make room for that space, we have to do hard things like delegate and trust people with our business.

I know this all sounds scary – after all, your biz is like your baby, right? But even the most devoted mothers need time and space to themselves sometimes!

Referrals? Not So Much.

A lot of times when in the hiring process people have a tendency to reach out to their friends or others in their network who might know someone who would fit the job description – but, there’s a lot more to a job than the tasks involved.

There is also a ton of nuances to be considered. Will your hire match your work culture and ethic? Will your hire fit within your personality style (this one is so often overlooked but oh so important)! 

Not everyone who might fit a job description is necessarily a fit for every single boss, so it’s important to get clear on what your personality and working styles are, what you want your specific job role to do in your business, and create that role around your unique personality.

Remember: there’s no one way to do anything and there is no job description that is going to be an end-all-be-all. There are always nuances and to build a really amazing dream team you need to get crystal clear on your own nuances, how you like to work, how you like to communicate, and the vision that you have for your biz so you can find the right people who will be with you for the long haul.

Referrals are also generally people who are hiring for a one-off project, so if you’re looking to hire somebody who is going to be a bigger part of your company you probably don’t want them to have all the clients already – you will want someone who is going to be working with you specifically for a long time, and that person is unlikely to come from a referral.

Which leads me to my next point….

Cast a Wide Net!

If you cast your net wide when you’re finding talent you’re going to uncover a lot of hidden gems – which is exactly how dream teams are built!

Not every talented human out there is necessarily going to have a stunning website (or even one at all!) or be well-known in their niche. The people who are mostly referred – or those who are most visible – do not represent the talent that is actually out there waiting for you, and that’s why it’s so important to look at different avenues and think outside the box to find the right people.

My final piece of advice: hire when it hurts. When you’ve landed on the business model that works for you but you’re at capacity and you know that in order to grow and scale you need support – even if it’s scary (which it will be!) and even if you hire wrong the first few times, that’s ok – it won’t be the first mistake you’ll make in your biz and it certainly won’t be your last! Sometimes hires are like boyfriends: you have to go through a few really awful ones before you find the one that works for you!