Signs My Small Business Should Start Hiring
Business owners often ask us how to know when it’s the right time to hire help.
The answer? One major, yet simple, benchmark.
Determining the right time to hire employees for your small business is pivotal.
When we talk to our clients about how to judge when the time to hire support is “right,” we notice there’s one critical indicator and a simple benchmark to know when it’s time.
Knowing these 2 things will help you confidently make this decision.
In this blog post, we’ll share the secret with you.
Key Indicator: When Your Time Becomes a Limiting Factor
The most obvious sign that it's time to hire is when your time is maxed out.
If you find yourself working excessive hours, feeling constantly burnt out, or missing deadlines, it's a clear indicator that your workload has become unsustainable.
This bottleneck is often the first sign that your business is ready to grow but is constrained by your capacity to handle additional work.
Benchmark: Evaluate the Financial Feasibility of Hiring
Before you decide to bring on administrative help or other staff, assess whether additional projects could cover the costs of outsourcing your administrative tasks.
Here’s a simple way to calculate:
Determine the net profit of an average project: For instance, if you make a $1000 sale and your costs are $500, your net profit is $500.
Calculate the cost of administrative support: For instance, virtual assistants cost $35 per hour. Knowing your $500 net profit per project, you could purchase about 14 hours of admin support to remain profitable
Determine what administrative tasks you do: Write a list of all the tasks you’re currently doing that could theoretically be handled by someone who doesn’t have your years of experience (invoicing, data entry, research, building templates, reporting, etc)
Decide how much of your profit you are willing to allocate: If you outsource, say, 5 hours of admin work per project, calculate the potential increase in projects you could take on if this admin support could facilitate the work
Want a more detailed walk-through of this? Download our BUSINESS OPERATIONS “MINI” AUDIT.
How to Leverage Administrative Support to Drive Growth
Think about what 5 additional hours of admin support could achieve.
This time could be spent on marketing efforts such as newsletters and blogs, creating a new marketing funnel, reaching out to potential and past customers… & so much more!
Strategic investment in administrative support can significantly enhance your business's capacity to generate new leads and handle more projects.
Ready to Expand Your Team?
If you’re considering outsourcing or hiring for your small business but are unsure about the timing, we’re here to help.
Book an introductory call with an operations expert to get personalized advice and strategies tailored to your business’s unique needs.
