Are you a small business owner, as I am? There are so many aspects to running a successful business that you can become overwhelmed with responsibilities. But when the economy is tight, how do you make the case for hiring another person? You may think that you’re saving money by doing almost everything yourself; on the contrary, you’re probably costing yourself time, money and energy on tasks best done by others.
As I built my business, I became aware of several nagging issues that weren’t being addressed:
- I was spending increasing amounts of time working directly with clients, and that meant falling behind in basic business practices like bookkeeping, invoices and inventory. Fitting in these tasks on the spur of the moment was not cost-effective; income and expenses have to be tracked on a regular basis.
- As my list of clients grew, I wanted to serve them better—but I didn’t have an efficient database system to manage communication and logistics. For instance, I was full of good intentions to send holiday greetings with information about new products and services, but I didn’t have time to reformat the program that printed address labels!
- I encountered many opportunities to write articles and produce publications relating to my business, but I found the editing, citation and submission processes so time-consuming that I couldn’t take advantage of all of them. I was also running into problems trying to find my research data when I needed it because it wasn’t archived efficiently.
In general, I knew that I wasn’t using technology wisely to help me with all of these issues, and I didn’t have the time or expertise to implement what I needed. It was stressful to realize that so long as I ignored this situation, I was probably blowing chances to grow my business. According to business gurus (http://blog.morebusiness.com/2011/05/do-you-need-to-hire-an-assistant-for-your-small-business/), there are 5 signs indicating that you might benefit from hiring an assistant:
- “Clutter – is your place of business (home or office) cluttered with piles of unorganized and unfiled papers and other materials? This is a sure sign you might have use for an assistant.
- Unanswered mail – Do you have stacks of mail and email that you simply do not have time to pay attention to? Yes, an assistant could be your answer.
- Unprocessed orders – Are you behind in processing orders for your products? Another body can help keep your business in the black by fulfilling sales orders.
- 16-hour workdays – Are you working from 6am to 10pm every day? This is a sure sign of quick burnout and that it is time to hire an assistant.
- Unwillingness to delegate – Do you have trouble letting other people do any task related to your new small business? While it can be tough to let go of certain tasks, the first step is recognizing you have a problem with delegation.”
Eventually, I hired several people—both short- and long-term—to assist me with technology usage, business management, writing projects and data storage. I’m now better able to access what I need, track my business activities and focus on what I love about my work.
If you’re tossing and turning in bed each night, worrying about the tasks you didn’t complete; if you’re waking up already exhausted by the “to do” list ahead; or if you’re not feeling the overall sense of accomplishment or satisfaction that running your own business should give you, consider reaching out and getting some help. In next week’s blog post, Part 2 will provide ideas on how to go about finding an assistant.
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