How Do You Know When It's Time To Hire?

Courtney Elmer 0:00  

Hey, what's up? Welcome back. You're listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ Podcast. This is episode 126. And today we're continuing our conversation around how to hire the right person and team building for online entrepreneurs specifically, because let's face it, when you go type in how to hire the right person on Google, or how to do an interview, there's a lot that comes up. But it's not necessarily very specific for online business. And when it comes to hiring for your business, chances are you have a lot of questions. And quite often the process to hire the right person can feel very overwhelming, especially if you've never done it before. 

So what I decided to do is to give you an insider's peek into an exclusive training that I did recently for our mastermind students on how to hire the right person, and feature this as a four part series on the podcast to take the overwhelming the confusion out of this process for you. And to help you know exactly when it's time to hire the right person, which is what we're going to cover in depth today. That's all coming up next. So stay tuned to learn how to hire the right person.

Globally ranked among the top shows in business and education, we're known for one thing, helping overworked entrepreneurs like you learn how to run your business like a true visionary leader, because when you get the right systems, support, and structure in place, and hire the right person, you can spend more time in your zone of genius. So if you're tired of listening to today's business influencers teach this same old worn out marketing strategies that aren't making you any money, it's time to take a look under the hood of your business and fix the engine itself. Because the truth is, you don't have to work as hard as you are right now to scale beyond six figures if you hire the right person, and create the greater influence income and impact that you deserve. The secret to scaling starts on the back end of your business. This is the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ Podcast. 

So if you caught last week's episode, then you already know that this episode series here on the show is dedicated to lifting the curtain and showing you our four step hiring process and how to hire the right person. Why? Because every time I talk to entrepreneurs, whether it be students in our community, whether it be our community at large, whether it be colleagues in our community, hiring is a topic that comes up time and time again. And the problem is that there's not a ton of resources out there about how to hire the right person for online entrepreneurs about building a team, particularly because working remotely is its own animal. 

I know we had the pandemic a couple years ago, and a lot of people switched to remote work. And now some people are back working in an office, some people are working fully remote. I've been working remote for the past five plus years. And I don't care what anybody says working remotely and learning how to cultivate team culture remotely, when you're not all going into an office every day. And you're having that office camaraderie can be very difficult, it can feel very isolating, and it can feel difficult to navigate at times especially when you need to hire the right person. 

So that's what these episodes are dedicated to do to help you lay the foundation so that whether you are looking to hire the right person for the first time, or whether you are ready to make your next hire, that you can put these tools in your tool belt and refer back to them time and time again so that you know that who you're hiring is a right fit. You know when you need to hire the right person, you know where to find them. And you know how to execute the process when it comes to booking them for an interview, finding out who the best candidate is and actually making them an offer. Because I've made every hiring mistake in the book, I think it's safe to say every hiring mistake.

And I'm sharing this with you so that you can avoid these mistakes and know what not to do and to help you hire the right person, those Rockstar players who are actually going to be an asset for your business, who are going to help you move your business forward. So in today's episode, we're going to cover exactly how to know when it's time to hire the right person. Are you ready to hire the right person? Is it too soon to hire the right person? Is it too late to hire the right person? We're also going to talk about how much it really costs to hire the right person. And the number one thing that's keeping you from trusting your team members and fully letting go. Let's roll the tape on that training right now.

Courtney Elmer 4:24  

So before we can actually get to the hiring process, let's talk about how do you know when it's time to hire the right person. How do you know when you need to hire the right person? The answer is when you or your team member are experiencing what I call capacity indicators. Okay, this might look like you're consistently adjusting deadlines or just not meeting them you oh that was supposed to get done by this Friday, but it didn't Okay, let's make it next Friday. Oh, it didn't get done by this firewall. We're just gonna have to push it out. We really got to get it done by next Wednesday. 

Guys, come on. We're consistently adjusting the deadlines here just failing to meet them all together. When you internally are feeling stretched thin. This may show up differently for you, it may show up in your physical body, it may show up in your mental state, you may find yourself irritable, snapping at your partner snapping at your kids, you find it hard to focus, it's that feeling of being stretched too thin, it may show up is overwhelming may show up as it is anxiety, you need to know how it shows up for you, so that you can identify it when it shows up for you. 

You might feel this low grade sense of pressure at all times, like I'm always running at a time and ever, I'm gonna have time today to get to all the things I need to do. And just that sense of pressure and frustration that you just don't have the time available. That's a capacity indicator you are at capacity. You might be fully booked, you might have no physical room in your schedule to take anyone else on, or anything else on there is no time on your schedule. This is especially true if you're doing a lot of one to one work.

If you are in a business, let's say you're a therapist, or let's say you're a service provider, where you only are working one to one with people. You can only have so many clients in a day. And if you are fully booked, there is no more room. Maybe an indicator for you might be well I've got my list here of everything I'm doing. I'm following what Courtney said, I'm doing my 90x planner, I've got my big three things laid out, I've got this other list of stuff I know I need to do. But inevitably, there's never a day that goes by where everything gets done. Inevitably, there are always things that you still have left to check off. Maybe it shows up like you making exceptions to work outside of your normal working hours. 

Okay, I'm just gonna do it just for tonight, I'm going to work until 11pm. Or just this weekend, I need you to take the kids honey, because I really have to get this done. That is an indicator that you are at capacity when you normally wouldn't work late nights or the weekend. So if you're a night owl, if you don't start your day till 10am. And maybe you'd stay up late, right, I'm talking about what's normal for you. So that's why that's unquote, your normal working hours. For me, my normal working hours are nine to two every day. If I'm working outside of that it's a good indicator, especially if it's consistent. And not just like a one off thing that I am at capacity. 

And then finally it might be time to hire the right person, if you feel like or have been feeling for a while, like you're going through the motions, you feel disconnected from the work you're doing. You used to love it. Now you wonder do I love this still? Do I really love it, the spark is gone, then joy is gone. That is a capacity indicator that is also an indicator that you are approaching burnout. So when you are experiencing one or more of these capacity indicators for an ongoing period of time, here's what you need to ask yourself. What are the essential activities that you need to do that can't be replaced and frame it as an either or statement, I can either schedule my social media posts, or I can put my babies to bed at night.

What's more important, what's more aligned with my values, I can either upload videos to my student portal or I could be coaching my students inside of my student group. What's more important, what's more aligned with my values, you take those two things, the thing that you feel you need to do, or the thing that you want to do, or that you should be doing that only you can do. And ask yourself this question. I could be sitting here optimizing this transcript for my podcast for SEO. Or I could actually be sitting down to record an episode that has my voice in it that only I can do. What's more important, what's more aligned with my values.

Courtney Elmer 8:58  

As your company grows, you have to rise up as the visionary leader and same goes for your team. If you're at a point now, where you have people in more than one seat, that's okay. As long as they have enough time to do both jobs. Well, if they don't have enough time to be in all seats, then that means they're at capacity. And that's where things need to change this capacity indicators. This goes for you. And this also goes for people on your team. Here's what I want you to think about when you hire the right person.

When you hire the right person, you aren't just getting help. You aren't just taking things off your plate. You're buying time. Think about it with me for a second. You on your own will only ever ever, ever, ever, ever be able to work 40 hours a week, Max comfortably. Maybe you don't even want to work that much. Sure, you could probably push 60 on the high end As we both know, that's not sustainable over the long, long term. Nor do you or should you be working 60 hours a week in your business. So realistically, this is a grand total of 40 hours a week to build your business when you're working by yourself. That's it, there's only 40 hours, you don't have more time. That's it. That's all that's available. 

Now, just imagine, imagine if you could pay someone $20 an hour, for 10 hours a week. Whoa, you just got 10 of your hours back. And you have someone working those 10 hours. Now that's 50 total hours that can be spent on business building activities. Oh, cool. Hire the right person, just one person for very, very, very part time, you could actually be spending more time in your business, it's just not all of your time. Now imagine if you had a team of five, let's say they were all working part time, 20 hours a week on average, contractors or employees doesn't matter either way. That's 140 hours a week collectively that are now being spent on building your business. That's more time than you would ever have in a week to work by yourself. 

This is really fun math, isn't it? This is the kind of math I love. Why didn't they teach us this in school? If algebra and mean algebra, just tell me how to buy more time to grow my business. Let's keep going. Let's imagine you have 10 employees, each working full time, 40 hours a week, that's 440 hours a week being spent on building your business. And now you get to spend your 40 available hours in your zone of genius. As the visionary leader and the CEO of your company, as the captain at the rudder of the ship, steering it towards your greater vision. Do you see how much faster your business can grow when you hire the right person? 

When you begin to hire the right person, help get the right people in the right seats, and you will see your business grow exponentially. Simply because what you're doing when you hire the right person is buying time. You can always make more money, money is a renewable resource. Time is not you cannot get more time unless you buy it. You're with me. Okay.

When you or someone on your team is at capacity, meaning the amount of work requires more than 100% to do the job, well say 120 Something has to give you or the team member needs to delegate and elevate that extra 20% to someone else. Because they are you are hitting the ceiling and you're holding the organization back. If you're at 120%, you're holding the organization back and you're probably starting to burn out. So in some cases, this might mean moving someone into one seat rather than the two that they're occupying right now. Or if they are in one seat, then they need to delineate more to others, which is where you might need to hire the right person to assist or support them. Or the other option here is to eliminate tasks all together. 

That's another way to do it. entrepreneurs struggle to delegate not because they don't want to, but because they are afraid it won't get done right. I've been there. And this is why it's vital to have the right person in the right seat because if you don't, you will never feel completely comfortable letting go. That's just the truth of the matter. Let's talk about my podcast manager for a minute. Last year I hired a podcast manager, young, enthusiastic, energetic right out of college full of ideas. She never fully got it. Seemed great on paper.

lCourtney Elmer 14:01  

Looked okay when I interviewed her. However, there was a little voice inside that said, I don't know if you are about to hire the right person but I went with it. Anyway, I went against my gut. big lesson. I hired her brought her on. I spent the time training her onboarding her hoping that maybe what I felt was just because she was a little green. And maybe she just didn't have a knowledge of the industry yet I could teach her those things. Turns out, she didn't fully get it. I don't know if she actually even wanted it. And while it seemed like on paper, she had the capacity to do it. She wasn't getting things done and turning them around as quickly as I needed them done. I didn't hire the right person.

Fast forward to this year. I had someone working for me previously, who took some time off and came back and said hey, I would love to support you and your company. I'm so excited because I knew this person was a rock star I'd worked with her before. I said, Hey, look, the role that you used to fill is not available anymore. But I have this role over here. I need a podcast manager Are you up for it? She's like, let's talk about it. We talked about it. I hired her. I've hardly had to train her because she catches on to things. So quickly. She takes such an intuitive, she gets it, she wants it, she is capable of it. She's asking me, she's like, Courtney, if you have more hours to give me please give them to me, I am happy to take them on. I have the time, I want to help.

It has been night and day. Having someone in that seat who fits all three of those criteria, because I trust that it is getting done. I feel completely comfortable letting go and even giving her more responsibility. Whereas I would have never felt that level of trust or freedom. With the other person feeling like I would have to always kind of be checking to make sure things were getting done. I never want to micromanage but the need felt the urge felt. But I felt the urge there because I was never sure if this was actually getting done or not. 

So if the only reason you're not letting go is because of the person occupying the seat. It's time to put on your visionary leader hat and make that tough call. You can't keep doing the person's work for them. Let me show you why. Let's imagine you as the leader of your company, you're sitting in your office, you're trying to knock out that project that only you can do. Maybe it's recording a podcast episode, maybe it's batching, some video content for your modules. Maybe you're working on your next masterclass or webinar. Now imagine one of your direct reports, walks into your office with a problem. Except, I want you to envision for a second that all of your direct reports, responsibilities and problems and issues. Want you to envision them as monkeys. 

So when they walk into your office with the problem, they're trying to leave their monkey with you. And you say, okay, sure, I'll help you fix that. Yeah, no problem. Okay, I'll get to it. Let me let me do this thing. And then I'll wrap up, and then I'll come over here and help you. Which you know, as well as eyes, a massive distraction. And they say, okay, great. And so they walk out of your office without a problem, leaving you with their monkey. Every time this happens, every time you tell your team member, sure, I'll help you with that. You enable them not to fix their problem, a problem that you are paying them to fix in the first place, you have given them that responsibility, and by you helping them fix it, you're enabling them not to take personal responsibility. 

At the end of the day, when multiple people have walked into your office, whether that's a physical office for your virtual office with their problems, and they have left them with you have got 20 monkeys jumping all around your office. The more you disempower your team to solve their own problems by saying you'll fix it for them. The more your business is going to look something like this. A circus. And you and I both know that shit. Is bananas be a Na Na, yes. So from here on out, if someone walks in with a monkey, they need to walk out with it. That's the bottom line, you have to let them walk out with it, this is a big thing. And if they can't, or if they won't, you've hired the wrong person. So now that we're crystal clear on that, this brings us to our next step.

Courtney Elmer 18:58  

How to hire the right person? How do we find the right people? How do we know if they align with our values or not as a company? How do we interview and hire the right person? Determine if they're the right person for this role? How do we know what seat to put them in based on their current skill set? That's all coming up in the next lesson where I am going to give you the four step interview process that we use here at the effortless life to help you learn how to attract, find, vet and hire the right person the first time.

All right, we're gonna pause right there on this hire the right person training. We'll pick it back up next week. And if you learned how to hire the right person today, I want to hear about it. Get your phone out right now go open up your Instagram. Follow me there at the Courtney Elmer or if you're on another platform, if Facebook is your thing or LinkedIn is your thing or TikTok is your thing. Reach out to me on whatever your favorite platform is. I just happen to use Instagram a lot.

And I want you to share this episode to your stories if it was helpful to you and tag me in it. That way, I know that this episode on how to hire the right person was valuable enough to share it was worthy of a share. And when you tag me, that's how I will know that which will be valuable feedback for me. And let me know that you're really loving this behind the scenes type of content about how to hire the right person that we're sharing here on the show with you. 

Now coming up next week on the show, we're talking about the next step in this process, which is how to know which position you should hire for first or next. And I'll give you a little hint here, it's likely not going to be a social media manager, or a VA. In fact, you might be surprised to hear what I'm going to tell you, but you're gonna have to come back next week to get the tea. All right, I'll see you back here next week. And until then, go live your EffortLESS Life®.