The Fierce Business Babe Podcast Ep 328: The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring
Today, I am diving into the do’s and don’ts that go into hiring and supporting your business. I will be sharing when you should expand your team, how to organize your team members, and some of the biggest things to consider when hiring.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring
BY: MELISSA LIN
As we start to wrap up Q1 of 2025, I wanted to record an episode about the do's and don'ts of hiring in your business. Last week, I was supporting my higher-level, Mastermind clients who are currently working on scaling to multiple six figures in their businesses and most of the women at this level and their businesses typically have a few team members, maybe one or two and they're starting to really expand their team. They haven't yet, so I did an exercise with them around organizational charts to really help them clearly lay out who is on their team and their key roles.
Today, I'll get into my team structure, what my team supports me with and some of the do's and don'ts of hiring. My very first higher was back in 2018 and this is when I hired my very first team member in my business. So I was already making six figures. Something that I do want to share is that as you continue to grow, your business moves into the next level. New challenges will come and deciding to finally make my first higher in my business was one of those challenges for me a few years ago.
As I started to go from six figures into multiple six figures and then seven figures, I was always that person who said “you know what, I can do it faster. So I'm just going to do it.” “I'm the only person who can do it this way. I'm the only one who knows exactly how it needs to be done to look good.” Maybe you can relate to this next one. “It's going to take me so much longer to teach somebody else to do it. So, I might as well.” And that last one is the biggest when I see my clients tell themselves. And so many of us, have you said any of these to yourself or have any of these stories? You're not alone I promise.
When To Make Your First Hire
You are only one person, you truly cannot do it all and the more support you do receive the more people you can help. Now typically I recommend making your first higher when you're at about $3,000 per month in your business. Now this is not cookie-cutter. Maybe you're at $2,000 per month and need to hire. Maybe you already have $5K months, or $10K months and haven't made your first hire. If you're spending more of your time in your business, supporting clients, making sales, writing contracts, and making your website and don't have any energy or space to actually work on your business and focus on future projects then I am definitely saying it's time to delegate.
It's time to make your first hire in your business or your next hire so you can start to handle some of those tasks that are eating up your time, that others can be taught and to be honest almost everything in your business can be outsourced. If you're wondering what to Outsource first or how to even decide when you need to Outsource what that looks like. I do also have an older podcast episode where you dive into an exercise to help you determine that. So I'm pretty sure the word Outsource is in the title. So I definitely recommend just searching for that on iTunes.
Now, The first team member I hired was a virtual assistant to help me with emails and social media content support and because it was my first hire, it was very, very scary, right? If it's something that's out of your comfort zone, if you're unsure how to hire, who to hire, where to hire, how to draft your contracts, that sort of thing. Like I get it, it's scary. But it's going to support you so much and make things so much easier for you and your business.
2018 was my very first hire. After that, I hired a few more team members, I believe in 2019. I had about five team members total and that looked like another virtual assistant to help me out, a few project-based team members and then I brought on support coaches in my business towards the end of 2019. Now we have over 12 incredible team members supporting me and the business every single day and in 2020 or so we started hiring more specialized experts such as a content manager, a social media manager, a Pinterest, manager, and ads manager, my OBM and people that are experts in their field and less of generalized positions and sweet. So my current organizational chart is broken down into a few key categories. And the way I like to break it down is through my operations team, my marketing team, my support team, my sales team and then any additional contractors, which are more project-based.
So I'll go through each category by category. To give you an idea, what this looks like and to also help brainstorm with you who your next potential hire could be. We have my amazing online business manager, my OBM supports me in bigger picture projects, keeps things organized and on track on the backend, supports me with some team management, ensures that my team is also on track, and then I have a few incredible virtual assistants. They also support mostly admin tasks. In marketing, we have my press team. We've got on Steam and then also Pinterest and content managers then going into support. We currently have two amazing support coaches, who have all been taught by me and I've gone through my own training there, inside of my coaching programs with me and support my clients alongside me and a few of my coaching programs. However, it's something that I will say, I absolutely love and this is one of those things that I did mention a little back towards the beginning of this episode, is that most things in your business can be delegated in some capacity. This is one of those examples.
In sales, I have a few team members that have rolls that support sales. This could include supporting me with email marketing and sales onboarding, offering clients payment recovery and more and then we also have a few contractors that do more project based things that we hire if we're going into a big lunch. For example, we are currently revamping our entire dashboard. So we have a text, every team member to create our new desk for that. We have other examples by photographer, graphic designer, copywriter who come on board closer to some of those bigger launches really prepping for some of those things. We have a few more key hires a little later into 2025.
What Your Team Can Actually Do?
Now that I've gone through all of my hires, the biggest questions I get are, what does your team actually help you with? What does that look like? Can I delegate as much as I can? And what are the things I cannot delegate? For example, recording my podcast, I can't delegate. I get to record it. However, once it's recorded, I can delegate out the editing of it, graphic creations for the episode, app loading, and scheduling the email that goes out. So, my team currently helps with lots of admin work behind the scenes like any kind of admin work, email campaigns, podcast management, pinterest management, and incredible customer service. So our support email, technical support for client onboarding, client offboarding, photography, graphics, content management, and the list goes on and on.
I also outsource a lot of things, my personal life too, because that supports me and serves me. I outsource grocery shopping meals throughout the week and so on. And so, if you may not be sure who to hire next. Ask yourself, what do you want more right now in your business? Are you wanting to see? Are you in that? Would whoever that person you're thinking of hiring, or that role, would that someone in that role help you get there faster? Does that make sense?
Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring
I want to share a few do's and don'ts. The first thing I highly recommend is interviewing more than one person. Just because there are a lot of different people out there, a lot of different personalities and energies. Even if you feel like this is the person you’re going to hire, interview more than one person, it gives you more experience. Interviewing also showcases who else is out there. I typically have an extensive interview process and so we typically bring in applications, we go through applications, and the ones that are thumbs up I interview. I promise this is something that's going to support you in a few more than one person.
Then also something you can do and I highly recommend, is that you ask for client references. So for example, if you are looking to hire a virtual assistant, ask for their portfolio, ask for any recent clients, who've worked with them to see if you can have a quick chat with them. I am going to talk to people who've actually worked with them. If you are looking to hire a social media manager, or a graphic designer go look at some of the work they've done. So ask for client references, ask for recent portfolios, recent projects and then also share your expectations with them either before the interview or even during the interview.
I like to define roles for like everyday and then also when launch has come along because those roles can look a little different. During a big launch, the hours might go up a little bit, there may be a little bit more expectation of them versus day-to-day so I let them know what that can look like and also potential roles in the future. So currently, this is what I'm looking for in the next six months. These are some of the things I may need some support with, as I continue to expand my team and just let them know and see how that feels because it does go both ways when you're hiring and interviewing somebody, maybe the things that you are wanting them to do 6 months from now don't really align with some of the things that you want to do now.
Over the years, I have also had to let team members go and another quick tip. I want to leave you with today is, if you're starting to make your first few hires, interview and find somebody that aligns with your values also your business. So important. If you hire somebody that doesn't align with your values, like that's just going to create a mess for you later. So you always want to find somebody that does align with your values and your own personal values, your business values. And then you also can teach a skill to anybody that you hire.
You can train new team members, however you can't exactly change values of. Those are a mismatch. I know it's a little time consuming but it's so much easier for you to hire the right person versus hiring the wrong person and needing to let the person go and then go through the interview process again and rehire. I've had to do that myself a few times and it's so much easier to get it right the first time so listen to your gut, don't ignore it and then don't hire for the wrong role.
I see this happen all the time and businesses and a huge mistake is hiring the right person that places them in the wrong role. So maybe you just love the person. So much want to find a way to make the higher work so you put them in a position. Similar to the original role, they are hiring for in one when I see this a lot especially in the online space, for example maybe hiring someone as a virtual assistant, but expecting OBM Expectations and OBM responsibilities and they're two very different roles. A virtual assistant and OBM, right? And there's a reason that their roles are so different because the investment is very different too. And so hire the right person for the right role. I don't hire somebody simply because you like them or because you think they'll be a great personality within your company and you'll find a way for it to work, right?
We want a long retention rate with your team because you're investing so much of your energy and time into training them and getting them on board into your business and so on. And so on now stick to your gut, listen to your gut higher. For the right roles, hire for the right team member roles and Interview more than one person, ask for references and so much more. Today we’ve touched on so many things, including: my team structure, what my team supports me with and some of the do's and don'ts of hiring, and more! We’re so excited and we will see you next Monday morning in another brand new episode of the Fierce Business Babe Podcast.