You often hear that you should hire staff before you can afford them. Without question, if you are operating as a solo practitioner now, it feels like a huge leap of faith to hire your first staff person. It is a balancing act to find the right time to take that leap.
Sometimes the first step is to create a list of the areas where an assistant can be of help to you. As the list grows, find the right time to seek out the right partner to help take your business to the next level. You also often hear that we should hire to our weaknesses. As women, we seem to find the ability to wear many hats even if we shouldn’t be wearing that hat–we believe we can do it all. In many cases we can, but in business it might be a problem if we try to wear too many hats for too long. So let’s talk through a few more steps here to help you evaluate your need for an assistant.
Review Your Calendar – Do you have large blocks of time that you aren’t meeting with clients or prospects where you can complete administrative tasks? Now for the really tough question that will require your complete honesty: do you have the opportunity to network and market yourself during those times to fill your calendar with income-producing activity? Are you simply filling your time with administrative work so you don’t have to go outside of your comfort zone? Be honest here! Don’t use administrative work as your excuse for not finding income-producing opportunities.
Track Your Activities – For a week or two, write down everything you do day-to-day for your business. Mark an “I” for those activities that have the potential to create income. These could be activities like face-to-face client meetings, outbound client calls, case design and prep for upcoming appointments, or networking events and community functions that get you out there as a business owner. Mark an “A” for those activities that are more administrative in nature. These could be activities like completing paperwork, processing applications, compliance, answering inbound calls, processing mail, ordering supplies, handling customer service issues such as address changes, beneficiary changes, et cetera. Where are you spending your time? Where should you be spending your time?
Create a Job Description – Once you’ve done the work of tracking what you spend time on, it should be easy to create a job description for all (or most) of the “A” activities. Determine the number of hours required for the position and the hourly rate you will offer to a qualified candidate. You may want to ask other fellow advisors what they pay their support team so you know what the going rate is for your area. Now that you have the “what” and the “how,” you can focus on the “when.”
Start Searching for the Right Team Member - Knowing that timing is everything, start to mentally prepare yourself for taking the leap. If you start to put feelers out there, you might be surprised that the right person may find you. You have the preparation done, so if someone presents themselves, you are ready. It is critical to find the right person–someone who matches your style and compliments you. Be choosy!
Learn to Delegate – After years of doing it yourself, you will need to be mindful of getting the right tasks on your desk versus your assistant’s. They are there to support you. You need to take the time to train them so they can take those “A” tasks off your plate so you can focus on producing income and covering your overhead.
Refocus Your Time – Once you’ve delegated the “A” tasks, fill your time with far more “I” tasks. Be mindful of what fills the newly-found gaps so you can reach even greater heights with your income level.
Reevaluate the Team Roles – At least on an annual basis, you should reevaluate the team and the roles each person is playing. Is it time to increase the hours or hire another team member? Have you produced sufficient income to cover the new overhead and seen your production grow as a result? Implement a review process so your team member is getting proper feedback on their work. Create a culture of working together as a team to grow to new heights!
I’m so happy my team is in place. Without them, I couldn’t do what I do everyday. Prepare yourself now to take that leap if you haven’t already. I hope this list of action items helps you, and I’m guessing you will ask yourself why you didn’t do it sooner! If you think additional coaching would be beneficial, visit https://www.julimcneely.com/coaching
I wish you great success!
-Juli McNeely