You have a big vision for your business, right? And, as much as you might like to, you can not get to the big vision without support.
In the beginning you did everything, or most everything yourself. Depending on your business, in addition to creating your art, you packed and schlepped every thing to the post office, you wrote all the copy or directions and tested your own patterns, you packed your patterns, you did your own bookkeeping, you cleaned your studio, you tried to set aside some time for marketing, you learned how to maintain your website, if not develop it. The problem is that all your time was taken up with much that didn’t move your business to the next level. And, if you are like other creative people I know, you focused more on creating your art than the “behind the scenes” of your business.
The problem is that if you keep trying to do it all yourself, you can’t grow you business. You can’t focus on what needs to happen to grow your business. Maybe you think no one can do it as well as you. And, maybe you tried, weren’t so successful and just put off doing it. Remember that your role is to put on the CEO hat and make decisions that move the business forward.
If you reach this point of recognizing that you need help, how do you figure out what kind of help you need?
First recognize what you are good at and what you aren’t good at. I know you are brilliant at your craft. I know you likely aren’t brilliant at bookkeeping or administrative tasks. That doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of doing them. It just means that your brilliance is elsewhere. And when you hire someone whose brilliance is in other areas, they will work more efficiently and faster than you.
Next spend a week or so tracking all the tasks that you do. Evaluate whether they are something that you must do or that someone else could do. And, put a dollar value on each task. For example, your design time might be $65 an hour. Administrative time might be $25 an hour. When you go back and look at how much you are doing that is not in your zone of brilliance and consider the costs of not working in that zone, it makes more sense to lose your inner “control freak.”
Once you’ve got the list of tasks that someone else could or should be doing, put together a description of the job requirements. You may not have the cash flow to hire more than one virtual or part-time person, so look for where the biggest impact will be — either an activity that will bring cash into your business, such as sales, marketing or mass production, or something that will allow you to bring in more cash by working in your own brilliance.
After you have a list of job requirements, start to look for a person to fill them. In many cases you are starting with a virtual or part-time employee. Try your existing art network for recommendations. Other options include looking for someone in your neighborhood, your local high school or college, your church, the local senior center, even Craig’s List. People with the skills you need are looking for work.
Finding the perfect match for you and your business isn’t always easy. Take time to find the right person and let them be accountable for helping to grow your business. It will pay off in the end.
Who is the first person you are going to hire? What’s holding you back now?
