Amanda Abella — June 11, 2018 — June 11, 2018
As solopreneurs, we’re tempted to want to do everything ourselves. In fact, it’s become cool to call yourself a “solopreneur” in the last few years. I believe that what was meant to refer to small business has been a bit misconstrued into “do it all yourself.” The reality is this doesn’t work. You need to seek out people you need to hire or else you will go crazy.
Why Being a Solopreneur Doesn’t Work
I just crossed the six-figure business mark and I noticed something interesting – I spent money to get here. Because it seems that the old saying is true, you need to spend money to make money. More specifically, it’s spending money on people you need to hire so you can continue to scale and grow your business.
Here’s what happens if you don’t. If you don’t invest in people, you get stuck doing everything yourself. More often then not, solopreneurs get stuck working in the business rather than on the business. As the business owner, your focus should be on “How do I make more money?” If you’re doing everything yourself, your time is caught up in stupid things you can outsource to someone else.
Additionally, the people you need to hire will make you more money (that is if they are good). For example, my agent doesn’t just pay for herself, she makes me money. My accountant doesn’t just pay for himself, he saves me thousands of dollars by making sure I don’t overpay in taxes or penalties. If I were to hire salespeople in the future, they would make me money.
That is just a brief overview of why you need to hire people. Now let’s get into who it is you need to hire and how they can help you.
Accountant
I’ve heard it said that the first person a business owner should hire is an accountant. I tend to agree. There’s a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing what you need to pay in estimated taxes. It’s good to hire an accountant who can help you tax plan.
If the accountant is especially good, they can also help you with some small business consulting. At the very least, you may be able run expenses by them so you can crunch some numbers or strategically plan how it’s going to work.
You also do not want to mess with the IRS. While it’s true that they are very nice and will help you create payment plans, you just don’t want to get in a bad cycle. Additionally, you can get penalized and have to pay extra money for a bunch of different things. This includes not paying enough in estimated taxes or contributing too much money to tax-advantaged retirement accounts.
That’s why an accountant is the first person on our “People You Need to Hire” list.
A business manager
The reason a business manager is on our list of people you need to hire is quite simple. Let other people do the managing so you can get back to being the visionary. Once you reach a certain level of success on your own, it’s imperative that you find a business manager. This is a lesson I’m currently learning the hard way.
Here’s the scoop. In the last week, I’ve had a speaking engagement, sales calls, media reaching out to me and client work. On top of that, I’m keeping an eye on leads myself and I’m trying to get my own content done. I’m tired.
This is an example of how you get overwhelmed because you need help. When a business manager steps in, they can take care of some of these processes for you. Or at least help you streamline them. Additionally, they can screen requests and delegate to other team members so you don’t have to be the direct point of contact.
Again, this frees up a lot of your time, mental bandwidth and creativity so you can focus on growing the business.
Salespeople
Want to make more money? Increase your sales.
When you’re ready to take things to the next level, you could hire salespeople to sell your products and services for you.
For example, eventually, I’m hiring salespeople to sell my six-week group coaching program. This is because I’ve already tested it for a year with students and I know it works.
How does this help me? First, if someone’s sole role is sales, they can bring in a lot of money. Second, this again frees up your space to do a lot the marketing that gets people in your funnel in the first place.
Grant Cardone is a great example of this. He is putting content out there for free every single day. He also has a team of salespeople that sell is products and services for him.
Also, selling is an art and not everyone can do it. Often times the solopreneur is great at delivering a service or product but isn’t so good at selling it. You can fix that problem by hiring people who can sell.
So if you’re looking to make money fast, then salespeople should be on your list of people you need to hire.
Marketing Manager
Next, on our list of people you need to hire is a marketing manager. This is the person who creates marketing plans and delegates all the moving pieces.
Marketing is the first part of the sales process and it’s very important. If no one knows who you are they aren’t going to buy from you. The problem is you probably can’t handle all the moving pieces yourself. That’s where the marketing manager comes in.
For example, they find a Facebook ads person and delegate to them. Or they run your social media. Or they are the middle man between all the contractors involved in creating marketing content. Depending on how far you want to take it, this includes writers, graphic designers, photographers and videographers
Public Relations Agent
A PR Agent is not a top need for a business because I believe you can get a lot of PR yourself. However, there does come a moment where you just don’t have the time anymore. The problem is you do need to focus on getting visibility. More visibility equals more leads. Those leads equals more money.
When you get to the point where you can’t do it yourself anymore (as I have), you may want to consider hiring someone else. They can pitch you, book you and handle some of your social.
Spokesperson and/or Speaker Agent
Just like actors have agents, so do business owners. This comes in handy if you plan on doing any spokesperson work or speaking to increase brand awareness (and make more money).
Again, they aren’t a top priority on our people you need to hire list, but they can make your life easier. For example, they can negotiate on your behalf and get you more money. They can also take over the pitching for you. This allows you to be the talent while they do the hard selling.
Final Thoughts
You’re probably wondering, where do I find the money for this? Well, you don’t have to hire these people all at the same time. You can layer team members in as your business earns more revenue. The list is also organized from most important to “this can wait.” The important thing is that you just get started in building a team, starting with these people you need to hire.
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