Photo credit: wisepreneur.com

One of the most challenging things you’ll ever face in your business?

Building a team.

If you want to grow your business, you’re going to see things get more complicated.

There will be more details, more moving parts, more clients, more fires to put out, and more to manage.

It sounds dire, but this is exactly why you need a team.

Entrepreneurs are high idea generators by nature, which means we love to launch new projects and often chase bright shiny objects. That also means we’re notorious for not finishing what we start.

This is just one reason why having a team in place can be so powerful.

But what is the path to having that team? Clearly, most of us don’t have 5 or 10 or 15 employees right off the bat.

You may not even want your business to look like that at all, and that’s ok.

However, there are phases that you will typically go through. In the beginning, you’ll likely be doing everything, feeling like there is simply not enough of you to go around.

You just want to do your thing and bring in the money, but soon you’ll see that administrative tasks and minutiae are taking over your life.

In the next phase, you’ll bring on your first assistant. The first person I ever hired was a virtual assistant who worked five hours a month. Her main duty? Handling my email newsletter.

Typically, this first hire will be taking care of scheduling, emails, customer service and the like. As your time becomes more freed up to focus on revenue generating activities, you’ll be able to bring on a second assistant and perhaps a bookkeeper.

The third phase is where business owners often hire a manager to oversee their team. For some entrepreneurs this can suffice for a good while. But if the business becomes more complex and there are more people to manage, at some point it may make sense to bring on
full time employees.

Going this route is not for everyone, but for those who do, it’s a surefire way to be propelled forward fast. The support and shared commitment to your company’s vision and mission is like nothing else.

So, take a good look at where you are right now. If you’re honest, is it time to bring on help? Or, maybe it’s time to hire additional people.

Whichever phase you’re in, know that building a team, no matter how ultimately big or small, is a business challenge that’s always worth it.