A growing business is an exciting thing to be involved in. You can watch as your dream blossoms into reality, bringing all the things you had hoped for — independence, income, and an outlet for your creativity.
In fact, sometimes it might go a little too well. Not that you don’t want the business to grow, but it can reach a point where you run into some hard decisions. The most common one is the need to hire staff.
Many entrepreneurs run from this situation. They may want to keep the staff “in-house” with themselves and their initial partners, and they might even sell off part of the business or discontinue certain products just to achieve that.
There are several reasons for this. Some feel like they can’t trust outside people. They know that their own motivation is a love of the business, not a quest for money, and they fear that strangers will not see it that way. They may also dread the inevitable HR issues that develop as soon as you put somebody else on payroll.
If you feel that way, there is hope through PEO’s. What is a PEO? Professional employer organizations are popping up all over the world, essentially serving as HR contractors that can take all that unwanted hassle away from entrepreneurs and owners.
A PEO can help you with hiring, tracking, and developing talent so that you can keep a sharp, effective workforce. In other words, they will help you avoid that feeling that disinterested strangers are wandering around your business.
So now that the logistics of adding new staff are a little less intimidating, let’s look at why you might want to hire them.
Lack of Time For Your Work.
You probably opened your doors to begin with because you had a great idea for a product or service. You dreamed it up when you had spare time to imagine the possibilities. Now that you are so busy actually making the product, your dreaming time is gone.
This is a common problem. When people have their noses to the grindstone with production, they lack time for innovation and creation. In time, their product lines stagnate and the company falls apart. Getting some production staff in there to relieve that pressure will free you up to continue coming up with great ideas for what to do next.
Declining Quality of Work.
This is a related point. When you are spending eight to ten hours a day making your product, you get a little lax with standards. Part of that is probably due to the dying creativity inside you. The more you smother that outlet, the less enthusiasm you have for your work.
Of course, the evolution of the product may prove challenging as well. If it calls for tools or techniques that you haven’t mastered—or that you don’t have time to master—you may find yourself turning out a substandard product that will erode your market and damage your future.
Hiring skilled staff to handle this work will let you have specialists doing specialized work instead of stumbling through the tasks yourself.
Excessive Workload.
The last situation is that you just can’t keep up. This is probably the easiest time to get excited about hiring staff. The best-known indicator of success is that you are having to bring in more workers to keep up with the growing load of orders.
While you may want to keep your hands in production to at least a limited extent, it can be very beneficial to let the lion’s share of that work go to personnel who focus on that task and nothing else. This separation of duties makes everyone’s job easier and less stressful.
Success in business is all about knowing the right time to do things. New product lines, sales, and every other decision is carefully timed. When your business gets to be too much for you to handle by yourself, it might be the right time to hire some staff. Pulling the trigger on that move can make your business less stressful and more successful, and with helpful partners like a PEO, it can be easier than you might think.
