How To Establish Your Small Business In A Competitive Labor Market

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How’s your business doing lately?

If you’re like many service-based entrepreneurs, you’ve likely seen a boost in success this year!?

…And you know what? You could be doing even MORE with just this one change:

Hiring employees!?

We’re talking about gaining those rockstar team players who can help you take your business to the next level in all the ways you’ve been shooting for!?

Remember: Gaining quality employees is one of the most important scaling strategies.

As a mega-successful entrepreneur, Reid Hoffman once said: “A team will beat out someone working for themselves, every day of the week.” So, we know that building the right team is important. But that doesn’t make it easy. It’s probably one of the most challenging tasks you’ll take on at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey. No matter where you are in the world, what industry you’re in, or what era we’re in, this will likely never change. So the only thing we can do is arm ourselves with all the confidence, info, and strategies we can to make the process easier for ourselves.?

And the first step to doing just that?

Understanding the importance of an “employee value proposition.”

Why An Employee Value Proposition Is Important

Competitive salaries are important, but they are only one-third of the equation. To have your business stand out among the competition is to have a plan called an employee value proposition.?

An employee value proposition works the same way a customer sales pitch might. It communicates exactly what you’re offering and why they should care about it concisely, compellingly, and thoughtfully.

The different elements of this kind of proposition (which we’ll henceforth refer to as an EVP) lie under one of three categories:?

Three Categories to An Employee Value Proposition

1. Emotional

When you first start your business, you can get away without a mission statement (i.e., a declaration of your business, how it shows up in the world, and why your work is important). However, once you start building a team, it is essential as all things need to be clear.?

Your team needs to understand why their contributions matter. A shared goal keeps them fulfilled in their position, inspired to create new ideas and motivated to put forth their best work. How do you achieve it? It starts by building an emotional connection.?

2. Experiential

The “experiential” aspect of your employee proposition involves helping your employees succeed professionally and personally. Seeing as we’re in the wake of “The Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting,” being able to relay this information to a potential candidate is more important now than ever before.

When bringing on more team members, it’s crucial that they fully understand how they can learn, grow, be challenged, and lead healthy and fulfilled lives through this job.?

Ask yourselves: “How can our company help Person A see why working with us is in their best interest?”

If you’re able to get skilled in doing this, you can easily blow away the competition.

3. Contractual

I know we said that compensation and benefits aren’t always the NUMBER ONE draws to a potential employee, but they certainly still matter.?

When coming up with a quality EVP, you must understand where you stand within your industry and market so that you’re able to at least match the baseline.?

I know this doesn’t always seem like a possibility (“Hello, we’ve got a budget to adhere to!”), but I promise that there are more ways to increase your salary capacity if you simply keep an open mind. If you’ve designed your business to create predictable profits (something we do very well, btw), then it is easier to get than you may think.

I’ve talked to many benefits brokers who tell me about some amazing programs they’ve put together for small teams that they’ve never actually gotten to help execute. Why? Because business owners get locked into this mindset of lack filled with “No ways,” “Nuh uhs,” and “Definitely can’t afford that's.”?

This is why, here at YBR, we talk so much about 1) the power of positive thinking and 2) profitability strategies that help support our scaling businesses.

Final Thoughts

In the same way that employees are more than just their skills, you are more than just your salary. Take time to think about why employees should want to work at your company (in ways that go BEYOND just finances), create a pitch that makes these benefits crystal clear, and hire, hire, hire!?

This article first appeared on the Your Biz Rules blog. For the full article and accompanying video, head to: https://www.yourbizrules.com/how-to-establish-your-small-business-in-a-competitive-tight-labor-market/

About Leslie Hassler, Small Business Scaling Strategist

Leslie Hassler is a dynamic author, speaker, and business strategist who helps women-led service businesses produce predictable profits, fund growth, stabilize cash flow and enjoy more freedom. Business owners come to Leslie seeking a way to strategically scale their businesses, stop money leaks, and get in control with confidence.

With over 15 years of experience in business, finance, mindset, and more, Leslie takes multiple 6 and 7-figure businesses from cash-strapped and struggling to profitable and thriving through her unique Profitable Growth Incubator.

Leslie is the founder of Your Biz Rules business coaching. Her genius has been featured on stages across the United States, including the National Association of Women Business Owners, SCORE, the Texas Conference for Women, and publications such as Entrepreneur.com and Business.com .

If you are looking to create more predictable profits so you can grow and scale without burnout, find time to chat at www.yourbizrules.com/chat