It's time to hire. What are you waiting for?

I'll never forgot how proud I felt after hiring & training my first two team members. At the time, I worked full time in corporate, and my team's office was a coworking space close by.

One afternoon I went to work from there as well, and I vividly remember the moment when I looked up and saw the two of them working away, and I was just completely overcome by the enormity of it all.

There were two people committed to working on my dream. I did it!

But, it took me a while to get to this moment. Like many entrepreneurs, I was very nervous about hiring.

What is keeping you stuck when it comes to hiring?

So, if you know you need to hire, what's stopping you. You will have your own unique reasons why you may be nervous to take the leap.

Do any of these thoughts sound familiar...

• What if I hire the wrong person?
• What if I am hiring too soon?
• What if I can't make payroll?
• What if I'm not cut out to lead a team?
• What if they don't do things to the standard I expect?

You get the idea.

All of these thoughts are valid, because they are potential risks that you may face when expanding your team. That said, all of these risks can be addressed.

For example, if you're worried about not being able to make payroll, then you could do an analysis of your projected cash flow for the year ahead to confirm that you are in a good financial position to hire. If you don't have one in place already, you can begin saving up a business emergency fund of three months running costs to cover payroll in the event of an unexpected calamity.

Or, if you're worried about your new employee performing to the standards you would like, you can set-up a thorough hiring process that ensures you hire the candidate with the skills required for the role. Additionally, you could set-up a structured onboarding plan for their first 90 days to ensure that they are set up for success and can perform at the standard that you require.

Think about the benefits too

Hiring is not just about the risks. It also is an investment in your business that comes with significant benefits.

Hiring can:

• give your business capabilities that it didn't previously have, allowing you to expand your offers
• support you to provide a better service to your customers, improving customer retention and satisfaction
• enable you to take on more projects, thus expanding your revenue
• take tasks off your place, thereby giving you additional time to focus on the tasks that only you can do as the CEO of your business
• ease the workload on your existing team members, thereby preventing burnout and retaining your key talent

Ultimately, hiring helps you to grow your business.

All of these benefits are real, and you can experience them too. What is important to understand though is that to unlock these benefits you need to know how to lead your team effectively.

For example, for new hires to enable you to take on new projects, they need to be competent and performing at the correct level. This means that you need to onboard them effectively, and manage their performance well on an ongoing basis.

And for new hires to unlock new capabilities for your business, you need to have a strategy in place that clarifies which market opportunities you wish to capture by utilising these new capabilities.

So, what's the plan?

It's important to make an informed decision for your business. If you're feeling stuck right now, I would recommend the following:

• List all of the risks that you are concerned about regarding making this hire. For each risk, come up with a strategy to eliminate or mitigate this risk.
• List all of the benefits that you hope to gain from hiring. For each benefit, clarify what you will need to do as a leader to maximise this benefit.

Once you have completed the exercise, review your position. It's possible that there may be risks that you need time to prepare for, and this could mean delaying the hiring process by a few months. It's also possible that the opportunities you expect outweigh the risk factors.

Your business position is unique to you, and your appetite for risk is unique to you too. So, do your homework, and make the best decision for you, your team and your business.

I'm rooting for you! If you need any support to think this through or to prepare to welcome your first or next team member, feel free to reach out to me.

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