Series 3/6: Hiring Your First Employee and Building a Team ??

This is the third post in my series about starting an agency. It’s dedicated to perfectionists who struggle with delegation ??.

You’ve probably heard that many successful entrepreneurs are, paradoxically, quite lazy. Not in the sense of lacking drive or passion, but rather because their aversion to repetitive tasks pushes them to find ways to operate more efficiently and level up.

Speaking about me, routine work quite often drains my energy.

I remember hiring first employee back in 2019 for INNELS. At the time, my partner and I were managing two clients on Amazon. The constant communication about logistics was exhausting—questions like how to package boxes and pallets, label products, and so on.

Eventually, I got so tired of answering the same questions that instead of responding to emails, I decided to find a logistics freelancer on Upwork. That’s when the first step toward delegation happened.

The First Steps in Building a Team

In an agency, the process typically starts with hiring part-timers or hourly freelancers, then moving them to part-time contracts, and eventually transitioning to full-time employees with usual corporate benefits like holidays and sick leave.

What drove me forward was sheer exhaustion:

? I was swamped with Amazon-related tasks ?? I hired a couple of assistants and eventually a manager to fully take over client communication and control.

?? I was overwhelmed setting up sales systems (lead generation, CRM, outreach) ?? We brought in a consultant who, in three months, found the right people and set up the processes.

The Cost of Growth

A key challenge when hiring is managing expenses. It often feels like your budget just doesn’t stretch far enough for an extra person.

The reality of scaling is that you need to reinvest strategically.

Just as you start making decent money, you realize you need to reinvest those earnings into people and systems. It’s an ongoing balancing act.

The solution? Run the numbers. Understand how a new hire can help grow your business and visualize the big picture: it’s better to earn 5% of $100 than 10% of $10.

What’s Next? Understanding Your Agency’s Financial Model

This leads us to the next topic in the series: budgeting. In the fourth post, I’ll discuss why it’s crucial to understand the financial model for agencies in your niche. This includes:

? ?? Market profit margins.

? ?? Typical salary percentages.

? ?? Tools and operational expenses.

Pro tip: Insider info is invaluable, and a bit of competitive research never hurts ??

Stay tuned for the next post! Let me know your thoughts—have you faced similar challenges with hiring and delegation?