Hiring your First Employee
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Hey guys, There are several of us here that are business owners. I suppose to this point, i've been more of a "self-employed" individual than a business owner. I'm outgrowing myself, and i've got no idea who,what,when,where,why to hire someone. Any of you ever climbed over this wall? If so, how? any advice?
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Come to SpiceWorld and attend the IT Service Provider stuff. I will teach you!
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Who will run my business while I'm gone? Lol
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@Hubtech said:
Who will run my business while I'm gone? Lol
The catch 22 of hiring your first people.
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One of the biggest and hardest tricks is that you have to hire someone before you need them because any new hire is a drain on resources, not a bonus, until they are up to speed. So expect to lose time from your day, not gain it, up front.
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@scottalanmiller said:
One of the biggest and hardest tricks is that you have to hire someone before you need them because any new hire is a drain on resources, not a bonus, until they are up to speed. So expect to lose time from your day, not gain it, up front.
Which i'm kind of heading off at the pass. I've got a big new client that will be a bit of a resource suck....BUT they're great for me/company/etc, so...there's that.
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I own a small (non-IT company) I personally have stayed away from hiring anyone and only contracting workers for the work needed. It has pros and cons. The thing is you can't just call someone a contractor and then do it like that, there are legal requirements that have to be met, and you can't really micro-manage them all you can is tell them what you want done. But this has worked well for us, especially since all we do is pay the local IATSE union, they send the employees make sure they are working to the standard. They are also responsible for workers comp, liability, training on safety (Fork Lifts, Climbing etc).
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Quite often it is the leap from a one man shop to having employees that redefines a company. The dynamics totally change. This is where going to the well often happens - you need cash reserves to get over the hump.
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@scottalanmiller said:
any new hire is a drain on resources, not a bonus, until they are up to speed. So expect to lose time from your day, not gain it, up front.
I'm hiring at the moment and this is my biggest concern. My bosses think it will free me up, whereas it will do the opposite. I'm trying to manage their expectations whilst at the same time not put them off hiring. They struggle to understand that there is a limit to how much delegation someone with 20 years experience can give to someone with 1 years experience, without things starting to screw up.
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Going to the well means going for capital. That could mean emptying your life savings, borrowing from the bank or hitting up investors.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
any new hire is a drain on resources, not a bonus, until they are up to speed. So expect to lose time from your day, not gain it, up front.
I'm hiring at the moment and this is my biggest concern. My bosses think it will free me up, whereas it will do the opposite. I'm trying to manage their expectations whilst at the same time not put them off hiring. They struggle to understand that there is a limit to how much delegation someone with 20 years experience can give to someone with 1 years experience, without things starting to screw up.
Even if you brought in another twenty year vet to the show you still have on boarding time, training, dealing with communications between you, organization, monitoring, security and other overhead.
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This is where getting to know a fellow MSP is a good idea, treat them as a contractor. They are used to jumping in both feet first on jobs. Sometimes that just makes more sense then hiring someone.
But when you are ready to hire as SAM says do it before you need them. Figure in about a month of on boarding to get them ready even with someone with experience.
There is also the trial by fire method. Setup a contracted 30-90 trial period and throw them to the fire and see how they do.
Most MSP's make the mistake of hiring someone too soon. Make sure your finances are already in place for at least 6 months of salary you really should have at least a year for the both of you before bringing someone on. If you are just at a AHHH IT's NUTS right now period hiring now well it might get you out of a bind will not do you any good if things slow down and you have to now lay someone off (which still costs you a portion of their payroll). This is where bringing in someone to help out via contract work makes the most sense.
Lot's of MSP's are afraid to hire another MSP thinking they will steal their clients or their company. A good non-compete act and some written ground rules and expectations will put the law on your side if not just plain deterring that in the first place. An MSP that knows what they are doing would also be able to do a full discovery on any work you might need and just jump in with little to no on boarding process beyond the initial discovery. There are always questions but small questions are better then keeping you from billing and the new hire from billing for 30 days or so while you train them.
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@Minion-Queen said:
This is where getting to know a fellow MSP is a good idea, treat them as a contractor. They are used to jumping in both feet first on jobs. Sometimes that just makes more sense then hiring someone.
But when you are ready to hire as SAM says do it before you need them. Figure in about a month of on boarding to get them ready even with someone with experience.
There is also the trial by fire method. Setup a contracted 30-90 trial period and throw them to the fire and see how they do.
Most MSP's make the mistake of hiring someone too soon. Make sure your finances are already in place for at least 6 months of salary you really should have at least a year for the both of you before bringing someone on. If you are just at a AHHH IT's NUTS right now period hiring now well it might get you out of a bind will not do you any good if things slow down and you have to now lay someone off (which still costs you a portion of their payroll). This is where bringing in someone to help out via contract work makes the most sense.
Lot's of MSP's are afraid to hire another MSP thinking they will steal their clients or their company. A good non-compete act and some written ground rules and expectations will put the law on your side if not just plain deterring that in the first place. An MSP that knows what they are doing would also be able to do a full discovery on any work you might need and just jump in with little to no on boarding process beyond the initial discovery. There are always questions but small questions are better then keeping you from billing and the new hire from billing for 30 days or so while you train them.
The only other MSP that I know of is a former employer of mine and they aren't thrilled that I'm working in the same area as them and that over the last several years a couple of my old clients wanted to move with me.... That being said, being responsible for someone else's livelyhood is stressful but thus far the business has done nothing but trend up. It's just quite a hurdle, all of your words and advice are great! I'm just having a tough time finding the right person.
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@Hubtech said:
@Minion-Queen said:
This is where getting to know a fellow MSP is a good idea, treat them as a contractor. They are used to jumping in both feet first on jobs. Sometimes that just makes more sense then hiring someone.
But when you are ready to hire as SAM says do it before you need them. Figure in about a month of on boarding to get them ready even with someone with experience.
There is also the trial by fire method. Setup a contracted 30-90 trial period and throw them to the fire and see how they do.
Most MSP's make the mistake of hiring someone too soon. Make sure your finances are already in place for at least 6 months of salary you really should have at least a year for the both of you before bringing someone on. If you are just at a AHHH IT's NUTS right now period hiring now well it might get you out of a bind will not do you any good if things slow down and you have to now lay someone off (which still costs you a portion of their payroll). This is where bringing in someone to help out via contract work makes the most sense.
Lot's of MSP's are afraid to hire another MSP thinking they will steal their clients or their company. A good non-compete act and some written ground rules and expectations will put the law on your side if not just plain deterring that in the first place. An MSP that knows what they are doing would also be able to do a full discovery on any work you might need and just jump in with little to no on boarding process beyond the initial discovery. There are always questions but small questions are better then keeping you from billing and the new hire from billing for 30 days or so while you train them.
The only other MSP that I know of is a former employer of mine and they aren't thrilled that I'm working in the same area as them and that over the last several years a couple of my old clients wanted to move with me.... That being said, being responsible for someone else's livelyhood is stressful but thus far the business has done nothing but trend up. It's just quite a hurdle, all of your words and advice are great! I'm just having a tough time finding the right person.
That's not true, i know of a couple more, but I wouldn't want to work with them.
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@Hubtech said:
@Minion-Queen said:
This is where getting to know a fellow MSP is a good idea, treat them as a contractor. They are used to jumping in both feet first on jobs. Sometimes that just makes more sense then hiring someone.
But when you are ready to hire as SAM says do it before you need them. Figure in about a month of on boarding to get them ready even with someone with experience.
There is also the trial by fire method. Setup a contracted 30-90 trial period and throw them to the fire and see how they do.
Most MSP's make the mistake of hiring someone too soon. Make sure your finances are already in place for at least 6 months of salary you really should have at least a year for the both of you before bringing someone on. If you are just at a AHHH IT's NUTS right now period hiring now well it might get you out of a bind will not do you any good if things slow down and you have to now lay someone off (which still costs you a portion of their payroll). This is where bringing in someone to help out via contract work makes the most sense.
Lot's of MSP's are afraid to hire another MSP thinking they will steal their clients or their company. A good non-compete act and some written ground rules and expectations will put the law on your side if not just plain deterring that in the first place. An MSP that knows what they are doing would also be able to do a full discovery on any work you might need and just jump in with little to no on boarding process beyond the initial discovery. There are always questions but small questions are better then keeping you from billing and the new hire from billing for 30 days or so while you train them.
The only other MSP that I know of is a former employer of mine and they aren't thrilled that I'm working in the same area as them and that over the last several years a couple of my old clients wanted to move with me.... That being said, being responsible for someone else's livelyhood is stressful but thus far the business has done nothing but trend up. It's just quite a hurdle, all of your words and advice are great! I'm just having a tough time finding the right person.
You know several here in ML.
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@Hubtech said:
Who will run my business while I'm gone? Lol
We have staff that is available while some of us are at SpiceWorld.
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While i get that, I'm really trying to build my own empire here
there will, i'm sure, be some times where i will need to use you guys expertise, but right now i need boots on the local ground. -
@Hubtech said:
but right now i need boots on the local ground.
And therein lies the rub.
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NTG will put boots anywhere when needed.
