What does it take to grow an affordable online team?

Have you thought through how to make that successful? (Or botch it up?!?)

All right! Today we are jumping in a really hot topic for businesses that are interested in growing and scaling… that’s pretty much all of us I think!

First, I want to take a quick moment to thank you for being with me on the journey of sharing my passions for organization and systems! You’re my motivation!

Are you ready to grow your team?

Growing your business takes a great foundation and great team members. I’m going to be honest with you that you won’t be able to do it ALL on your own forever and that’s why you are here, right?!

SO today I’m going to talk about when, how, and where to find affordable team members for your business. 

We’ll also talk about how you can dip your toe into using affordable team members without committing to a long term contractor. 

Let’s Dive in! 

When is the time to bring on a new contractor?

As a savvy business owner I’ve always been very aware of the balance between bringing on someone to help with a project and doing it myself. 

I have a couple of criteria I use to know if it is a good time to bring on someone new to the team. I ask these questions.

1. Do I have the skills to be efficient?
2. Do I have the time in my schedule?

If the answers are no to these two questions, then it’s time to look for a new team member. 

After working online for over 6 years as a team member in other organizations AND managing my own team, I know there can also be a wrong way to bring on team members. 

How do you know when the WRONG time is to bring on a team member?

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself: 

1. Are you so overwhelmed that you don’t have time to give clear guidance? 
2. Do you have all the information you need to help your team member be successful? 
3. Is your timeline so short that you needed something done yesterday? 

If the answers are yes to these questions, then it is NOT the time to look for a new team member. It’s time to get organized! 

How do you know when the RIGHT time is to bring on a team member?

Here are a couple of questions to ask yourself: 

1. Have you thought about the type of help you need and the kind of person that would be best for the job?
2. Have you gathered the details to give them the training they need?
3. Are you able to give feedback and guidance as they work through your training?

If the answers are yes to these questions, then it’s time to look for a new team member! YAY for growing!

Please be sure to check out episode 2 for my training on creating your Trello board to manage this new team member and tasks. Go to firstcuptoclose.com/2  and snag my free Trello board template and training to jumpstart your team organization. You’ll love it. 

Click here to check out TRELLO FOR FREE!

Easy Systems Tip: Create SOPs

Standard Operating Procedures will help your entire team work within your branding, be more efficient, and be given the resources they need to be successful. 

How to: 

• If you find that you do a task in your business more than once then it’s time to make an SOP.
• In my business we have a specific way we handle customer service and the details for the accounts we manage are in the SOP for that client.
• Create a video training (if possible) showing step by step how to complete the task.
• Also, write out the task in an easy to follow format so any of your team members can pick up the details and jump in to help.
• UPDATE these SOPs anytime anything changes in your business.
• REVIEW your SOPs often so you can add in more details and consistency in your business.

Once you have the details for how to complete a task and you’re ready to hire someone on, it’s time to find the contractor!

The details I’m going to go over on where to find an affordable team member works well if you have an online task. IF you need a local person to physically work with you in your business, there are many way to post jobs on local job boards or ask in local networking groups. 

I want to share how to grow an affordable online team (but remember that even in local business, you probably have several tasks that can be outsourced).

Where to find team members

1. Over the last several years I’ve used UpWork.com to find qualified team members with specific tasks. 
2. I’ve also use different Facebook groups to do the same. It just depends on what kind of task I need some extra help with and how much I have budgeted for that task. 
3. Using UpWork you are able to review skillsets and fees so you can search for a good match quickly. 
4. I suggest you hire 2-3 contractors for the same task and give them all similar work. 
   1. Remember that you can negotiate pricing with any of your contractors to fit your budget.
1. Allow them to complete the work and see if you feel compatible with a specific contractor. 
2. Then you can save the other contractors for future projects but you haven’t wasted time if for some reason a one contractor’s work isn’t up to par or they don’t deliver for some reason. 
3. There is a fee to use UpWork, but it’s easy to find help fast. 
4. Facebook groups are another great way to connect with new team members. If you get into some of the bigger groups that allow members to post when they have openings you can find high-quality team members there. 

I hope that helps you grow and scale your business with affordable team members. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask!

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