[00:00:00] Leah: This episode is part two of a special training. I’m giving you access to all about outsourcing. So this is outsourcing explained. If you didn’t listen to part one, which is episode 28, you’re gonna be a little bit lost. So go back, listen to episode 28 and then come back to this one. Now let’s jump back in.

[00:00:54] Okay. Step three, finding your team members. So here’s that part where you actually are going to try to find, team members who are going to be a great, a great fit for you.

[00:01:06] So the first thing is, is just getting the word out. , I really like using a form. to, to direct people to. So instead of saying like, just send me a resume or an email, I used to do that, this is so much easier. I, I don’t want to like, have to sift through all those resumes right from the start. , and a lot of people, depending on the role that you’re hiring for, even having a resume, they might not really have one, but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be a great fit and wouldn’t be qualified.

[00:01:34] , and then so I create a form that I’m gonna have them fill out. And then I post it on social media, , on my blog. And then another option, if you’re not looking for someone long-term, , if it’s just a one-off project, as I mentioned before, you could use Upwork or Fiber. Those are great resources for really small one-off projects.

[00:01:52] And actually I’ve found people on those that I have then retained long-term. Now in all of these, I’m not hiring an employee. I’m 10 99 them. That means I’m not worrying about taxes. I’m not having to figure all that part out. Now, if you really are like, no, I need a full-time employee, okay, then, then that is awesome.

[00:02:14] Have a bookkeeper, have an accountant, have someone who can help you set that up. But for the most part, you probably are just looking for part-time people. And even if you are doing full-time, you, I mean the, the beauty of if you really are having a full-time employee, then it’s wonderful to offer benefits and then they need to be an employee.

[00:02:33] But, Another option is that you are, are hiring them as a 10 99 and all that means is that they are their own boss and you are contracting them. Okay? So you’re contracting them to come in and do work for you. And that can be ongoing, but that means you’re not worrying about taxes. You don’t have to figure all that part out.

[00:02:54] They’re just gonna submit their hours to you or an invoice to you, , every week or every month or every two weeks, however you wanna structure that and then you pay them, right? You, it is just that simple. , so that, like, I hope that’s like, oh my gosh. Okay. That’s easier. Okay, so application form questions.

[00:03:14] So I create a form, I use job form. You can use Google Docs, whatever works for you. And I’m asking for their name, their address, their email address, their Instagram account. No, the reason I want to see their Instagram account is it just gives me insight into their character, into, , Their, their personality a little bit.

[00:03:31] It’s just helping me kind of get a little sense of who they are. Then please tell me about you and why you’d be a great asset to our team. What is your minimum hourly rate you need to reach if you are terrified about figuring out how much you should charge, or, I’m sorry, how much you should pay? What, what, what the hourly rate should be?

[00:03:50] This question. Is a game changer. They’re going to tell you how much they wanna make and you’ll see a huge range. And then you can figure out, where you feel like you can fit and then, you know, interview people who are in, in that realm. Number five, what’s your ideal working situation? If we’re a fit, I want you to love it.

[00:04:07] So please share. This is really helpful to get a better understanding of what their expectations are gonna be so that they can be happy and you can be happy and it can all work and it can give you some real red flags if you’re like, oh, that’s just not gonna work for me. And then how many hours would you like to work per week?

[00:04:23] Ideally, if they’re looking for 40 hours, , and you know, well, I really only probably have five to 10 hours, or I can only afford a five to 10 hours, then you can have that conversation and just say, is this something you’d even be interested in? Or you’re finding someone who is looking for part-time and then that makes it even great.

[00:04:39] And then the very last is you can invite them to upload their resume. But that’s optional. You can probably get enough information by just having some questions. So you don’t even need a resume. And then you can choose the ones always interview at least three. Okay. It it interview at least three people so you can get a real sense of different personalities and, and just get better at it and see what fits.

[00:05:00] So you’re gonna invite them to submit their, their application just by filling out this form. , now when you put it on social media, if you’re like, ah, I have a really small following, invite people to share it. Say a little bit about who you’re looking for.

[00:05:14] I have a 100% remote virtual, Position that I’m hiring for. I think it would be great for a stay-at-home mom who’d like a few hours in between, like during nap times. If you know someone who you think would be interested and is great at X, Y, and Z, will you please share this with them? Let your community help you get the word out.

[00:05:34] So give a little bit of details, some of that benefit you heard, you know, a hundred percent remote work from home, great from a mom. You can put that out there and, and then allow people to help you share, that you’re hiring. Okay, next is the interview. In the interview.

[00:05:51] The most important thing is you’re just trying to get a sense of who they are. What they want, if they would be a good fit for you, um, if they fit the culture that you’re trying to create. Are they optimistic? Are they positive? Do they seem motivated, excited? Do they have some of the strengths that are your weaknesses?

[00:06:10] That’s a really wonderful thing to realize, but it’s just about having a conversation. Hi, tell me about yourself. Uh, let me ask you some questions. What got you excited about this position? How do you feel about this? Do you think this would be a great fit? And then as you’re wrapping up the interview, just thank you so much for your time.

[00:06:28] We will get back to you within the week or within the next two weeks, and you’re going to then just finish it up. 

[00:06:36] Step four is to define your expectations. So it’s really, really critical to, throughout this whole process, to be, to be defining the expectations once you’ve hired them. And when you do, as you’re going through this hiring process in all stages, define the expectations. What are the biggest things we, we as new business, um, or as new?

[00:07:02] Employers, I guess. , one of the big mistakes that we make is we’re not being clear about the expectation. We’re not saying, here’s what I’d like to have it by. So here’s the due date, here’s the expectation, here’s what I’m expecting to see. Here’s the feedback. I’d like to get through the process.

[00:07:15] Here’s what I wanna know. If you have questions, be very, very clear about expectations when you were talking about hiring someone. So here’s how many hours I think it’ll look like. Here’s, um, what you can expect from me. Here’s where I might fail you, and I want you to be open and, and communicate with me if that’s happening.

[00:07:31] , just be really clear on the expectation. . , with that, as you’re explaining different projects, as you’re explaining different objectives and goals, make sure that you stop and explain the how, but also the why. One of the big rookie mistakes, oh my goodness, I made it was I was always explaining the how.

[00:07:51] Okay, here’s what I want you to do. Here’s how you’re gonna do it. Go. I wasn’t sharing the why. I didn’t take those extra few minutes to say, and here’s why we’re doing it. Number one, then they get to learn, which is wonderful for them. Number two, they get to have deeper ownership in the why of your company, the goals of your company, the dreams for that you have for your business.

[00:08:13] Tell them the why. Why are you trying to serve your customers? What are you doing to make their their life better? What is your deep why of why you show up? Share that with them. They deserve to be part of the whole story and not just, you know, I just need you to do this. Just get this done. That was definitely a mistake that I made early on, that I learned the hard way.

[00:08:35] My, you know, these first people that I hired, they, , they didn’t feel any. Loyalty to the projects, to the business, to what I was doing because I never shared the why with them. I wasn’t. I just expected them to know it all. I expected them to go figure it out. And I wasn’t sharing and explaining to them, here’s why we’re doing this.

[00:08:56] Here’s why we, we do these things for our customers. Here’s why they matter to us so much. Here’s why this is so important to me. Here’s why I’m passionate. So in all of that, defining your expectations, which is super, super important. And in all of that, explaining the how. Make sure you also explain the why.

[00:09:12] Step five, establish your check-in process. I’m sharing this in the realm of virtual. Now, if you have people who are in person, that check-in process is gonna be a little easier, but it’s still definitely important for me. I can’t see what they’re doing. I don’t know what’s happening. Think about, you know, when you have had a job or if you have a job now, um, and, and you show up to your job in person.

[00:09:36] You see people, you can read situations, you can see like, they seem like they’re having a really hard day. Oh, I wonder if something’s going on at home. I wonder if there’s something wrong. We have no way of knowing that in a virtual situation. They, um, and, and they’ll feel like they don’t wanna bother you with the real things happening in their life if you don’t ask.

[00:09:55] So you have to make sure you’re asking, this is part of being a good boss. This is another one of those things I learned the hard way. So your check. Process, define and design what that looks like for me. There is a Friday check-in, so everyone from the team emails me individually. They email to me, they tell me what their high of their low of their week was, what the low of their week was.

[00:10:17] This usually has nothing to do with work. This is their real life or their personal life. What projects they’re working on, what, what next steps are, where they’re at with it, what they see as when they’ll have them done by. And then they tell me how many hours they had for that week and and what those hours go to.

[00:10:34] So it’s important to me that they document, you know, this was for this project, this was for this project, and this was for that one. Sometimes we’re billing the clients for some of those hours, so I have to know where they’re going so that we can make sure that everything’s being allocated correctly.

[00:10:48] Also, I just wanna know how long things are taking. I might look and go, oh gosh, I did not mean for us to be spending that much time on X. We need to re-look at that and figure out why this is taking so long. So that’s what the Friday. Email looks like. Then on Mondays we have the Monday meeting. So on Mondays we have quick, short, and sweet, but I do really work hard to make sure that I pause and be like, how are you?

[00:11:11] I get so tunnel, tunnel vision and like focused in on like, all right, let’s get her done so I can get into the next things. Mondays for me are marketing Mondays, so everything about Monday is me working on marketing, and then I have my check-ins with my team. So I’ll be like, oh, I gotta get onto these projects that if I’m not intentional, I’ll forget to say like, how are you doing?

[00:11:29] How was your weekend? So I make sure that I have a little note to myself to remember to ask them about them. and then we jump in and we have these meetings. I do like to keep them short and sweet. I wanna value their time. I value my time and meetings for the sake of meetings is dumb. , so I do try to keep them really short and sweet, but we have those check-ins and, and it’s funny cuz sometimes I’ll be like, oh, I don’t think we need one.

[00:11:50] And my team will be like, no, no, no. I like those, I want those. Like, it’s that real connection happening. So I have listened to that and okay, no matter what, we’ll make sure they happen. , so we have our, our Friday follow up and our Monday meeting. So that is, that is my check-in process. , and then the other things that I do is have them bcc me on everything that’s happening.

[00:12:11] So especially if you have them emailing clients on your behalf and, , and reaching out for anything, collaborations or clients or whatever it might be, have them b cc you because you don’t wanna, number one, find out that there was a, a miscommunication and no one ever reached out to the customer or , someone that you were collaborating with, whatever it might be.

[00:12:31] That’s how balls get dropped because you don’t realize, you’re like, oh, assuming checked off, they don’t realize because maybe it got lost. In translation, whatever it might be, have them b cc you on everything. That’ll make sure that you are staying in the loop enough that you know what’s going on and that you don’t end up making the mistake of, of you’re not in enough of the details of your business.

[00:12:53] Because it’s funny, you know, at first, in the beginning of your business, you just, you can’t let go of anything. Like it’s so hard to give up anything. You feel like, oh, I’m the only one that can do all this. As you start to give things up and you realize, oh my gosh, they can do this as well as I can, or very close too, and I have more freedom, and this is beautiful and I love this, all of a sudden you start giving up all the stuff you’re like, and could you do this and this, and what about this?

[00:13:15] And if you’re not careful, you start missing the details happening in your business. The way that I’ve been able to circumvent that is by making sure I get BCC’d on everything that’s happening. And then finally, follow your gut. If you have a gut, like, oh, if you’ve got that feeling, I should reach out to them.

[00:13:30] I should check in, I should see how things are going. Follow it, follow that, follow that, follow that. That will help you to make sure that you really are showing up for them, , in the best way possible. Okay, last part of this, how to be a great boss. So here’s what I’ve learned the hard way about just learning how to be a better boss.

[00:13:57] Number one, and I, and I already talked about this, but I wanna say it again cuz it’s so important. Bring them into the story. Bring like, share with them your goals. Tell them what you’re trying to accomplish. Explain the why behind it. Bring them into all of it. Number two, give feedback. It’s really important that you share.

[00:14:18] What’s going really well and where like, oh, I’d actually like this to, to be more like this. I’d like it to look like this. You’re paying them. You need to be confident enough to share feedback and tell them very honestly. But with, with absolute kindness, how you want things adjusted, how things are working, if they’re going well or not, it’s actually a disservice to not give that feedback, to not share, because you end up getting frustrated.

[00:14:44] They have no idea, and then things go wrong and they’re, they’re left going, I don’t even understand. I was doing what she asked. So it’s really important to give feedback. Plus then things can get better, which is beautiful and wonderful. Number. Set those clear expectations, be honest, but ki kind set the expectations of, of what you’re expecting and then follow that up with like, do you have any questions?

[00:15:09] Make sure you’re asking them, do you have any questions? Does this all make sense? What do you think could get in the way? What could be a problem here? Those are great questions that are going to help clear anything up before it even becomes an issue. , number four, be honest. If things are not working and you are going to have times where you find out and realize that you made the wrong call, it’s the wrong person for the position, you might end up realizing that they could be really great in a different role, and maybe it makes sense and you are able to move them to that role, but it may turn out that they’re, they’re just not the right fit.

[00:15:44] The sooner that you can share that with them, the kinder, it really is, um, out of fear, out of like, I want everybody to like me. I don’t want anybody to be upset or dissatisfied. I’ve kept people for way, way, way too long. And it didn’t serve them, it didn’t serve me. Guess what? They ended up not probably liking me when they left because of that.

[00:16:04] Anyways, I have learned, to be honest and be clear now, one of the ways that I do this that has been really helpful is that I start by saying, let’s, let’s start this for 30 days and let’s try this out and let’s see how it works. I wanna make sure that it is a happy and good fit for you. You might end up deciding, I do not wanna work for this crazy lady, and I wanna make sure that it’s a good fit for us and our team.

[00:16:27] So let’s give this a try for 30 days and see now after those 30 days, it’s time to have a little review and have a conversation and either say, thank you so much for the time, for your time for what you’ve, um, done for us. I, I think we’re recognizing that maybe we made this decision a little too soon and it’s, we’re just not ready.

[00:16:42] It’s just not right right now. Um, and, and you can do this in a way that’s really kind when I first, um, my first management type. Position was after I got married, I came and worked at my dad’s company. And, um, and, and it really, it’s where I learned so much of business. And, um, I remember being there when, you know, I would, I would be there in the process of hiring and being there in the process of letting people go.

[00:17:09] And then eventually it became my role and, and I was the one that did it. But in those early times when I would watch him remember being in awe, because he, he did it in such a way where he, he was kind, um, he gave them dignity. He, he did it in such a way that as they were leaving, they would be shaking his hand and they would be like, thank you so much, bill.

[00:17:29] Thank you. And I was like, and then they’d leave and I’d be like, Like we needed to fire them and they thanked him as they left. It was just such a beautiful example. And I think really it just comes down to being clear, being honest, being kind, admitting our part in it, um, and, and, and telling them, I think there’s something better for you.

[00:17:50] I think there’s a better fit. I and I, and I want you to find it. I don’t want you to be somewhere that’s gonna hold you back. And, and I’m worried I’m gonna do that. And I think I made this decision too early and didn’t quite have it right. And I’m, I’m so grateful that you gave us your time. Um, and I, I, I wanna let you let you be free to go find the right place.

[00:18:09] So there is a beautiful way to do it, um, where you can, you can do that with dignity, but if you do realize someone is, is there and it’s not the right. . You gotta make that happen. You gotta, you gotta rip off the bandaid and let them go. It sucks. It’s uncomfortable. Nobody likes it. Um, but it’s important.

[00:18:28] Okay, five. I love this one. This is one of my favorite ones. Be appreciative. So be grateful and generous. Now, there are other ways to be generous than just monetarily.

[00:18:40] You may be in a position where you’re like, I, I’m gonna barely be able to give them, you know, what they’re asking for. And then a few hours. What are other ways that you can be generous? What are other bonuses that you can give them? , if you have an awesome service that they can have access to, can you give them that?

[00:18:57] So, so don’t, don’t limit yourself to like, oh, it’s just through money. There’s other ways to be generous and I’ll just share some of my favorite fun things that, that I’ve been able to do over the, over the years. One thing I, um, you know, after a big project, after, after things that we’ve done, or just cuz I have that, that feeling, that intuition, that’s like, I need to do something.

[00:19:18] I’ve sent, , gift cards and, and a card and been like, thank you so much for all that you do for me. Will you please take your husband out on a date on me and tell him thank you so much for allowing me to have, , some of your time. Another, , time. I knew that. One of my assistants, her family was coming into town and so I sent the biggest, most gorgeous bouquet of flowers with a note.

[00:19:42] Like, we couldn’t, we couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you so much for all you do at Leah Reela International. I wanted her family members. I wanted like, I wanted the in-laws. I wanted everybody to see just how valuable she was and I wanted her to get to feel that like, ah, see. So that was really fun.

[00:19:59] Um, , what other things? I mean, you can do so many fun things. You can, a, another great way to be generous, and this is a great compensation plan too, is start with a lower month, a lower hourly rate. Especially if you’re like, I don’t have the budget. Like I, I really wanna hire someone, but I’m, I, I don’t quite have the budget yet.

[00:20:19] Start with a lower hourly rate and then tell them when we reach these goals, you are gonna get a bonus. Let them bonus out. Give them a percentage of the profits. I’ve done this so many times and it’s amazing. It’s so fun. Number one, they’re like, how do we, how do we increase results? Because now they have a buy-in to it.

[00:20:36] And number two, I get to be more generous and I get to reward them, but I can, when it makes sense, when it financially works to do that. . So just looking for how you can really be generous. You can, you know, make the compensation plan around getting to give them bonuses when, , when you reach certain levels, which is gonna be really exciting for them. And, , and then, you know, doing really fun things like, um, for their birthday at Christmas.

[00:21:03] You know, different holidays, like do special things for them. It can be really small things. Sometimes I. Oh my gosh, this book was so good. I’m sending it to all of you, everybody. It’s, it’s showing up. You know, I’m Amazon to you or you guys. I’m obsessed with these slippers. You’re all getting ’em. I mean, it’s a small thing.

[00:21:19] It’s not big, but it’s another way to show gratitude and generosity. Handwritten notes go a long ways, so you might not be at the level where you can offer the compensation that you dream of, but there’s other ways to show your gratitude and your generosity. And here’s another thing to realize. Be generous in. Time. Also, we are used to setting ridiculous expectations on ourself. Like, oh, I have this idea. I need to get it done. I’m going to get it done right now and just stay up all night. That’s not fair to do your team. So you need to be generous in, in their, like, the way that you think about their time.

[00:21:54] And, you know, it’s all virtual, but remember there’s a whole life that they’re living, um, when they’re not working. And, and you don’t wanna take them from, from that on short notice. Too often. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it’s, it’s just what happens, but you don’t want it to happen so often, um, that they begin to feel resentful and then they leave.

[00:22:11] And then finally, number seven, this is a really important best false practice. You need to work hard. You need to be the example. So this is gonna push you to follow through to get things done. When you say you’re gonna get things done and to be more realistic in what you say you’ll get done, because you might be just used to being like, oh yes, sure, okay, of course.

[00:22:30] And then you don’t actually do those things and get them done. You’re gonna have to get better about that and just recognize that what you’re putting out there, you’re demonstrating how they should show up. If you don’t ever meet deadlines, if you don’t follow through, if you say, oh, I’m gonna send that to you, and then you don’t.

[00:22:43] All those things, then that’s going to, to come back, they’re gonna see that as, as potentially acceptable. So you need to work hard and show up the way you want them to work hard and show up. Um, and, and typically it’s not a problem of us working hard. We’re business owners. We work plenty hard, but we’re not maybe so good at doing things when we say we’re gonna do things following up the way we say we will.

[00:23:08] Um, those kind of things. And you wanna be that example of that. 

[00:23:11] All right. That wraps us up and I hope you loved these two episodes, part one and part two. Ultimately, this is the final message that I would wanna send to you. You can start small and that small can be whatever it needs to be. It can be with the simplest task. It can be hiring someone and letting ’em know I’ve only.

[00:23:34] Three hours a week for you right now, but if you can help me reach these goals, we’ll be able to increase it. There are so many people out there who would just love a little something on the side. The other part is to be honest, when you are hiring someone, when you are talking to someone about what you’re asking of them, don’t be afraid to let them know your weaknesses.

[00:23:55] I absolutely, in the interview process is when I know this is the person that I’m pretty sure. Is my person that I want to hire, I will let them know, here are the things that I could do that would probably be really, really frustrating to you. I wanna know how you feel about that, because ultimately I’m trying to find people who can.

[00:24:18] Have strength where I have weakness, and that means I have to be vulnerable. I have to share my messy with them so that they understand what they’re getting themselves into, and so that they can decide if they’re excited to help me, or if they’re like, Ooh, that is gonna be really hard for me, so keep it simple.

[00:24:39] Share your messy so that someone really can step in and help you. And just know that this process of outsourcing, it’s not as big and scary and daunting as you probably thought it was. It actually can be pretty easy, and what it can do for your life is incredible. Thank you so much for listening to the Balancing Busy podcast for being part of this.

[00:25:06] I’m going to ask you again if you would please take a moment and leave a five star review in a quick sentence. That would be so incredible. I have this goal to get up to 50 reviews. I really, really want it to see 50, so if you would be up for taking 30 seconds, 45 seconds and leaving a quick review to help me get up to that number.

[00:25:27] Oh, that’d be so amazing. Okay. Now I’d love to hear, are you thinking about outsourcing? Are you going to give it a try? DM me, tell me what part still feels scary, or tell me what you outsourced. I love hearing from you and getting all the details and just knowing who I get to talk to through this podcast.

[00:25:45] So thank you for being a part of it. I’m so honored to get to share with you and I’ll see you in the next episode.

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