You know it’s time to hire your first staff member when it’s costing you more not to have them. If you’ve been outsourcing a lot of your work and it’s becoming too expensive, it’s probably time to start hiring someone on a part-time or permanent basis.
A good example here is the bookkeeper. If you’re having someone come in once or twice a week to look at the books, it’s probably time to investigate whether it’s appropriate to bring them on.
You should also think about what you could be doing with your extra time. If you’re spending time fulfilling a task an employee could do, rather than going out and selling your business, then you should look at hiring.
You need to consider payment costs – payroll, super, training. After taking those into consideration and you would still save money by hiring an employee, it’s time to start adding to your staff.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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