When starting a small business, you may opt to save money by doing almost everything yourself. While this may be a good idea in the beginning, as you start to have success and bring in revenue, you will need employees to keep up with demand. You may want to hire an office assistant. In fact, an office assistant should probably be your first hire.
How to Know It's Time to Hire
If you are an entrepreneur, you are busy. There is always something that needs your attention and, in the case of new businesses, not a lot of help to manage it all. With any business, there are going to be small, tedious tasks that need to be done. The excitement that you have as a new entrepreneur plus the lack of funds can fuel you to do everything by yourself in the beginning. However, eventually, you will need to hire employees. You shouldn't even let yourself get to the point of being overly frazzled to begin considering hiring and training staff.
What to Look for in a First Hire
A receptionist or office assistant is needed to direct and manage workflow, which then increases efficiency and productivity. Efficiency and productivity is the goal of any great staff, and there has to be a leader to ensure that everyone is on task and meeting goals. This is why you should hire an office assistant first--you don't want to have followers without a leader.
When You Can't Put It Off Any Longer
So how do you know when you get to a point in your business that you need to hire a receptionist? One way is if you are completely exhausted at the end of the day. If you spend your whole day on full-speed ahead, you should get some help. You don't want to tire yourself out because you will need a sharp mind to keep your business going.
Why You Deserve Some Assistance
Another clue is that you never have enough time to get everything done by yourself. Staying on schedule and meeting deadlines is important to the success of your business, so if you don't have a friend who can lend a hand, hire an assistant and delegate some of the less important tasks to them.
As an entrepreneur, having an assistant can be just as valuable as having a business plan. There are a lot of things that need to get done, but only 24 hours in a day. By making a personal assistant your first hire, you can get your business running on the right track so that when you do hire other staff members, everything is organized and ready to go.
As you begin your growth and add more employees under yourself, it’s a wise idea to look into business insurance. Even office jobs or other “white collar” jobs require workers compensation, and other insurances to protect not only your assets, but those of the business. As soon as you hire your first employee, it's imperative there is liability protection in place.