Your first hire won’t solve your problems

So Juan increased his income almost instantly by doing more of what he loves, and less of what he hates, and that’s just the beginning!

Oh wait, that’s actually the end, my bad.

Let me introduce you to Juan and tell you how we decided against growing his one-person business.

In the next few minutes, you’ll get a high-level operational analysis, financial analysis, and a strategy that Juan (and you) can use to massively increase your income.

“Many hands make light work” they say.

But who’s hands, and how do you get those hands to work with you?

Nobody gives you that answer, but I’m about to right now.

We often believe that hiring our first employee will be the magic axe to cut down our workload.

The idea is simple: hire someone to take work off your hands, and you’ll grow your business and make more moneyyyyyy.

WRONG!

Let’s debunk this myth and learn the best way to BE LIKE JUAN.

The Hiring Myth: A Case Study

Meet Juan, a successful personal trainer and massage therapist.

With a steady stream of clients and his business generating $100K in revenue over the past 12 months, Juan believed that hiring would be the next logical step to reduce his increased workload.

That is until he spoke to me.

The Limitations of Hiring

Hiring, while potentially beneficial, comes with its own massive set of challenges.

Finding the right fit for your business culture

Training new hire

Supervising their work

Firing your new hire

Finding the right fit for your business culture

Training new hire

Supervising their work

Finding the right fit for your business culture

You see where I’m going with this?

Now start to add up all the increased expenses: training, insurance, legal, HR compliance, and so on, and so on…

Truth is, in most cases, hiring will increase your workload instead of decreasing it, and it will be all sorts of tasks you’re not interested in or yet skilled to do.

How about the X-factor risk of training your own competition?

In Juan’s case, as a local specialist in his field, his new hire could potentially leave on their own eventually, start their own business, and use the skills and knowledge they gained from him to compete against him.

There’s also a high chance of them using his name and reputation to gain credibility, and then undercutting his prices to gain market share.

Are they going to try to purge his clients too? The ones he secured but the new hire was treating?

All of this sounds paranoid, but also sounds like a terrible plan!

The Power of Outsourcing: A Better Approach

Hiring is not your only option. You should explore other options to optimize your productivity and efficiency, namely, outsourcing.

There are several reasons why outsourcing is superior:

Cost Savings: Outsourcing can help save on hiring and training costs, as well as the additional expenses of employee benefits and overhead.

Focus on Core Business: By outsourcing non-core tasks, you can focus your time and energy on your developing your specialty, which is what has the highest income potential.

Access to Specialized Expertise: Outsourcing provides access to a wider talent pool, allowing you to find specialized expertise for specific tasks.

Time Freedom: Delegating through outsourcing can free up time, enabling you to take more clients and generate higher income. OR, take more time to do whatever you want to do.

Enhanced Business Efficiency: By delegating through outsourcing, you essentially beef up your team. Your output is benefited from the knowledge and experience of professionals who are specialized in their respective fields.

Let’s dive deeper into Juan’s case.

The Case for Outsourcing: How Juan Can Double His Income Without Hiring

As a solopreneur, Juan wears many hats.

He spends about half of his work hours (20) on a combination of personal training and massage therapy and the other half (20) on other business tasks.

Here are just a few top-level, each with a ton of sub-tasks too long to mention:

client services

marketing

sales

networking

graphic design

content creation, editing, and publishing

social media management

administrative tasks

financial management

None of these are making him better at his craft by the way.

By identifying and outsourcing non-core tasks on this list, Juan can free up more time to focus on his highest-value service massage therapy.

If you’re reading this and nodding your head, you already know by now that you and Juan are one.

You are Juan, Juan is you.

So altogether let’s work to help Juan and you make a better plan.

His goal is extremely “unique” – to work less, make more money and do more of what he loves. (cue: more head nods)

So let’s get him there!

By outsourcing the business tasks, Juan can spend more time on his highest income task which is massage therapy, increasing his weekly income from $2,000 to $3,000, and his annual net income from $104,000 to $130,000, despite the outsourcing costs.

Yes. Spending more money (the right way) will make more money, almost instantly. And that’s about a 20% increase in income!

Let’s take this one step further.

By performing/practicing his skill more often, we can assume he’s now becoming even better at it.

Considering also the lack of local competition, a re-defined clarity in his messaging, and a re-invigorated sense of accomplishment, he will now be able to increase his prices.

Hire someone now? NO!

Spend more money (the right way). YES

There are many levers you can pull in attempts to move your business. Some will work better than others.

What happens once the prices increase and Juan begins to spend money on marketing?

WHAT?!

In fact, if he really wanted to put the pedal to the metal, by increasing his massage therapy hours from 30 to 35 per week, he would net $5,250 per week or $236,600 per year!!

Now at some point, Juan will have to create even more leverage beyond trading time for money (aka move more levers).

Let’s take a peek at what that looks like for him, and for you:

Practical Tips and Strategies

Leveraging resources effectively requires a strategic approach. Here are some practical tips and strategies that can help you make the most of their resources:

1. Identify High-Value Activities

The first step is to identify the high-value activities in your business – the tasks that contribute the most to your income. For Juan, this is his specialty massage service. By focusing more on these activities, you can maximize your income potential.

2. Outsource Non-Core Activities

Consider outsourcing non-core activities that consume a lot of your time but don’t contribute significantly to your income. This could include tasks like accounting, marketing, or administrative work. There are many freelancers and agencies that specialize in these areas and can do the work more efficiently than you can.

3. Use Technology to Your Advantage

There are countless tools and software available that can help streamline your operations and automate repetitive tasks. This could include project management tools, scheduling software, invoicing, and payment processing systems, and more. Do some research to find out what tools are available in your industry and how they can benefit your business.

4. Build Strategic Partnerships

Consider forming strategic partnerships with other businesses or individuals in your industry. This could involve referring clients to each other, collaborating on projects, or sharing resources. For Juan, this could mean partnering with other personal trainers who can refer clients to him for massage therapy.

5. Raise Your Prices

If you’re offering a specialized service with little competition, like Juan, consider raising your prices. This can increase your revenue without increasing your workload. Just make sure to communicate the value you’re providing to justify the higher prices.

6. Become a Thought Leader

Consider ways to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. This could involve starting a blog, hosting webinars, speaking at industry events, or publishing a book. As a thought leader, you can attract more clients and charge higher prices for your services.

7. Explore New Markets

Don’t limit yourself to your local market. With the rise of remote work and online services, you can reach clients all over the world. For Juan, this could mean offering virtual massage therapy consultations or teaching online classes.

Leveraging resources effectively is about being strategic and innovative. It’s about finding ways to work smarter, not harder, and making the most of the resources you have at your disposal.

The Bottom Line

Hiring someone else into your business is not necessarily the ultimate solution to workload problems.

You need to think critically about your business needs and consider alternative approaches to maximize your time and resources.

By leveraging resources effectively, you can make your time worth more money and drive your business toward greater success.

Remember, the goal is not to work harder, but smarter. So before you rush to hire, take a step back and consider if there are other, potentially more effective, ways to lighten your load.

Brian ‘no HR for me’ Orr

P.S. If you’re in St. Pete and want to have Juan fix your body, reach out or book an appointment by clicking this link and letting him know he made the right choice to outsource instead of hiring 😁