Are You Thinking of Growing?

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There comes a time that you have to think about managing growth, and that often starts with the addition of other pairs of hands to help you run your business. Let’s face it, when you’re working all day and packing all night, then it’s time to think about getting some help!

This is a subject dear to my heart at the moment. I have several clients I work with that are at the stage of recruiting one or two members of staff. I’ve also been faced with the realisation that in order to grow my seo consultancy I need to consider a way to expand.

Traditionally the way to grow your business was to recruit part/full-time members of staff who you would employ yourself. However, there are some advantages to thinking outside the box before you take this step:

Outsource – are there parts of your job that you could hive off to someone else to do, freeing up more of your time? PR, marketing, seo, bookkeeping and admin are all areas where it is easy to outsource. Ask around for recommendations. The advantage of outsourcing is that it enables you to “try out” employing staff in a way in which you avoid the direct management responsibilities. If it’s not working out, subject to contract, you can simply “move on.”

Students – if you have a business where you need say packing duties, then consider hiring a local student for a couple of hours a day to simply process and pack orders. Beats pulling pints….

Placement Students – Many university courses, particularly business degrees, require students to spend a year working full-time to gain work experience. You usually have to pay a salary but you have the chance of a super-keen person to work for you with a lot less hassle. It’s not just undergraduates too – many colleges have postgraduate courses with a work placement component too. The careers department is a good place to begin enquiries.

So, do any of you have any experiences of outsourcing, working with students or other ideas to share?

photo credit: joiseyshowaa

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Tagged as: outsourcing, Thinking outside the box