My business has kind of plateau'ed.
My business has kind of plateau'ed. When I look at where it was , and some of the numbers other people talk about, I feel pretty proud of it. But when I look up at some of my peers in the space, some who arrived after me, I feel like I am missing the mark.
Its hard to be satisfied, and I have hit the capacity of what I can produce as a solo'preneur. I hit it long ago if I am honest. I have bad superman syndrome, and I am having a hard time finding a way out.
Has anyone else made the transition from solo'preneur to staff? And how was that?
The best decision I ever made was to hire a "Head of Marketing Strategy" person, someone who is like the "VP of Marketing" that can not only build out our marketing footprint, but also scale their team as well. As a product person who struggled for two years to do marketing myself and remain consistent, It's been amazing to be able to offload that and I wish I'd done it day 1.
Thanks for sharing that. It does sound like it was a success. DId you hire your VP locally? And are you paying a salary or did you work out some equity/profit share deal?
Our hire was remote.
They were an hourly full time contractor at the moment until we determined that it was advantageous to bring them on as a full employee.
And by "VP" I mean that when you write your job description, make sure you focus on the requirements for great leadership, team leading, and communication. Then when conducting interviews you also need to continually let the candidates know that they will be in a lead role and expected at some point to scale both team and infrastructure behind them as revenues grow.
Great idea, but this is only feasible with high enough Net profit and we don't know much about his situation :)
Money does factor in here. After costs and salary (mine) there is not much left over. But with a wee bump in sales we could cover another wage and thats what I have been working on recently.
For a sales role, we could pay a commission of sorts. ....
hmm ..[small lightbulb] ..
But having two developers would be golden.
If revenue is your constraint, then I would look for a sales or marketing person. If product is your constraint then I would look for devs.
That speaks to the importance of paying yourself a smaller salary and taking on either side-gigs or part-time work until your business is running on all cylinders.
Many businesses fail because founders take too much money out too early. Again I don't know your situation but this is very common problem, one I had made in the past.
Interesting points. Thanks. This is helping.
Lets assume the money for a one person hire is there, because from some combination of a salary cut, a sales bump and cost cutting, i think it can be. I won't be doing any moonlighting though.
You know maybe I should be looking for sales/marketing people not developers. I might have been looking the wrong way on this thing.
If you pm me some more detail I can help give you some direction and more specific device.
This ☝️
Keep investing as much profits as you can back in your business.
Not necessarily true. There are ways to compensate folks other than with a salary.
But I would recommend hiring them as an hourly contractor first to see if they are the best fit for your business which means you only have to come up with the money to pay them for those hours.
You're right, assuming he's willing to part with equity or % of profit, but then it's not a 'hire' but more of a partnership.
it's pretty difficult to give you any advice without a lot more detail, but in almost all cases ensuring you put a large % of profits back into the business, create a proper marketing plan and hire people better than you to help you scale is required.
You have to start letting go. There's no other way. Ask yourself what you want, what is important? Visualize where you want your business to be in 1 year. Where you personally want to be in 1 year? What you love about the business, and what you don't like about it.
Just like starting a business, beginning to delegate and offset your man hours requires 'action'.
I don't know your situation but in all likelihood, you may not need full-time staff. There is plenty of opportunities to hire international help but you have to have your core processes documented.
Start a little at a time. Do an 80/20 analysis on the tasks you can offset that take the most time for the least return. (Support, E-mail)
Thanks for your reply @vdruts . Sorry, I know I was a bit light on details. I have certainly tried delegating with remote staff. But the product is complex and its been hard.
I believe that you are right though. Breaking down the tasks into categories that can be handed off is the key.
Consider highering a business coach or marketing strategy consultant to help you.
Someone who can analyze your situation and help you uncover gaps and missed opportunities. Then break them down into an easy set of steps for you to follow, while keeping you motivated and on track :)