Looking For Advice: How Do I Hire A GM?
Hey IHers,
I have an affiliate website called Giftology https://www.itsgiftology.com/
It earns about $500 / month (3x in the holiday season). It also gets ~500 organic visitors / day.
I have ideas on how to grow it but no time to do it (I have a few other projects that are prioritized).
I've heard Andrew Wilkinson talk about how he hires general managers to run Tiny Capital websites and I've always wondered if I could do that myself.
Any advice for hiring a GM?
I'm comfortable investing money ($5,000 / month) and giving a percentage of revenue to the GM. I think the ideal person is entrepreneurial but who also needs a salary.
It would be cool to see this kind of approach become more popular. I've been tempted to do something similar with projects that I'll never have the time for.
I find partnering up 'officially' complicated from many angles, but a monthly fee/salary plus a share of the rewards makes sense on many levels.
Totally agree. Profit sharing is a super underrated collaboration tool, as long as goals are already aligned.
As far as where you can find an ideal person, I would start in the audience that buys the product. Hiring someone who isn’t intimately familiar with the audience has them at a disadvantage, whereas if they know the audience well in part because they’re in it, you can focus on guiding them on the business side instead of that AND how your customers think.
Thanks Rosie! It could be a fun experiment. Do you think a share of ownership OR a share of rewards while working on the project?
A share of the rewards, ownership gets complicated, especially with people living in different parts of the world.
Right— that seems sensible 👌
This comment was deleted 4 years ago
True!
Hey @stevebenjamins - this looks super interesting and I think we may be able to work together 🙂
I have sent you an email with more details.
Awesome! I'll reply there :)
I would strongly recommend that you first read The E-Myth Revisited (why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it).
It's about real-world small businesses rather than internet businesses, but it's dealing with exactly this issue, how almost everybody screws it up, and what the founder can do differently to allow these sorts of hires to succeed and thrive.
It's got a slightly weird writing style, but is one of the top 3 most valuable business books I've ever read.
Thanks Rob, I've read it— it's a great book!
This comment was deleted 6 years ago