New Business - First Employee

[dan_87]

Hi All,

Looking for some words of wisdom from those who have been in a similar position.

Following a ten year stint in a Client facing professional services firm, I started on my own 12 months ago.

Lots of networking and building some great relationships has led to lots of sponsors and leads. I have been fortunate to have a great first year, and have locked work for a fanatic next 3!

People employ me for me. I am more or less maxed out and have toyed with employing people, but not landed the right type yet.

I have outsourced the accounting and some elements of the less technical work (the stuff that fortunately will save me lots of time), however think my next move is to employ a PA, to free up even more time for the things I do well.

I have read stories from people who say they regret not hiring a PA sooner than they did, but wonder if anyone of PH had been in a similar positon, and given your experiences, what would you suggest.

Thanks,

D

[MustangGT]

I am struggling to see why you would need a PA? Are your 'jobs' all very short term, or are they weeks/months long?

You are a 'one man band' with work booked for the next 3 years. What would the PA actually do?

[mattybrown]

Have you thought about a virtual P.A?

I would have thought the first person you want to recruit would be revenue generating obviously dependant on industry.

[StevieBee]

Unless you are exceptionally lucky, it will take a fair chunk of your time to bring a new PA on and fully integrate them into your business to a level where they provide any meaningful benefit to the operation. You also need to think about the cost and whether their presence will enable you to earn more than that... or whether you're prepared to forego the cost in return for an easier life.

You also need to think about the specific responsibilities you'll assign them. The best ones have a very narrow scope in this regards but if you're expecting someone to do a bit of bookkeeping, a bit of admin, a bit of dispatch, a bit of customer services, etc.... then you'll get a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none and these types will get quickly frustrated and leave.

That is not to say a PA is not what you need but caution advised because they're not always the saviour many expect them to be.

[BGARK]

Put everything into writing, and create a clear written job description and employment contract.

[iphonedyou]

I can't imagine there are many one man bands with a directly employed PA.

Which probably tells its own story.