Hiring Secrets: How You Can Build The Right Team And Free Up Your Life w/ Nathan Hirsch #BrandBuilderPodcast

Nathan is Founder and CEO of FreeeUp, an outsourcing company geared for e-commerce and Amazon businesses, he is also an accomplished Amazon and e-commerce seller himself!   Are you thinking about hiring, or have you ever had a bad hire? Hiring can be an expensive and frustrating endeavour for first timers. Nathan offers some guidance for entrepreneurs on how to crack that tough hiring nut!   Key Takeaways [5:41] It’s hard to scale a business without a workforce, but for some reason people give up on hiring.   [6:12] It’s not taught in school but hiring is a business function, just like marketing: it has to be done.   [10:00] It’s not me, it’s them… Why are your hires not working out? (It’s probably you) You need to analyse your interview process, your questions.   [11:35] The application process needs to be iterative: if a bad hire does get through, you have to analyse the process to figure out why and upgrade it so it doesn’t happen in the future.   [12:55] Max shares the types of hiring turning points he usually sees with his clients. 1. You are generating enough income to begin hiring my first task, usually freelance. 2. You are at 7 figures, should you keep hiring freelance or should you bring someone in house? In terms of in house or freelance there is no right or wrong, only pros and cons and it depends on you: what’s your management style? [15:44] Should you hire specialist or focus on training one individual? Project based people keep you flexible and you can build a good rolodex of individuals that fill certain niches. Agencies can help you maintain a stable workforce. [18:12] The biggest turn off for agencies is the same for everyone, and Nathan recommends working with small agencies (5-10) to build a relationship with an available owner, and ensure pricing and result. [20:42] Being successful at hiring is usually about hiring the right level: there are 3 levels of people you can hire. 1. Low level: they will follow your existing systems (you have a strong SOP and you know what you’re doing.) 2. Mid range: specialist (they know what they’re doing.) 3. High level: expert freelancers that bring in their own strategies and systems (when you don’t know what you’re doing.) [23:35] What is the minimal amount of SOP to bring to the table for a new hire? 1. Information about your business and what the goals are: what does success look like? 2. Be very clear on the “Do not do” part of the SOP. [26:42] Nathan shares his most important advice for people new to hiring: 1. Know what you’re looking for. 2. Interview for skill, but also attitude and communication! [29:22] How do you handle when you need to hire better than you? [30:50] It’s critical to diversify when you hire, give your systems redundancy! You don’t want to have your only supplier drop you, and your only manager quit on the first day of your vacation — true story… [31:44] Mention this podcast on Freeeup.com to get a 25$ credit. Mentioned in this episode Capitalism.com Max@brandbuilderstrategy.com