{"id":4860,"date":"2014-10-29T06:52:33","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T10:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planfoundations.com\/?p=4351"},"modified":"2014-10-29T06:52:33","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T10:52:33","slug":"should-i-hire-an-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/should-i-hire-an-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Hire An Assistant?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should I Hire An Assistant?<\/h2>\n

Do you ever get through your day and think, \u201cI could have gotten so much more done today if I had an assistant? I feel so unproductive.\u201d How about when you look at your to-do list and feel like you could definitely leverage your time better? How can you tell that you might need an assistant? The typical signs that you might need an assistant often include: overbooking your calendar, missing appointments, suffering from email overload, passing on business opportunities, or feeling overloaded with stress. Don\u2019t you wish you had an assistant to take care of some or most of that for you? \u00a0 \"Should<\/a> The decision on whether or not to hire an assistant is an important one. Choosing wisely with proper planning will make you more productive and wealthier over time. Choose an assistant without thinking the decision through and planning, and guess what? You throw gasoline on the fire of unproductivity\u2014and you will most likely spend money without earning a profitable return. What are the important factors when deciding whether or not to hire an assistant? Expectations & Goals<\/strong>\u2013 Arguably the most important factor in your hiring decision. A little planning can go a long way here, whether it\u2019s writing a One-Hour Business Plan<\/a> or just a simple job description. If you\u2019re trying to leverage your assistant\u2019s time to make you more money, then you need to hire someone who can support your business development efforts and sales efforts. One candidate might be better suited to conduct Internet sales research, while another might focus on administrative work. If you need business development leverage, make sure you hire for that skill set. If you fail to change your behavior to follow up on the assistant\u2019s preparation work, then you as the business owner might make the whole process fail. It\u2019s hard for us business owners to change our work activities sometimes, but it\u2019s necessary to ensure a successful addition to your team. \u00a0 Virtual or In-Person Assistant<\/strong> \u2013 If you have enough office space, an in-person assistant might be best for you. Consider the talent pool for assistants in your local area; if you\u2019re not in a large city, it may be limited. Part-Time vs. Full-Time<\/strong> \u2013How much assistant can you afford? Some business owners use part-time employment as a test before committing to the expense and risk of taking on a full-time employee. The decision often comes down to money more than to work requirements. Be careful not to overestimate the productivity gains, cost savings, or sales leverage an assistant will provide you. Be conservative with your estimates. Domestic vs. International<\/strong>\u2013 It is true that lower-wage assistants are available outside the US. But if your assistant is interfacing with your customers, then English-language and cultural skills become very important in who you\u2019re hiring. If your assistant will be doing primarily back-office tasks such as research, supplier management, and scheduling, consider an international assistant. Personality<\/strong>\u2013 This might sound obvious, but the personalities of a business owner and an assistant must blend well for the relationship to work, even more so than other work relationships. They must enjoy each other\u2019s company and anticipate one another\u2019s needs for the working relationship to function optimally. Work Style<\/strong>\u2013 A quality assistant should be able to know what the boss is doing right now, as well as anticipating his or her future needs. Work style fit is important. Do you need someone who can operate without specific instructions? Are your work tasks very routine and repetitive, without a lot of thinking involved? Does one of you prefer to work on difficult tasks in the morning, the other in the afternoon?\u00a0 Perhaps you prefer to manage your employees\u2019 work closely, but your potential assistant detests being micromanaged. Using an Agency vs. Hiring Independently<\/strong>\u2013 if you are a trial-and-error person by nature or anticipate having to work with more than one assistant until you find the right fit, consider using an agency. It will cost you a little more, but will save you a lot of time. If you are mostly clear on what you want in an assistant, hiring independently might be the best way to proceed. There certainly are a lot of factors to consider when hiring an assistant. The point is not to make it complicated, but to consider your needs and those of your business. If hiring an assistant is right for you, do yourself a favor and consider these important factors.\u00a0 Even a little careful planning can go a long way to increase your odds of a successful hire. Setting expectations and goals for your assistant\u2014including what you want to accomplish\u2014is a logical place to start. Let us know what you think. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Copyright \u00a9 John McAdam 2014. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should I Hire An Assistant? Do you ever get through your day and think, \u201cI could have gotten so much more done today if I had an assistant? I feel so unproductive.\u201d How about when you look at your to-do list and feel like you could definitely leverage your time better? How can you tell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,30,41,22,4,23,31,32,43,33,26,14],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-4860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-budget","category-manage-control-delegate-job-description-resource-allocation","category-employees-subcontractors-fte-people-human-resources-new-hire-oranziation","category-innovation","category-lead-leadership-executive-strategy-resource-allocation","category-marketing","category-money-profit-income-funding-loan-debt-equity-bonds-angel-venture-capital","category-operations-efficiency-managing-organize","category-organization-efficiency-delegate-abdicate","category-business-plan","category-sales-marketing-advertising-public-relations","category-john-j-mcadam-blog","tag-operations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pioneerbusinessventures.com\/nsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}