How do you know when it's the right time to hire your first employee?
when do you know its a good time to hire someone?
Forum Discussion
8 Replies
When you get tired of having to do everything yourself, or feel like you can't take a day off for a vacation or an emergency.
If you're at capacity with work and can no longer accept new clients, that's a good indication to either 1) raise prices or 2) hire someone to increase your capacity
and when i decide to hire a person what should i pay them and and what should i charge for them being on the jobsite?
I've always tried to keep total labor cost between 25-40% of the revenue generated since you still need to account for all your other expenses like licenses, marketing, fuel/supplies and paying yourself
If you have the work lined up and not enough time to get the jobs done and if you are missing out to much on family events. We work to live not live to work
When paying that person doesn't make your payroll more than 35% of what you bring in. I hired because the job wouldn't allow me to do it by myself and because I couldnt be on multiple jobsites at the same time. Everyone wants a job but can your job support them
You know it’s time to hire your first employee when you’re consistently turning down work or you’re so booked up that you can’t keep up with the demand.
For me, I waited until I was booked out about 3–4 weeks and had to start telling customers I couldn’t get to them for over a month. That’s when I knew I was leaving money on the table.
If you’re still worried about having enough work, you’re probably not ready yet. When you’re truly ready, you’ll know — because the work will be there and you physically can’t do it all yourself.
I had this same problem and I solved it in a very easy going and smart way, I hired a summer student. He isn't out working on his own yet, he is more of a my helper. He will get tools from the truck, clean up a job site, hold a ladder, etc. Its giving me the experience having someone working for me and seeing how it feels before I hire someone who is dependant on me to make a living. I am slowly seeing what I can trust someone to do on their own or with me.
It is making my stops a lot faster and more efficient and allowing me to take on more work in a day. That is what we all want isn't it???
Great question. For me it was the right time when I could not do the work on my own. I had enough to hire someone part time. Then it grew into full time pretty quick.
