QUESTION: “I need to hire a new coach / team member to handle the incoming clients. . . but I don’t feel certain enough to promise retainers / salary each month yet. Should I raise revenues before hiring, OR should I just do it & hope it works out?”
Ah, the classic Catch-22 of start up coaching businesses.
I sure remember being in this conundrum back when I started out.
You’ve got a great product & sales are going off the shelf. You KNOW you need the help but the revenues aren’t.quite.there.yet.
What to do? Play the waiting game, or go in on a 30-day gamble?
Here are some creative ways to hire help from the start, without risking debt:
(I’ve used ALL these methods, and they still make up 80% of my hiring strategy, even though I’m beyond the start-up phase)
Hire for PART-TIME positions
The 40-hour work week is a dangerous myth.
Even though its the typical full-time length of time, its extremely in-efficient.
No role really takes that long to get results.
Look at the tasks you want to hire for and ask, “how can we get the maximum profit from this role being done – if it was only done for 5-10 hours per week?”
You’ll find most jobs can get done this way. People only ask for more hours because social conditioning tells them they need that long.
Take One-Off Consultations Instead of Team Members
If there’s a role you’re thinking of hiring for, but you already know the gist of what’s involved, consider just paying for a one off consultant.
For example, if you need Facebook ads set up. If hiring a full time ads manager is too expensive right now, could you offer to pay them for an hour or two of their time each month?
Use that hour productively to get the specific instructions to make a profitable FB ads campaign, and another session for them to review your work and results.
It’ll be less than half the investment, for almost most of the effectiveness.
When you can afford to take the ads manager on a retainer, move to that arrangement.
Performance-Based Retainer Increases
Start the team member with a reduced load of work, and give them a ratchet scheme where their monthly goes up the more work they take on.
For example, we give our online fitness coaches XX amount for working with the first 15 clients we send them.
For every 10 additional clients they have on the books, we increase their monthly retainer slightly.
We do this until their monthly amount reaches a CAP. The cap / threshold is the full monthly amount we’re willing to pay for that role. So any further clients they gain after that will NOT grant them more monthly retainer (but they may qualify for bonuses etc.)
#BONUS TIP Always focus on the key metric of Revenue Generated Per Team Member
A team member is an investment asset. This means your company invests X amount into them each month, with the expectation that they’ll generate back XX for the company.
Of course to make a team member profitable YOU are responsible for ensuring they have:
✓ Clear & specific monthly targets
✓ Clear roles / tasks, with deadlines and outcome expectations
✓ The systems, support, tools & training necessary to make them more efficient at the job (so they make more money in the same time, or make the same money in less time)
In Summary…
Growing your team is the key to scaling your income. Its also how you’ll enjoy the freedom of having a business that delivers a quality service without you. I feel blessed to have a fitness business, an online fitness coaching service, and a beauty spa that all run and grow without me having to physically be there.
I can travel the world, spend time with my family, and, yes, from time to time jump in and get my hands dirty with some work – because I choose to and still enjoy it!
But I choose to… I don’t have to.
I help coaches and consultants create freedom of choice in their life.
If you’d like to get an honest and unbiased diagnostic of your business, schedule your free Business Diagnostic Assessment with us today.
We can help you grow a thriving coaching business just like we’ve helped the coaches below:
Case Study: How Stuart Scaled His Team, Outsourced Himself & Is Now Looking For Location #2…
Case Study: How Keith Escaped The Hustle, Scaled His SEO Agency & Allowed His Wife to Retire
Case Study: How Imran Makes Over $50k a Month – Working Only 3 Days a Week [Video]
Click HERE to let us help you.
We know you have the skill & the drive to be seen as the best at what you do. We’ll help you get the marketing, systems and business operations locked down so you can scale your idea.
