If you have set up a business on your own, then congratulations! You’ll understand the dedication and sacrifice that it takes to build yourself a brand, deliver a service and please your clients. Taking an idea from conception to fruition takes a lot of guts and, as you will know, there are plenty of hurdles which can change your vision and push you to a new direction. If you have managed to tackle everything that has got in your way and you are now driving your business to the next level, then be proud.
It can be a daunting experience when you realise that your company or your service is so popular that you can no longer keep up with demand. When growing your business, suddenly your business doesn’t just need to pay for your lifestyle anymore. Becoming an employer means you have a duty of care over someone else, and you will be their source of financial income. You may also be worrying about whether you will find someone that you trust to build the business with you. Perhaps you haven’t been a team leader before, and you are concerned about your leadership skills? Don’t panic. There are lots of ways you can drive forward, build a culture of integrity and find the right people to represent all your years of hard work. Leadership can be learnt; you just need to know where to start.
One of the first things you need to do is establish how many employees you need and what roles they are going to play within the company. Perhaps you just need admin staff that can free up some of your time. Revisit your business plan and start to forecast for the next three years. Where you want to be and how you plan to get there. It’s a good idea to get a financial planner involved at this point. Someone that can go through your current business finances and then help you work out where you can make changes and increase your potential income, how much your staff costs are going to be and the reality of what you can afford to pay people.
Do your research as there are lots of responsibilities that you will have. This includes payments and tax. You can find some useful tips for calculating work hours on the internet, and you can also research all your tax implications before you speak to an accountant. It's a good idea to understand all aspects of the company even if you are going to have someone in charge of that department.
You may find it best to use a recruitment agency in Jakarta to employ staff. This will cost you money, but they have access to the best talent that is available. They can also take out a lot of stress when it comes to running through CVs. They will present to you the best people, and you can choose who you would like to interview. Although there is a chance, you may already know someone who would be a fantastic addition to your company. So make sure you reach out to the people you know and see if any of them are looking for a new challenge. It’s bad form to try and poach someone from a competing company, but if there is someone out there that you really admire, a gentle approach to let them know you are expanding might be worth the effort.
Learning about management is another great way to make sure your transition goes forward smoothly. There are multiple online courses you can take, which will give you the skills you need to manage and inspire your new team. Think about the culture of your company, and you need to be able to translate this to everyone in your organisation. You should determine your core values and make sure everyone within the company understands them. Integrity is vital in business, so make sure you always act with integrity so you can lead your team by example.
Look into systems that use time blocking too. This is an excellent way of managing multiple people across multiple tasks. It can help get the most productivity out of your staff, especially if you talk to them about their most productive hours and then work this into your system. A time block can help you deliver realistic deadlines which will increase the level of your service and client satisfaction. It will also ensure that your team knows what they are doing, and when other members of the group are busy focusing on elements of a task. You will find that everyone in your business completes projects promptly and will spend less time procrastinating.
Once you have a new team, even if you are just employing one person, it is a good idea to set up a team bonding experience. You may feel the best way to do this is to head out after work and share a drink in a bar. Perhaps you could get together on the weekend and play a sport or, if there are many of you then take on one of the team bonding days that are offered. This will help personalities to emerge and will build trust and a bond amongst your new workforce. It’s essential to keep this socialisation going outside of work on a regular basis. You will be able to highlight any issues that there might be in the team, it could take a while to find the A-team you were looking for, and while you shouldn’t overlook any new employees that haven’t yet come out of their shell, you also don’t want to leave people that are causing issues with other members of staff, in the company. You could lose someone really strong if you don’t act.
With all your new responsibilities it’s a great idea to look at a virtual assistant unless you have already employed a PA. Sometimes outsourcing experts is better value for your business and will give you the time you need to manage staff, clients and projects. A virtual assistant will handle all of your emails and ensure that you aren’t bogged down with enquiries. They prevent you from missing complaints, problems or new work enquiries. You work with them to build responses to different types of email communication and then they can cut down your admin by a dramatic amount. This will give you time to focus on management and increasing turnover. It will also help create a better work-life balance.
You might also find that increasing your staff and your job turnover means you need to consider expanding your premises. Your working environment is essential and having an efficient workspace that allows employees to focus on their own but also gives them a meeting room to come together in, will help to increase turnover and productivity. You should put some time into working out your office layout and ensuring that everyone has a comfortable space and an inviting atmosphere to maximise their work efficiency. You will also need a washroom and a small kitchen so that your team can bring their lunch to work and break up the day a little. You should retain a personal office but try to have a door open policy so your employees feel like they can always come and talk to you about an issue they may have.
This is the beginning of a really exciting new journey within your business, and if you get the next steps right, you will have an incredible future!
