Hiring for the transition from ‘startup’ to ‘growing small business’

When you're in the early stages of developing a small business, your work is sure to be of the "slow and steady" variety. You can begin with a compelling product and get the ball rolling by making a few sales, but you probably don't have the money or the manpower to expand too quickly. Instead, you focus on taking baby steps forward.

Eventually though, the hope is you'll find the funds to add talent to your staff, which will give you the potential to produce more, sell more and ultimately bring in more robust profits.

Making your first few hires can be a confusing and stressful process. What do you need to know? What form will your strategy take? Let's walk through it.

The staffing strategy for budding startups

One of the hardest parts of business development when you've got a young startup is building a staff from the ground up. Seek Business advised that in the early going, entrepreneurs should pay attention to their initial staffing strengths and weaknesses. Among the core group of founders, what are you good at, and where do you still need help?

Transitioning from a startup to a small business is all about filling in the little gaps. If you hire people who complement the talents of the people you already have, you'll be well on your way to an optimised staffing plan.

Always be recruiting – you never know

With a young business, you can never be too proactive about keeping an eye out for talent. You never know where you might find a great potential employee, whether it's in a conversation on social media or at an industry trade show. That's why Bankrate advises that small business leaders never stop recruiting.

Always be building relationships with talented people.

If you're always actively looking for talent, it becomes easier to spring to action when you finally have an opening to fill. Then you can get down to business, figuring out everything from the interviewing and training processes to how you'll handle the tax services involved.

Get some help with business development

Adding people to your staff is not always easy, as it requires thinking critically about how both the new personalities and new expenses will affect your long-term vision for the business. If these questions seem particularly vexing, you might want to talk with a business development consultant who can help you figure them out.

At Wilson Porter, we have a team of such experts. Our staff is focused on strategic planning – in other words, we want to determine your long-term goals and help you map out strategies to achieve them. Contact us right away if you'd like to learn more.