Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Your Small Business – Hiring Family Members

When you start a small business, the idea of hiring employees can be overwhelming. You may be concerned about your ability to pay these employees regularly.

Additionally, you may be worried about your ability to trust them with your business and manage them effectively. For this reason, many people hire family members to work for them.

However, hiring family members can have its pros and cons.

Consider Carefully

When hiring family members you need to consider their qualifications. Never hire a family member because of familiarity alone.

Take an unbiased look at their actual qualifications and determine whether or not they would enhance your business. Regardless of how comfortable you are with someone, first and foremost they must be able to do the job at hand – no matter who they are.

There is no right or wrong answer as to whether or not you should or shouldn’t hire family members to work in your small business. On one hand, a family member gives you a sense of security unfound with an unfamiliar employee.

However, it can change the dynamic of your relationship with them.

Establish Clear Guidelines

That is why it is important to establish clear guidelines regarding professional conduct and your business relationship.

When hiring family members it is important to first view them as an applicant and consider their value as an employee. It is important to maintain professional guidelines so that your business is not affected by your personal relationships.

Once you are certain that they are qualified for the position and you are certain of their ability to be professional you can hire them with a sense of confidence.

Need Creative Help? Try These Online Resources

When you start a small business, you need to advertise, brand and create business materials. Many people do this on their own, but often it is best to hire creative professionals to assist with these tasks.

Graphic artists, writers, software professionals and technical experts can be of great use to you in the beginning phases of operation. However, you may not want to hire them on as a permanent employee.

There are many places where you can find creative professionals to help you temporarily.

Web Forums

Forums are a great resource for finding creative professionals to help you with your small business.

Often forums have a section in which you can buy, sell or trade services with creative professionals.

These forums are often crawling with individuals who freelance and are looking for work.

Hiring Sites

There are a number of sites online like Guru.com that allow businesses to connect with creative professionals looking for work.

These sites allow you to place want ads and browse professional profiles and portfolios. They also help facilitate a smooth transaction with easy-to-use user tools and feedback.

Free Classifieds

There are a number of websites online that allow you to place free classified ads on their site. This allows you to place a help wanted ad when you are looking for creative professionals.

Just keep in mind you may get flooded with responses using this method – so it is wise to give yourself adequate time to go through them all.

Hiring a creative professional to help you with your small business can be tricky. It is important that you see samples of their work before hiring them and see feedback or review references.

The most important thing is that you protect yourself and your small business by using a careful hiring process.

How to Communicate Effectively With Your Employees

Learning how to effectively communicate with your employees may seem like a no brainer. However, many people make critical errors when relaying their expectations to their employees.

The fact is, your actions (or lack thereof) can have a direct impact on employee productivity. Using proper communication methods can help bridge the gap between you and your employees, thus making your business run more smoothly.

Proper Training

When you hire an employee, make sure they clearly understand the full details of the job you are hiring them for. Outline what software programs you use, your expectations of conduct and the actual tasks they will be expected to complete.

When you hire them, have a senior employee train them for their position. Never just throw them into the fire without showing them the ropes.

Have regular employee performance reviews. This gives you an opportunity to reward employees who are performing well in their given position. In addition, it gives you and your employees the opportunity to address any issues they may have regarding the job or their performance.

Open the Lines of Communication

Make sure you have an open door policy to answer employees’ questions, so they feel comfortable coming to you when they need something clarified.

Being a good leader involves being a good communicator. Most errors in the workplace are a direct result of improper communication between an employee and their boss. Make sure your employees have clear directions and feedback at all times.

When you take the time to communicate with your employees, errors and misunderstandings can easily be avoided.