“The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.” ~ Samuel Smiles, 1859

So much advice about leadership and management is based on generalities about what is involved and how you should do better in relation to such external considerations.

Though useful, I think focusing first on your particular possibilities and preferences, as well as your situation, is a more productive place to start. You’ll also feel more motivated to take action.

For example, choose among the following:

• Name the specific management and leadership strengths that are important in your current situation and probably for your future.
• Appreciate the management and leadership strengths you have and the specific abilities you want to develop further.
• Identify and organize ways to develop those specific abilities.
• Assist individuals, groups and organizations to improve performance and outcomes because guiding others is often the best way to learn yourself.

Since management and leadership abilities often overlap and reinforce one another, you may consider them together.

Nevertheless, one difference is that effective leaders tend to inspire others and influence the big picture in the present and future. Effective managers do this too, but they are more focused on getting the work done through others.

Assessment

For each category listed below, jot down up to five of the most important abilities you need to be effective in your work.  On a scale of 1 to 5 (highest), circle the number that reflects your current level of mastery for each, based on how you perform in supportive or at least neutral situations. Be generous rather than hard on yourself in your self-evaluations.

• Working with people
• Working with ideas and information
• Working with things, products and services
• Taking goal-related action
• Enhancing professional qualities and behavior

Appreciating your strengths

• Check all abilities that you labeled 4 or 5.
• Identify any you want to take to level 5.

Preparing for further development 

• Highlight every ability you have labeled 1, 2 or 3.
• Consider whether or not you want or need to develop each one further, checking the ones you do.
• List the ones you will develop further in order of importance to you, your work situation and your professional development.

When these three criteria are met, you’ll see which abilities are best to put at the top of your list. Identify what level of mastery you seek for each of these top priorities and at least two sources to support your development (e.g. workshops, mentor, projects for stretching, self-directed learning).

Image: ryangs via Flickr, Creative Commons

Ruth M. Schimel, Ph.D. launched her career and life management consulting practice in 1983, using an original process to help clients honor their complexity. In 1998, she founded The Schimel Lode, encouraging innovation and collaboration for the public good in the Washington, D.C., area. Ruth has previously been a professor, diplomat and management consultant, and is writing a series of books based on her dissertation on how people can express their courage.

Small business loans were never easy to come by, and political and economic uncertainty are pushing approval rates are even lower.

Even though venture capitalists are practically throwing money at startups, at least 91% of that funding goes to men. Though grants for female entrepreneurs do exist, competition is fierce, and a one-time grant of $20,000 may not be enough to finance your business.

According to the Federal Reserve, nearly 80% of all small businesses use a credit card to provide working capital.

Credit cards do have some advantages over other forms of funding, but they also entail more risk. Given small business lenders’ skittishness, are credit cards a viable funding source?

The advantages of plastic

The most significant advantage of using a credit card as a source of capital is its flexibility. Banks traditionally give loans in fixed amounts, so you might end up paying interest on money you have no use for. Similarly, venture funds have an incentive to get you to take as much money as possible, and therefore give up as much equity as possible.

With a credit card, however, you essentially get a loan that exactly matches the amount that you need, so you don’t pay for funds you don’t use.

The terms of a business credit card are often more favorable than those of a personal credit card. In general, interest rates are lower, and rewards programs are more closely tailored to business spending (i.e., FedEx, office supplies, travel).

Credit limits are often higher, ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 on a single card, as businesses tend to borrow in larger amounts than do individuals.You can have multiple employee credit cards for the same account, and expenses are easier to track.

Finally, you can use both your personal credit history and your business to establish the terms of your credit card. If you have stellar credit, you’re more likely to be approved for a card.

On the other hand, if your credit score leaves something to be desired, you can demonstrate your business’ s viability with proper documentation, insurance and the like.

Potential downsides, and how to avoid them

Financing a business with a credit card does pose certain risks, however.

First, small business credit cards are not covered by the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which grants personal credit cards protection from arbitrary, unannounced and sustained interest rate hikes and other tactics. Though a few banks (namely Bank of America and Capital One) have adopted some of the act’s provisions voluntarily, most issuers will not abide by the CARD Act’s rules.

A personal credit card can, of course, be used for business expenses, but will probably have a lower limit and higher interest rate.

What’s more, a business account with your name on it will reflect on your own credit score, regardless of who else is on the account. Though Fair Isaac weights its score caluclations toward personal cards, missed payments and high debts on a business credit card will negatively affect your score.

If your business dissolves, you still be on the hook for credit card debt. Most issuers require that both you and your business be liable, so even if the corporation goes under, your credit company might sue to recoup its losses. Read the terms carefully before signing.

Alternative funding sources

In addition to the funding sources that immediately come to mind, such as investors and small business loans, there are a number of more accessible methods of raising capital. According to the Federal Reserve, more than 70% of small businesses began with personal savings. Other businesses have taken out lines of credit from suppliers, or borrowed money from friends and family to get off the ground.

At the end of the day, credit cards are one more possibility for entrepreneurs in the face of tightened purse strings.

Image: doyoubleedlikeme via Flickr, Creative Commons

Anisha Sekar is a content manager at NerdWallet, a credit card website helping entrepreneurs find the best small business credit cards. Named Money Magazine’s #1 credit card website for 2010, NerdWallet analyzes cards from credit unions and banks large and small to give our users the best offers possible. Sign up for their rewards credit card newsletter to hear about the latest deals.

If women are from Venus…

I recently attended a presentation by a private equity manager, who talked about how men and women CEOs are motivated differently.

Based on her work with hundreds of CEOs, she hypothesized that when a man decides to start a business, he wants to work for himeself and create something big, huge, mega successful.

When a woman starts a business, she often wants to work for herself, integrate work and family, have a flexible lifestyle, have alignment of values between work and play.

So, for those of you who are contemplating starting a business, what kind of business do you want to create and what goals are you trying to achieve?

If you’re looking for independence, a flexible schedule, and work-life balance, I say think twice before taking on employees, or office and equipment leases.

If you’re looking to make a lot of money, there are many ways to get there, including:

• creating a small organization that has high margins,
• running a large company with small margins, or
• becoming a highly sought after freelancer with specialized skills.

If you’ve got an idea for a product, you can either form a company and staff it, or you can outsource the production.

If you want to run an empire because you want to tackle specific projects, love managing people and customers, and dream of being hugely successful and well known, then you’ll need the big corporate office and staff.

Take my company, Matrix Group International, for example. At various times, we decided we wanted to be large, take on huge projects and clients, do giant projects for the federal government even. But then I read Small Giants by Bo Burlingham, where he profiles companies that have intentionally decided to stay small but be great at whatever their niche is.

This book made a huge impact on my thinking. Today, we’ve decided to grow organically, we are picky about who we take on as clients, and success to us means clients who come back to us year after year to help them be successful.

My point here is that being in business can take on lots of shapes and sizes. Whether it’s just you or you have the big corner office, success is what you decide it is.

So ask yourself, “what kind of organization do you want to create and what do you want to achieve for yourself and for your company?”

[Ed: Joanna's post elaborates on the tips she shared during the July 11 #wgbiz Twitter chat on growing your business. Join us for our next Twitter chat for women entrepreneurs and those who'd like to join their ranks on Tuesday, August 8, from 12-1 pm ET.]

Image: stevendepolo via Flickr, Creative Commons

Founder/CEO and self-proclaimed Chief Troublemaker of Matrix Group International, Joanna Pineda is known for her visionary big-picture thinking and drive for excellence. Combining her broad liberal arts background and passion for technology, she started Matrix Group in 1999, today a leading interactive agency. As a trusted advisor, Joanna inspires and motivates her clients and employees alike to simply, “be better” with her mantra being: Do or Do Not. There is no try!

Susan Ireland’s paths to success speak to many women entrepreneurs, although she never would say that. We “met” through her blog and later IRL. Hearing her story made much of the research I have read come alive.

Susan came from an entrepreneurial family – her parents owned a hotel and she had concessions in it from the time she was 7. That stood her in good stead when a divorce meant she had to support herself; she started a laundry business which she sold profitably 6 years later. This post-divorce pattern is common among women entrepreneurs, although few have the entrepreneurial family background.

Susan met her mentor, Yana Parker, when she sought out advice on writing a résumé to get a corporate job. She disliked corporate life very quickly and Yana took her on as an apprentice to learn about résumé writing.

Susan says: “The theme of my business is résumé writing. I started in 1989 working one on one with job seekers to develop their résumés. After a few years I had more business than I could handle so I trained another woman. Our relationship was one of mentor and apprentice, not boss and employee. After six months of training, I could refer work to her and she paid me a commission. I have used the same mentorship model to train seven more résumé writers. As technology changed it was no longer necessary to do it at my kitchen table.”

Changing the model

“Once my team was in place, I was able to write my first book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Résumé, published in 1996.” (If you know someone who needs a good résumé book, check out the most recent version - 5th edition - published late last year. Susan has written four more books since the first one incidentally.)

“The Internet became ‘the place’ for job search and I had to move online. By 2000, I launched my website. This meant learning a whole new set of skills, including website development and online marketing. With a good website I could attract as much traffic as my huge competitors and my reach for customers became global. Suddenly I was working with job seekers in places like Singapore and Russia.”

“The struggle to keep a strong Internet presence is constant. There is always more to learn, more to do. You can be good at your profession, but hardly anyone will know about you unless you have an active online presence. ”

The new technologies also gave Susan the ability to develop and sell her online résumé builder product, Susan Ireland’s Ready-Made Resumes.

“As soon as I heard about blogging, I started my blog, The Job Lounge. I made a commitment to blog several times a week for one year to see what business results it might bring. And thus I discovered the power of the online professional community. I invited other career experts to help answer questions and developed wonderful relationships I rely on to this day.”

“A reader of my blog recommended I join the (then) relatively new LinkedIn. It has become one of my primary places to network, promote my business, and help job seekers. I also spend time each day on Twitter, Facebook, and Business Exchange. I post articles, comments, and videos on blogs, websites, and YouTube as well. I speak at and attend conferences and actively network online. Twitter has proven valuable to build relationships – when my peers are tweeting about something I have said or done, people contact me. Job seekers want resumes, the media wants interviews, organizations want to license my stuff.”

What success secrets would you share with others?

“I love a grassroots approach to business growth. So networking has been absolutely key to any success I have had. I have always leaned on friends and associates to teach me, show me, advise me, prod me, – and even console me when things head south. As my mental Rolodex gets bigger, it is almost impossible not to find help when needed.”

“ My work has changed, technology to deliver my services has changed, job search techniques have changed. But my philosophy of résumés as marketing pieces for job seekers has not changed.”

For entrepreneurial women: “Know your professional strengths and weaknesses. With each business project, lean confidently on your strengths and get help in areas where you are weak.”

Susan’s business and work has changed significantly from the days when she worked with clients at a local career center. She has dramatically changed her business and model several times over.

After two decades she still looks ahead and says “I’m curious about how the power of social media develops as a business tool and I want to be a part of that game in these early stages.”

More from Women Grow Business:

• Are you using your local resources? by Robin Ferrier
• Shark tales that will make you swim, a guest post by Melinda Emerson

Image courtesy Susan Ireland, used with permission

Patricia A. Frame is an experienced Human Capital issues speaker and management consultant. She founded Strategies for Human Resources to advise organizations facing organization and people challenges. Previously she designed and managed human resource functions for GE, Software AG, Maxwell Online, and others. A Wharton MBA and an Air Force veteran, she actively supports the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Check out her website, SHRinsight.com, for management and development articles.

From our friends at American Express OPEN:

Did you know there is roughly $27 billion in contracts set aside specifically for women business owners? Thanks to the Small Business Administration’s Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program, which went into effect on February 4, women business owners have a greater chance to win government contracts. In fact, the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy estimates that the program could benefit approximately 684,000 of these companies.

American Express OPEN and Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) are offering a free, one-hour tutorial on Wednesday, June 29 to teach entrepreneurs how to market their companies to government agencies.

This educational webinar is part of the Give Me 5 program, a national initiative created by American Express OPEN and WIPP to help women business owners get a leg up on selling to the world’s largest customer: the U.S. government. This online event will be hosted by Lourdes Martin-Rosa, President, Government Business Solutions and American Express OPEN Advisor on Government Contracts.

The 4-1-1:

Give Me 5 110: Pitching your company to the federal government

Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Time: 3-4pm ET/ 12-1pm ET

Where: Virtual

You can register for the webinar here. Additional resources for business owners can be found on www.openforum.com/governmentcontracts.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Lourdes Martin-Rosa’s guest post on how to take advantage of the SBA’s Women’s Procurement Program
• Community, culture and reality by Patricia Frame

Image: Monazza Talha via Flickr, Creative Commons

Entrepreneurs tend to multitask. If you’re bootstrapping a new venture, you’re reluctant to hire anyone, as you’re afraid it will use up your capital and/or eat up all your profit.

But instead of saving money, you will actually lose more because you’re so absorbed in the nitty-gritty of your business – from responding to emails to sending an invoice.

You don’t have the time and energy to focus on tasks that will bring in revenue – like pitching to warm clients or writing a sales letter.

And this is just the “business” side of it. We women entrepreneurs may have high ambitions for our business, but we also don’t want to neglect our personal commitments. This is especially true among working moms who have to manage a business while raising children and being a supportive spouse.

One important thing I learned when I set up my copy writing business on the side is that time is a valuable resource. I have accepted the fact that since this is a new venture, I have to keep my fulltime job  (at least for a while) while nurturing my “side hustle” (a delightful term coined by Pam Slim). The thing is, I can only have 24 hours in a day.

So I decided to “buy back” my time by hiring part-time virtual assistants. And thanks to them I managed to have a job, a side hustle and a time to have coffee with family and friends.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to hire a VA to help you grow your business and still have a life.

1. Write down a to-do list for the VA

List down all the tasks that you want the VA to do and all the qualities and qualifications that you are looking for. For example, if you like the VA to do the bookkeeping, then write down all tasks related to bookkeeping – i.e. the VA will issue the invoice, follow up payment with clients, prepare your income statement, etc. You will also look for someone who has an accounting background (perhaps someone with a business degree?) and who has experience working for other entrepreneurs.

2. Set aside a budget for the VA

How much are you willing to spend for VA?  If you are busy entrepreneur who has a thriving business, I suggest that you hire someone on a full time basis so as not to disturb your workflow.

But if you are a newbie entrepreneur with a small budget, then hire someone who can work 10 to 20 hours a week. Another option is to hire someone on a per project basis.

3. Sign up for online job auction sites

There are so many online job auction sites out there (the popular ones are Odesk and Elance) that it’s easy for you to pick and choose. In my case, since I’m a Filipina, I’m comfortable looking for virtual assistants in these sites because there are a lot of  Filipina applicants in these sites. If you’re not confident working with VAs from India or the Philippines, don’t worry, you can also find American and European workers in these sites.

Aside from job auction sites, there are also some upscale sites where you can hire virtual assistants from the  U.S. and Europe. But unlike Filipina and Indian virtual assistants, you can’t hire these VAs for five U.S. dollars an hour.

4. Craft a detailed want ad

If you are posting an ad in a job auction site, your ad must include a brief description of your business, a list of all the tasks that you want your VA to do, all the qualities that you are looking for a VA and even references from previous enployers. Be specific as to how much time you are requiring from the VA and how much you’re willing to pay.

You have to be specific and clear with what you want to get the most qualified applicants.

5. Set up a qualification exam

After you have sifted though a bunch of applications, you will get a few people who have all the qualities that you are looking for. You can separate the chaff from the grain by testing your applicants before hiring them. You can either set up an interview or give them an exam to test their abilities.

Let’s say you’re looking for an someone who will research for you. You can “test” the applicant by asking them to produce a two-page report on a certain topic, written in English, quoting sources that they got from the Internet and send them to you within 24 hours. The report that they will hand out to you will reveal if they’re resourceful, can work fast, knows how to do online research and proficient in the English language.

More from Women Grow Business:

• A gem or a dud named Clem? by Susan T. Spencer
• “Perfect for a stay-at-home mom”: Really? by Thursday Bram
• Better health makes for better business, by Alexandra Williams

Image: jenni from the block via Flickr, Creative Commons

Prime Sarmiento  writes on business and career tools for women for the online tutorial company Ahead Interactive. As a freelance business blogger, she helps globally-focused entrepreneurs communicate with their clients. You can get in touch with her via www.primesarmiento.com or Twitter.

Are you in denial about how long you are likely to live? And what that means for you right now? And what it means for business and our society?

I recently attended a Volunteers of America (VOA) panel on the release of their study Boomer Bust 2011: Still Unprepared and Unaware that focused on women. VOA is one of the largest providers of aging care in the US.

Maybe this doesn’t seem interesting or important to you now. When you think aging issues, you think of awful commercials. Your business needs your attention and life is busy.

But consider:

• If you are 65 today and female: you have another 27-30 years expected life;
• If you are a married woman and both of you live to 65, you have a 90%+ chance that at least one of you will live into your mid-90s;
• 27% of boomers have under $1000 in retirement savings and another quarter have less than $25,000 in all assets (excluding a house or defined benefit plan);
• The average woman has 13 years of zero earnings under Social Security;
• Women still earn less than men on average; and
• Women provide the majority of care-giving.

Doing the math

In 2000, I sat down with a financial advisor and reviewed my retirement savings and came away feeling quite good. I was on target for a good retirement – not the million-dollar-plus kind so many calculators say one needs, but a nice pot.

But then the market tanked. And an entire decade of stagnation occurred as well as another market melt-down. And now I feel lucky to have an account that is finally the same size it was nearly 11 years ago. So I do not under-estimate that, for many of us, retirement savings are discouraging to think about.

But last year, Fidelity released a study that indicated older Americans needed to have about $250,000 just to pay their medical costs in retirement. Part of that is for routine costs not covered by Medicare, and part for long-term care.

Did you know that most people have no idea that long-term care is not covered by Medicare? And yet, on average, you can expect to need nearly three years of such assistance as a woman.

This is part of the reason so many women are providing care for elders as well as their children, often at the same time. The majority of caregivers for older people are women. And caregivers report on average that they are spending 21 hours per week physically providing care.

Over half of caregivers have had to give up vacations and social activities to do this. Over 40% have missed work and most of these have had to take unpaid time off. And about 40% have had to use their own savings to provide such care.

Don’t give up!

There are some actions you can take to create a better future for yourself and others.

What to do NOW:

1. Take care of your own health. Women suffer from more chronic diseases, often because they are not caring for their own health while caring for children and others. Additionally, over a third of retirees are forced to retire earlier than they planned due to health problems.

2. Learn about finances and do some financial planning. Resources include Building Wealth: A Beginners Guide and the American Institute of CPA’s financial literacy for all life stages website.

Currently, the Employee Benefit Research Institute reports that retirees draw their income from four sources. On average retirees get 40% of their income from Social Security, 26% from continuing work, 20% from pensions or annuities, and 13% from other financial assets. What will your options be?

3. Consider your family issues. What legal aspects do you need to address with parents or others you may care for? With yourself and your partner?

4. Consider your business issues. What impact does the need for retirement savings have; do you offer and participate in such plans?

Simple IRAs are easy for even small businesses to set up and offer. Solopreneurs can have IRAs, SEPs, and other plans too.

Can you offer any work place or time flexibility? That appeals to many people but is also vital for caregivers.

Longer-term issues

1. Most Americans want to age at home. Yet very few are prepared to do so. Home renovations should look forward to aging in place. When moving, consideration of the services and public transportation available becomes critical. I do think this has been a big driver in the rapid increase in older people buying units in my condo building – no maintenance, easy access if one has mobility issues, great hospitals in the area, and right on a bus route – in a city with some services for seniors.

2. Public policy issues include lack of retirement savings of many Americans, costs of health care, Medicare, community preparedness and services for older people and care-givers. All of these have costs. And yet do we really want to go back to a time when so many elders were living in poverty?

Many of the items critical in communities for seniors – sidewalks, good public transportation, local stores and services – appeal to all ages. Educate yourself, pick the ones that matter to you, and voice your opinion to your elected representatives.

Shock, yet not a surprise

While none of this information came as a surprise since I have studied retirement issues for a long time, the panel discussion was excellent. Even Ariana Huffington spoke cheerfully about some of the advantages of aging. All told stories of their own care-giving adventures, some of which reminded me of my own. I was lucky that my mother and aunts all had communicated their medical wishes and we had the legal documents we needed.

But the time demands and the difficulties of finding and accessing needed services was a shock to me. I thought I was smarter than that about these issues!

And that too was a theme of the panel; that each had worked in the aging field and yet dealing with the inadequate, badly organized, and poorly communicated systems as a caregiver needed far more time and energy and work than they expected.

So don’t let yourself be caught off-guard.

More from Women Grow Business:

• Time: your greatest asset, by Kristin Kaufman
• Build forward, also by Patricia

Image: voteprime via Flickr, Creative Commons

Patricia A. Frame is an experienced Human Capital issues speaker and management consultant. She founded Strategies for Human Resources to advise organizations facing organization and people challenges. Previously she designed and managed human resource functions for GE, Software AG, Maxwell Online, and others. A Wharton MBA and an Air Force veteran, she actively supports the Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. Check out her website, SHRinsight.com, for management and development articles.

The multi-million dollar question

Does a formal referral program make sense for your business? If you’ve been in business for more than a day, you know that referrals are the best way to gain new clients. Most of the time, the person making the referral has already done the selling for you and the person being referred is now highly inclined to work with you.

The million-dollar question then becomes, how can you get more referrals?

For sure, you need to create the culture, or set the scene, that clients are expected to refer others. There are several ways to do this.

Let’s discuss a few, starting with the question, is it a good idea to create a formal referral program?

By formal program, I mean a structured system, whereby if someone sends you a referral, the referrer gets a commission, or a specific gift. And they know what they get ahead of sending you a referral.

So you’re saying ahead of time, if you send me a referral, you get a gift card, a watch or an iPad or whatever. In some such programs, if you send one referral you get gift A; send 5 referrals, get gift B; send 20 referrals, get gift C; and so on.

While some businesses claim success with this model, I’m not convinced it gets you the best or most qualified referrals. Because you are essentially paying for them, whether with cash or “prizes,” these referrals become a financial transaction.

In his book Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely talks about his research experiments regarding market norms and social norms. Here’s a video from Dan where he talks a little more about this concept.

If you don’t know the difference,

and you confuse the two, your business (and possibly your social life) could suffer. For example, at the end of a dinner party at a friend’s house, you wouldn’t pull out your wallet and say, “So how much do I owe you?” By paying your referral sources, you are making the same faux pas.

People typically give referrals because they want to help; they feel good when they’re able to do something nice for someone else; they don‘t expect, or necessarily want, to be paid for them.

When you acknowledge such a gesture with an unexpected gift as a way to say thank you, you’re repaying their goodwill in a more socially acceptable way.

In case social graces are not your concern, know that showing appreciation for referrals via a gift yields a far better monetary return vs. paying money for them. People are much more likely to give more referrals after receiving a gift than they are after receiving a check.

I know! This is contrary to what you might think. You’ve been brainwashed to think money is the great motivator in business, but that belief is not true!

So back to the original question of having a referral program. You should have an internal referral system; a well thought out plan for how to encourage and acknowledge those who send you referrals.

But for best results, don’t spoil the surprise and put your “gift catalog” out there as a carrot.

More from Women Grow Business:

• First impressions… by Robin Ferrier
• A gem or a dud named Clem? by guest contributor Susan Spencer

Image: stupid is the new clever via Flickr, Creative Commons

Lori Saitz is founder of Zen Rabbit Baking Company. She shares happiness by helping business people show appreciation for and give recognition to customers and employees with The Gratitude Cookie™. With an understanding of the value of creating strong connections and experiences, she supports clients in increasing customer loyalty, referrals and profits. Connect with Lori on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series

In my last post I talked about lessons learned the first time around I tried to hire.

Time to hire an admin

Back to the present, I had learned my first three lessons the hard way and slowly got over my fear as Sisarina’s client base grew and work became overwhelming.

First, Teresa had so much on her plate that I ended up doing administrative work due to her lack of time. We were both working much more overtime than either of us expected and she was showing a huge growth in skills. Showing her loyalty by sticking through all the tough stuff along with running Sisarina alone for a week while I finally took much needed downtime, I knew she was ready to take on projects… and more. It was finally time to find someone to help her out.

Part-time to start with the potential to grow like Teresa did.

Lesson #1: Hire when you absolutely cannot do any more work on your own and take baby steps.

Time to hire a Social Media Manager

It just so happened that our clients were also begging us to start offering social media management. Sisarina was built on the premise that we give our clients the tools and teach them how to use them. This didn’t fit our model but our clients didn’t have the time and neither did I.

Building that trust had taken a long time and they could see from our success that we know what we are doing.

It was also time to find someone to help us with this.

Lesson #2: Hire independent contractors by the project to help build a service before hiring full-time.

Thus began an experiment in hiring.

Having learned our lessons, Teresa and I set out to find the perfect admin & social media contractor. We knew that Sisarina wasn’t a typical corporation and that a certain personality would be needed to fit into the overall company culture and office vibe. Our clients loved us because of how easy their projects were and how enthusiastic we were about helping them.

So we threw out the traditional hiring style and created our own based on how terrible it normally is. Here’s how we found Katie, our Operations Manager, and Corrie, our Social Media Manager.

1. Write job descriptions. Put together a list of all the things you want that person to do. Now make that list shorter and make it sound like you’re talking to them, not at them. No one wants to read a 4-page job description with excessive amounts of rhetoric. Tell them concisely about the job and what it would take to rock it.

2. Create a fool-proof screening process. Who really likes to read cover letters and resumes? Not us. We put an online application on our website with 4 questions (why you’re perfect for the position, how your experience fits, what you’d offer the office vibe, and your super power.) It specifically said not to send your resume. If someone didn’t follow directions, we automatically hit delete because they obviously didn’t have “attention to detail.” If someone did, we felt it was worth bringing them in for an interview.

If you absolutely must have them submit a resume, request they answer specific questions and weed out the mass applications from the personalized ones.

3. Setup short interviews. When emailing a candidate about an interview, save yourself a ton of time and ask them to come in for a 30-minute interview. You’ll know within 30 minutes if you’re interested in them. If not, you didn’t hurt their feelings by keeping it short and sweet. If you liked them, have them come back for a less formal interview.

4. Weed out the ones who just “want a job.” The people you hire will need to be supportive of your business. Although there are a lot of people looking for jobs right now, it’s best to hire people who really want to work for your company. They will be the ones who do everything they can to ensure your company’s growth. The key to this: Make sure you stand behind your staff and they’ll stand behind you.

5. If you’re in a bind, call your mom. OK, maybe not your mom but someone who is not in your company. When you find a few really good candidates, it’s sometimes hard to make a decision on who to hire.

Having someone who doesn’t have a bias listen to what you thought about each one can significantly change the way you really think.

6. Make an offer. Either ask that person to come into the office for a second interview and offer the job OR call them and let them know. Never make the initial offer via email.

7. Get started! Once you’ve found the perfect person, get them started right away. Good people are hard to find and you want to make sure you keep them. The quicker you get them in the door and understanding your company’s culture, the quicker they’ll adapt and latch on.

Sisarina is growing, our clients are happy with our slow staffing changes and I’m a lot less frightened now that I’ve learned to take small steps. Organic growth with people who are willing to make things happen is the best way to stay just ahead of the small business curve.

Now, it’s your turn to stop being scared. Pull up your Underoo’s and grow your company. When you make a mistake, realize that many of us have done it before you and can be there if you need someone to cry to.

Ready, set… HIRE!

Image: Egan Snow via Flickr, Creative Commons

More from Women Grow Business:

• Tips on experimenting often, carefully and singly from Gayle Laakmann
• Remember it’s people, not sheep, by Patricia Frame

Melanie Spring is the principal and project director at Sisarina Inc., and a regular contributor to, and avid fan of, Women Grow Business. An expert networker, Melanie and Sisarina connect individuals and companies with the tools they need to market and promote their brand successfully and efficiently. Connect with her on Twitter where she’s @sisarina.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series

Almost every new business starts out with the same goals: get clients, get busy, hire people, and make millions… right? The problem with growth is pain.

Sisarina recently set out on a journey to find two new employees. What we found was a plethora of incredible people. Want to know how we made it happen? Pain – good pain from growing, and bad pain from doing it incorrectly in the past.

As a small business, hiring is the most daunting task you can undertake.

Hiring isn’t about just finding the right person and putting them into a position. It’s about all the scary little things that can happen when you have to start paying them, managing them, making sure you put them in the right role, paying taxes, paying unemployment… the list goes on.

Don’t be scared. We promise you that every single new business owner is terrified when he/she hires the first person. If they aren’t, they find the pain shortly after.

In this post I’m going to talk about lessons learned from past mistakes. Here goes:

In April 2009, I found myself a new business owner. My previous boss had asked what I would do if he couldn’t pay me anymore and offered to send me his leads for a commission. I happily took him up on his offer and set up shop in my bedroom with my dog, Bailey. Sisarina opened for business May 1st and the client leads started pouring in. I was lucky, I didn’t have to start from scratch.

The problem: I couldn’t keep up with all of it on my own. I had a part-time developer, two part-time designers along with a pile of accounting and administrative tasks that I couldn’t keep up on while managing projects.

It was already time to find someone to help with the stuff I couldn’t keep up with so I could do what I set out to do – project management & client development. I did what any new business owner would do – I asked my friends if they knew someone who could help. Fortunately a friend recommended chatting with my pastor’s wife, Teresa Thomas.

She started helping me 10 hours a week while teaching at the church preschool. We worked out of the church offices to give us more space to spread out while Sisarina was still young.

Lesson #1: Start small and hire for things you absolutely can’t do yourself while utilizing all assets you can to save money.

Fast forward a few months to what I thought was the need for a part-time project manager. I was busy getting clients and thought it would be better for me to have someone else managing projects. One thing I realized later was that I didn’t really have the pain, I just thought it would be there soon.

Hiring a project manager didn’t work out the way I hoped due to hiring for enthusiasm instead of skill.

Hoping it was just the position and not the wrong fit, I changed the position to a marketing role. Fear of unemployment and letting someone down far outweighed my business sense. I made it personal, when it was really a business decision. In the end, it came down to a lack of desire for helping a business succeed and became about a paycheck.

Lesson #2: Business is business. Hire people who will stand by you through anything & learn from your mistakes.

About six months after making two hiring decisions that didn’t go well, I had an big beautiful office with two people in it and was terrified of ever hiring again. I had let myself and others down. I had a staff of freelance designers, a full-time developer who worked fully behind the scenes and no real reason to hire more.

Teresa moved into a full-time role to help out more and organically moved herself from administrative work into projects. Her desire to help clients and finish projects fit her implementation skills and patience well. She was enjoying her new-found skills.

Lesson #3: Allow your employees to grow based on what they love to do. They’ll find passion in their job & do it better.

These were three big lessons I learned when hiring the first time around. In Part 2 of this post, I’ll go into more lessons learned (yes!), but this time, from the present.

Image: GoTRISI via Flickr, Creative Commons

More from Women Grow Business:

• Suzanne Paling suggests get job candidates to tell stories
• 4 steps to hiring your first employee, by Renee Brown

Melanie Spring is the principal and project director at Sisarina Inc., and a regular contributor to, and avid fan of, Women Grow Business. An expert networker, Melanie and Sisarina connect individuals and companies with the tools they need to market and promote their brand successfully and efficiently. Connect with her on Twitter where she’s @sisarina.