Hiring Tips for Growing Small Businesses with Kira La Forgia
Episode 567: Show Notes
Today’s guest is Kira La Forgia, someone who actually enjoys 1099s, W2s, FMLA, and FLSA; you know, all the human resources stuff that usually goes right over your head! Her operations consulting company, Paradigm Consulting, provides resources to online-based business owners that put people's operations at the center of the organizational structure. Kira knows how to project, streamline, and scale businesses, working with leaders in their fields to blend their strengths, passions, and experiences into their unique company culture and develop a robust hiring and growth strategy, as well as providing you with the people you need to move your business forward!
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In this episode, we talk about what that looks like at different stages and Kira shares her top hiring tips for growing small businesses. Abagail and Emylee actually hired Kira as a consultant for their own company as they were phasing into growth and hiring employees, which is why we invited her on the show to share her take on small businesses, or businesses who are hiring contractors or virtual assistants, even for the first time. Kira shares some of the things you can set up to better your experience with contractors, the do’s and don’ts when it comes to contractors versus employees, and everything you need to know about your employee handbook, as well as how you can make the onboarding process, associated learning curves, and mindset shifts around hiring a whole lot easier!
We also touch on HR basics for small teams looking to hire contractors and employees, some of the mindset shifts you need to make when it comes to your team members, plus a new way of looking at org charts and what you need to do differently. We all want a scalable business model with no limit on revenue, which is why Kira’s insights are so valuable. Make sure not to miss this incredible and informative conversation, packed full of practical advice that you can implement today!
HR Basics for Small Teams Looking to Hire Contractors and Employees
It takes practice to delegate effectively and Kira believes it shows you your business from a totally different perspective. If having a few more clients would mean that you would be up all night, working weekends, or missing time with friends and family, that’s when Kira says you should look at hiring someone, but how do you know if you need to take on a contractor or an employee? Either way, it should be someone you are comfortable delegating basic tasks to in order to get them off your own plate. Kira refers to contractors as the ‘maintainers’ of your business because they save you time, and your time is priceless. However much you are paying a contractor, if they save you any time at all, then it is worth it!
Realistically, you can’t put a quantifiable price on your time. Once you have learned to delegate appropriately and take that time back, that’s when you will be able to focus on what it will take to grow your business. That is also the time to start hiring employees. When it comes to contractors, there aren’t too many HR requirements. Kira highlights the importance of having contracts in place, vetting your contractors, and verifying every step of the way but she also emphasizes the value of learning as you go because every business is different.
Find and Offload the Common Denominator
We’re not just talking about how much to pay people. It’s about organizational and growth planning and, when it comes down to knowing what your next steps will be, you can apply that straight into how you hire your first contractor. Kira is all about making HR a little bit more exciting. Sure, it can be discouraging if this is an area you are growing into that you are not excited about, but putting a spin on it that makes you look forward to it is how Kira motivates people to tackle it head on. Her advice for delegating effectively is to write down the three things you hate doing the most in your business or the things that take the most time and try to find the common denominator, then look for someone who is willing to do them. Suddenly, you have not only taken your time back, but you’ve also taken something off your plate that you hate doing. That’s a win-win if you ask us! It’s less about offloading everything you hate doing and more about strategically deciding what you want to invest more time into learning.
Reframe Additional Learning, Development, and Training
There is a way to reframe the seemingly tedious learning, development, and training that comes with taking on new hires to make it fun; or at least this is what Kira believes! Of course, you want to be able to work well with the people that you hire, but you have to remember you are the one that gets to pick who those employees are, how you invest in them, how much you pay them, and how that looks on the front end when it comes to training them to become a functional part of your vision. While it might seem overwhelming at first, Kira explains how simple it can be to automate this process down the line if you are strategic about it. Once training is built into your company for the long-term, you can start applying your entrepreneurial mindset to making it functional, fast, easy, efficient, and replicable, just like you do with everything else! Don’t get stuck on SOPs; hire the person that you are excited to work with, that you know has the skills you need, and is eager to learn, and then send them some resources and have them make the SOPs themselves!
Tips for Creating Job Descriptions
Designing a job description for contractors is often very vague but, when it comes to hiring employees, you’re not only creating a job description; Kira says you’re also creating a blueprint. It’s unlikely that you will find someone who is competent in every single area of that job description. Along the way, you’re going to have to invest time and energy into training them in the areas they are inexperienced in and provide them with the resources they need, but Kira also highlights the fact that you can’t control the way someone learns. The more you try, the less chance you have of getting the best out of the individual you scoured the internet looking for. You have to give employees enough autonomy to work within a structure in order for them to bring the value that you can’t create yourself. It’s the reason we build teams in the first place! By making sure your employees feel supported without controlling them, they will rise to the occasion.
Contractors Versus Employees
Strategically, employees cost what you can afford to pay them. You set the budget, you make a decision on what you can afford to offload based on their number of hours and expertise versus how much training they need. There are only three different ways that contractors are classified; financial, behavioral, and according to the type of relationship. If you need someone to show up to meetings every day, be an integral part of the client-facing portion of your business, or be available to you for 30 hours a week or more, those are expectations that you can only have of employees, not contractors. If you need someone to supervise, respond to customer service emails within 24 hours, or perform team management responsibilities, again, those are responsibilities that only an employee can fulfill from a legal and ethical standpoint.
Kira explains that it isn’t your choice whether you hire a contractor or an employee; it totally depends on your expectations and how you can legally fulfill them. But within the employee structure, you can choose how they work, when they work, and how you train them. When your business is big enough to handle that type of responsibility, you also need to remember that the only way to create a truly diverse, inclusive, and equitable company is to hire employees. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur but, as an equitable employer, you can make a bigger impact and contribution to the world as a business owner by providing jobs and creating a safe space for your employees.
How to Look at Org Charts Differently
Kira has been in the weeds of so many different types of businesses that she just sees things in a different way. What she has learned is this: it never works to do what somebody else did because we all bring different things to the table. When it comes to growth planning, what matters is paying attention to the financial side of things while also keeping where you are going in mind. Everyone pays so much attention to phase three of the business, but phase two is where it can start to feel a little gritty and out of your comfort zone, because that is where real growth is happening. Regardless of what you might see on the internet or what people might say about manifesting, Kira wants to assure you that financial planning does matter. If you’re not taking a responsible look at your finances where you are at, how can you expect to tangibly plan for the future?
Kira also highlights the importance of taking things like your company policies and culture into consideration because she wants to set you up to be great managers and leaders, not just people at the top of an org chart! In this way, you can carefully define your role within your organization and how your team fits into your vision without getting stuck on the org chart and trying to dictate every step of the way. The second you start to tighten up and control things, the less likely it is that people are going to fill that space that you leave for them.
Create the Role, Not the Person
Especially as women, we tend to build on relationships. When you already have a team in place, you will sometimes see potential in people that they don’t see in themselves, but Kira believes it’s important to focus on growing your business, not the people, as you create new roles. While you are investing in your people, you are also investing in the foundational structure of your company, even when you hire your very first entry-level positions. Of course, your people are important, but it’s less about an individual person and more about how that person fulfills their role and how that role serves your company as a whole. It can be difficult not to create a role with a specific person in mind. To counteract this, Kira reminds us that everything is temporary. When nothing is permanent, what can you extract from this experience that is actually going to make you money in the long run? In the end, this is a business. You’re trying to make money. There is a way to find a balance but, at the end of the day, the role still exists even if the person filling it decides to leave.
It’s also powerful to consider that there is no wrong move you can make when delegating for the first time, with maybe the exception of an NDA and somebody jacking your business. What’s the worst thing that can happen if you hire a VA to help you? Adopting an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity one really resonates when hiring a team.
Everything You Need to Know About Your Employee Handbook
Not only does your employee handbook drive the culture of your company, you can also use it to identify new hires that will be a good fit based on the culture you are driving forward. Your company handbook puts into words what it looks like to work for you, what your culture looks and feels like, and what you can expect from your employees and vice versa. It also protects you from discrimination. What people don’t tell you is that you’re not legally required to have an employee handbook, but it will serve as a valuable tool in protecting your business should an employee make an unfair accusation. Keeping a document will not only prevent any ambiguity should you come up against a lawsuit, heaven forbid, but it will serve as a handy guide that you can use to create rules going forward. As a bonus, it will also give you peace of mind as your business continues to grow and there are more potential threats against it.
Quote This
If you’re not taking a responsible look at the finances of where you are at now, then you can’t tangibly plan what your hopes are for the next thing.
Highlights
HR Basics for Small Teams Looking to Hire Contractors and Employees. [0:05:24]
Find and Offload the Common Denominator. [0:08:41]
Reframe Additional Learning, Development, and Training. [0:12:30]
Tips for Creating Job Descriptions. [0:16:28]
Contractors Versus Employees. [0:18:48]
How to Look at Org Charts Differently. [0:30:12]
Create the Role, Not the Person. [0:36:42]
Everything You Need to Know About Your Employee Handbook. [0:47:13]
#TalkStrategyToMe [0:50:29]
Don’t make an org chart.
Do take your finances into consideration.
Do lean on your community.
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Kira La Forgia
Paradigm Consulting
Website | LinkedIn | Instagram
Kira La Forgia is someone who actually enjoys 1099s, W2s, FMLA, and FLSA. Her company, Paradigm People Operations Consulting, is the go-to People Operations resource for six-figure-plus online business owners ready to protect, streamline, and scale their businesses. In a nutshell, Kira will turn your delegation daydreams into reality! With a decade of experience in People Operations in the corporate world, Kira is no stranger to the sensitive issues involved in the human side of running a business. There’s a lot to learn, from hiring, onboarding, and training to managing the performance of over 500 employees for a multimillion-dollar business, but the good news is that Kira has learned it all for you so you don’t have to!
