My Hacks Distilled In 4 Easy Steps Photo by Shane Rounce One of the most common advice threads for growing businesses is to hire help as soon as you can. Whether you’re a one-person shop or a business that intends to scale to a large team, getting from today to tomorrow requires additional hands that you don’t (and shouldn’t) have. Rather than DIY startup building , your goal should be to work smart and export the tasks that aren’t in your zone of genius to others who will hit it out of the park. The fastest and most affordable way to go about this is to hire independent contractors and agencies who are happy to join your team on a project basis to complete everything from design, bookkeeping, research, copywriting, to consulting work. With the connectivity the internet provides, you can now hire support from anywhere around the world, so your talent pool options are incredible. I absolutely love this model because it allows any business to receive injections of genius so that the business can shine from every angle. You can fake being buttoned-up this way and accelerate the maturity of your business. Fake it till you make it is incredibly feasible nowadays for the small business owner, which is awesome. Finding solid, freelance talent isn’t easy though. Hiring well in this department requires its own manual and experience to get it right. I’ve learned a couple of hacks over the years that have helped me quickly create a list of top 3 contenders so that hiring someone for a project is quick, painless, and a right fit. Here are those hacks distilled in 4 easy steps — I’m able to ax out 90% of applications based on someone’s cover letter and style of outreach to me. If the candidate does not write their cover letter or present themselves in a manner that I vibe with, I do not need to engage with them. So you will never see me hire someone who: Completely ignores who I am and what my business is about and doesn’t take the time to create a bridge between me and them. The person needs to give me the opportunity to know who they are. Has a communication style that’s completely opposite from mine. Sends me a cold email, LinkedIn message, or asks to hop on a phone with me without having a human conversation with me first (I’m a human being, not a robot). Has a business-first rather than human-first lens. When you’re hiring for a remote role, that person’s soft skills have to align completely with yours. With a remote team, you won’t have the opportunity to clear things up in-person, and so, you have to be vigilant in hiring someone who aligns with your communication style right away. For example, have you ever been on a call with your bank or an airline and had the customer service representative on the other end not address your question directly, skirt around […]