Starting up/ Expansion - how did you do it? (E-myth)

[AdamGadut]

I have been selling my handcrafted stuff through FaceBook. I'm hardly managing my FB page as I observe just posting my progress on my own personal page has been generating more attention than an actual page.. Like if people knew its an advertisement, they go straight skip it, but if they knew I'm making it, they actually paid attention to it and appreciate the stuff. That part has been doing well.

Currently this leatherwork that I'm doing is really just half a hobby and I could hardly call it business though I'm earning from it, as I still have some officework. I found several people here recommended the book "E-myth" so I looked it up for the wisdom it can offer and I have been finding myself in a similar situation on that Mary the book was referring to when she started. I am feeling that pressure of making up something big when all I can really do is as far as my attention and presence can. - like; preparing a collection of items I can sell - which I haven't completed, making sure i have a book keeping record, estimating the prices and redesigning items so they are modern and not too old in style, preparing the actual items - dyeing, cutting, stitching, packaging, and many more!. Everything is really all up to me, and that has been so heavy lately. I could hardly prepare myself well for the office work and end up deprived of sleep just everyday.  

People appreciated so much what I did to make everything look good - even the pictures, they all love it, but I feel its all too hard to keep up and my enthusiasm is slowly dying out. I was thinking about following what the "E-myth" book advised - like finding someone else to do for you some stuff so there's spare time/breather. 

My questions,

1.) How did you find your first employee?... - was it a family member? - or is a family member (or someone close) a bad idea to hire for business?

  Did you go around your neighborhood asking if someone wants some extra income?

2.) Did you have some funds prepared for such expansion? - if you didn't have a huge amount of funds for the expansion, what would you have done?

3.) What tasks did you delegate on your first employee?

 

 

[JerseyFirefighter]

        Having hired help is all relatively new to me. I knew from the onset that the help would be mostly dedicated to completing menial tasks (for which I have a boatload) and organization. Keeping my smallish area somewhat composed has helped my mental state. Cluttered workspaces are bothersome to me and create stress. I could never just stop producing at the end of the day and transition into putting everything back where it belonged so this was a top priority. What I also and currently do is once the small stuff is out of the way for my helper, I take time to teach him a new skill. It makes his job more interesting, and allows me to set him up for being more involved in the process in the future. 

        My help is an old coworker and fellow firefighter. I looked for someone who had a genuine interest in the process, and the availability to be comfortable to either work once a week, or not for that matter. He was apprehensive at first since this part time job was a 35-40 min drive, but he instantly took to the allure of creating a finished product from raw materials. Bonus points if your employee is so intrigued by the work that he/she is coming up with new ideas, or making potential business contacts while they're not working on your dime. He also has ties in the local K9 Search and Rescue teams. I am working on a few different hunting/tracking leads and designs that I hope he can make himself as his skill set improves. To me one of the sillier but crucial hangups for me was to hire someone I knew. I enjoy conversation, so if i'm going to be spending a day in the shop with another person, i'm going to want to share common interests to shoot the stuff all day. 

        As for planning financially for the expansion? I have been making a steady profit for quite some time despite sinking almost all of it back into the business. For the workload I had and all of the other office work involved on the back end of running a business I felt that the trade off of profit was worth the relief of stress of falling behind and not hitting deadlines. I feel the one thing I can improve on is having a written out list rather than a mental list for tasks. He has repeatedly finished what I had set out for him to accomplish and have me stopping my own work to set him up with something else. 

[bikermutt07]

2 hours ago, JerseyFirefighter said:

        Having hired help is all relatively new to me. I knew from the onset that the help would be mostly dedicated to completing menial tasks (for which I have a boatload) and organization. Keeping my smallish area somewhat composed has helped my mental state. Cluttered workspaces are bothersome to me and create stress. I could never just stop producing at the end of the day and transition into putting everything back where it belonged so this was a top priority. What I also and currently do is once the small stuff is out of the way for my helper, I take time to teach him a new skill. It makes his job more interesting, and allows me to set him up for being more involved in the process in the future. 

        My help is an old coworker and fellow firefighter. I looked for someone who had a genuine interest in the process, and the availability to be comfortable to either work once a week, or not for that matter. He was apprehensive at first since this part time job was a 35-40 min drive, but he instantly took to the allure of creating a finished product from raw materials. Bonus points if your employee is so intrigued by the work that he/she is coming up with new ideas, or making potential business contacts while they're not working on your dime. He also has ties in the local K9 Search and Rescue teams. I am working on a few different hunting/tracking leads and designs that I hope he can make himself as his skill set improves. To me one of the sillier but crucial hangups for me was to hire someone I knew. I enjoy conversation, so if i'm going to be spending a day in the shop with another person, i'm going to want to share common interests to shoot the stuff all day. 

        As for planning financially for the expansion? I have been making a steady profit for quite some time despite sinking almost all of it back into the business. For the workload I had and all of the other office work involved on the back end of running a business I felt that the trade off of profit was worth the relief of stress of falling behind and not hitting deadlines. I feel the one thing I can improve on is having a written out list rather than a mental list for tasks. He has repeatedly finished what I had set out for him to accomplish and have me stopping my own work to set him up with something else. 

You got very lucky in the onset of hiring someone. Usually, my boss runs thru 20 people to get a keeper.

I do recommend that book quite a bit. And while I don't have any successful business advice I do know this....

Expect to make very little off of your employees. Like maybe 2 bucks an hour. My boss is right at 50 employees, so he might might make a 100 dollars an hour.

Of course he says it takes 1500 an hour to keep the doors open. (But this is a larger flooring company).

Good luck.

[JLSleather]

Employees? Uh, no.  I'm talking about in the U.S... may vary elsewhere.

THE ONE thing to consider here.. insurance.  #2 is more insurance.

If you have employees, then you're going to have federal laws requiring you to have payroll and withholding - so, getting some help may in fact require getting more help.  And your insurance will need to cover them in the event of accident, injury, disability.  And keep in mind that any injury / accident / etc need not be legitimate... just an accusation and thousands of dollars are tied up in legal fees.  Seriously, I've seen people who hurt themselves moving furniture on the weekend, but waited until Monday to go to the doctor so they could say "it happened at work".

If you have "help" in the form of independent contractors, or even just the gal up the street who happened to not be busy between 9:00 - 3:00 while the kids are in school.... you'll still need to provide insurance for the time she's in your property.  Payroll is somewhat simplified, though.  Couple kids up the street who want to make a little cash for sweeping floors, taking out trash, and mowing the grass?  Now you have child labor laws to consider ...

This could go on virtually forever, but I'll just say that I do not employ anyone, nor do I intend to.

Been my experience that the "good" workers are already good workers -- meaning they already have jobs.  There are exceptions, but as a rule those "looking for work" have one or more reasons why they aren't already working.

EDIT:

If you want to "hire out" something, probably fine hiring web designer, accounting services, attorney(s), and others who need not be physically present ...

Edited July 24, 2017 by JLSleather

[LumpenDoodle2]

Unless you are strong enough to sack them if neccessary, then do not hire family.    My biggest mistake in a orevious business was to hire young in laws. 

Other thing to be careful with, is being kind.   Kindness is seen as being 'soft' by some people.

I'm not saying you should be a dragon, but be aware of the fact you are running a business, not a charity.

[Mark842]

IMO building your business with pricing that enables you to have employees is the only way to expand beyond a small hobby sized business. As for having to pay for insurance and such, no, not if you structure your business correctly. Set yourself up so you can contract out certain parts of your production. Then your workers are technically contractors and you don't have to worry about paying insurance, taxes, etc. Simply 1099 them at the end of the year and taxes are their responsibility. Just be sure to read up and make sure you are complying with the rules of contract employment.

My first contractor was the manager of my local Tandy store. 4 months after he started working for me he quit Tandy. I now have 3 other people that I contract with to handle various stages of production for me. They all pick up the leather from me and work at their home with the exception of my neighbor that works in my shop clicking and sewing.

[AdamGadut]

I can see now that the contractual way is the way to go since I believe I won't necessarily need a full production run everyday.

Although I'm on another location as most of you here are, I am yet to look what conditions are present regarding contractual employment.

 

2 minutes ago, Mark842 said:

I now have 3 other people that I contract with to handle various stages of production for me. They all pick up the leather from me and work at their home with the exception of my neighbor that works in my shop clicking and sewing.

This is a good idea. I honestly don't have enough space at home for other workers to be around. I really like that idea. 

hmmmmm.. now what terms did you come to agree with regarding this set up?... - like maybe to avoid him hoarding some of the raw material to source for himself? 

Did you have a system like, - before the raw material leaves your premise, its being weighed, so the worker should come back with the same weight of leather overall - Plus the scraps?