Who was the first person you hired?

by tbk125
15 replies
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Of course I am not looking for names but rather what role did the first person you hired serve in your ecommerce operation? I understand everyone has different skills that need to be balanced but I am just curious what the first key pieces to a ecommerce operation are...
#hired #person
  • Profile picture of the author Daniel J
    The first person I hired was overseas to create listings for me (this is a time consuming process whether it is Amazon, Ebay, or your own website!) The next person I hired (for regular work) was local. He started by entering new products into the system, boxing everything up and shipping it out (I use Amazon FBA for fulfillment). More recently though, he is ALSO handling sourcing (finding products to sell) as well as some inventory management. He is such a great asset and has freed up SO much time. Between my suppliers shipping straight to Amazon and this guy I hired shipping everything that is purchased locally to Amazon (or items from suppliers that won't ship direct to Amazon) I no longer touch or even see my inventory! It is truly hands off and could be run from a laptop.

    It's important to note, however, I did not hire this guy until I was 100% comfortable doing everything myself AND only when it made financial sense to do so. My business is currently growing BIGGER while I do LESS work. By the way, all of this is outlined in my book (in the signature). It will really vary depending on the business model (as you mentioned) but I think outsourcing the "hands on" parts are the way to go! (I want to be able to work from anywhere)
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  • Profile picture of the author freeadstime
    Programmers started hiring content writers and marketing people and none programmers started of hiring programmers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Riggs
    My younger teenage brother, in a benevolent attempt to constructively teach him something and reward him for his work. Within two weeks he completely f***ed everything up. I ended up learning a lot more from his mistakes than I'd ever previously learned from my own.

    Sometimes an unwarranted collapse proves necessary in order to rebuild something better.
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  • Profile picture of the author laurencewins
    ME! I hired myself to do the work so I can take a back seat.
    Best decision I ever made.
    Signature

    Cheers, Laurence.
    Writer/Editor/Proofreader.

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  • It was a family member.

    Big mistake.

    Don't hire family. The rest of the family is wondering why 'they didn't get the job' and they expect you to 'fund their struggles because of your success.'

    Make it a policy.

    Don't hire family, ever.

    -ADE-
    Signature
    Famous for my '$1000 dollar challenge,' I've been teaching people how to DOMINATE on eBay for YEARS. Sell 100% of your items FOR A PROFIT. Rank higher, sell faster, sell more, and DESTROY your competition with a data-based approach. Quit listening to Guru's-in-training! Click now below!
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  • Profile picture of the author AlesTo
    "ME! I hired myself to do the work so I can take a back seat.
    Best decision I ever made."

    Totally agree with you laurencewins
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    • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
      First person I hired was my brother which was a mistake. Hired my wifes' family, another mistake.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel J
    I agree with others here- I follow the rules: don't hire family. Don't work for family. The idea is that you want to hire someone you trust and family quickly comes to mind, but this is BUSINESS and bringing PERSONAL into BUSINESS can make a mess of things quickly. Remember if you have to "let go" of your employee/contractor/outsourcer (or your employer has to let go of you) you don't want to be seeing them at every family function
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    • Profile picture of the author Importexport
      Originally Posted by Daniel J View Post

      I agree with others here- I follow the rules: don't hire family. Don't work for family. The idea is that you want to hire someone you trust and family quickly comes to mind, but this is BUSINESS and bringing PERSONAL into BUSINESS can make a mess of things quickly. Remember if you have to "let go" of your employee/contractor/outsourcer (or your employer has to let go of you) you don't want to be seeing them at every family function
      It is a pity that hiring family has not worked for some. I hired family first and we functioned as a happy family should. I was the head of the family and it was clear from the outset that I was also the boss, but I consulted genuinely and invited, and sometimes even acted upon, criticism.

      Then, when the business grew too big, rather than hire people I did not know, I went down the franchising route.

      That worked brilliantly, and by careful selection I had a huge number of people who put their heart and soul into my business because part of it, their local franchise, was their own business.
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      Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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  • Profile picture of the author alksense
    The first person I ever hired was my accountant, after that it was a designer who redid my original eCommerce stores and after that came a call center.

    I really don't need a web designer anymore because I use Shopify and it is ridiculously easy to modify but I couldn't get by without my accountant or call center.
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  • Profile picture of the author danix7
    Someone in Fiverr for a Ebook cover, this was a few years back,now i do them myself to my liking!
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  • ImportExport - what was the relationship you had with that family member?

    I think that would have an impact.

    I mean - if it was, for example, my father hiring me - and my siblings for the job, I can see it being more functional, especially if he had clear guidelines and him going through clear rules and not letting us get out of line.

    My issue was, my mother 'told' me to hire my brother - and I reluctantly had to obey that - KNOWING it was a bad move - and a bad fit. "Hire him because he needs the job." - she exclaimed through her tears. That shouldn't be a reason to hire people. You need to hire someone because you need THEM - and you hire the right person, at the right time, to add value to your business.
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    Famous for my '$1000 dollar challenge,' I've been teaching people how to DOMINATE on eBay for YEARS. Sell 100% of your items FOR A PROFIT. Rank higher, sell faster, sell more, and DESTROY your competition with a data-based approach. Quit listening to Guru's-in-training! Click now below!
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    • Profile picture of the author Importexport
      Hi ADE,

      Yes the relationship probably makes a big difference. I hired my children one by one. And yes, clear guidelines were in place right from the start.

      Not being a tyrant I included guidelines regarding me being willing to accept criticism with no hard feelings, but as I said I sometimes even acted upon criticism received. There is no doubt that the business benefited from those criticisms, not only by making my children feel that they were a real part of the business, but some of their ideas at times were much better than mine.

      You are quite right about it being a big mistake to hire family "because they need the job."
      Signature
      Use emotions and perceptions to build a great brand. Ask me about my book LabelsThatExploit. For safe sourcing and easy importing from 41 countries globally, see https://provenglobalsourcing.com
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  • Profile picture of the author shopindexer
    the first person I hired was a programmer because I didn't know much about programming at that time.

    The lucky thing is I didn't hire any family or friend because I know the logic the others will follow. : )
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