Staff on the payroll - does anyone have any?

16 replies
Watching the various launches going on at the moment and just thinking to
myself, "Wow! I bet that takes a lot of man-power to get all that up, running
and kept going."

However, you very rarely see the big guys talk about their staff. I know they
can't do everything themselves but how much is simply outsourced and how
much is carried out by 'on-the-payroll' bona fide staff?

Our business is just me and my wife, Heather. For efficiencies sake we
outsource jobs, but I have a strong aversion to actually employing someone
direct. How do you deal with this issue and how do you think the bigger
players deal with it too?

Peter
#payroll #staff
  • Profile picture of the author grumpyb
    I have 8 staff BUT we sell physical products on line
    Its much better if you can stay small and tight I never imagined that I would have to feed 8 people before I get any and whilst my business is very profitable at this time I yearn for the days when its just me and bit of outsourcing.
    My staff are great but they are employees and they dont have the dedication you get when its just you
    I still work two and half time the hours they do
    maybe you are a lot younger and just starting out but just remeber they get paid first you get paid last and you have to pay them eve if they are no good at the job. So have fun but If you can keep it tight I think its better in he long term
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
    Paul & grumpyb

    Thanks for you input and advice.

    To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no intenton of employing anyone
    directly. Not for the forseeable future anyway. I've been down that road
    before and for many of the reasons Paul mentioned, I just don't consider it
    a good business move.

    I used to be in manufacturing and a workforce was the only we could
    deliver the goods, but even if I were to resurrect that business, I'd
    probably outsource the manufacture and become a wholesaler.

    I was just interested to see what other folk thought on the subject and
    whether they realised that employing folk wasn't always the best solution.

    Peter
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    • Profile picture of the author Lee McIntyre
      Hi Peter

      In my business I employ James to manage the operational side and it's the best move I ever made.

      He takes care of making sure everything works as it should, leaving me to focus on marketing and content (my two highest value tasks).

      For example, every week I make new content for my high ticket coaching program and do a weekly "Marketing Makeover" call.

      It takes 3 hours to make the content and 2 hours to do the call. James then does all the nitty gritty such as producing the audios and videos, uploading to the site, and mailing the members.

      While he is doing this grunt work I'll be off having fun, or concentrating on one of our super high value tasks.

      We also employ two people in the Philippines. One for $300 per month and one for $500 per month. One person creates content for us (transcription, writing etc) and the other does lots of research and follows my "Automatic Traffic Blast" steps.

      Right now we're also trying to hire a full time VA in the states to free up more of James' time.

      Hiring different people for different tasks has been the best move I ever made, and I get SO much more done as a result.

      The best part is I just booked a cycling trip to California in April, and I know that while away leads will be generated, content will be made, and deals will be struck.

      This is just my perspective and I hope this helps!

      Lee McIntyre
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      • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
        Originally Posted by Lee McIntyre View Post

        Hiring different people for different tasks has been the best move I ever made, and I get SO much more done as a result
        I can fully appreciate that Lee. I'm guessing that your setup is not too dissimilar to that of some of the more successful IMers. Was it an obvious decision to employ someone or did it take some agonising over?

        Peter
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        • Profile picture of the author Lee McIntyre
          Originally Posted by Peter Bestel View Post

          I can fully appreciate that Lee. I'm guessing that your setup is not too dissimilar to that of some of the more successful IMers. Was it an obvious decision to employ someone or did it take some agonising over?

          Peter
          Hi Peter

          Like any of the big decisions in my business it took a lot of thought.

          I first hired James in June 2008, at which point I'd only been doing this for 10 months so it was a BIG step. It hasn't always been easy and we've had a lot of ups and downs.

          I probably didn't get any extra value from this setup for the first 3 months, partly due to my own personal learning curve, and partly due to the time it needs to settle new staff in.

          It became obvious to do this when I realised that I had become completely bogged down. By June 2008 I had 10 products for sale, loads of sites, and just keeping track of everything was taking an increasing amount of time.

          There were holes EVERYWHERE and plugging them was taking all my time!

          The business had got to the point where it needed 8-10 hours per day just to keep things ticking over. At that point we were at about $22,000 per month but had hit a MASSIVE glass ceiling - and to be frank I was working too hard and losing some of the enjoyment too.

          "Letting go" was actually harder for me than hiring someone to manage the business in the first place.

          Something else to consider is that once you have a backend in place it becomes very difficult NOT to generate a return from talented staff members.

          We're now selling a $12,000 per year coaching program and $1,997 workshops. You don't need to sell many of these to make having new staff members become profitable.

          The reason I always teach you should "go deeper not wider" is once you have the backend in place you can do magical things as you start to add new team members to your operation.

          If you pay someone $5,000 it's hard to make it work if you're just selling $7 ebooks. If you're ALSO selling high ticket items it becomes hard NOT to make it work!

          I hope this helps

          Lee McIntyre
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          • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
            Lee,

            Thanks for taking the time to give such a comprehensive answer Lee. I can easily see that the 'letting go' element would've been the hard part - it certainly was for me when I first employed someone.

            You know, for a guy from Manchester, you're OK !!

            Peter

            (Exciled scouser living in Scotland)
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
    You can't really focus the time you need to for new product creation and launches if you're doing the day to day work to maintain your existing business.

    I have two part time assistants locally who do all my customer service and operational stuff and I also outsource traffic generation to my team of Web 2.0 SEM specialists. It's working out great for me - I actually work less and make more money.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
    I have 2 people working full time on my business however I didn't hire them as an employee. I contracted them (hired their services) so I don't have to be responsible for their taxes and other contributions like medical, employment insurance and so on.

    Doing it this way I get more bang for my buck and I'm also able to pay more for their services because the other expenses are non-existent.

    Mike Hill

    PS. I recommend to someone looking for help to start out by contracting byt the job and not by the hour, until they find the right people.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      I have a staff of 27 very dedicated employees because I want control of my operations. I also have 14 sales reps on a base salary plus commission. For awhile I did outsourcing, but the quality was seldom near my expectations. Having employees is much more efficient in the long run, because they understand the business and know what is expected. They provide oversight for any outsourcing of projects for my clients.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnjonas
    Peter,

    I don't see how you can get everything done in your business on your own. That's crazy.

    Especially when you can hire people in the Philippines for between $100 - $500/month for full time work.

    John Jonas
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    • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
      Originally Posted by johnjonas View Post

      Peter,

      I don't see how you can get everything done in your business on your own. That's crazy.
      John,

      I agree. The question I was raising was whether anyone directly employed staff, not contracted workers, but paid employees for whom you pay tax etc.

      Peter
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      • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
        Originally Posted by Peter Bestel View Post

        John,

        I agree. The question I was raising was whether anyone directly employed staff, not contracted workers, but paid employees for whom you pay tax etc.

        Peter
        Peter,
        I agree with you. I ran my own offline business for a while and the taxes and entitlements in the UK are severe for small businesses, especially if you lose an employee on maternity leave for 6 months! For this reason I outsource offshore.

        Rich
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
      Originally Posted by johnjonas View Post

      Peter,

      I don't see how you can get everything done in your business on your own. That's crazy.

      Especially when you can hire people in the Philippines for between $100 - $500/month for full time work.

      John Jonas
      John,
      Just got video..will watch it later as I probably better to have a few full time outsourcees (is that the word? lol) than the many fragmented ones I use at present.

      Rich
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      • Profile picture of the author ShayB
        Question: if you hire someone in another country "full-time" as has been stated, are you required to do the same as if you hire someone in your own country? Withhold taxes, etc.

        Or are they considered independent contractors?
        Signature
        "Fate protects fools, little children, and ships called Enterprise." ~Commander Riker
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