Ok, well my business is affiliate marketing, and its been getting to a point were its getting pretty big. I hired my mom as my PA a few months ago, to take care of stuff at home(bills, food etc..). So the rest of the time, I feel I could have someone else here to help me find new markets, research current ones, and keep my on track on my priorities. Kinda like a researcher/PersonalAssitant for the office. Some Reasons I feel I need to Hire someone: I seem to have been falling behind lately on current technologies, and things have been moving fast with google adwords and other Advertising medias. I feel like I'm falling behind, and am missing the profitable catch up period. Also, I think this maybe a personality flaw, but I find it hard to grasp working on new projects and prioritizing, and pinpointing exactly were to start next. With a new worker, I could maybe have him help me keeping on track. Some Reasons I feel I don't need to Hire someone: Trust. Ok, I'll elaborate a little. I don't really have the most trust for my "friends". I quote friends because I have many friends, but not many "true" friends. This friend I'm talking about I've known for over 8 years, and I really don't want to catch him loading all my files on his thumbdrive. I've thought about a contract, but I don't know for sure what to do. If I did hire him, I would like him to stay on for as long as I could. I'd be fair and compensate nicely. Please Give It to me straight DP. And sorry If this post was a little scattered, I've been thinking too much about it lately.
If you have the funds and you really have something you need to protect, I would go to a lawyer and have him write up a contract. Or, you write up your own contract for the individual, let a lawyer read it and then let him make suggestions on what other things need to be added to make it official. Still though, I would try to learn the new technologies that you feel like you are falling behind on. Go to school if you have to. You want to be the guy that the business can't run without. You don't want to give that control to anyone else if you are the owner.
If you really don't trust your so called friend, then don't hire him/her. Or maybe you can hire your friend, just do not give him/her the full access to your accounts
Dido as above buddy Sounds like you need help with your work and someone to help lighten the load so you can focus on the more important and leave the mudane tasks to them. But that not to say that they will be the magic solution to all your probs like your own flaws - somtimes they can be more of a distraction then help...... Not an easy answer but i think all us work at home types have been in that position where the amount of work seems to go beyond what one human can manage in a day even if you chain yourself to it > it just affect your health and reduces your overall productivity. I used to always think - if the working relationship or job goes sour can you deal with the chance the friendship might end and they may blab all your important info to everyone else..... It happens
Research is an important part to be done by you. You can outsource him only the data entry, posting and other mundane jobs.
Obviously you do not want to give anyone access to 100% of your business. The key is to only give him access to specific data according to the job he has to do. No matter if you trust him or not, never give 100% access.
Yeah, don't hire a friend unless he becomes a partner with a significant stake (that is, he puts up money so he has something to lose). Otherwise go outside and find someone you can fire if they suck.
You dont want friends working for you. I am not sure what kind of a working environment you will be working in once your friend starts working but it is a big distraction. I have worked with some friends on a few different projects and it never went anywhere. We never accomplished anything (if you want to pm me I will give you more details on the outcome of my projects with friends). Unless both of you are serious engineers (like the guys who started research in motion, for example) and have great ideas it will not work.
Hiring a friend is ok as long as each has their own management role with no overlap. Profit needs to be tied to performance so there is no slacking
Ok, this seems to be said in this thread probably over 10 times. I don't think I can ignore this fact any longer. And probably in a nice way, your all saying, "stop being lazy, and do all the research and marketing yourself!! And only outsource things that don't my business at risk. And I thank you! As this thread seems to be a lot of help, I have been thinking about another option. What do you guys think about hiring family, for ex: how about a little brother? I mean family's forever right?