It is safe to say that most business owners want to grow their company by attracting the right talent. The dichotomy however is that a new business doesn’t generally have an abundance of cash to enable them to hire and attract the best talent. This dilemma invariably stunts the growth of their business, leaving them at a demoralising dead end.
“There are ways”, says Roy Clark, MD of Clarkhouse Human Capital. “You need to have the ability to attract people who are masters of their craft to help you realise your business strategy.
Whether it’s finance, IT, marketing or sales, people who have over the years become experts at what they do, outsource these skills and get rewarded accordingly, are the ones you want as a part of your business” But without being able to offer them large salaries, huge benefits or well-known brand names, how can you do this?
Clark goes on to say that by forming mutually beneficial relationships with craft masters you will be able to leverage off their skills only as and when you need them in order to satisfy both your needs and their skill set ambitions.
This adds excellent scalability to your business as well as falling in line with what a new trend of people are seeking, and that is the freedom to work under their terms.
Scalability
The world and its talent is growing in a very different direction to that of say, 10 years ago. People no longer want to work for someone, but rather work on something. Be it projects, assignments, tasks or outcomes.
Most want to work in their own time, on their own terms and learn from a number of different experiences. The likes of Odesk, Fiverr and ELance are testament to this. For more on this, read about the Gig Economy. This is an incredible environment for any start-up business or entrepreneur. Having access to these skills on a flexible basis is exactly what you need early on in your businesses lifecycle.
Fit in or Fudge off
Unfortunately what many traditional businesses aren’t realising is that you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole. A talented graphic designer or data scientist may only work most effectively from 5pm until 10pm, an extremely successful sales person may need to work from home 4 days a week as she is a single mother, a savvy tax consultant may only be able to work a few days a month on one particular project.
If you are not open to working with people that aren’t your employees, then you’re missing out on a vital talent pool.
Of course it is understandable that in order to run and manage a successful business you need a degree of discipline and order, it won’t help if your receptionist only works from 5pm until 10pm when your business is open 8 to 5. However it is certainly wise to outsource most of your work whenever possible, to people that are truly masters of their craft.
Don’t feel you have to do everything
Most importantly here is that as an entrepreneur you will get bogged down in every tiny aspect of your business, whether it’s your “master craft” or not. When this starts to happen remember that it’s ok to let some areas of your business go to people that have the knowledge, experience, skills and time to do the job correctly and efficiently.
This will create an insurmountable extent of value by helping you focus on areas that you’re an expert at and will improve your business from the ground up. Remember too that you don’t need to get lumbered with locking yourself in to long-term contracts with suppliers.
Businesses are changing at such a rapid pace that the skill set your business needs today may not be the skill set your business needs tomorrow. Be sure to have an exit clause with any supplier should either party want an escape hatch.
Create industry associations, network with other business owners, introduce skilled people to one another and you will find that in today’s world you can truly grow your business and attract top talent without a drastic impact on your fixed cost income base.