Nearly every day I speak with small business owners who want to work less but earn more money. For most of them, that involves hiring people to help (the first hire is usually an assistant).

This is a good plan. And yet for many of them, it quickly becomes difficult: They don’t know how to manage the new hire’s time; they feel like they’re wasting their money; they don’t seem to get any traction.

Yuck. That’s the exact opposite of why they made the hire in the first place.

Soon after, one of two things happens. Either the business owner backs off and lives with a less than satisfying situation, or they let the new person go and return to doing everything themselves.

I have a better way. But, it requires putting a few steps in place at the beginning:

1. Think of it as an investment.

When you bring in someone new, you need to train them on the basics of the operations of your organization – even if you’re an organization of one. You’ll need to explain in detail where the files are kept; how you expect them to track their time; how often you want them to check their emails; how various deadlines are prioritized.

2. Provide a lot of feedback.

In the beginning, it’s usually easier to just fix the work of your assistant instead of telling them what needs to be changed. That’s good in the short run, but if you don’t offer lots of feedback (and let them fix things themselves), your new hire will never get any better.

3. Document your processes.

Ask your assistant to write down the process for all repetitive tasks – no matter how simple they are. This way, if she wins the lottery someday and moves to the south of France, you’ll have the important information you need ready and waiting for your next assistant.

4. Use a project management tool.

There are many out there – Trello, Asana, Basecamp, and the one I’m currently using to run my business – TeamWork*. These tools do a lot, but in short, they provide a simple way to assign tasks with deadlines to your assistant plus provide files and information necessary for each task or project. It’s also a great way to create an agenda for my next point…

5. Set up weekly meetings.

At a minimum, you and your assistant should be meeting once a week. These meetings help keep the information flowing and prompt you to think about additional action items that can be shared with your assistant.

That’s it! Just remember that while this probably won’t feel comfortable at first – in fact, in the beginning you’ll have more things to do, not less – pretty soon you’ll be amazed at what the two of you can accomplish together!

* This is my affiliate link.