Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
Looking for some opinions on the following:
OK so you're doing pretty well with one of your sites, earning decent money and have plans to startup other sites in other markets but there is definitely a limit as to how much one guy can do.
At what point do you step back and say "hey, now it's time to hire someone fulltime"?
At what point do you step back and say "hey, now it's time to hire someone fulltime"?
Never comes to mind. Not to rain on the parade we call employees, but I have had my own company for almost 4 years and you are correct I have run into the "there are only so many hours in a day" syndrome. The problem is employees, especially ones with any talent are expensive. Not only do you have to pay them a decent enough salary to keep them from leaving, but then you have the other half of their social security tax you have to pay not to mention unemployment insurance and workers comp. In addition, most people won't work without at least offering health insurance and possibly other benefits, like I said, expensive.
I have used the independent contractor type arrangement quite successfully. I have 4 contractors that took me a little while to find, but they are honest, do great work, get stuff done, and are MUCH cheaper than an employee. I simply call them when I need them and they aren't on my payroll when I don't. I never have to worry about working my butt off to support the extra overhead, especially if things slow down. When I get paid they get paid. Simple as that.
With an employee even if you aren't bringing in cash you still have payroll, taxes, and benefits for your employee. If you are paying all of that you will want to find work for them to do and there may not be any at that exact moment, which doesn't remove your expenses.
I have found contractors to be much more flexible and good for growing my business. In those situations where I needed a little more help on a daily basis I have brought in an intern from the local high school business tech program. They can do basic bookkeeping, mailings, data entry, and even some basic web design stuff. They are cheap and generally work hard and are temporary. When things get caught up and I don't really need them the internship is over. No fuss or mess.
Personally I just like the flexibility of contractors and interns to full or even part-time perm. employees that do nothing but add overhead that you must from that day forward find a way to cover.
If you plan on using contractors I would advise you check with a CPA, the IRS has some exact rules for what constitutes a contractor and what is an employee. If you are ever audited and they rule your contractor was an employee and not a contractor you are going to have to pay all the back taxes and penalties. Avoid that from the beginning and follow the rules and you will be fine.
Fortune Hunter
[edited by: Fortune_Hunter at 3:14 am (utc) on Feb. 4, 2007]
For customer service I prefer to hire people as employees, because it's important that they have a long-term relationship with me (and with customers!), and that I can keep an eye on what's going on, and train them up.
For other things where the work is more stand-alone and well-defined, such as proofreading, sending the work off to a firm that specialises in that kind of thing works well.
best, a.
