Entrepreneurship and HR
By Carole Burman, Managing Director, MAD-HR
Newsflash! It’s not a requirement that to be an entrepreneur, you also must be an accidental HR Hero or first-rate talent manager.
Truth be told, most aspiring entrepreneurs and business founders are propelled into their new business story, eager to ‘do the doing’. They’ve got widgets to make, innovations to create, customers to win, and global think-tanks to influence.
So, naturally, you can see why the world of HR andits nuances of hiring, firing, rewarding and retaining, could all seem like a bit of an awkward and less welcome distraction.
Ah true. How many times I have heard those sentiments?
But how are you going to navigate the path of growth, of gaining commercial traction, of getting the word out there and yet maintaining the home-fires burning – if you’re not also investing in a team or resource which supports you and your ultimate vision?
It’s worth remembering that the way you set the tone for people culture, for recruitment, and for retention, in the earliest days of your entrepreneurial journey, will bear fruit as you progress.
Nowadays, there are so many ways of approaching staffing and contracting, which just didn’t exist if you’d been growing your empire 25 years ago.
For example:
Freelance Flexibility: You don’t HAVE to employ people. Many people love to pick up work as part of an ‘outsourced’ operation where you use them when you need to.
Zero Hours Contracts: Sure, they’ve had a bad press at times, but for some companies and styles of working, these contracts can prove invaluable….and some workers like them too!
Remotely Based, linked by tech: It’s not the necessity it once was, to have a fixed office location with a dozen staff. You can still employ your ‘team’ in a way which works for you as you grow, calling on all kinds of tech to allow for online file-sharing, video conferencing, and so much more.
The most important thing about being an entrepreneur is to work out how your time is best served in your business. There are many tasks that we all hang on to, but should we?
Hiring experts to support you will buy more time to both focus on your business so that you can see things more creatively, and develop strategies allowing you to take calculated risks to grow your business.
Long gone are the days where an entrepreneur might start day one of their business and think the only easy option was to employ a family member. (And oh, what a world of hurt that can become down the line).
Your options really are many, varied, and can be perfectly designed around your entrepreneurial spirit.
Just don’t lose sight of the importance of establishing what your business stands for from day one. Let experts like MAD-HR take the strain for you so you can stay in the driving seat of growing your business.
