How to Know When You’re Ready to Hire an Expert
I’ve come to believe that in both business and life, there’s never a perfect time for anything. Planning to get married? Never a perfect time (I think couples planning weddings last year really feel this). Want to have a baby? Never a perfect time; sometimes it happens when you’ve been fired and just started a new business. It’s cute that we tried to plan that. Going to move, quit your job, get a new job, start a business? Never a perfect time. I think it’s the same when you are ready to hire an expert. There’s never a perfect time to hire an expert, but you can prepare, be ready, and look for the signs that having an external agency or expert will get you where you want to go faster.
Listen to Season 2: Episode 8
Why Even Consider an Expert?
Fairly commonly, I encounter a set of tactics we use to talk ourselves out of needing help when the signs are clearly there that we need it. Many of those hallmarks of needing help or feeling unready are:
- saying that you can’t afford it
- saying that you don’t have time to have somebody else come in and help you
- or the real classic: it’s just easier to do it yourself
All of these may be true to a point, but the reality is: none of us gets where we need to go by ourselves.
In episodes 1–3 this season, I’ve talked at length about why to hire an expert. Figuring out the timing of hiring and identifying when you’re ready to work with an expert is really about being open to having the help, being willing to use the help, and being able to incorporate the competencies and expertise that come from working with an expert into your organization.
When You’re Ready to Hire an Expert
Determining if you’re ready to hire an expert starts with evaluating the following areas:
- how fast you’re being asked to grow
- the capabilities of your current team
- the capacity of your current team
- if you’re embarking on something new
- if you want to build competencies in your existing team
- what resources you have to tackle growth or improvement
- accountability: Is progress being made on the tasks at hand?
To make this quantifiable, you can create a scorecard for yourself, rating each area with a 1 through 5, 1 being completely manageable or handled and 5 being wildly unrealistic or out of control. You can add a second rating for each area that assesses the priority or pain of that area. If you’ve got a score of 15 or higher, it’s likely you’d benefit greatly from expert help.
What does it look like when you are ready to hire an expert? Well, I hired my first business coach in my third year of business. Looking back, I really wish I would have done it sooner. The reason I waited so long is because I knew all the things a business coach would try to teach me. I knew about tracking my time and the benefits of it. I knew about time blocking, marketing activities. Yes, I knew it all. But I didn’t DO ANY of it CONSISTENTLY until I hired him.
Sometimes, hiring an expert is so you can stay focused on your zone of genius. Other agencies hire us to set up metrics and analytics reports so that they stay focused on implementing the marketing. They then have the metrics already available, so once the marketing is running, they can spend their efforts on continuous improvement.
The Benefits of Working with an Expert
The payoff here is simply that, by asking yourself if you’re ready, you become more ready to hire an expert. Being aware of your expectations, the results, and the transformation you want, as well as the desired outcomes of the partnership, puts you in a better position to hire and benefit from someone else’s expertise.
Get the Most of Your Expert
You now have the tools and know-how to prepare yourself and your organization to get the most from working with an expert. In the next episode, I’ll be sharing more examples of working with experts and external agencies.
Not sure if you are ready to work with an expert? At FieryFX, we know a thing or two about getting the most from working with experts. Plus, we’re experts in strategy, websites, analytics, smart business, and technology. Find out if you are ready to benefit from hiring an expert by booking a consult with us.
