Get Help for Less
In my last post I wrote about delegation of duties.
When I was starting out, and first heard about this concept, I thought, “I am barely affording Ramen noodles – and you want me to HIRE somebody??!?”
Then, I found out the secret (which I’m going to share with you now):
THERE ARE TONS OF FREE RESOURCES OUT THERE!
1) I worked with the local respected university – I found an MBA class that took my business plan on as part of their class assignment – and voila! I had a full-blown, professionally reviewed marketing plan created for me (for the cost of a few rounds of Starbucks and some deservedly glowing reviews for the students).
A few rounds of coffee: $28.94
A professionally generated business plan delivered on time and to specs: priceless
2) Several universities have internships that you can post to – either paid or unpaid internships. I tend to post paid internships if I can, since many non-profits post unpaid ones and those opps tend to be pretty good [so the better students, who don’t need the money, tend to gravitate there].
Even when discussing paid internships, I’m not talking big bucks here – typically $8-$10/hour – but the quality of folks that have applied is great. I recently posted a summer position for a technical admin, at $9/hour – and got a graduate MBA student who is looking for an interim job for a few months; a college senior who knows HTML and can design websites, landing pages, and blogs for me; an engineering student who needs a technical job on his summer resume in addition to his lifeguarding job, and will be perfect to do research, compare options, and make recommendations for services and products I’m considering buying.
Since the intern position is part-time, it’s a great ‘resume builder’ job that can also be flexible for the applicant (a big plus for them if they want to work part-time); and since I will get lots of good stuff done for $9/hour, it’s perfect for an entrepreneur also.
3) Your city or state’s local jobs program. Many of the positions that you may need filled can be done by folks presently in the unemployment line… and there are programs to get subsidies for these folks, so you split the cost of their employment with the city or state. It’s a great way to cut your payroll costs significantly, while helping the local economy. This varies from city to city and state to state, so you’ll need to check your local resources to see what’s available to you.