By Brenda LaMarche / Guest Column
Eight years ago, I started my business. It was just me in my basement, contacting potential local clients about human resources services. The business has now grown to an office in North Liberty with six employees supporting clients in 20 states. How did I get here? By delegating.
Delegating allows you to concentrate on what you do best by providing vital resources to support your small business as it grows. Many small business owners struggle with relinquishing control and letting someone else help, but, in my experience, it’s one of the best things I ever did for my company.
I’ve come to realize that I am not an accountant, marketing specialist, advertising guru or other specialist. I’m a human resources and payroll expert, and that is where my time should be spent, because that is the area of expertise my clients need. It is enough work just to keep my knowledge base of human resources and benefits management current. Reaching out to find the right partners to help establish my business and seeking other experts to help it grow have been pivotal to the company’s success.
For example, when I started the business, I designed my own website. It was adequate, but it rarely received traffic from outside our immediate region. When I was ready to expand outside of the state, the data from our site told me that I needed help enhancing it to reach new entrepreneurs and companies. I connected with a website specialist who could enhance the website’s back end for search engine optimization. Their work was key to the growth of my business. I didn’t have to spend hours and hours figuring out the secrets of SEO or struggling with where to log in and input information.
I encourage all business owners to remember that their time is critically vital to the success of the business and to learn to delegate. Running a business is easier when you start out with just you or you and a partner. There is less stress over bringing in enough income to cover employee wages, insurance and other benefits you need to provide to employees. When you add employees, it’s like a boulder that starts rolling downhill. The pace of everything picks up speed.
I’ll also mention that, while the internet can be a helpful reference, it can be dangerous to simply Google something as important as HR or legal compliance. The information you find may not apply to your industry or state. Your online search would be better spent looking for local companies to be part of your business plans.
Still not convinced you should delegate? Look at it this way: if you aren’t a plumber and wouldn’t tackle a plumbing problem in your office yourself, why would you DIY something as important as payroll or HR compliance? Your time is valuable, and you will benefit from hiring the right companies or subject matter experts to achieve success in the future of your company. The satisfaction of your clients and employees depends on it.
At the moment, I am busy with new clients, open enrollment and several clients transitioning their payroll services. This is all thanks to the support of a fantastic team of HR professionals working in my company, a website company with in-depth SEO knowledge, an attorney that reviews complex compliance issues and a quality IT person to keep our systems secure, among other key partners. Owning a business is a lot of hard work, long hours and busy days, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. My time is well spent. I’m doing what I know and love and allowing other business owners to do the same.
Brenda LaMarche is president of BRL HR Consulting, a human resources consulting and outsourcing firm providing nationwide services, located in North Liberty.
