After how many years (or dollars) did you hire someone to run your phones ? ( not answering service )
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We did before our 2nd spring. Best thing we ever did.
After our first full year I hired an answering service, which was great because I had someone to answer the phones but I still had to do all of the rest of the work and phone calls when I got home. An office manager is on top of our list for 2016
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after a business divorce I hired a office worker in at the start of the second year. Wish I had done one the first year.
Took a big load of my mind and my daily to do list.
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What wage did you start them at?
ugh… I am having a hard time with this one… should have done it years ago… need to do it this year… its that last leg of my business I am having a hard time giving up 
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i hired my first one last season. she worked tuesday, wednesday and half day friday mornings. like everybody says, should have done it years ago. hiring full time this season i think.
the two biggest differences for me in having an office assistant vs doing it yourself:
-busy work gets done faster: quotes go out quickly, follow ups get done promptly, the phone always gets answered, emails get returned etc etc etc
- i had way more “actual” personal time after hours. in years past, even when the work day was over, half my brain would always be grinding, thinking about the things i didn’t get done that day, the loose ends etc. it was either just let them go or do them late late at night after family time, both of which sucked. last year was much better- not perfect, but way better.
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Those who hired…
Did you actually hire new person, or just empower your wife to answer the phones?
Started at $10/hour. 30 hours per week.
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I actually hired someone the first time, kept her for 18 months and now my wife does it full time. But she’s a full blown employee on payroll and everything. It’s nice because she is dedicated to it like me and the office is on point.
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I did that as well…
Back before the internet, voicemail, etc…
She would call me at the end of the day, and give me my missed calls list.
Thinking back, it might be something that allowed me to survive as long as I have.
I wonder what that lady is doing now…?
My wife cant do it… too many young kids at home still. I have been talking with several friends who have office staffs, trying to figure out what to look for when hiring office staff. I have always enjoyed doing all the office tasks, sales, etc… but it was overwhelming this past fall especially when we ran into help problems in the field. It will be one of those things that once I do it I will never look back, but I want to make sure I do it right the first time
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i hired a 20 year old girl who was the wife of one of my former techs. she’s tech savvy enough that she was able to jump right into our systems and even help develop some new ones. and she worked remotely, from home. all it took was one training session and a $300 chromebook and she was off and running.
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How did you pay her? what did you focus on when training her?
try not to overthink it. office administration isn’t rocket science and just about anybody who’s ever worked in front of a computer will be able to do it. it’s probably the easiest hire you’ll ever make.
she was on salary but it averaged out to around $12/hour. trained her to handle ProPosal, responsibid, scheduling in TCF and invoicing and over-the-phone payment collection in QBO. gave her some simple phone scripts for different scenarios. she handled follow up, both phone calls and mailings.
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I think its probably the most important hire. Seems like if you build a solid office staff your grow faster.
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i kind of disagree, unless you are talking about hiring an operations or general manager. i think an office assistant is the most replaceable component in the whole thing.
@c_wininger how are planning on doing the pay structure. I am thinking hourly base with a sales commission along with bonuses if they meet certain sales goals
probably similar to what i did last year. salary or a flat day rate. i’ll have to come up with some incentives though like you are saying. we should collab on that. i’ll vox you (got yours from yesterday)
yeah that sounds great, would love to bounce ideas off you
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