Jan 31, 2021
In today’s episode, our guest is Nathan Hirsch, Founder of Outsource School. He has been a veteran entrepreneur for a long time. Nathan is vehement about building proper and correct business protocols that would help ease the problem of an entrepreneur, especially in hiring the right people that would fit for their company. He recently sold an eight-figure business completely operated by virtual assistants and today, he will share to us his struggles, insights and tips to build a sturdy foundation for an upstart and flourishing company.
[5:07] Why should we listen to you?
My mission is to help entrepreneurs avoid bad hires and provide virtual assistants through an excellent hiring process. It becomes a lot of fun when you got that process down and we provide SOPs to be integrated in your business to get things done while doing less work.
[07:05] When is the right time for a business to run on its own?
It all comes down to an acceptable hiring process. It’s not random and hope for the right person to show up. You need an actual process for interviewing, on-boarding, training, managing and most importantly, standard operating procedures. Many people right now are focused on marketing but without people to hire, you are setting a ceiling on your business.
[08:36] Setbacks
Around a year of my Amazon business, I thought I found the person right for my company. I trained him well, I got less stressed out and my business was making more money. I went for a vacation only to find out that he wanted to leave. My efforts were all down the drain, I was devastated and come to learn that it was a wakeup call for me.
[12:20] Standard Operating Procedures
I start with “Whys”. Why are you doing the task, how it impacts the bigger picture, what does success and failure look like. The person needs to understand the bigger picture before diving to the steps.
[12:47] The beauty of the steps is, SOP evolves over time and it will improve continuously. You don’t need to create the best SOP in the world day one.
[13:22] You need to include the important reminders. A lot of businesspersons hide the important things and when the VA misses it, the owner gets frustrated and don’t want to hire virtual assistants anymore. When you break the SOPs into the why, the steps and important reminders, you have succeeded in creating an SOP.
[15:06] Outsource School’s Process
You get them to learn it on their own and you will accomplish two things; First, you will see how the person learns without mentoring and Second, you will improve your SOPs and amend the parts they are confused about.
[15:43] If they had a hard time understanding, you can part ways without wasting your time at a cost of a little money. You cannot just snap your fingers and have a prodigious hire who understands everything but you can create an efficient system that takes up a little of your time as possible.
[16:49] Dealing with software transitions
The first step is to try to not change software as much as possible. If you really have to do it, give your team a heads up, hold a meeting, listen to their feedback, answer any of their questions and make sure that everyone is comfortable with the change.
[19:09] What is success?
Success is freedom. I can be anywhere I want, whenever I want and have pure flexibility to do everything.
[20:14] Legacy for the children
Finances are not taught in school when you are young, and I am lucky my parents taught that to me. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur but if you mishandle your finances, you will run into issues in life and that is something I wanted to pass to my children.
[22:02] Business recommendation during the Pandemic
We have never lived in a better time to start a business affordably. Being able to see opportunities out there, do research and trial and error is important.
[25:35] What separates you from others at your age?
I am consistent while other people procrastinate on things.
[26:45] What promise did God make to the world, when He created you?
To give back to the people that did not have the opportunities that I had, specially to people living in the third world countries.
Key Quote:
27:05 – 27:08
“A lot of entrepreneurs don’t understand how fortunate they are.”
Learn more about Outsource School at:
Website: https://www.outsourceschool.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/outsourceschool1
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SchoolOutsource
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/outsourceschool/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpUwpdi4VdyTNjbSHeyIdaA