Unfortunately, then the solopreneur-consultant spends valuable time on projects that could well be outsourced to someone else.
At the other end of the pincer is the consideration of what happens if there are not enough revenues in the project yet to hire another person?
Enter the idea of hiring temporary, contract based help or even interns, or outsourcing some white collar work to some place overseas.
There are different considerations with each of these paths:
- Temps: based upon the state that you’re building your project in, temporary employees may be more of a headache to have, tax wise, than hiring a full-time (or part-time) employee. In addition, the freedom to hire temporary workers on a contract basis does not mean, philosophically, that you have scaled. Because when the contract ends, so does the involvement with the temporary worker.
- Interns: This is another sticky classification of individual. Many states are now cracking down on organizations for using interns to perform work that used to be done by a full or part time worker. The legal and tax headaches may not be worth it. Plus, depending upon the state that you’re in and the higher education institution that you are working with, hiring an intern to work on a project may not be your best bet.
- Overseas Outsourcing: There has been a rise in the last few years of web-based personnel companies that promise to connect the solopreneur to overseas help with white collar business functions, such as accounting, sales tracking or even receipt handling. They promise to do this for a low hourly—or weekly—rate and promise results. The problem with this solution is the element of risk. As in, how much do you really want some “bonded” company hiring people overseas to look at your receipts at 4 am?
There are no easy answers to the hiring questions that many solopreneurs, freelancers, solo consultants and others face in the realm of peace building.
Perhaps a combination of things will work best for an individual.
Perhaps not.
But once you start choosing yourself, the bigger question to ask is “When is it more appropriate to choose someone else?”
-Peace Be With You All-
Jesan Sorrells, MA
Principal Conflict Engagement Consultant
Human Services Consulting and Training (HSCT)
Email HSCT: hsconsultingandtraining@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HSConsultingandTraining
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Sorrells79
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jesansorrells/
