If you own your own business and find that you simply don’t have enough time on your hands to be able to do all the things you need to do, you may be asking yourself should you hire an employee?

If you’ve already got employees, your question will be similar, when is the right time to hire another employee? Regardless of the structure of your business, there will be times when you need to make this decision and it’s not always as simple as acknowledging there’s too much on your plate…

To help you figure things out, start with a list of advantages and disadvantages.

Figuring out whether the time is right, may be as simple as making your own pros and cons list. This is a good first step before you look into cash flow, last year’s financials and your workload. Consider this testing the waters. Here’s an example list:

Advantages of hiring a new employee:

• You’ll have more help to handle the tasks that are overwhelming you.

• A new employee can breathe new life into your business and generate new ideas.

• Someone will be there to share those exciting moments. As some may say, you’ll have “someone to high five” when things go right.

Disadvantages of hiring a new employee:

• An employee costs you money.

• A new employee requires a big time investment upfront.

• You’ll carry added stress of another person being dependent on your business.

• You’ll need to manage and monitor the new employee.

Once you’ve created your list, and perhaps once the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, you can move on to the next step – genuinely trying to work out whether or not you should hire a new employee.

Should you hire a new employee?

If you’re still unsure about whether or not you can justify hiring an additional employee, it may be worth sitting down to to see if you can pinpoint those signs that say you really should bite the bullet.

Four signs you’re ready to hire

1. When you turn down work.

If you have to turn down work because you can’t fit another project into your schedule, it’s a good indicator that your business is ready for help.
No business owner doesn’t want to earn more money, but some don’t want the added work or complications that come with hiring someone new. Again, you’ll need to be honest with yourself.

2. If you identify a new revenue stream but need additional skills.

Diversifying your business is a smart move. Along the way, you’ll probably find a new source of revenue that you could tap, but might lack some of the skills necessary to really dive in.

Sometimes you will come up with great business ideas that you are just not personally equipped to execute on. This is a great problem to have and the right employee can truly make the difference in taking your business to the next level.

3. If complaints are rolling in.

If you’re spreading yourself too thin, it shows.

If customers start complaining about your work or about your timeliness, it’s a sign that you’re spread too thin. If you’re not able to commit yourself to each and every project, you’ll want to hire an additional employee. Bad word of mouth can damage your reputation and revenue, so you should hire someone soon if this is happening at your business. Even if you are just bringing someone in to answer your phones, field emails, or tackle your accounting practices, you will get those hours back to commit to clients.

4. When you have a steady stream of revenue

It takes a while for businesses to gain a steady stream of income, and you don’t want to take on an employee until that happens. An employee can help your business grow, but before making any staff additions, you’ll want to make sure you have the revenue available to pay him or her.