3. You’re Worthy of Hiring Help!
Have you ever felt like you’re supposed to “have it all together” before hiring your first employee?
If so, you’re not alone.
Over the years, I’ve come across a lot of wild information on these mean internet streets and stories from clients who have felt shamed for not having things more together.
I’ve heard people shouting from their virtual rooftops to “get your systems in order” and “make sure you have detailed SOPs” in place before you dare hire anyone.
But I don’t buy into all of that. At least not when you’re thinking of hiring your first employee.
You are worthy of hiring help. Regardless of what the inside of your business looks like.
Join me in this episode for a peek behind the curtain into my own business and hiring experience. I promise you’ll walk away feeling seen and hopefully inspired!
In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why you don’t have to “have it all together” to hire help
What you should really focus on when hiring
3 tips for developing greater self-worth
Mentioned In This Episode:
Transform Your Stories – www.sprouthr.co/transform
Who should you hire first? Take our 2-minute quiz! – www.spouthr.co/quiz
Transcript Episode 3 - You’re Worthy of Hiring Help
Ashley Cox 0:04
Welcome to episode three of the Impact Ripple Podcast. The go to source for hiring and leadership made simple, doable and fun for visionary female business owners. I'm your host, Ashley Cox, author and certified HR expert. And I believe that you don't have to change who you are. To be a great leader. You already are one. Join me as we kiss uncertainty and overwhelm goodbye and say hello to the tools and support you need to grow a profitable, sustainable, impactful team with more confidence and ease.
Ashley Cox 0:43
On today's episode, we're diving into the topic of worthiness and what it has to do with hiring. Let me start by asking you a question. Do you feel like you're supposed to have everything figured out and in order before hiring your first employee, if you do, you're not alone. This is a very common misconception that many of our clients and audience members have. And it's no wonder, every week I see post telling business owners to get all your systems in order document 1000 processes and have detailed SOPs before hiring. And in case you don't know what an SOP is, that's just a standard operating procedure or the way that you do things in your business. And honestly, it all makes me cringe. Because that sounds like a total nightmare. And super stressful. I mean, you're probably thinking of hiring because you need to get things off of your plate, right? Not add more on. And honestly, you know, you didn't go into business to do #AllTheThings on your own. If this was true, if you actually had to have all of these systems and processes and SOPs in order, then I and most of our clients would have never hired anyone.
Ashley Cox 2:13
While these things are going to be very important as you continue to grow and scale your business, and bring on additional team members in the future, this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I'm gonna say it, none of it is necessary to bring on your first employee. Let me repeat that none of it is necessary to bring on your first employee, or your first contractor for that matter. Right now, you're probably drowning in work, just trying to keep your head above water. You have a handful of things jotted down here and there or somewhere. But you can't even be sure that they're really even up to date. You know, you need help, like yesterday. So how in the world are you supposed to get everything organized and documented and systematized before you get the help you need? That's why I'm here to tell you that you do not have to have these things. A fully systematized business, all of your processes documented detailed SOPs written out or even have it all figured out. Listen, my friend, you can be soaring on a wing and a prayer and still be worthy and ready to hire the help you need and deserve.
Ashley Cox 3:35
So here's a really helpful mindset shift for you. Hiring means getting help in the areas where you need it the most. Take me for example, operations is not my strong suit. I am a people person, not a tech and systems person. And that's one of the reasons I hired our amazing director of operations Maura to join the sprout team. She is great at streamlining and simplifying systems, documenting processes keeping us organized and figuring out the tech side of business. I on the other hand, am not. And this is definitely going to be an unpopular opinion. But the goal of hiring is not to clone yourself. We already have one of you and your business, we do not need another one. You need someone who can amplify your skill set with their own unique combination of skills. So it's important to hire people who have knowledge, skills and abilities that you don't have. Or maybe they're just better at it than you are. I know that it can feel scary to bring someone else into the business that you've poured your blood, sweat, and tears into. But there are actually people out there who can do things for you better and faster than you can. And when you allow them to do so, you can all go so much further, so much faster.
Ashley Cox 5:19
There are things that Maura can do in our business and for our business that in the past before she joined, our team literally took me hours to do on my own hours. Could I do them? Sure. Was I great at it? No. Should I have been doing them? Absolutely not. If operations and SOPs aren't your thing, like they're not my thing, then don't do them. Hire someone who can help you create them. And please stop stressing that your business has to be flawless in perfect working order before you think that you're worthy enough to hire help. I'll tell you this misconception often holds women back from hiring, the help that they need and deserve. Which means that they can't create the impact they want or could have in this world. Maybe it's even been holding you back.
Ashley Cox 6:25
Not feeling worthy has absolutely held me back before and in my book Transform Your Stories, I talk about some pretty personal stories where I have felt unworthy. One example was when I was working on a project for the Society for Human Resource Management as a subject matter expert. They had brought in HR professionals from literally all around the world to work on this important project. And as I'm sitting there in the room, you know, bright eyed and bushy tailed on a Friday morning, for this three day project. I'm looking around at these incredible, talented, smart, successful HR professionals. And all of a sudden, I could feel the heat and shame of embarrassment rising from my chest, to my throat, to my face. And I thought, who am I to be sitting in this room to be called upon as an expert. And it was palpable, I started tickling my hands got clammy, I started to like sweat on my brow. And I was like Ashley, you have got to pull yourself together. Right? You give yourself that little internal pep talk. And I had two choices. At that moment, I could let the shame and the feelings of not being worthy wash over me to the point where I ran out of that room and said, I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well, I can't be here. Or I could pull it together. And remind myself that I was just as worthy as anyone else sitting in that room.
Ashley Cox 8:31
Just as worthy to be there to give my input, my advice, my opinions, my guidance, to share my experience. And that's the choice that I made that day. And I'm so grateful for it because that was one of many experiences to come with the Society for Human Resource Management, organization, and incredible opportunities. But the thing that I think that I got the most from that day, after feeling all of the shame, all of this self doubt, all of this lack of worth, was at the end of the day, one of the leads on the project came and said we didn't have to edit your work at all. Thank you. I wish we had 100 more like you. So even though I had felt unworthy of being there, the value that I was able to add and contribute to that project was exponential. And I don't share that to share accolades of myself. But I am pretty proud of that project. So it's okay also to toot your own horn sometimes, right. But how do I let that feeling of unworthiness consume me. I wouldn't have been able to create the impact that I was able to create that day.
Ashley Cox 10:02
I often wonder how many, how many of us are allowing the self doubt, the insecurity, the fear, the shame, the lack of worthiness, hold us back from creating the impact that we were born to make in this world. So I'm going to share three ways to uplevel your feelings of self worth. Okay? Because I want you to be able to self coach when you feel that unworthiness creeping in? Because you've got stuff to do, you've got important stuff to do. Okay. All right. So first one.
Ashley Cox 10:43
First, you need to recognize and give yourself credit for your strengths. Back in Episode 1, we talked a lot about self awareness, so if you haven't listened to that episode, be sure to go back and listen, that's a really important concept and the only quality the only trait that I will tell you, every single leader has to have. That's the only one. You can have any combination of all the other skills, strengths, traits, qualities, etc., but you have got to have self awareness. And so this is a self awareness exercise, I want you to think about what are you truly great at. I know this can be a little challenging. So you may want to solicit some friends, family, trusted colleagues, people that you know, are going to give you honest feedback. Maybe maybe you have some employees already. Let's let's go ahead and ask them, some contractors, some folks that you've worked with. And I want you to solicit other people and ask them, what are three strengths that you see me demonstrate on a consistent basis, on a regular basis. And I want you to also do this for yourself, what are the three things that I feel like I'm exceptionally good at? Maybe it's being a great listener, maybe you are fantastic at giving super clear instructions, you're able to take something that's incredibly complicated and simplify it, that is a gift. Maybe you're a phenomenal organizer, everything is in its place and everything has a place, whatever your strengths are, and you can get as granular or as broad as you feel the need this, this is an exercise for you. So do it how you feel you're gonna get the most value out of it. But I want you to really recognize and give yourself credit for those strengths.
Ashley Cox 12:48
Alright, number two. I know that this is out there, again, this is not necessarily something that's rocket science, but it's incredibly important and valuable. I want you to say some affirmations, whatever makes you feel worthy. So here's some examples for you. I am whole. You would not believe how powerful just saying I am whole can be. And I've actually worked on this with my own coach around not feeling whole, not feeling enough, not feeling you know, like I have something of value to add to the world. And I love that she always reminds me you are whole exactly as you are. You do not need to add anything in order to be whole. I just love that. Don't you love that? You can you can literally say I am worthy. I am deserving. I deserve help. You can also forecast some affirmations. I believe I'll be a great leader. I believe I'll create massive impact in the world. So I want you to just get a small collection you know two or three that you can say to yourself when you're feeling that rush of shame, or unworthiness, or frustration. Right? I am whole. I am worthy. I deserve help.
Ashley Cox 14:24
And then number three, please be kind to yourself. When you catch yourself thinking that you don't deserve help or anything you don't deserve help. You don't deserve to hire this coach. You don't deserve to invest in this way in your business. I want you to pause and ask yourself, why? Why am I not as worthy as anyone else to get the help? I need and deserve? Is it at the end of the day That's what you're saying to yourself. I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this. Why? What's the reason? If you can give me a valid, substantiated? 100%? Hands down? No questions asked reason. Okay, fine. But chances are, it's just a story that you're telling yourself. And we talked about stories back in Episode 1, we talked about those toxic stories that we tell ourselves, and how we have to overcome those stories to create the kind of impact that that we want to have in this world.
Ashley Cox 15:45
So those are your three ways to uplevel your feelings and your actual self worth. Give yourself recognition and credit for your strengths, say some affirmations. What do you want to believe about yourself to be true? Or about who you're becoming? And number three, be kind to yourself? If you would say it to your best friend, don't say it to yourself. I can't remember who told me that. But I have loved that for a long time. And I think that is so powerful. If If you wouldn't say this to your best friend, you better not be saying it to yourself. Okay. So those are three ways.
Ashley Cox 16:29
All right, let's wrap up today's episode with our final segment, Imagine the Impact, where we get to envision what it could look like for you to take action today. I want you to give yourself permission to be imperfect. Because you and your business are whole and worthy, exactly as you are in this moment. Imagine the impact and the possibilities that exist for you and your business. If you just had a little help. And if you're thinking well, Ashley, I don't know who to hire. Okay, I'm feeling worthy now and now I'm getting stuck on who should I hire? And what should they be doing? I want you to take our free quiz, Who to Hire First? That's literally the name of the quiz. Because we've gotten this question so often over the years that we were like, you know what, let's make a little quiz to help folks. Who to hire first, just go to SproutHR.co/Quiz. I'll put it in the show notes to make it easier to find and access. But you're going to take this short little quiz, we're going to ask you a handful of questions, and we're going to help you figure out who should I hire first. And then you're going to get a FREE Getting Started plan so that you can figure out what your next steps are. How do you afford this person? What should they be doing? What can you delegate to them? What's the timeline you should be looking at? It's some good stuff, SproutHR.co/Quiz.
Ashley Cox 18:16
If you found this episode helpful, we would love for you to share about it on social media so that it can reach more leaders just like you. So simply take a screenshot of the episode on your phone, share it on Instagram stories and tag us at @SproutHR.co
Ashley Cox 18:34
Thank you so much for joining me today on the Impact Ripple Podcast. It is absolutely my honor to be here with and for you on your leadership journey.