Chip MacGregor

May 4, 2012

When a writer needs a staff person to help…

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In response to our series on writers and staff, Susan sent this: “What success tips, or pitfalls to avoid, can you provide for hiring part-time staff?”

First, I think you can ask yourself “what is my single greatest point of vulnerability? How could I get help in that area?” That will help you figure out when you need help most. All of us have stuff we don’t want to do, or don’t have the training to do, and it’s often best to bring in a professional who can help us get it done. 

Second, before hiring anyone, even on a short-term contract basis, make sure you have your own life organized. If you have a calendar, a filing system, an address book, and a clear “to do” list with A, B, and C priorities, you will be better prepared to work with someone else. Without your own personal organization, you’ll find it nearly impossible to organize others.

Third, keep in mind the best time to fire a person is when you don’t hire them. (Kudos to Bobb Biehl, management guru, for phrasing this so well.) All of us have had to fire a person who didn’t work out after we’ve invested a lot of time, money, and energy into their career. It hurts, and it puts us further behind. So don’t just hire anyone — hire the right person to work with you.

Fourth, if the person you’re interviewing simply doesn’t have the skills you need, ask yourself if you have the time and desire to train them. Sometimes a person YOU train is better than the person somebody ELSE trained. If they don’t have the experience the job requires but they have the skills, ask yourself if the position needs that extra level of sophistication, or if you can offer them the experience they need.

Fifth, keep in mind that all of us were once beginners. Look for opportunities to mentor a younger, teachable person who has a desire to work in the business. That’s where the next wave of people in publishing will come from. 

Sixth, ask yourself this question: How could I DOUBLE my effectiveness without doubling my expenses? Again, my friend Bobb Biehl likes to say, “Decisions are a balance between value and price. Without an adequate answer to the question ‘why?’, the price is always too high.” So if bringing a part-time staff person in to work with you would double your effectiveness, but it wouldn’t cost that much, you may decide it’s worth the investment. 

Seventh, if you have people around you who can do things two-thirds as well as you do them (since you’ll rarely find anyone who does things as well as YOU do!), consider hiring them to take that responsibility, even if it’s just part-time. No, it won’t be as good as you doing it… but if it’s two-thirds as good, that may be enough. And it will free you up to do other things.

That said, NEVER GIVE UP YOUR CORE BUSINESS. If you’re a writer, you can hire all sorts of other things out, but DO NOT EVER hire out the writing. Same goes for editors, agents, marketers, etc. If you’re an editor, you can have someone do your finances, you can have someone do your travel schedule, you can have someone check the citations, but you can’t have someone else simply do the editing for you. (And don’t think you can keep it a secret and nobody will notice. Think of it this way: Would a singer hire out a backup to sing for him? Aside from Milli Vanilli, I mean.) As a writer, you can have part-time staff who assist with several of the elements associated with books, but if you let your assistant actually WRITE the book for you, you’re no longer a writer. 

Last thing…I did my doctoral studies in organizational development at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!), and one of the principles of organizations is that “anything you need in business you are paying for, whether you have it or not.” In other words, if you really need someone to clean your home for you, but you decide not to hire someone and just do it yourself, you’re not saving any money — by doing it yourself, you’re investing your own time, which you could use for writing, so you’re really paying for it anyway. If you really need somebody to help you in an area, you may as well hire him or her — the fact is, you’re already paying for it somewhere. It might be in lost sales, it might be in lost time, but you’re paying for it. Keep that in mind when you sit down to some mindless task and wonder, “Why don’t I have somebody else do this for me?”


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