Running a business can feel lonely sometimes, so it’s important to have a strong team in place for your small business. Not just your employees or contractors, but advisors for different areas of your business.

You’ll face a lot of tough decisions when running your business, and you need solid people around you who can help guide you and make sure you’re heading in the right direction.

Here’s how I suggest building out your small business team.

#1 – Your Small Business Employees

The loneliest number in business is 1.

Out of the 30 plus million small businesses, most don’t have employees. That means the business owner ends up doing everything. From the $12/hr jobs to the strategic and high value CEO jobs, they try to do it all.

Every business is different, but every business needs people to run and grow. In order to deliver more value to your customers, a business needs people who care about the business and are able to deliver the products and services it is promising customers. It’s really difficult to provide your businesses products or services if you’re the only one doing everything.

In order to determine who you need to hire, here’s what to do.

Make a list of all the activities you do in your business. Group them into categories if possible.
Out of the list, write the letter A on the ones you love doing. These are tasks you can keep for now
Write the letter B on the stuff you hate doing. These should be delegated to someone who loves doing them (or deleted if possible)
Write the letter C on the stuff you don’t mind doing, but you know someone could do it better or they’re not really your passion. Delegate or delete these.

Once you have a clearer picture of the tasks in your business, you can get a better idea of the help you’ll need and the roles you need to fill.

If you don’t know where to start, you need to hire this next person on the list.

#2 – A Small Business Coach or Consultant

A small business coach is very much like the board of advisors in a big corporation rolled in to 1 person. You and that business consultant spend your time trying to figure out where the business is going, along with challenges and opportunities the business may be facing.

What is a business consultant?

They typically have management consulting experience either at a big consulting firm like Deloitte or Accenture but decided to go out on their own or they simply have years of business experience coaching and consulting for other small businesses
Business coach is also a common term used for this
They can have a vast array of business experience, from management to hiring to finance or even sales and marketing
They’ll offer guidance and suggestions along the way to help guide your business towards success

What does a business consultant do?

They help you set the vision and direction of the company
Help you increase sales, decrease expenses, and help make financial decisions with you
They can help with who to hire and when to hire
They’ll often be the person you can call at 10pm at night while you’re still at the office trying to figure out what to do next with your business, handle a tough situation in business, or simply trying to make ends meet for payroll coming up. A good business consultant can help prevent some of these issues but if/ when they do come up, they’ll be there to help you push through

How do you find a good business coach?

Ask other business owners if they work with anyone. Google “Business Consultant Near Me” or “Management Consulting Firm Near Me”. You can also join networking and entrepreneur groups to find mentors who might not be consultants, but are willing to chat with you over coffee and share their real world business experience. There are mastermind groups and coaching groups in every business industry. Do some research, attend conferences, ask around. The key is to find someone who can be a sounding board as you grow your business and face the tough decisions.

#3 Your Business Finance and Legal Team

Your Tax Advisor and Business Finance Professional

It can either be a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or Enrolled Agent (tax advisor that is licensed by the IRS).

A good accountant and tax advisor can save you a a big chunk of cash in taxes, as well as help you avoid costly financial mistakes. They’ll keep you in compliance with the IRS or state by filing your business tax return on time and correctly. They can help with employee payroll as well as provide crucial financial reports so you can make decisions in your business.

For business bookkeeping, they can also help. Some tax advisors don’t offer that service but they’ll be able to refer you to someone or you can hire Bench.co or Quickbooks new bookkeeping service, Quickbooks Live.

One of the keys to a successful relationship with your tax advisor is to make sure they’re proactive in helping you with your business. On the flip side, you must also be proactive in reaching out to them and meeting them regularly to go over your business finances and foresee any major tax implications.

You need to find a good accountant who can also serve as your business finance professional. They can help you make financial decisions to make the business profitable and keep the business finances healthy. A good accountant can help with forecasting, sales projections, securing future funding, and even help you stash some cash for a rainy day or economic downturn.

Your Personal Financial Advisor

You got into business to make more money and do what you love. Unfortunately, what happens to most business owners is they end up living paycheck to paycheck and becoming slaves to their businesses rather than actually turning a profit and paying themselves properly. Your finance team can help keep the business finances healthy, but you must also take care of your personal finances. Most business owners I’ve met put all their eggs in 1 basket, their business. It’s fine when your business is doing well, you love what you do, and you’re making a profit.

However, often times the business owners forget to put money aside for themselves outside of the business. They also often forget to have insurances in place that could protect their family and legacy.

Checking in with a financial advisor can give you peace of mind knowing you’re planning for your future, while you’re building the business.

Your Business Attorney

From the initial business formation to business contracts to protecting your intellectual property and everything in between, a business attorney is a crucial competent to the survival of your business. A business attorney can give you peace of mind knowing that at of the very least you have someone to turn to in case you need legal advice.

#4 Your Marketing and Growth Team

Marketing and sales are the lifeblood of your business. I believe this so firmly that I started a digital marketing agency to help small businesses grow their sales through online marketing.

At the beginning, you might be doing all the marketing yourself. From building your website to sending your marketing materials to the printer, you did it all. You’re the sales guy/ gal and the social media manager.

As your business grows, you need to have dedicated people in marketing and sales. They can include:

A dedicated sales person
A marketing agency partner to run your marketing operations
A web design agency or web designer to make improvements to your websites
Paid advertising manager to run our Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and other online ads
Social media manager to create and post content
Creative team to design, write, and publish your marketing materials/ content etc

You might not have to hire the full marketing team, but you do need to focus attention and resources to marketing in order for your business grows. It’s best to partner with marketing agency or marketing consultant who can give you the latest strategies to attract more customers to your business.

When To Build Your Small Business Team

It’s never too early to find the right team. You’ll need help as you follow your dreams of being an entrepreneur and small business owner. Start early by introducing yourself, asking for referrals, and hiring at least 1-2 people as soon as you can.

Most small businesses wait until something is broken in their business before they reach out for help.

Find the right people to help you. Your business will thrive.

Leave us a comment below: Let us know when you hired your team and who’s on it!