growing the team
Melinda and I started Olive + Opal in 2017 and were a two-woman operation for the first two years. We didn’t have a timeline to expand our team initially, but we knew we would eventually have to hire additional employees to accommodate our growth. Was it scary, absolutely! We really tried to keep our operating costs low, so increasing our payroll costs seemed daunting as we began to discuss hiring a third team member. What we neglected to consider was that the additional value and revenue-generating activities we gained with a third employee completely outweighed the additional payroll costs.
HOW DID WE KNOW IT WAS TIME TO HIRE?
Honesty, I’m not sure that we did know it was time to hire. We had big plans for the business, but as two overachieving perfectionists, we assumed that we could handle it all ourselves. But we were overwhelmed and being pulled in too many directions to give proper focus where it was needed. We had received many email inquiries about open positions and promptly responded that we were not hiring. Call it fate, but one day, when we were particularly stressed, we opened a job inquiry from the lovely Stephanie Brunt and we decided it was now or never. We carefully discussed some of the following questions and met with Steph to see if she was a good fit for our little team (yep, she was!).
What current activities can be handled by another team member?
Where are we missing opportunities because of our lack of bandwidth?
What type of skills do we need to bring to the group?
We saw the benefits of a third team member almost immediately. An extra set of hands at the stage allowed us to finish each project quicker and focus our efforts on marketing and other administrative tasks. And as Steph learned the staging business and grew with the company, we’ve realigned our roles and responsibilities to streamline our processed and maximize efficiencies.
We were a little more prepared to hire our third employee, Alicia, as we recognized the need for a warehouse manager. We again debated how another hire would impact the team dynamic and our bottom line, but ultimately knew that our growth had pushed us into an area where we were not operating efficiently. We spent quite a bit of time to find the right candidate and again, realized immediately that bringing Alicia on board was going to propel our business forward. Here are some of the top areas of focus when we started the search for our warehouse manager:
IDENTIFY THE KEY AREAS WHERE YOU NEED HELP
Staging is actually game of logistics, not just home styling, and we were seriously lacking in the organization of our inventory and warehouse. We were in the process of moving to a new, larger warehouse and needed help implementing systems and processes. We also did not have an inventory management system in place and we wanted someone to help with destages and keeping the warehouse in working order. By identifying the key areas where we needed help allowed us to write a thorough job description and to get started searching for a candidate.
WRITE A THOROUGH JOB DESCRIPTION
We often hear from other stagers that they hire friends and family to support the business, and while that’s a great way to keep costs low it might not always be the best fit for the business. It was super important to us to find a qualified candidate that had a clear expectation of the job responsibilities and an understanding of our company culture. We wrote a thorough job description and advertised the job opening on social media. Thankfully we received several great resumes during our search; however, we were prepared to post the opening on job sites as needed.
INCLUDE AN ON-SITE INTERVIEW WITH TOP CANDIDATES
Following Zoom interviews, we invited our top candidates to come on site to get to know each other and to set expectations about the realities of our business. It’s one thing to talk through the day-to-day, but the on-site interview/training allowed us to feel out each candidate and show them behind the scenes. The warehouse manager position required someone who could self-start and work independently as the staging team is typically in and out of the warehouse daily. It was important that we showed the candidates what that actually looked like and understand if our expectations were a good fit for them as well.
PROVIDE GUIDANCE, BUT ALLOW FOR AUTONOMY
Alicia hit the ground running from day one, but like any new employee she needed guidance with our systems and current operations. Once she got a feel for the team and for the warehouse, we trusted her to execute our combined vision for our warehouse. She planned, designed and implemented the layout for our inventory and strategically implemented a new inventory management system. We are in constant communication and provide our feedback to maximize the efficiencies in the warehouse, but we largely let her run the show.
Our fourth hire, Meg, who leads our design business, was not something we planned but rather something that fell into our laps. We had received requests for design projects over the years but never felt like they were a good fit and essentially took focus away from our core staging business. But when we met with Meg, we just knew that she was meant to join the team and we collectively built out the design business for her to run. Because when you know, you know. As much as we plan and make calculated moves, we had to jump on the opportunity to add Meg to the team. It took quite a bit of time and effort, but Meg is killing it and our design business has completely taken off.
So my top takeaways for growing the team…
You can’t always do it all and the right people will help you get where you want to go
If you know you need help, take the time to prepare and hire the best candidate to execute your vision
You might not be looking to grow, but if the right person comes along you should take a chance on them