Page 156 - Paulisms: Gold Nuggets for Small Business

Employees and Contractors
6.1 Employees versus contractors
Some of this subject was covered in Part 2: Chapter 3.3.1 – the Theory of Paul’s Funnel – that supports this contractor model: grow your business, get more down through the pipe, and reduce risk and capital requirements going forward. It is not for every type of business, but it’s very applicable to most small businesses.
I remember Dad in his painting business. He was the hardest working person I ever met, working seven days a week to feed six kids. He died, supported financially by family. He never discovered the secret of employees. There were only two hands to generate income and there were only so many hours in a day; so many days in a week. He tried employing people, but they were never up to his standards (see Part 3: Chapter 13). If he had contracted out some of his work, perhaps he would have been better off. He would have been working more on his business and would have had more time for family. My Dad gave me a great start, teaching me how to make money (work and you get reward), but he struggled to give himself a fair reward on his extremely hard-working life. If he had applied some of the simple principles outlined in this chapter, his life, and mum’s, may have been very different.
Using contractors frees you up to get out there to build a bigger business. It enables more time to work ‘on the business’ and focus on those things you can’t neglect, like networking and marketing.
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