28: How to Hire Remote Team Members with Nate Hirsch

Hiring remote team members has gained in popularity over recent years. With access to a wider talent pool, more varied price ranges, and the ability to hire project-based and full-time resources, what's not to love? So how do you effectively hire and work with someone whom you never meet in person?   This week I speak with Nate Hirsch, entrepreneur and expert in remote hiring and eCommerce. Nate is the co-founder and CEO of FreeeUp.com. Nate and I talk about how to hire remote workers to grow your team’s capabilities. We talk about different types of freelancers and how to set yourself and the new hire up for success.   Join the Modern Manager community to get a $25 credit to FreeeUP and other additional resources to support your learning journey.   Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and mini-guides delivered to your inbox.   Key Takeaways: With remote hiring, you have access to a larger pool of talent at a wider variety of price point. You can hire a remote individual for a one-off project, sporadic work, and full time employees. Even ‘brick-and-mortar’ stores can supplement their work with remote team members for things like customer service, social media management, graphic design, etc. There is always a risk with hiring anyone, in person or remote, that the person won’t deliver. But hiring is the only way to gain capacity and grow. It’s about implementing good processes for accountability and building trust. You need to know what you’re looking for before you start the hiring process. Too often when hiring remote, we think ‘we’ll know it when we see it’ about finding the right person. Once you’ve identified a person to hire, be intentional about sharing your expectations and clarifying what success looks like. Freelancers often work with multiple clients who have different needs and expectations. What makes one client happy doesn’t make another client happy. There are three levels of hires: (1) The basic level freelancer who can follow and execute on the processes and systems you’ve already set up; (2) The mid-level freelancer who is a specialist doing the work, for example a graphic designer, book-keeper or Facebook Ad manager who knows their craft; (3) The experts who advise in addition to doing work by bringing their own experience to help your business. Defining what level of work you need is critical. Where people go wrong is by hiring a basic level freelancer when the don’t have systems yet and then expecting that person to create the systems. If you hire full time people who are doing work central to your business, treat them as full members of your team or business by including them in weekly meetings.