Have you ever considered the idea of hiring someone to help you run your business? Many small business owners have one (or a few) particular skill(s). You could be an Allied Health Professional, a Plumber, a Bookkeeper etc. that now finds themselves having to write sales & marketing plans, deal with unhappy customers, solve HR issues, balance your books and the list goes on. If you don’t have formal training and considerable experience in doing all these things, how could you possibly be expected to do all of them well? If you can’t do them all well then how can you possibly expect to get the best possible results from your business?
Enough rhetorical questions. Let’s examine one potential solution that most people haven’t considered. Hire a part-time GM. My wife did this many years ago in her business and it was a perfect solution for her and unquestionably helped the business achieve better results.
Wait a minute. Is that actually a thing? It is but it is not widely done.
How could I afford it?
The key is to think differently. Most small businesses can not afford to bring in someone experienced full time or even in a traditional part-time role of say 15-30 hours per week. But you could potentially afford to do it if it was the equivalent of .1 of an FTE or 10% of a “normal” job. If you are thinking that you don’t see people advertising jobs like that then you would be right. Doesn’t mean you can’t make it happen though. My belief is that there are many experienced and skilful people that don’t want a traditional “job” as they are busy running their own business, being a consultant or even retired. However, for the right opportunity, they might be interested in working with you. They key is identifying them. The best way to do that is to use your current networks to put “feelers” out there. You could try a traditional Ad but the main downside with that approach is that most of these people aren’t actively looking for a job! For some (I put myself in this category), variety and helping someone achieve something great is a big motivator.
What would it cost me?
Obviously, this depends very much on the individual but let me give you some guidelines. Experienced business consultants normally charge $175-275 per hour. You can expect lower than that if you are offering regular work so somewhere between $120-150 per hour is possible. That is if you do it the traditional way. The other possibility is to offer a lower rate with mutually agreed bonuses based on certain achievements. For example, you may agree a rate that is 60-75% of their hourly rate but if the business achieves X turnover increase, X new clients or X increased profit you then pay a bonus of X. Remember that if you hire someone as a consultant, they pay for their PC, office space etc. You may set something up where you meet face to face once per week or fortnight but the rest of the time you Zoom, email or phone each other.
Are there experienced GM’s that would consider this idea?
Well, I am one and for the right opportunity, I would. My belief is that there are enough others out there that would also consider it. The problem is, not enough small businesses or indeed, the potential Part Time GM’s themselves, consider this approach.
The bottom line = You could potentially find an experienced GM to help you grow your business from $300 per week. Worth a thought?