Heidi Hackemer’s Post

3 scenarios to consider ↓↓↓ #1 - You're bootstrapped for cash, but you have enough room in your bandwidth. >>> You can do it yourself. Maybe get some guidance from an advisor or learn from a mentor. You can also learn from the limitless resources online you have at your fingertips. #2 - Your revenue is picking up, you realize your time is better spent somewhere else (like product development, business development, or investor relations), but you're not confident yet to employ staff because you think you might not have enough tasks for them or your recurring revenue isn't that consistent yet. >>> Get a freelancer, a part-timer, or an agency, depending on the scale of what you need to get done. They might cost higher per output or per hour, compared to hiring someone full time, but they're on an as-needed basis and you're not tied to them long-term. >>> Pro-tip: Before getting contractors and agencies, I'd make sure I have a sound plan in place. And stick to it! The people you have here are primarily for execution, not strategy. #3 - You're bleeding money (long-term) by doing it yourself or onboarding output-based contractors. Your MRR (monthly recurring revenue) is financially sound to cover an additional team member. >>> Take the leap and hire someone full-time! Yes, it might take a bit of time to find the right fit, and yes, you will need to give them the space to learn the ropes. But being intentional with your key hires is an amazing long-term strategy for you. >>> Pro-tip: invest in your people. If you think it's expensive to hire someone realllyyyy competent, imagine how much you'll spend to keep replacing team members or having to do it yourself because your "cheap" hire wasn't good enough yet.

Finding the right people for a project or your team isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be a hassle either. Sometimes, it’s about having the right connections to make things happen. That’s something we’re working on at TalentFast—whether it’s freelancers, short-term roles, or full-time hires, we’re here to help you find what you need, when you need it. Curious? Check us out: talentfast.net What’s one thing you think makes hiring or finding work easier? Would love to hear your thoughts! #TalentFast #HiringSimplified #FindTalentHireFast

What happens when two precision and planning developers join forces to start a company? Both Andreas Sauer and I are all about detailed planning. We carefully map out: 👉 Resources 👉 Timelines 👉 Money 👉 Processes This is awesome.  Our clients, freelancers and partners love us for this. BUT. We've learned there should be at least some room for flexibility. An example: Initially, we'd get caught up in planning the minute we got a new lead, focusing more on potential issues than on the opportunities themselves. This often led to stress instead of excitement. Now, we've adjusted our approach. When a new opportunity comes along, we see it for what it is: An opportunity. We go for it and combine it with our precise planning. Do you see yourself in this? How do you manage to balance planning and flexibility?

I feel like an imposter when it comes to hiring and managing our ever growing team, specifically managers. Why? Because am not good enough yet to not have that feeling. I have not hired enough people, and not enough people have had to leave for me to confidently know how the next hire will go. I have not had enough internal employee reviews to feel comfortable delivering them without stressing the whole week before hand about how to make sure my message comes across well. I have not had enough experience of setting OTE targets and holding people to account for them. This year has been huge for me in business. I hope I always remember this year. It’s the year where I have become aware of just how much there is to learn just to become competent at the basics of running a proper business. I think this is the year that experienced business owners forget. Not the year they know nothing but the year where they see everything and are terrified because they see all the things they need to learn for it to work. I am now in conscious incompetence for the next level and a huge part of this… is taking on employees outside of my comfort zone. The difference of running a £1M to running a £3M is becoming very clear and there is a lot of work to do. We have two more team members joining us next week. Taking us to 12 direct employees I think outside of our freelance.Still have two more to fill. For reference when I look back in the future, run rate for 2024 is 1.2M in revenue. Target for year is 1.4M Target for next year is 2M Here is one going on right now 😇

Freelancers.... Are you feeling stressed out about finding new clients? You wanted more ease, flexibility and choice when you left employment... but what you got was uncertainty and worry about when and where the next gig is coming from, self doubt and lack of focus. I hear you, I was there too! Feeling embarrassed and ashamed that I couldn't make things work. Doubting my career choices and believing everyone else had it all figured out. If you want to get that balance in your work and life sorted, I can help you get there in the next 6 months. Less confusion, stress and doubt. 👎 More clarity, more clients and more ease & flow. 👍 This is not a generic course designed to appeal to a wide a group as possible. This is all about YOU. Spaces in my new Accelerator 121 programme are filling up! And I'm only taking 2 more people on this side of Christmas. Are you one of them? If you're ready to take that step; fill in the short application, and we'll hop on a call to see if The Accelerator would be a good fit for you. 👇👇👇 https://lnkd.in/eqQcyXTy

It's been a while since the last update, but as the saying goes: No news is good news. The last couple of months were ridiculously busy, in a good way. Our strategy lately was to shift focus to engagements where we can combine fractional CTO services (provided by me) with development services (provided by my team, including me). While it's a bit of an unusual combination, it does seem to work. It's a decent value proposition for clients, because they effectively save the costs of me managing a team on my fractional CTO rate, instead I do that part on my own dime - since I have to do it anyway. And they save the ramp up time that comes with building a fresh team. The caveat is that this only works for somewhat small projects, things we can realistically own and get done. Team augmentation - what agencies mostly seem to do, just sending individual ICs directly to companies - doesn't fit this model. So there's a lot of business that's not interesting to us, but apparently there's still a bunch for this comparatively unique thing we offer. And, not unimportantly, I enjoy this type of work a lot. All business up to this point came entirely from recommendations - roughly half from people I know, and half from clients I've worked with since starting this company. That's pretty nice feedback I suppose, especially since it's entirely unsolicited, people just do it. We could be a lot more systematic with our sales efforts, or at least update our website a bit, but as long as we're kinda overrun with demand without doing anything, we just focus on the work. The team has grown a bit, too: My sole employee is now full time (previously part time), and we're working with three additional freelancers to meet spikes in demand, or to cover things we're not good at. If everything works out, we'll have an additional employee starting in January. Lastly, we're no longer a sole proprietor, we're now a proper company, "Dahlke Tech GmbH". Also a somewhat noteworthy milestone.

Today, many companies are creating new IT products. These can be mobile applications, online platforms, or other digital solutions. However, product development is a complex and multi-stage process. It takes a lot of time, effort, and, most importantly, a well-selected team. That's why outstaffing is becoming increasingly popular among such companies. ✏️ Rapid team scaling Product companies often deal with unpredictable workloads. For example, more developers or testers are needed before launching a new product. Thanks to outstaffing, the company can quickly expand the team for a few months and then return to the standard team without additional costs. ✏️ Access to global talent Outstaffing opens up the opportunity to work with the best specialists worldwide. This is especially important if unique skills are needed and are not available among local specialists. Instead of a lengthy search, you get experts ready to work on your product. ✏️ Reduction of personnel costs Hiring employees permanently means significant expenses: salaries, taxes, and office resources. Outstaffing allows you to reduce these costs. You only pay for the time and work of the specialist, without additional personnel management costs. ✏️ Focus on the product For product companies, the main focus is on the quality and speed of development. Outstaffing allows delegating part of the work so the team can focus on strategy, design, or key product features. This ensures better results in a shorter timeframe. ✏️ Flexibility in work The modern IT world is changing very quickly. The needs of a company today may differ from the needs of tomorrow. Outstaffing provides the same flexibility needed to adapt to these changes. Conclusion Outstaffing is not just a way to find extra hands for work. It is a strategic tool that helps product companies be flexible, efficient, and competitive. If you haven't used outstaffing yet, now might be the perfect time to give it a try. 🗣️Do you consider outstaffing beneficial for your business? What are your thoughts on its implementation? #itproducts #outstaffing #productcompany #itrecruitment #talentpool #teamflexibility

Should you hire a new employee or hire an agency? It depends on a few different factors but here's 3 important things to consider: 1. Urgency ⏰ How quickly do I need the help? 2. Budget 💰 How much money do I have budgeted to get this help? 3. Skills Required ⚙️ What skills does someone need to do this work? + Can I realistically hire one person that has all these skills? Once you know your answers to these questions^ the decision becomes a lot clearer for choosing what's right for you! Check out the full blog post (by yours truly!) in the comments below 👇 #revopssupport #agencyvsnewhire #revopsagency

Six years ago, I spent my spare time googling "best side hustle ideas for HR." Now, I literally can't keep up with all the ideas I come up with. Daily. 😅 (Specifically, digital product ideas, since turning HR, recruitment, and career coaching expertise into digital products is what I do best.) This is good news for you, as I'm now sharing them all! So, if you're: — working 9-5 in HR — running an HR service-based business — running a career coaching or resume writing business And looking for a way to monetize your expertise without trading your time for money, this is for you! Because, let's face it: There could be a million reasons you haven't tried earning your first $1 in passive income yet. Not having an idea of what to offer shouldn't be one. (Especially not when you can take mine, for $0!) Want the ideas vault? Comment IDEAS and I'll DM you the link. PS I share digital product ideas, tips, and behind-the-scenes daily. (Or daily-ish.) Follow along!

Let’s talk about how hard it is to build up a team around you and the absolute payoff when you get it right. I’m not going to sugarcoat it to you, building a team around me has been my biggest challenge as a business owner. Challenges leave you thinking ‘Will I ever find anyone else that will feel as passionate about my business as me?’ And the answer to that is most probably no. Because it’s your business and no one else will ever feel that passion as strongly as you. But what you can do is find people who are passionate about being on the journey with you. In February this year I made my first hire in the business. Before this, I relied on outsourcing to various freelancers, which built my business up to a point where I needed more support internally. Thankfully, this hire has paid off in various ways, from financial payoff, to time freedom, to gaining an amazing friend from it. Being a small business doesn’t just mean hiring someone that ‘fits the brief’ they have to embody your values and culture. I’m definitely still in the early stages of building out the team culture in my business and have learned so many valuable lessons along the way. If you’re a business who is one or even ten steps ahead of me, what has been the biggest lesson you have learned in your hiring process? I’d love to know ✨💚