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November 12, 2019

7 Reasons Why Moms Make The Best Remote Workers For Small Businesses

Running your own business can be very rewarding but it can lead to you doing absolutely everything in order to run it effectively. This is where bringing on part-time employees or contractors can be very beneficial. Knowing what you do well and then outsourcing or hiring team members to do other things gives you the opportunity to focus on your strengths AND grow your business. 

So why do MOMS make the best workers for small businesses…..

💪🏼Because there’s probably no one more motivated to make a remote work opportunity work like a mom.

💪🏼Moms deeply desire freedom and flexibility in order to be more present for their kids and family.

💪🏼Having remote work is a huge blessing for moms, and therefore, we believe they go ABOVE and BEYOND to do a great job to make sure they can continue working from home. 

💪🏼Moms typically have been working in their careers for some time, unlike students who are just starting out.

💪🏼Moms possess life skills that a small business can benefit from such as……

 

Time Management

From household chores to diaper changes, from homework help to getting dinner on the table – Moms sure do a lot! Time Management becomes an essential skill for Moms and something they have no choice but to quickly learn in order to keep up with the demands of family, kids and running a household. 

This skill becomes highly beneficial to your business. Moms have no time to waste and that means a reliable and dedicated worker you and your business. Moms know how to use their time wisely.

 

Organizational Skills

A Mom quickly becomes the organizer in the family. From vacations to birthday parties, Moms are really good at planning and executing.

They are also great with rolling with the punches and can be quite flexible when things fall out of line. They are great at coming up with a new plan that keeps everyone happy. Moms know they must be organized to get all the things done! This is why Moms are great Virtual Assistants especially for Small Business Owners like yourself. We have a great article about how VA’s can help you grow your business here.

 

People Management

From tantrum-throwing two-year-olds to grumpy teenagers, Moms have to deal with many personality types and different levels of maturity.

Strong listening skills, empathy, and conflict resolution go hand in hand with people management. This makes a Mom a really great candidate for your business’s customer service. Moms can handle customer complaints at all levels of your marketing funnel and offer win-win resolutions for all. 

 

Negotiating Skills

Children quickly learn from a young age how to get what they want and can get quite creative about it too! This is where the power of Moms negotiation skills can really come in handy. Moms become experts in compromising and trading.

Because Moms are good at negotiating, they can make a great addition to your company’s Sales Team. 

 

Problem Solving Super-Heroes

Some problems are completely predictable while others can come as a complete surprise. Moms deal with new problems each and every day and it’s amazing how they can still stay calm, cool, and collected throughout the solution process.

This makes Moms ideal candidates for small service businesses that are focused on “solving problems” for their customers. 

 

Master Multi-Taskers

Moms always have more than one project on the go … literally! They are great at handling a phone call while prepping dinner and helping their child with his/her science project all at the same time.

In the workplace, this often translates to being on the phone with a customer while typing in the customer’s account info and facilitating their transaction from start to finish. Moms are great at multi-tasking and getting things done efficiently and effectively. 

 

Now that you’ve learned about the benefits of hiring a Mom, where can you find one? Right here at HireMyMom of course!

Click here to post your job to our talented pool of Mom Professionals.

Or let our HR Specialists do all the hard work for you! Check out our VIP Concierge service. 

It only takes a few minutes to create an account with us, post a job, and then wait for the resumes to come in. We have some pretty amazing Moms on this site ready to work with you.

You can see what other Small Business owners have had to say about HireMyMom here. 

 

 

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October 28, 2019

3 Important Reasons Small Business Entrepreneurs Should Avoid Mega Job Sites

As a small business entrepreneur, you no doubt have been faced with the demands running a business requires. There is always a to-do list a mile long from tracking expenses, updating your website, email marketing and creating social media content with just not enough hours in the day to tackle it all. 

Maybe you have reached that pivotal point in your business where you can begin to set aside a budget and outsource the tasks you either don’t have time to do, don’t have the skill set to do (and don’t desire to learn) and/or don’t enjoy doing so you can focus on more important tasks like revenue generating activities. It’s an exciting step to reach in your business but it can also be a scary and overwhelming one. 

Now that you are ready to spend your valuable time looking for and interviewing potential candidates who are qualified and a good fit for the mission of your business, it’s tempting to turn to mega job sites like Freelancer and Upwork as they can seem like a logical place to start but they aren’t always the best option for small business entrepreneurs and here are 3 important reasons to think about:

 

  1. Overseas Workers

Many of the freelancers and subcontractors you find on mega job sites live outside the U.S. and while you may find their rates to be cheaper than a U.S. based worker there are important factors to consider such as:

  • Language and Culture Barriers. If you are looking for someone to respond to or create emails, social media comments and blog writing, you could be spending more time proofing and rewriting content than actually creating it yourself. Hiring someone to create content on your behalf should have a good understanding of how to represent your brand voice and business. Language and culture barriers can make finding a qualified candidate well versed in U.S. business culture difficult.

    For example, it may be customary and an understood practice in the U.S. for a client and contractor to have a co-creative working relationship with good communication being a “no brainer” but in other countries, this practice is not well understood resulting in you finding yourself constantly having to follow up with your contractor for status updates. Spending more to hire a high quality U.S. based candidate is well worth it in the long run. 

 

  • Legal and Tax Ramifications. You may not be hiring a part-time or full-time employee but that does not exempt you from legal or tax obligations and when you hire workers from other countries those rules and regulations can become even more complex. 

 

  • Time Zone. Hiring workers that are half a day ahead of you can often work against you. Let’s say you are just getting your day started at 10am and wake up to an email from your contractor who is delivering you the project you asked for but it’s plagued with mistakes and issues but unfortunately your contractor is 12 hours ahead of you and are already offline for the day. Now you have to decide if you are just going to fix it yourself or wait another day for it to be corrected versus working with a U.S. based contractor who can respond much quicker and not delaying your project.

 

  1. Mega Job Sites Take A Percentage Of Earnings

Here’s a recent email we received:

“Hello, I am a freelancer who currently uses Fiverr and UpWork to gain writing gigs. I write website content and articles for businesses. I am tired of paying out 20% per project…..”

As a small business entrepreneur, you may not be aware that mega job sites take a percentage of earnings from the freelancers you hire. For example, if a person’s rate is $20 per hour, they can expect to earn around $16 per hour which means freelancers on mega job sites will actually charge more than they should for their work and skill set in order to help offset the fees that are deducted which means you pay more for the quality work you can expect to receive. 

 

  1. Scammers.

Anyone can create a free profile on mega job sites so quality and legitimacy are not guaranteed. As can be expected on such an open platform with millions of job seekers from all over the world, there is the potential for scams: 

  • Freelancers who do not perform the work themselves (so you are hiring someone based on their credentials and they are in turn outsource it to someone else who is less qualified but still charging you a higher rate. Yes, this happens.)
  • Freelancers who have fake reviews in their profiles and they can actually remove negative feedback as well (yes Feedback Removal is a real thing). 
  • Freelancers who have fake identities and therefore claiming to be of different nationality than they actually are. 

This means you will spend way more time than you need to in order to weed through applicants to verify they are who they say they are and can do the work they claim they can do. 

As a small business entrepreneur, don’t let this process overwhelm you. We have talented North American-based mom professionals ready and qualified to tackle your jobs and projects so you can focus on growing your business. The candidates on HireMyMom pay a small membership fee to receive these job leads so they are more serious job seekers who are willing to invest in themselves which also means you will not get 100s or 1000s of applications from a platform that lets anyone sign up and apply for free. 

At HireMyMom.com we are mom owned and mom run. We are entrepreneurs running our own small business. We understand the needs and challenges of both sides and we aim to create a platform that works perfectly for both. Unlike the mega career sites and platforms, HireMyMom.com focuses strictly on home-based jobs and projects that work perfectly for today’s savvy entrepreneurs and modern small business owners just like you!

Over the past 12+ years, HireMyMom has helped thousands of small businesses find the perfect candidate for their projects while helping place thousands of mom professionals in their dream jobs. We do that by providing a platform that brings the best group of qualified and passionate women together with the best group of successful and growing companies who are looking for highly qualified virtual professionals with skills, experience and expertise. 

 

Why Post Your Jobs Hire My Mom

We all know….. Moms are awesome. Moms are reliable. Moms are dependable. And moms make great virtual employees or contractors.

FACT: Over 5.4 million mothers put their careers on hold to stay home with children*. That adds up to a lot of talented women with experience, education, skills and the motivation to find flexible work that can be done from their home office. (*Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

  • Save time.
  • Save money.
  • Save on office space and office equipment.
  • Save Your SANITY!
  • We do NOT take any commissions from You or our Job Seekers!
  • You will have more time to focus on your clients and improve your business.
  • Your project or job is posted to our entire pool of talented work from home candidates saving you valuable time.
  • You save money by not paying high salaries and benefits for traditional employees.
  • You interview, evaluate and decide which candidate is best suited for your business (or you may choose our Small Business Concierge program and allow us to do it all for you).
  • We provide the candidates. You provide the work. We get out of the way.
  • We’ve been around since 2007, and as moms and entrepreneurs ourselves, we are committed to helping small businesses, entrepreneurs and moms find mutual success!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

Who are HireMyMom Professionals?

They are talented, experienced freelance professionals looking for real work from home jobs in a variety of fields including:

  • virtual assistants / administrative assistants,
  • blogger / writers / editors,
  • social media marketers,
  • marketing / public relations / advertising, 
  • legal & real estate assistants,
  • researchers,
  • graphic designers,
  • accounting / bookkeeping / payroll,
  • web designers,
  • customer service reps / sales,
  • e-commerce specialists,
  • human resources, and more!

POST YOUR JOB NOW!

 

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February 4, 2019 0 Comments

3 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring a Virtual Professional

Hiring someone to work for you off-site means you don’t have the luxury of meeting them or training them in person. And because of that, there are some things you should know to help make the working relationship more successful from the start.

Don’t hire by the resume alone

Hiring someone is more than just their experience on a piece of paper. You’ll want to interview over Zoom, Skype or similar tool that allows you to meet them face to face.

Ask how they manage working independently? What other jobs have they had working virtually for someone? What mistakes did they make? What did they learn?  Ask them about their organization skills and how they organize their day? What motivates them? What distracts them? Also be sure to talk to their references to get a feel for how they viewed the quality of their work.

Always ask for references and check them! You’ll want to know what type of employee (or contractor) they were. Were they reliable? Did they do a good job? What areas did they not do so good in? Are they trustworthy? Would they hire them again?

Request a background check through SafetyPin (Digital Trust Badge) especially if they will be dealing with private or sensitive information or have access to any private information.

 

Don’t assume they’ll know how you want it done

Before you hire virtual help, be clear about what you want done, how and when you want it done. The more clear you can be and the more meticulous your instructions, the better opportunity your new hire has of understanding and succeeding at this new role.

Create a Google Doc and add procedures and instructions that can be modified and added to the role develops.  The more implicit your instructions, the better chance you have of someone doing things how you want them done.

 

Don’t neglect to check in

For the first month or two, plan to check in regularly about progress and questions. You should be able to tell pretty quickly if the work is being done correctly. If not, determine what changes need to be made. Set parameters, guidelines and/or deadlines that need to be met.

Set up ways to monitor their progress going forward. You may want them to copy you on emails if they are responding on behalf of your business or send weekly reports of tasks completed so that you can check them initially to make sure the job is being done correctly and has been understood. If applicable, use collaboration tools such as Slack, Basecamp, Asana or Trello so that you can monitor, collaborate and train as needed.

Progress checks and regular communication are the main keys to success once you’ve hired your virtual professional. Follow these tips and your chances of success will skyrocket!

If you are looking for a virtual professional, be sure to check out the awesome talent on HireMyMom.com.

And don’t forget we offer, our personal “Small Business Concierge Service” which includes:

    • consultation to learn about the position,
    • writing a professional, descriptive and thorough job post,
    • posting the job on our website (once approved by client),
    • reviewing all applicant resumes and cover letters, including a check of LinkedIn to reality check the resume.
    • Scheduling interviews – Reach out to selected candidates, coordinate interview scheduling,
    • Interviews -prep & conduct interviews, record interview notes, save interview recordings, etc. ,
    • Select top candidate(s) to pass along to client, write candidate summaries, upload interview video file(s) to Dropbox, email client with resume, summary and link to video file.
    • Follow up with client, answer questions about candidates, etc.
    • Wrap-up – Send turndown email to candidates interviewed but not selected, etc. along with final notes.

Contact us for details!

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May 8, 2017 0 Comments

5 Tips for Hiring for the First Time

Hiring can often come with a lot of pressure – managing the job posting, interviewing, and hiring the right person can be a daunting experience.

Although many managers and employers are pros at this, what if you’re hiring for the first time?  Read along for some best practices in hiring as a novice.  With the right preparation and mindset, you can be sure that you’re on your way to hiring successful candidates. If you prefer to have someone do this for you, check out HireMyMom’s Concierge Service.

Create the right post

Creating the right job posting is key in attracting the right candidates and fully understanding what you’re seeking.  It’s important to be thorough when creating the position, including necessary skill set, education, experience level, pay, and more.  If you forget key components or realize too late that you are seeking a certain type of person, you may have to go through several rounds of the hiring process.

Save yourself some time, effort, and expense by nailing the job description from the beginning.  This also includes using the right posting sites that avoid spam.  More reputable sites help to weed out spam hirees, as well as have your post seen by serious applicants.

Be prepared

When it comes time for the interviews, be sure that you’re prepared.  This will also reduce time spent on interviews that weren’t properly organized and stalled the hiring process.  Begin by asking the right questions, which would feature a good mix of past experience, knowledge of the job position and company, and personality fit questions.

Be prepared for conversations and negotiations around pay as well, and know which response is appropriate for your company.

Make sure you’re thorough

By being prepared and organized, you’ll be well on your way to being thorough in the hiring process.  It might be helpful to start by coming up with your own screening process, and create a checklist around this.

To begin, ensure that each applicant has contributed every material that was asked for.  If they have, look at every aspect of their cover letter and resume for keywords and matching qualities and experience that fit the job position.  You might have a kind of criteria that must be met, which allows you to adhere to your posting and make smart hiring decisions.

Be a great listener

It takes more than a checklist to make smart hiring decisions – you also have to be sure that you’re hearing everything accurately.  Listen to what each applicant says – or doesn’t say.

Do they know about your company and enough about the position?  Are they a great person but not a fit?  Listen closely to ensure that you’re truly hearing what the prospect is saying correctly.  It can be easy to jive with a personality, when the skills or lacking.  On the other side, someone might be great on paper but not a personality fit to your brand.  Listen closely to what is being said!

Set expectations

Unmet expectations can be the cause of many problems, especially in hiring.  It’s best to let your potential hire what’s going on from the very beginning.  Is there a trial period for this position?  How are tasks evaluated?  Does this position require tracking time? Do you report daily?

Make sure job and communication expectations are set up early to avoid any issues. Also, be sure to let your new hire in on time frames and deadlines for starting up, since that’s typically the most frantic part of any new job.

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