There’s a school of thought that says there’s a right and a wrong way to make business decisions, and deviating from tradition can lead to failure. While that might hold true for some decisions, it doesn’t hold true for all of them.
Here are three alternative options to traditional business decisions that will save you time, money, and frustration:
1. Hiring your team members
Talent and passion have proven to be more valuable than experience, according to a hiring manager who has been hiring people based on these traits for more than 17 years. Talent and drive are the most overlooked qualities during interviews, yet they are the two qualities that all A-players have.
When you need to hire someone with specific technical skills, conventional wisdom will guide you to post ads in various publications, as well as browse sources of collected resumes in search of your next A-player. When you’re not an expert in the field you need to hire someone for, making decisions based on a general list of skills isn’t always the smartest idea.
When you post ads with what you perceive to be a list of the technical skills required to do the job, you might be asking for skills that will never be used in your company. For example, if your website runs on WordPress, requiring your website developer to be certified in Python, ColdFusion, and Ruby on Rails makes no sense. Even if you want to redesign your website or build further applications, only a programmer would be qualified to determine which language should be used to build your new projects.
Instead, hire a programmer as a consultant first. Share your ideas and vision with them and ask them to tell you what qualifications and skills you should look for in the developer you want to hire for your project. They’ll save you from potentially hiring the wrong person, and not finding out until months later when your project goes south.
2. Getting small tasks done quickly
There are businesses today that charge a monthly fee for “unlimited” outsourcing services for graphic design and other tasks. This sounds like the perfect deal because when you discuss graphic design projects with most designers, they’ll charge you hundreds or thousands of dollars for one, small design. The result, however, is that you usually end up getting what you want, and sometimes they’ll exceed your expectations.
It will cost money to outsource work to a professional graphic designer, but when you do, you get the high quality results you want. It’s not always about technical skills. Professional graphic designers know how to capture their clients’ vision, and that’s something that can only be learned through extensive experience. That’s what you’re paying for.
The problem with outsourcing graphic design cheaply instead of working with a professional designer is that you’ll spend too much time going back and forth with revisions, and they may never fully capture your vision. After you’ve invested your time and money in a design that barely meets your requirements, you’ll either need to scrap the entire project or settle for a poor result. At that point, you’ll realize the importance of hiring a professional, and you’ll wish you had done so from the beginning.
3. Taking out a small business loan
While you can opt for traditional business loans, sometimes unconventional methods can save you money and put money in your pocket faster.
Most business owners have come to accept the undesirable aspects of taking out a loan as “the cost of doing business.” For example, lengthy paperwork, waiting months for approval, and the need to provide collateral are all unavoidable components of most traditional business loans.
Whether you’re applying for a loan from a marketplace lender, a bank, or the SBA, you’ll be subject to things like strict approval requirements, limited capital, and penalties for paying your loan off early.
There’s a better way to fund your small business. It’s possible for small businesses to access lines of credit for immediate access to capital through a company called Kabbage. In 2015, it was listed as one of Inc.’s 500 fastest growing companies in the nation.
As seen in this Kabbage review, approval only takes minutes, and you don’t have to use the entire amount you’re approved for – you can use what you need as you need it.
Kabbage can provide you with immediate access to capital even if you have less than perfect credit (as long as you’ve been in business for at least a year and meet certain requirements). Although the interest rates are high, if you don’t meet the requirements set by other lenders and you need immediate capital, it’s well worth it.
