Finding someone to run my business who will earn their own wage

I wonder if you can advise. I have a media buying agency/marketing events company with a niche market in advertising to the education. I do mainly national projects. Weve worked for several big names and for other agencies.

My long term plan is to find someone who will take on and build the company while I get on with some other business interests.

My background is in education which is where the niche is but I know I have a gap in the marketing side ie how you grow the company away from me being the expert into it being a saleable entity in itself.

Anyone got any thoughts how I can go about either finding someone who would work to build up the company and/or how to make it a company less dependent on moi?

Thanks!

My advice would be to do it step by step.  If you try to take someone on full time to quickly take over your role there are plenty of things that could go wrong.  Existing clients might feel palmed off, the recruit may seem to be doing really well then quit 6 months later, or they might just learn how you do things, set up in competition and try to poach all your clients.

If it were me, I'd take on someone part time and slowly pass some of the tasks to them.  In the very short term you'll end up with more work to do, but after a couple of months it should free up some of your time to start doing other things whislt still very much keeping a finger in your existing business...so to speak.

Good luck with it though, very liberating if you can achieve it (and assuming the business makes more money than the person's salary!)

Tim, could I ask one very important question ..........

How systemised is this business, please?

If you have created a system and documented the same, then it is possible to find an interim manager to come in and run the business for you on a fixed term contract with a built in performance bonus. There are plenty of companies who will then find the right person that fits the needs of your business.

Thanks for the advice, Chris and Laurence. Wise council.

I shall set about documenting the processes as you suggest, Laurance.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply : )

Tim

Good to talk to you earlier.  Whilst my firm offers a lot of business mentoring, I think what you are trying to achieve fits precisely with Phil Cheesman's offering.  I have passed your details on to him and suggested he contacts you.

You can find loads of South Wales 4N'ers who will give glowing testimonials for Phil and his programme, and he's a really good bloke too.

Best of luck

Peter

 

 

Spot on advice from Lawrence!  If you're into business books, have a look at "The E-myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber.  It's excellent on this subject and is rightly rated by the Wall Street Journal as the most influencial business book of all time.  I'll contact you separately Tim to see if I can help you achieve your goal.

Many thanks to Peter for such a glowing testimonial.

Its all about delegation and systems, would a Management Buy Out be an option?

Once you've created your systems (as some have recommended) it might be worth looking to LinkedIn to find your possible candidates Tim.