When to Hire for Your Web Design Business (&Who to Hire First)
Scaling your web design business (or any small biz!) is exciting, but at some point, you can’t do it all alone. Whether you're just starting out or deep into the growth phase, knowing when—and how—to hire your first team member is a game-changer for building a more efficient and profitable business. 💼 👩💻
But when is the right time to bring someone on? Who should you hire first? And how do you make sure your team actually supports your workflow instead of making things more complicated (and chaotic)?
To break it all down, we sat down with website design and online business expert Paige Brunton. She’s sharing her best advice on hiring your first team member, finding the right fit, and making the process stress-free. ✨
By the end, you’ll feel confident, excited, and ready to take this next step in your web design journey. 🚀
Watch the full interview or keep reading below!
Contractor vs. Employee: What's the Difference and Which One Should I Hire?
When making your first hire, one of the biggest questions or concerns is usually whether to hire a contractor or an employee.
A lot of the time, new business owners don’t even really know the difference between the two which can cause confusion and intimidation. So, here’s a simple breakdown:
Contractors: Independent workers who typically have multiple clients in addition to you. You hire them for specific projects (ex: blog writing, email marketing, etc.) or a set number of hours per week, and they handle their own taxes, benefits, and work schedule.
Employees: Work solely (or mostly) for your business and are usually entitled to benefits, insurance, and legal protections.
Important! The differentiation between an employee and a contractor (and the laws and regulations for each) can change depending on the country you live in, so it’s worth looking into the rules for where the person you’re hiring lives! It’s not necessarily your own country’s rules, it’s where they are located that matters.
For most businesses, independent contractors are going to be your best bet (especially for your first hire), as they offer more flexibility, lower commitment, and fewer legal complexities.
You might just start out this way, or you might decide that it’s what’s best for your business long term. For example, we’ve only ever hired contractors, because it’s just a lot easier for us and works perfectly for our needs!
Paige has also only worked with contractors, but does feel that there is a point where it makes sense to hire employees.
“This might be a down-the-road thing, but once you get to the point where you really need someone to do full time hours, that’s the point at which I would say it’s really worth considering an employee as opposed to a contractor, because you can’t have a contractor work crazy hours.”
At the end of the day, employees are a bit more of a commitment and an investment of your time while contractors are easier to bring in and can be a great way to ease into the hiring process!
When is the Right Time to Hire?
Building your team can sometimes feel like a balancing act! Hiring people too early can be unnecessary and possibly cause you some financial strain, whereas hiring too late can lead to burnout and missed opportunities.
It’s also important to make sure that you have your organizational ducks in a row before bringing someone new into the mix.
If your systems and processes are all over the place (or non-existent), it’s going to be difficult to onboard someone and easily teach them what they need to know in order to do their job!
As Paige says - “There is a way that we take a web design project from start to finish, and it is a repeatable thing with a list that can be checked off. So if you don't have those [systems] in place, I would start working on those first, because if you bring someone into a mess, it's just going to get messier.”
So when that’s all said and done, how do you actually know that it’s the right time to hire? Here are some signs to look out for:
You’re at full capacity: If you’re struggling to meet deadlines or find yourself turning down new clients that you would otherwise love to work with, it might be time to hire!
You’re making a good profit: When you get to the point where you’re making enough money to pay someone and still make a profit, it’s a great time to consider hiring.
You’re spending too much time on tasks that don’t make you money: Every business needs good admin, customer service, bookkeeping, etc. But these things don’t bring in money and can also be easily outsourced. So, if you find yourself spending way too much time on these things, it’s probably time to consider hiring.
👉 How to get your very first clients in your online design biz
Which Position Should You Hire First?
Now that you have a better understanding of when to start hiring, how do you decide which position you should bring on first?
A common misconception among website designers is that bringing on another website designer is going to make your life so much easier. Don’t worry, we thought the exact same thing in the beginning!
Paige says - “Often they think, okay, I’m a website designer and I don’t have any more time to do website design projects or I can’t take on any more projects because I’m at capacity so, therefore, I need to hire another website designer and that is actually the wrong thing to do!”
The problem with this, is that web design is a high paying role AND the thing that you love to do the most. So, bringing on another designer is not only going to cost you more money, but it’s ultimately not going to give you support in the areas where you really need it. In other words, you’ll end up doing less design (because you hired someone to help you) but the same amount of admin work!
Instead, you should consider these two main things when you want to hire someone:
Hourly Value: Think about the hourly value for each task within your business. Website design might be a $50-$100 per hour task whereas bookkeeping or customer service might be $20-$30 per hour tasks. Make a list of every task and its hourly value.
Enjoyment: Which tasks do you enjoy doing yourself and which ones do you absolutely hate? Make a list of all the things you don’t enjoy doing and would rather outsource.
Once you’ve asked yourself these questions and have a really good understanding of where you stand on both, compare your lists and find the task that meets in the middle of the cheapest dollar amount and what you don’t enjoy the most.
This is the first thing that you should consider hiring for!
How to Combat the Financial Fear that comes with Hiring Someone
With new team members comes the risk and the fear that you could potentially lose money if something goes wrong or if you don’t manage things correctly.
Bottom line, the financial commitment of hiring someone is scary. There’s really no getting around that! Fortunately though, while nothing is guaranteed, there are some ways that you can ensure (as much as possible) that bringing someone on is not going to lose you money and instead actually be financially worthwhile.
Utilize your new free time to the fullest. The tasks that you’re hiring for at first (admin, bookkeeping, customer service, etc.) are not going to be money generating tasks, so you should really use the time you’ve gotten back by hiring someone to focus fully on your bread & butter services. This will allow those things to remain constant and successful for you, and maybe you’ll even be able to add a new product or take on an extra client with your new free time!
Take time to calculate what is realistic for you to spend. Don’t get caught up in what you think you should be paying someone. Instead, figure out how long it takes for you to do certain tasks and then hire someone with that specific scope in mind (ex: start with only 5 hours of work per week rather than giving an open ended amount). This allows you to predict how much you’ll be spending so that there are no surprises. Keep in mind that at first, it might take someone a bit longer to complete something, but after a month or two they should be right on track with your projections.
It can also be a little stressful to set specific boundaries with new hires, even if it’s a boundary that will end up saving you money!
But one thing Paige wants to reassure people of is that “it’s very normal in a contractor relationship to be like, it’s this many hours that we’ve set aside for you, or we want you to do this many hours a week and then if you need to go over that, you need to come tell me first. So it doesn’t get out of hand without you knowing. That is something you can tell people and it can be in your contract that this is the allotted number of hours and you need to talk to me if you have to go past this.”
At the end of the day, this is your livelihood and you need to do what’s best for your business and what makes you feel the most stable. So, take as much time as you need to figure out how you can comfortably make things work, and then be confident in your offer!
How to Hire the Right Person
If you’re worried about being able to find the right person for the job, the answer is simple!
Take if from Paige - “The right person is the right person for the specific thing you’re hiring for. I hate bookkeeping, I have no interest, I’m awful at it, and some people absolutely get a kick out of going into QuickBooks and clicking things, and that’s great. So, if that’s what you’re hiring for, you want to find someone who absolutely gets so much joy out of spreadsheets and QuickBooks.”
On the other hand, if you’re looking at someone for a social media role and they mention that they don’t even have an Instagram account, that’s definitely the wrong person for that particular role.
The success of someone in a job is going to come down to how much their natural interests and talents align with that specific position. It’s not that someone is terrible, they just might not be perfect for what you need and that’s totally okay!
So, how do you determine if someone is perfect for the job? First, get really clear about what it is that you’re looking for (not just job specific but personality and values as well) and then ask a lot of questions.
When conducting interviews, get specific and really dive into what the person enjoys and what they want to be doing, because if you can find someone that is qualified AND passionate, it’s going to be a dream for you.
Here are some questions and topics you might consider bringing up to a potential new hire:
Tell me about the top three tasks that you’ve enjoyed most at past jobs. The ones where you get lost in the flow and lose track of time when you’re doing them.
If you could pick any job in the world, what would it be? And it can’t be the job you’re hiring for!
If you suddenly got $20 million tomorrow, what would you change with your life?
What do you like to do on the weekend?
What’s your personal relationship like with Instagram (if you’re hiring for a social media role)
These questions are going to help you figure out what the person is actually like and what they are really interested in, while also helping to determine if they’re a good fit for your brand and will work well with you and anybody else you might hire down the line.
It’s also important to be confident about the specifics of the role you’re hiring for, and what exactly you want this person to be doing with their time or how you want them to fit into your system!
“It’s also figuring out, what is the process in your business and how can you have an absolute minimal number of people in one situation.”
You want to hire people that will make your life easier, right?! So hiring someone who will be able to take on all aspects of a role (vs small bits here and there) is going to be a lifesaver and the questions above will help you determine that.
👉 Biz lessons learned in 2024: Hiring Great People Takes Time. A lot of Time
Where to look for Potential Hiring Candidates
When you’re ready to get the ball rolling and find potential candidates for your first new hire, there are a few different places you can go.
Your Email List: If you have an existing audience, this is a great place to advertise your new position! These are the people who are most invested in what you do and could be a great fit.
Courses & Other Educational Resources: Find courses or classes out there that are teaching people how to do the position you’re looking for and reach out to the creator. For example, if you’re hiring a virtual assistant, find a “how to” virtual assistant course and email the instructor to see if they’d be willing to notify their community about your job listing.
Freelance Platforms: Platforms like Upwork can be really great for finding independent contractors for very specific job types. Plus, sites like this allow you to communicate with people all over the world, so you’re not necessarily limited by location which is perfect for finding remote workers.
You should also utilize all contacts and connections you have to see if anyone already knows of someone who would be a good fit or is willing to share your job listing with their community!
How to Know if You’ve made a bad Hiring Decision
Hiring can, honestly, be a lot like dating. Sometimes it takes a few bad apples to find what you’re looking for. And when you end up with someone who’s really great and treats you well, you’ll realize just how lacking the previous relationships were!
But what if you’re hiring for the first time and you haven’t yet had the chance to see what a great worker looks like?
First, make sure that you’ve been doing everything you need to do on your end to train them and guide them as a new hire, and that you’re being realistic with your expectations.
“I do think you have to take some responsibility, or half the responsibility probably, and train them. You do have to be a bit patient because it does take a little while for people to get up to scratch with your business. And also, you need to be giving the right sort of feedback and nurturing their learning in your business.”
However, there might be a tipping point where you’ve poured everything you can into them and there’s still something off. Here are some signs to look for:
You find yourself constantly complaining to your family or friends about this person
You find it hard to complete your own work because you’re always answering their questions or managing them
You have to remind them to do something multiple times
Their work is often being completed with the same mistakes
They are always missing deadlines
If you notice any of these things happening (or anything similar that is recurring and less than desirable), it might be a sign that you made a poor hiring decision and need to head back to the drawing board!
It’s also important to note that you should always listen to your gut. If something feels off to you, even after you’ve given it a fair chance to thrive, listen to your intuition and make decisions accordingly.
Should you Implement Test Projects when Hiring?
The short answer, YES!
In our opinion, test projects are essential to the hiring process. As Paige says - “An interview is one thing and then actual work is a completely different thing. So, I’ve learned overtime, get them to do actual work.”
You should definitely still do an interview so that you can meet the person face to face and ask them all of the questions we previously talked about, but you should also really consider taking things a step further.
Think about what the person would be doing in this new job and then think about how you can easily test them on that exact thing.
Here are a couple of examples:
Tech Test: Have them create a Squarespace trial and then create a landing page for a specific opt-in gift that you provide for them. With this, you’re testing how well they work with the Squarespace platform, how efficiently they can create a landing page and how closely it meets your brand’s standards.
Design Test: Have them create a design in Canva for an opt-in gift that you provide for them. With this, you’re testing how their design style matches with yours
Customer Service Test: Provide them with three example questions that have actually come into your inbox and ask them to write out a reply for each as if they were responding to the customer. With this, you’re testing how well they can respond to a real customer message as well as whether or not their voice/approach is a good fit
For some longer test projects, you might pay the person (specifically if it’s something that you’d actually end up using) and for others you might only be looking to get a better idea of how the person is going to perform.
Ultimately, you want to get a really clear picture of how this potential candidate works and whether or not their style fits what you’re looking for. And if you spend the time (and potentially money) doing this upfront, it is going to be so worth it!
“Time and money spent on hiring correctly is probably the biggest investment you can make into your business.”
It’s better to figure out up-front if someone can actually do what they’re saying in an interview, rather than waiting months to find out that they aren’t as skilled as you thought.
At the end of the day, going through the hiring process for the first time is always going to feel a little bit daunting, but once you have good team members it is truly life changing!
You can actually scale your business and spend more time doing things that you want to do. And it really doesn’t have to be a big scary thing. Start with part-time contractors, make sure all of your systems are in place and then follow all of the steps we laid out in the post above and you should be on your way to hiring like a pro.
If you're interested in learning more about what it takes to have a successful web design biz, Paige is offering a completely free, "Profitable & Productive Bootcamp” March 31st to April 2nd! It's basically a roadmap for web designers to follow if they want a successful business without the stress of having to figure it all out on their own. It'll be a jam-packed 3 days–you seriously don't want to miss it! Save your seat here!
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How to get more website design clients - with industry expert Paige Brunton
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