Collaborative post – may contain affiliate links

Starting your own business can be a breeze if you know where to start. The internet has an infinite library of resources to search through and learn from, and there are plenty of services that can help you establish a professional online presence in just a couple of days. With so many easy ways to start a business, it’s no wonder that more and more people are looking to start their own small business as an alternate career path or secondary source of income.

However, while starting up a business has never been easier, it introduces another problem; competition.

Now that there are more startups than ever, it’s getting hard to stand out from the crowd. In fact, most new startups crumble after a couple of months since they fail to get customers and set expectations that are far too unrealistic. So in this post, we’re going to talk about four signs that you need to take it slow and start hiring professional assistance to grow your business.

1. There are areas of your business that need to grow, but you’re not sure how

There are always going to be certain areas of your business that you just don’t understand very well. For example, you might have a grasp on how to be a great leader and delegate to improve productivity, but that’s not going to help in terms of marketing. If you feel like there are certain weaknesses in your business, then it’s a good idea to hire a specialist to fill that gap.

2. You’re having trouble sourcing for a particular thing in your business

While a lot of new startups are completely focused on net-based business models, there are still plenty of companies that rely on a physical workspace and specialized machines. This could include anything from a floating roof tank for petroleum storage to a heat press for a t-shirt printing business. If you have certain types of equipment that are far too old or complex for you to understand, hiring a specialist is the smartest thing to do.

3. Your business has become incredibly inefficient over the past few weeks or months

It’s usually quite easy to spot inefficiencies. Perhaps your team isn’t meeting quotas, maybe they’re always distracted or perhaps they’re taking much longer on simple tasks than you would’ve expected. If you feel that your team has grown inefficient over the past few weeks or months, then you may need to start hiring specialists to grow the team, educate your current staff and grow your business.

4. You keep losing and hiring staff, costing you incredible amounts of money

A lot of people don’t realize that firing and hiring staff is expensive. That’s why a lot of companies focus on trying to retain their employees by hiring specialists that know what they’re doing. While highly skilled, they also demand higher salaries for their expertise. However, this increased cost pales in comparison to the cost of firing, re-hiring and retaining someone from scratch.