Guide to Staffing a Startup Without Hiring

Cash flow is precious when you start a business. Hiring staff can be costly: there's salaries and payroll costs, but you'll also be concerned about paying staff regularly when you lack confidence in future revenues. You want quality people in the business but may lack the resources to attract them. However, there are many ways to get the skills you need, while avoiding permanent recruitment. Some will be available for free, while others will require only small or occasional costs.
The functions open to the recruitment of a virtual team include:

1. Strategy, through an advisory board or peer group of entrepreneurs;
2. Planning, via students in an MBA program;
3. Finance, by getting help from a retired accountant/banker or using a contract bookkeeper;
4. Publicity, by using template software for business stationery and distribute press releases online and asking local newspaper or trade magazine journalists for help;
5. Public relations, by empowering all those you deal with to be messengers;
6. Sales, by using commission-only sales people or brokers, or sell via Internet;
7. Research & development, first and foremost by using customers to help or find academics interested in your field;
8. Office management, by office-sharing (e.g., reception, post room) or using virtual assistants;
9. Computing, by using Open Source or Web-based software and upgraded tech support;
10. Production, by sub-contracting, joint-venturing and collaboration;
11. Administration/legal, by going direct to public officials for advice, using business process outsourcing (BPO), getting legal forms and services online (e.g., incorporation).

And in all cases, not only use your own contacts or people in your immediate vicinity, but use the Web. There you'll find answers to almost any question and in many cases, you'll also find help, support and many free services. There are a lot of people out there dedicated to helping businesses to get going.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get yourself organized to recruit 'virtual' staff

Make a table of the skills or experience your business needs right now; Evaluate your own skills honestly and decide how best to use them; Work out what skills, experience or opportunities you can offer in return; Identify gaps in your own knowledge and the skills you need.

I recommend: Setting up a simple grid and keeping it close at hand, so that when you do encounter the need for a particular skill or experience, you have it to hand. You can get one free at Savvy Organization and you'll find other useful ideas there, too.

Network in an organized way to access the best resources

Create a networking list of abilities from the people you know or can easily identify; Consider what could you offer or get using barter; Look for 'rainmakers'—people who can make sales for you; the people whose opinions are sought; Evaluate the possibilities for outsourcing or collaboration with others with similar needs; Find out what educational institutions would be interested in sending you interns; Bookmark Web services that you can get for free, low cost or on an as-needed basis.

I recommend: You will often think, "who was that person..." when you want something done, but you just can't recall who it was. Avoid scrappy bits of paper to record things. There a super tool that you can use for this; it's called EverNote - an intuitive note management application that gives you a single place for the easy input, organization and quick retrieval of all types of notes and content clippings. It's free, but with EverNote Plus you can conveniently capture and quickly find typed or handwritten memos; excerpts from Web pages, emails and other documents; passwords, phone messages, To-Do's, brainstorms, sketches, snapshots, and more. EverNote Plus even allows you to find words in handwritten notes.

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Think about what you can offer in return to those who can help you; it may just be 'interest' if, for example you are approaching a retiree, or 'maximizing his income' if it concerns sharing a bookkeeper with another small employer.
• When you approach someone for help, be specific and ask open questions, not ones that have only the answer 'yes' or 'no' and make a clear 'contract' with them about how you can work together.
• Work out in advance what medium will work best for you and the virtual staff member: face-to-face, telephone or email.
• Think about short-term contract or part-time employment that you could offer to 'returners to work' or 'mid-term career changers' who can see learning advantages.
• Remember that the virtual staff member is not on the payroll; avoid unreasonable expectations and don't overload the person with data; think carefully about the pros and cons of hiring independent contractors and make sure of the legal aspects.
• Have a good means of recording feedback, information or methods. Virtual staff won't be pleased to be asked the same question a second time. Think about using a spreadsheet on which you can record communication with each virtual staff member so that you avoid being a pain to them.
• Consider whether any members of your virtual staff could network together for their advantage and yours.
• Be open to the temporary nature of some of the virtual staff members association with you; either they or you may not want to be permanently involved.
• Think carefully about the pros and cons of hiring independent contractors and make sure of the legal aspects.
• Acknowledge that one of the purposes of having non-payroll members of the team is to free you up to concentrate on the essentials.