Ep. 16 - Maximize Your Team (And Pay Yourself More)
I want to talk to you today about something that's been coming up a lot—not just with my clients, but with people signing up for discovery calls.
That is: paying yourself more and thinking the answer is hiring.
I'm finding a lot of people think (and I thought this too!): "If I hire someone, they're going to generate money and then I'm going to be able to take home more money."
And that is simply not the case. I learned it the hard way. I'm teaching my clients how to avoid this mistake. And now I'd like to give you a taste of those questions you should be asking yourself so you don't make the same mistake I did.
The Real Reason You Think You Need to Hire
If you're feeling stretched thin, the phone won't stop ringing, your calendar is slammed—it feels like more hands are the only answer.
But feeling overwhelmed does not automatically mean it's time to expand your team.
The question you should be asking yourself is: Is my business actually in need of another hire, or am I just trying to solve a leadership gap with more bodies?
Think about your current team. If you don't have anyone on your team right now, then yes, it's very likely you need to hire. But I'm talking more to the spa owner who already has a team.
You're paying yourself maybe about $2,000 a month and you're making about $20-25,000 in gross revenue. This is a beautiful sweet spot that I tend to see in my clients a lot.
I think it's because that's a milestone—a turning point in your business where you have to make a decision. Is this it? Are you just going to stay where you're at or are you going to evolve into something bigger and better?
Questions You Should Be Asking Yourself (That You Might Not Be)
Are all your current team members already operating at 80% or more capacity?
I say 80% or more because once your person is at 80% capacity, it's really easy to fill in the gaps with little things.
Is that person at capacity? Have you asked them, "Hey, do you want more hours?" Because maybe that person does.
Are the gaps in efficiency, communication, or expectations all filled in?
Could that be tightened up? Do you have clear SOPs for every role so you're not the bottleneck if you do decide to hire?
Look at what you're still doing that someone else on the team could possibly take over.
This can look like going to your team member and saying, "Hey, I have some extra tasks on my plate that I would love to pass off to you or someone else. And I want to offer them to you first to give you the opportunity to have more hours."
This one little thing could be HUGE for you because what it actually does is remove the cost of a new hire. You already have that person in place. You don't have to pay any extra payroll.
It's not just saving you money in training and hiring and building trust with that new employee. It's saving you time and energy.
What You're Really Trying to Do
What you're really trying to do is pay yourself more. You want more breathing room. You want more time with your family.
But the answer is not more people. It's more performance from the people you already have.
The person listening to this is very likely in that $200-250K a year range. Your business is healthy. It's running. But it just needs refinement, not expansion.
When labor costs are aligned with productivity, you get that beautiful return on investment. They're getting paid more, you're getting paid more, and you're not throwing spaghetti at the wall.
When your team is generating more revenue per hour than they cost, and when you step out of the service provider role and into that leadership role, you free up so much mental space to strategize and put more money into your personal pocket.
That creates so much relief and ease. It's a sense of safety.
When Your Systems Work Without You
When your systems and people work without you hovering over them, you're able to work so much easier and start taking home that money you know you've worked so hard to get.
Another thing: Oftentimes what I'm seeing is that you grew really fast in a very short amount of time. You had to hire really fast. And now you're kind of steady. Well-established. But you're at this point where you might be feeling emotionally frayed, distracted.
That overwhelm? It's not solved by hiring. It's solved by simplifying what's going on right now. Reclaiming that mindset of the owner and CEO.
You're not bad at this. You can do this. You're just maybe a little burnt out. Maybe you're just tired.
But before you add another person to exhaust you a little bit further, before you start investing in another salary, start investing in your own salary. Optimize your current team.
The Hard Truth
Oftentimes I have these extremely driven, ambitious spa owners come to me. They're like, "Amanda, I am doing awesome and stellar in my gross revenue, but I'm barely paying myself, barely paying the bills. How do I do this?"
And the answer is not hiring. It is:
Optimizing your current team
Setting goals and hitting those goals
Starting to pay yourself more
Putting yourself as the priority instead of your business
If you are in a place where you're barely paying yourself to make ends meet, you cannot say yes to paying someone else until you are paying yourself more.
Hiring is not always the answer, even though that is literally what I help people do the most. It is not always the answer. It is not what is always necessary yet.
Your Next Step
If you feel like you're at a crossroads right now, I would love to invite you into a conversation. What does life look like right now? And what do you want your life to look like in the future?
Ready to create a strategy that actually pays you more?
Fill out this intake form to book a discovery call with me. We can create a strategy that's going to help you pay yourself more within the next 90 days.I am all about 90-day goal setting and making sure you're achieving those goals. We'll create that strategy together.
I will walk with you every single step of the way. And I know that success is inevitable for you.
