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Take your time and be prepared to work hard while you seek out good people. I made lots of mistakes because I was always in a hurry. I had two stores open from 5 AM to 11 PM during the holidays. I needed people. The mistake I made was moving too fast. The price I paid was an incredibly large number of w-2's. Go slow, hire good people. Wait for them to come along. If you don't have good people you can't expand peacefully and safely and profitably. Run a basic newspaper ad: Help Wanted, great business, great customers, $8 hour, plus incentives, advancement, medical benefits, and free coffee, come to my store. Better if you can pay $10 or more. Lincoln Electric is a welding company in Cleveland, Ohio. They never lay people off. Well, if you have been there for three years, you get lifetime employment. (Time Magazine, June 18, 2001, page 40.) This is a a great idea. The staff have to agree to do anything at any time. One day they may weld, one day they may sell, one day they may clean the lot. Their people make $30,000 plus incentives and the incentives were over $17,000. How can this be? Ditto for you. Hire flexible people who will jump to clean because they know it is there business life that depends upon it. Hire flexible people who can bake, make and shake. Bake the bagels, make the coffee or sandwich, and shake the blender for a super tasting chai. Remember this: we want people who can bake, make and shake. "Shake it up baby, twist and shout - come on". There is so much wisdom in this song. These are the people you need. Smiling, twisting, shouting, happy, helping, imaginative, hard working, well balanced. Any hint of drugs, alcohol, lateness, persistent tardiness where the bake is not done on time, any hint of these things - move on it. Don't wait. If money on the counter ends in the tip jar, move on it. Don't wait. If you have shortages every day. Don't wait. The problem is you will have to fill in, or you have to have reserves to fill in, so hire well. Hire slow. Take you time. The time to wait is when you are hiring. The time to not wait is when you think you have a problem. If you think it, it probably is right. Trust your gut, trust your judgment, act on it.
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