HR Essentials for Building Successful Businesses

5 HR Essentials Blog Series

Image source: Kingdom of Style

Pyjama-clad Solopreneur rapidly on the way to becoming the authority in your niche.Basement-based billionairein-the-making busily creating a product that solves the business pains of your growing customer base.Niche Freelancer looking to free up some of your time to focus on scaling up your business by partnering or hiring other service providers.Foodie creator of deliciousness looking to expand your business from your Kitchen Table to a new location so you can interact more with your tribe of followers and customers. Fantastic! You are immersed in setting up your operation and creating ways to boost your business.But Wait!Don’t sabotage your progress and sink chances to grow your business by ignoring these HR business essentials. You rock and so should your business!I have created this 5 Part HR Essentials Blog Post Series especially for you.Starting today, this guide will help you focus on HR strategies and processes that make sense, dodge commonly made mistakes and avoid the terror the HR Horrors.Each week,  I will serve up actionable tips in each post to help you build a solid HR foundation for your growing business.You will benefit from:

• Knowledge gained from property and business start-up client work that we do at Aquarius.

• Lessons learned from digging clients out of the dark pit of pressure and pain caused by HR mistakes. We do owe them a debt of gratitude because you can now benefit from a wealth of how-to insights and pitfalls to avoid. They shall remain nameless to save their blushes.

HR Essential #1: Purpose Power

Image source: Excerpt from 'The Purpose Economy', by Aaron Hurst

What is the purpose of your business? This is the first question you must ask yourself AND answer.Too many new business owners and founders get bogged down with the daily minutia of getting the work done and generating revenue. They fail to pull their business purpose from inside their heads and communicate it clearly to the outside world.When you know and share exactly what you are working toward and how you will serve your customers (what pain will you solve and/or what aspirations will you help them achieve); it is much easier to direct your work and people (customers, service providers, employees) toward that goal.This is a first important step in defining the special features and personality of your brand.

MISSION AND VISION—Where you’re going and why.STRATEGY—How you’re going to get there.TACTICS—What you do along the way.

“You can’t start buying the ergonomic chairs until you know why you need them.”-Bernadette Jiwa

How to Avoid the Terror of the HR Horrors

Image source: The Scream by Edvard Munch via Wikicommons

In the early crazy days of growing your business, it is likely that you will not have the time nor budget to create a whole suite of job descriptions/role profiles, interview material and other HR material. Even if you do, the details will change a lot in the early days as you work towards defining your business needs.

"Purpose and human capital could build a great business."Aaron Hurst, 'The Purpose Economy'.

This is where a clear purpose statement can help build the strong HR foundation your business needs to succeed.Here are 5 HR benefits of creating and communicating a straightforward business purpose. By ensuring all you HR related activities are anchored and connected to the spirit and meaning of your purpose, you will be able to:1. Set clear goals and expectations by keeping the focus on the reason why your business exists.2. Attract employees, service providers and associates who share an affinity with your company values and deter those who don’t.3. Reduce costly hiring and firing mistakes.4. Build a tribe of collaborators who are 100% focused on delivering your business promise, service or product.5. Grow an authentic brand and a profitable business.Take action today and follow this smart strategy used by savvy entrepreneurs to craft their business purpose statement.Don’t know where to begin?Dive into Pamela Wilson’s post, The Transformative Effect of a Well-Built Brand Statement.If you are serious about setting your business up for success, do the short exercise to define your brand and grow your business. (I did it and it’s actually quite fun). Watch out, it can lead to powerful results!Now that we have finished talking about the Power of Purpose as an HR Essential; share your story in the comments.come back next week when I will share with you the next commonly overlooked HR Essential on our hit list. It’s thosepesky HR costs that could bust your budget.You will not want to ignore this one!Do share this post with someone who you know will find it helpful and valuable.

Until we meet again next week down the HR Rabbit Hole…