How to hire devs for your automation agency
  • This is my process. It's not the only way to get there, just what I did (scaled writing agency to $92K/mo, $72K/mo with automation)
  • Take what makes sense to you out of this video and discard whatever isn't relevant
  • No gatekeeping, I'll show you everything
"Delegate" is not always the answer
  • Most people try and hire ASAP because the prevailing attitude is "delegate!"
  • So they hire as quickly as they can and don't put much thought into it
  • In practice this leads to more work, not less
  • Not only do you end up doing the same job, you also have to manage and train someone + you're also paying someone $X,000/month to waste your time
  • After 3 months the new hire leaves bc you have shitty mgmt practices → you've now wasted all the time/energy you invested in them + the opportunity cost of your capital + the opportunity cost of your time
  • You start from square 1 again → your business never grows
Hiring for an agency is hard
  • Second to customer acquisition, it's the most involved part of the average agency
  • Mostly because of incentives:
  • People are driven to lie through their teeth to get your job
  • Resumes tell you jack shit
  • Interviews are deceptive and frankly not a good indicator of fit
  • "Talk the talk" vs "Walk the walk"
  • In order to do it well, you need to put a lot of thought into it
  • Basically: this isn't something you solve in 5 mins with an Upwork job post
Hire last, not first
  • Because of this, my recommendation is to hire last
  • Don't hire until you absolutely have to and you've explored all other options
  • I.e can't reasonably fulfill your work on time anymore and thinking of hiring? Don't until you've (at minimum) tried:
  • Productizing your service
  • Automating fulfillment
  • Building a better PM process
  • Patching holes in your delivery
  • Finding easier/better/nicer clients to begin with
  • All of these usually deliver a higher ROI
  • They also increase your leverage and productive capacity
  • Now you have systems → this lets hire the right person for less (since more of the role's intellectual capacity is in the system and not the person) + this lets them do better, faster, more, etc
OK: agency hiring principles
  • The only way to evaluate how someone will do at the job is to have them do the job
  • Interviews are mostly bullshit—only have one if you've already decided to hire them
  • If something doesn't add up don't hire
  • Finding new talent takes 5% the time & money that onboarding/training/investing/offboarding does
  • This doesn't mean demand perfection, but it does mean trust your gut
  • Look for an internal locus of control ← #1 best predictor of job success
  • Skill is important, but raw talent is much more important
  • Beware overspecialization—i.e your graphic designer should still be able to write
  • Align incentives wherever possible (%, commission, bonus)
  • You absolutely need an onboarding sequence to kick off their work right
The only way to evaluate how someone will do at the job is to have them do the job
  • Get them to literally do the job you're hiring them for
  • Yes, you'll have to pay them. Yes, this costs money
  • But it costs 1% of the money you lose when you don't have this
  • Ex: pay people $50 to do a test. Take a real project scope from a client with names omitted. Give this to them and have them recreate it. Candidate inserts their time, adds a brief retrospective to the form, adds their payment info, you get dozens of hours saved, they get a little job. Win-win.
Interviews are mostly bullshit—only have one if you've already decided to hire them
  • Most agency hiring goes like this: put up job post, read resumes, call interesting candidates, book interview, hire
  • This is fundamentally broken—many people are great at talking and shitty at working or vice-versa
  • Instead, only have an interview if they've already done your job (above) to your liking and you're convinced you'll hire them
If something doesn't add up don't hire
  • It takes at minimum one week for someone to get up and running (usually a month)
  • It also takes your time, your pre-existing team's time, your client's time, etc
  • Cost of hiring in the first month is usually their salary x 3
  • If something in your gut says not to hire this person, then don't. Assuming $5K/mo salary you save ~$15K downside in Month 1 alone. You can just find someone else—it'll take 1/10th the time and money
Look for an internal locus of control
  • What is an internal locus of control? "To change, I must change myself"
  • The ability to take responsibility for one's shortcomings is extraordinarily rare
  • Everyone struggles with this, myself included:
  • Business isn't succeeding? It's the market, too hard so no clients
  • Haven't lost weight? It's the weather, too shitty so no runs
  • Poor relationships? It's their fault, too judgmental so no friends
  • In reality most things in your life are your fault
  • But that also means most successes are yours to claim
  • Hires with an internal locus of control improve dramatically over time and consistently progress
  • Test this by adding a few sample questions to your job form
Skill is important, but raw talent is much better
  • Many skilled people out there are nightmares to work with
  • Search for ppl with internal loci that are smart
  • Even if they don't know 100% of the job skills they'll learn it in 1/10th the time and their penchant for work will balance the scales within the first month or two
Beware overspecialization
  • The worst agencies I see are those that have 50 hires for one task
  • I.e: Figma Designer creates mockups → Webflow Designer takes those mockups and makes a website → Copywriter writes copy in a Google Doc → Webflow Designer adds them to the Webflow site manually→ Account Manager takes those Webflow mockups and shows them to client → Revision requests, etc etc
  • Every task has a small fixed cost to it (startup, wind down, information transfer, etc)
  • If your hires are too specialized and your work too fragmented you'll never get anything done. Project management will eat it all up
  • Instead, look for people that can do multiple things end to end. I.e single "Designer" creates mockups in Webflow with lorem ipsum copy, gives Copywriter a link that lets them edit it themselves, Designer is responsible for delivering project to the client. From 4 people → 2 and the project is done in 20% of the time for ¼ the budget
Align incentives wherever possible (%, commission, bonus)
  • I.e 7% commission on cash collected, 10% EOY bonus if certain milestones are met, etc
  • When you combine an internal locus of control, raw talent, and incentives you get best results
  • If you just pay people hourly they often just stare at the clock
  • That's not to say you can't pay people hourly. Just throw something else in there
  • Instead of raising base salaries, provide variable incentive bonuses
You need an onboarding sequence (non negotiable)
  • Just like you onboard your clients, you need to onboard new staff members
  • That means a) documentation hub, b) defined daily tasks for the first 7-14 days, c) clear org chart and mentor
  • There is no better time to set expectations and kick off a new hire's time with you than this. It is your point of highest leverage, so do it well!
  • Example: ClickUp Doc hub welcoming the team member, getting everything they need to be paid/etc, SOPs on all applicable tasks, simple daily schedule to ease them into the first week(s), specific contacts they can and should reach out to for assistance or questions
  • Explicitly tell them this is their "onboarding trial"—that way, if the hire isn't working out within 7-14 days, you can let them go gracefully
Step-by-step hiring process
  1. Job post (Indeed, Upwork, wherever your desired role lives),
  1. Funnel into a general hiring form that asks questions, looks for locus of control, etc (< 5 mins to fill)
  1. Evaluate first round hires and mark those that are shortlisted
  1. Send shortlist a link to a test-specific hiring form that has them do as real a job as possible (collect payment info so you can send them $ after)
  1. Evaluate second round hires and mark those further shortlisted
  1. Call shortlisted applicants and check for any major problems
  1. Onboarding sequence
  1. At the end of your onboarding sequence, decide if you want to keep the hire or let them go
  1. The above system is dozens of times more efficient than the average hiring funnel and will save you $MM
Automating your hiring
  • You can (of course) automate the majority of this
  • Link the forms with Make.com or an alternative
  • When candidate submits, add to a hiring pipeline & use automations to adjust based on statuses
  • Template emails, template welcome sequences, template messages from team members, etc
  • Can also use AI to check resumes, although I personally find that unnecessary
Closing thoughts
  • Hire last!
  • Have people do the job you're hiring them for.. before you hire them
  • Internal locus of control
  • Good luck! ❤️
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