Hire And Hire First person: Entrepreneur's first hiring experiences

Hiring is always risky. Will the person get along with otheremployees? Will they benefit the company? When starting your ownbusiness, the risks are even greater, because it¹s your firstemployees who make or break the business. Sometimes it's bestto take risks

Name/Age: Phil Shawe, 30
Company/Description: TransPerfect Translations Inc., a NewYork City translation firm
First Hire: "Our first hire was Matthew Rodano, a youngkid out of school with great talent. Although Matthew was doing agreat job, his efforts didn't immediately generate business. Wewere forced to lay him off, but we kept good relations with him andexplained that it was simply due to economic realities. Themarketing effort he put forth in those first months started to payoff shortly after he left. As soon as we could afford to hire himback, we tracked him down and were able to re-establish ourrelationship. It's five years later, and he continues to closelarge deals every week."
Two Things I Learned: "First, sales is a long process.A sales executive who's doing the right things but strugglingin the short-term is likely to prosper later. Second, our attemptsto part ways as politely as possible paid off in a win-winsituation later on."

Name/Age: Richard Allred, 36
Company/Description: Toes on the Nose Corp., a Costa Mesa,California, surf apparel company
First Hire: "We didn't have a lot of money with thefirst person we hired--we were looking for a part-timer. We hired awoman who was six months pregnant. People have reservations abouthiring a pregnant woman, but it worked out perfectly. She workeduntil she went on maternity leave and came back after giving birth.She's now vice president."

Name/Age: Alexis Abramson, 32
Company/Description: Mature Mart Inc., an Atlanta-baseddistributor of products for senior citizens
First Hire: "My first hire was my 84-year-oldgrandmother--she was the company receptionist. I hired her becauseI thought she would understand the market. She not only used andknew the products well, but she could also help end-users orcaregivers choose the appropriate product for a particular need.[From this experience,] I learned I could work cohesively withfamily members."

Contact Sources

Mature Mart Inc., (800) 720-6278, www.maturemart.com
Toes on the Nose Corp., (714) 513-1500, www.toesonthenose.com
TransPerfect Translations Inc., (212) 689-5555, www.transperfect.com