Building Your Dream Team Without Blowing the Budget

Whether you’re hiring your first team member or reshuffling how support looks inside your growing business, this conversation will help you make smarter, more sustainable decisions. I’m joined by hiring and leadership expert, and my friend, Paula Maidens, and together we dive into one of the biggest growth questions I see small business owners face: should this role be in-house, outsourced or offshored?

It’s a topic full of opinions and assumptions, but Paula breaks it down with clarity and logic. We talk about how to weigh up true costs (spoiler: it’s not *just* about hourly rates), what red flags to watch for, and why your gut feel isn’t always the best hiring strategy.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you're overpaying, under-briefing or building a team not quite right for where your business is heading, this episode gives you the practical tools and mindset shifts to figure it out.

This one’s especially useful if you’re wearing too many hats and want to grow without losing control, profit, or peace of mind.

Here’s what’s covered:

• Control, confidentiality and consistency are key drivers when deciding where a role should sit
• The true cost of hiring isn’t limited to wages. Factor in training, communication, systems, and time
• Use Paula’s 5-step framework to assess: cost, value, hours, risk, and medium-term fit
• Onboarding is crucial. Skipping it sabotages your hire and your ROI
• Red flags your outsourcing or offshoring setup isn’t working: disappearing acts, lack of process ownership, or system misalignment
• Pay attention to communication flow. If they can’t integrate with your systems or team, it may not be a good fit
• Always document processes in your business, no matter who’s doing the task, in-house or external

We had such a great chat, and there was so much to unpack - if you enjoyed this episode as much as I did talking to Paula, there’s an extended version over on YouTube. Pop over there if you want to hear even more insights we couldn’t quite squeeze into the podcast here.

Links & Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Paula Maidens Kickass Hiring & Interview Masterclass

Connect with Paula:

• Website: Paula Maidens
• Instagram: Paula Maidens Consulting
• LinkedIn: Paula Maidens
• Podcast: Big Dreams Great Teams