 Welcome back to Geeks are sexy. It's the fourth Friday of the month where we're talking about business and success here in Las Vegas We're back with your Mara Walker from SW HR consulting. She's relatively new to Las Vegas Your husband is in the military our last guest had spent some time in the military as was that thank you for your service Thank you. I don't think we've had a military spouse on here before and we need to thank you for your service Just as much as we thank our service members as well. So thank you for your service You got you do a lot to support us as veterans in our asset of duty military personnel So thank you so much for your service your company SW HR consulting provides customized cost-effective solutions to help simplify and streamline your HR needs And she's going to help us learn today about what we should be thinking about as business owners for the HR and our Businesses and how she can keep us from getting into trouble before we get into trouble Exactly, and I know I need all the help I can get staying out of trouble so Thinking in your result. Okay, that's from the last thing but we did we get some great questions So if you've got questions for tomorrow, please type them into the into the box there and we'll get them up here So tell us how you ended up in Las Vegas wine why you started your business I always like to find out why business owners started their business Yeah, so how I ended up in Vegas is my husband as you mentioned is in the military And I'm truly excited to be in the Vegas market because when we when my husband received orders I was already in the process of starting my HR consulting firm My focus was to always have the ability to help startups and small businesses in that area because they just really need that support They don't really have the guidance and being able to provide that support and additional Guidance is helpful in the beginning stages and and that's so true And that's really what I dig in today because HR can get complicated really quickly it can get complicated really quickly even if it's just you and I'm You know who I'm looking at I'm looking at you right your business owners in Las Vegas this HR thing can get really quickly It's one of the major risk areas for your business This is one of the few areas you can get into you could really get yourself into trouble if you hire people and don't implement Good solid HR policies early on and consistently So what are some of the things about HR that business owners or even someone who's thinking about a business Hasn't hasn't put a dime into it doesn't have any product yet, but it's just thinking about a business What are some of those things we should be thinking about early on before we even hire our first employee as a business owner? As a business owner is very important to to think about the direction that you're trying to go with your business It's very important to have a framework or a groundwork in place so that as you bring people into your organization You have something you have something in place that allows them to essentially follow and grow with your your organization If you're if you're someone that is essentially starting up, it's really important to document your process That is the biggest thing as a business owner as you you know as you're in it and you're growing your business You forget the little things of documenting So that would be one of the biggest thing that I would recommend and of course staying compliant as you grow Okay, and that and that depends on the business. You're in compliance is very important in some business and in other business It's we have to stay compliant with the law We have a lot of variability and flexibility in how we do things and when you say documenting process We're not talking about HR things yet. We're talking about how do you do your job? How do you do your business? How do you make your widgets or how do you provide your service exactly? Because at some point you're gonna hire somebody you're gonna say here go make these widgets Right and they're gonna go. I don't know how to do it. I don't know how to make widgets Well, all the stuff is over there and they're gonna say well, can you train me? They're gonna go well, I don't have anything in place to train you right exactly So so we are talking about some of the HR gotchas today But where you can start is start documenting your processes when you're making your widgets or you're getting your product and you're shipping it Or you're providing your service, whatever that is start writing it down There's no no substitute for writing it down. You don't have to stick with it and live with it forever But start writing down what you're doing So what are some of the recurring problems once once a business is started to document their processes Maybe they've got a couple of people hired on and things are starting to move smoothly What are some of the recurring problems you see with HR and small businesses or even larger businesses? The biggest thing that I see in smaller and larger Organizations is the ability to retain their employees. So they're at the beginning stages You know, you've made the hire, but how are you keeping them? What process? What do you have in place? Do you have incentive programs in place? How are they being recognized a lot of times? You know as you as your company grows you tend to get lost in the shuffle and your employees are left behind So we want you to refocus create that culture so that your yourself as a business owner and your Your employees can grow with you. Yeah creating that culture is so important That's some of the stuff we'd evil genius work on the strategy of creating that culture And how and how you do that with people But writing that culture down and writing down the writing down those processes for training that culture and bringing people in things like onboarding, right I was listening. I was either reading a book listening to a podcast and If you don't onboard well, you lose people day one You lose people day one there and you I think the statistic is if you lose them day one with bad onboarding You may only you may I keep the max 60 days in your company Is that is that about is that does that matter your experience very true? it you know if and this happens quite often that's because you're you're not Documenting your process. You're not putting things in place that allows you to bring someone into your organization very smoothly And so once they have that horrible experience in the onboarding stage that kind of sets the pace for how the Expectation of the company is going to be you know And so you want to be able to to make sure that whatever Culture that you create is something that is everlasting and that employees can continue to grow within it That's great. So if you're keeping score, I heard two things. I heard document that onboarding process And that onboarding process needs to not just be a nuts and bolts turn the crank follow the steps process You need to think about the experience you're creating For those employees when you onboard them if you want them to start to Embrace the culture you've worked so hard to put in place in your company because your company is important to you and that culture is important It's your brand absolutely so so important. All right. I want to make sure we get to this question Cuz I had this conversation with someone the other day One of the areas employers can get into real trouble is by confusing independent contractors and employees And there's a time and a place for both of those can you shed some light on this? What is the difference and what to entrepreneurs and business owners you be thinking about when it comes to am I bringing someone on as an Independent contractor or am I bringing them on as an employee? Well, the biggest difference is an independent contractor is not an employee. That's the major difference That being said, you know an employee someone that is essentially is on your payroll You provide them with employee handbook. You provide them with the ability to grow with your organization You you know, you're creating that environment where you know You tell them exactly when to show up to work how to show up to work expectations while at work While an independent contractor is really there as a support, you know, depending on a particular project They may be brought in if you're you know expanding and you need someone to Essentially help you in that area, but they're not Your employee and it's an agreement between yourself and the independent contractor As it pertains to how they're going to support your organization So is it fair to say because I had this conversation with someone the other day and the kind of the rule that I've had in my head is You can't tell them when to show up. You can't tell them what to wear You can't you can't tell them how to do stuff. You can say I want you to do this Yes, and I want you to give it to me by this date exactly Exactly the contract is some it's a mutual agreement between yourself and the contractor and it usually has an end Go go provide, you know, go work on this project or go provide this service to one of my clients Exactly, and just you know, call me when you've done it, right? Yes And then we'll all collect the money and we'll all be happy because we're all in business, right? So we're getting close to the end. Tell me who you're looking to connect to you're relatively new to Las Vegas You're looking to connect and build your business. Who are you looking to connect to? I am looking to connect with Startups and small businesses that just need that extra support and guidance as it pertains to their HR needs Because you know, you're starting your business and your focus is on growing You don't essentially know or have the tools and resources and someone like myself can come and help you with making sure that you're on the Right path and staying compliant. Yeah, one of the things we talk about here a lot is Business owners general managers senior leadership staying focused on strategy I'm not working on the business not in the business as the saying goes and someone like Shamaar can help you out by Bringing her expertise to handle the nuts and bolts of what needs to get done And you can stay focused as your business is growing focused on growing even further building those relationships You need to build in the community to get that business really going so how good our viewers get in touch with you To bring you in to help them out Yes, the best way to reach me is by phone. You can reach me at 702 979 2 1 1 9 and of course you can always visit my website at SW HR Consulting comm okay, and are you on any social media? They can reach you on yes I am all platforms. So Facebook Instagram Twitter tumbler So just search HHW HR Search for it. It'll be good for her Google rankings Hit her up on social media I know I'm gonna go go add you so we can make sure we tag you for these posts and these segments as they go up I'm Jason Laduke from evil genius leadership consultants. We'll be right back in a minute with dr. Bianca Vallejo