I’ve been in the POD business for many years, and I know the best practices you need to follow to make good sales.

When I started, I did all the work on my own. But I quickly embraced delegation and automation – and things became much easier!

I started delegating key parts of my business process to virtual assistants. I also developed an automated uploading system that I will discuss in detail later in this chapter.

At that time, it seemed as though I was losing money. But it paid off, big time!

If you get quotes from your research, create your product designs on your computer, and handle all of your product uploads and sales management, you’ll get tired. It’s a lot of work! If you’re a workaholic, you will quickly experience burnout.

Apart from the impact it will have on you personally, it will also affect your productivity and consistency. Once you can no longer keep up with the workload, your POD business might begin a slow, then abrupt demise.

This is why you shouldn’t do all the work by yourself. If you want to run a sustainable POD business, you need to avoid unnecessary labor. Don’t do everything yourself just to save a few hundred bucks on hiring or getting help.

Trust me, it’s not worth it.

To be honest, I have never created a design myself.

Surprised? Don’t be!

I’ve spent a few hours a week building my POD business in the last three years.

How did I manage this?

Again, one word: AUTOMATION.

One major way to save yourself from burnout is to delegate your work to people who work for you.

In other words, it means you’re getting help and paying for it.

Hiring: An Option, or Nah?

As an entrepreneur, there may come a time when the only way to grow your business is to build a team. Before taking this step, make sure you understand the pros and cons of hiring new workers.

Knowing what roles you need to hire people for and how to manage people can make the difference between a successful and a failure-prone POD business.

As an internet marketer, you need to get the timing right when hiring new workers. If you hire someone too soon, your profits can decline and cash flow dry up.

On the flip side, if you wait too long to bring on a new worker, your commitments might outpace your capacity, and unfinished work will start to pile up.

You should hire new workers when there’s enough work to demand additional help and your financial situation is stable enough to support the additional cost of a new employee.

It’s important to hire new employees before you reach burnout. This is good for your business and your mental health.

In my experience, hiring workers for a POD business is no different from hiring employees in small businesses.

POD is a small business and should be treated as such. It should be run as such, too. Considering the financial demand of hiring workers, you need to know the right time to introduce new hands.

When Should You Hire New Workers?

Businesses should hire new employees when doing so is financially feasible and there is enough work to warrant taking on a new employee. As a POD business, you must consider your financial strength before incurring additional expenses.

To simplify the process, here are some practical pointers that can help you decide when your POD business needs to hire new employees:

• When you’re financially able to bear the cost

Honestly, I think this is self-explanatory. If you want to hire people to work for you, you must have enough cash coming in to pay their wages.

• When you have to cut down your work and/or scaling opportunities

If you have been uploading products consistently, but need to turn down new opportunities to expand the presence of your POD business into other marketplaces or decrease the number of your products uploaded, you’re probably understaffed.

To scale up and do more work, you’ll need to recruit new people to help manage the increased workload.

• When your revenue begins to stagnate

If your revenue growth slows down or stops, it could be because the major factor driving revenue has reached its work capacity. And that factor is YOU!

If you’re tasked with handling every area of the POD work process, you won’t be able to explore new niches or think about growth opportunities.

At this point, consider expanding your team to kickstart your earnings. The less you do, the more you can strategize.

• When new skills are needed

If your POD business is expanding, you should look at the skills and experiences needed to operate a sustainable business over the long term. The POD business requires market research, graphic design, quote research, product uploading, and fulfillment processing.

You’ll need to hire new workers who are experts in these areas, even if you think you can handle everything on your own.

• When you begin to work I*s off!

Work is good. Hard work is bad! I mean, literally hardcore work with no break and no rest. That’s not just bad for your health. It will prevent you from being able to plan the future of your business.

This will lead to stunted growth and burnout. If you have to work non-stop with no breaks or rests, it’s time to get help ASAP!

Why you Should Hire New Workers for your POD Business

If you’ve reached the point where you cannot take on new market opportunities or you’re having trouble expanding your business into new marketplaces, hiring new workers can bring many benefits to your workplace.

For one, having more hands will improve your work morale and mental health. You’ll have more time to plan and strategize as you take on a more supervisory role.

Notably, hiring new workers can increase the overall skill set of your team. This way, you can build your capacity for new work and expand your business easily. In the long run, you’ll enjoy increased revenue as you list more products and make more sales.

A major advantage of hiring workers is that it leaves you more time to focus on the core aspects of your business. When you work alone, you wear multiple hats and complete repetitive tasks such as creating products, handling the uploading process, and fulfillment.

Perhaps you’re experienced in skills like design and SEO. You might be tempted to take on a heavy workload. However, hiring workers to handle these responsibilities can free up your time and allow you to focus on what you do best.

Plus, you can take on more challenging projects, create new business solutions, or go on a holiday on a Caribbean Island.

You cannot do well in the POD business without a good game plan. If you’ve ever seen a good soccer team play, you’ve noticed how each player just seems to know where to be and when to be there.

It’s like an automated system, with 11 pieces working in harmony to achieve a goal. I mean that literally.

This is because they have a good game plan. One that informs every part of the game and distributes responsibilities to each player without stressing anyone out.

This same rule applies to your POD business.

You see, your POD business has different “players”, and you must find a way to make each of them work so you can boost traffic and increase sales. In essence, you have to set up a production flow that ensures you will upload products every day.

Remember what we said earlier about consistency?

As your business begins to scale, you might need to create a plan to enable efficient production. Your production flow is the continuous movement of products through a near-seamless production process.

To achieve this, some part of your business needs to either be delegated or automated with useful tools. With the right team, you’re better able to tackle challenges, find solutions to everyday problems, and make decisions that propel your business forward.

A great production flow will cover the key areas of the POD business: product creation, product uploading, and fulfillment.

How to Hire People

If you want to build a highly successful POD business with a presence in multiple online marketplaces, you need a team of highly skilled workers on your side. I have my team, and we have been raking in 6- to 7-figure revenues for many years now.

Here’s a guide on how to hire people to work for you.

1. Define your need(s)

Before putting out a job description or an ad, go through the entire process critically to determine exactly where you need help. Is it finding quotes? Creating designs? Uploading products?

Clearly defining your needs will make your entire hiring process more precise and purposeful.

2. Select a hiring process

There are different ways to get people on board. When it comes to hiring new workers, you can opt for the traditional resume/interview (virtual) process, or choose a freelancer.

Both processes are highly effective. But when you consider how much time it takes to write job descriptions, get review tons of applications and resumes, shortlist applicants, conduct interviews, and test jobs before selecting *The Chosen One, *it all points to the fact that going with a freelancer might be a better option.

First, it saves time. Freelance platforms make it easy for people with needs to connect with professionals who can satisfy those needs.

Considering how easy it is to hire a freelancer compared to the traditional hiring process, I recommend that you hire freelancers from reputable freelance platforms.

3. Do your research

Once your needs have been identified and your hiring process determined, it’s time to cast your net into the sea.

One of the best ways to prepare for recruiting workers is to check out similar job descriptions and scan the profiles of qualified freelancers to understand what skills and experience are required for roles like yours.

To help lay the groundwork for writing a competitive job listing, come up with a list of the key job duties your new worker will be responsible for. Also, think about the characteristics your ideal candidate will possess.

4. Job Listing

Here are some quick tips to guide you when posting a job listing:

• Use a clear, concise job title that will rank high in search results and attract qualified candidates.- Avoid buzzwords like “wizard”, “rock star” and “ninja”, since candidates are not likely to search for a job using those terms. Instead, pick a standard job title that job-seekers will search for. For example, a descriptive title like “Professional Graphic Designer” will appear in more search results than “Photoshop Guru” or “Graphic Design Wizard.”- To attract better prospects, think about what your ideal candidate is likely to search for and inject these keywords into your description for maximum visibility.- Include accurate descriptions of the job’s responsibilities, requirements, and rewards to encourage the right candidates to apply. Keep the tone conversational, informational, and friendly.- Check out other job descriptions to help you create a compelling job posting.

5. Shortlist your perfect candidates

When you have multiple candidates you think would be a great fit, choosing the right person can be difficult. To make a decision, you need to test the skills of each of your shortlisted candidates. This leads to the next point.

6. Run a trial job

If you’re hiring someone to perform a skill-based role, you need to be sure he or she truly possesses the skills needed for the job.

If you give them a trial job, you can proceed to the next stage with the applicant(s) whose work you find satisfactory.

7. Negotiation and Cost

When you’ve selected your top candidate, it’s time to extend a job offer. I know what you’re asking.

How much should I pay?

Well, it depends. Some freelancers have fixed hourly rates. However, you might negotiate a better deal if you promise them long-term work.

8. Ask for referrals

A good way to escape all of these stresses is to simply ask for referrals from trusted people in the business. Once a person’s expertise and professionalism are vouched for by two or more people, you might only need to give them a quick test job and offer them a deal straight away.

Where to Hire People

When it comes to finding workers, you don’t want just anyone. You want to find the right person—the one who’s going to be the best fit for your business. And for this, I highly recommend onlinejobs.ph as the best place to find a professional and cheap workforce.

Onlinejobs.ph is a freelance platform where you can easily hire high-quality Filipino-based workers at a very reasonable cost. Unlike other platforms, you can find virtual assistants, graphic designers, and many others at inexpensive rates.

Interestingly, most of them communicate effortlessly in English and are very easy to work with.

Ready to hire a team? Go to onlinejobs.ph!

Who to Hire

The POD business process can be broken down into three phases: product creation, uploading, and fulfillment.

There are several processes involved in creating POD products, and many parts of them can be automated or delegated.

A closer look at the product-creation phase will reveal the need for a quote researcher and a graphic designer.

The goal is to get things done quickly and perfectly.

For the uploading process, hire a product uploader. Fulfillment is often carried out by the supplier.

So, to start, you need a quote researcher, a graphic designer, and a product uploader.

Here’s what you need to know when hiring any of them.

1. Quote Researcher

Now, here’s one area where you’ll appreciate some help.  

Sure, there are tons of places where you can find funny and captivating quotes. But wouldn’t you rather spend that time doing more important tasks?

You can hire someone to do it for you in no time, and at a very cheap rate. There are several platforms where you can find people who offer such services.

As I said, Onlinejobs.ph is a good place to hire someone to help you with finding amazing quotes in no time and at a low cost.

For around $0.1 to $0.2 per quote, you can get as much as you like, depending on your negotiation skills. At this rate, you can get up to 300 quotes for each product for between $30 to $60.

You’ll make much more than this once your products hit the market.

Again, the good thing about hiring someone is that you can obtain as many quotes as you like within a short period. You can get more products out for listing than you ever did when you sourced quotes on your own. Cool, right?

2. Graphic Designer

Creating a product can be very time-consuming, especially when you’re trying to do it on your own. It’s hard to stay focused. Trust me, it’s easy to get distracted when designing a product or researching ideas.

Let me make a confession! I can’t count how many times I ended up on YouTube for hours, all in the name of idea research.

I bet I’m not the only one in this boat. Concentration requires much more discipline these days. The process of creating the design itself is relatively easy. But when you have to create hundreds of designs, it begins to take a toll on you.

It’s much better to hire someone to do it.

Take it from me, if you’re no good at design, you’ll take hours to create designs. Instead of wasting time and effort, why not hire a graphic designer to do the work for you?

The POD business model requires consistency, so it’s better to hire people to work on this while you focus on more productive areas of the business. I mean, you don’t have to hire a big-name designer.

If you have a tight budget, start small and feed your designer more later, after you make some sales.

Hiring a graphic designer helps you maintain a steady automated system of workflow and product creation. After I hired someone to get my product designs done for me, everything seemed much simpler.

I was able to focus more on building SEO and other marketing strategies and other important aspects of the business.

As I earlier stated, **you don’t need to hire a highly talented or renowned designer. **All you need is someone professional and experienced enough to give you what you want.

You’re not searching for a design guru. Focus on finding someone that gets you and understands what you need.

Most of the time, simple text-based designs sell best. I’ve sold over 20,000 simple text design coffee mugs for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

Keep it simple. Your designer just has to know how to use Photoshop or Canva and how to create a simple text design quickly. The designer must also have a sense of responsibility.

Before I start working with anyone, not just a graphic designer, I always like to know if they can work with me over the long term. I prefer to build a strong business relationship with one person for years rather than change workers as often as I change my shirt.

Once I find someone who gets what I want and delivers quality work, I stick with them. This allows them to get accustomed to my work as time goes by. Eventually, they can work for me without much supervision.

Here’s something you should know before hiring a designer. Freelancers and independent experts are becoming an inevitable part of today’s business systems.

This is why I recommend **Onlinejobs.ph **for hiring workers anytime, any day!It’s your one-stop-shop for high-quality freelance graphic designers.

What’s more?

You can get them at a very low cost. It’s a great hub for professional graphic designers who will deliver great work for you. Again, most of the freelance designers here Filipinos. They are straightforward to work with.

The graphic designers on Onlinejobs.ph are different from other freelancing platforms that charge you a much higher price. Here you get great work, cheap and fast.

Pay attention and scrutinize your designer properly before hiring them. You don’t want to end up with the wrong person.

But before you hire a graphic designer, give them a test job. Let them create designs for about 10 quotes. When they deliver, review the designs and note how long they took to get the work done. If it matches or exceeds your expectations, you’re good to go! If it doesn’t, well, there are a lot of other people you can hire.

Select the one you like and iron out other details. I recommend that you also save the others you like to a list if the one you hire disappears.

Once you’ve found one or a couple of designers, you can negotiate a favorable deal. Always try to get the best deal by negotiating. Once you both agree on a good starting price, you can make other kinds of negotiations to ensure you spend less over time.

When it comes to hiring graphic designers online, the highest price does not always equate to high quality. Since the kind of designs you want are simple and straightforward, the cost should not be high. As long as you can explain it to the graphic designer, they will understand and accept the lower price.

You can get up to 50 designs for just $10. You can pay them according to the number of products they help create and guarantee how much work you can feed them per week or month.

However, you can also make a deal stating that more work will come as long as the designer offers a lower price per design. So, he or she gets a steady flow of work, while you get great discounts. It’s a win-win.

You can also provide the designer with beneficial design tools to help them design better, faster, and make the cost cheaper for you. For example, by giving them access to a tool like Canva, the designer can create designs faster and will be more likely to work for less.

3. Product Uploader

Of all the processes involved in product listing, this one is arguably the most time-consuming and delicate part. If you’re uploading your product to marketplaces such as Amazon and Etsy, you always need to dot your I’s and cross your T’s.

Ensure that you have a good product title, a convincing product description, and use product tags properly. This takes time. However, to get the best result, consider doing some key parts of the uploading process yourself.

For instance, I still create product titles and tags myself. It’s a very important part of the whole process because the level of traffic your products attract is largely dependent on the product title and tags.

Inserting the information on Amazon and Etsy is where you might need some help. This is the time-consuming aspect, especially if you’re working with a lot of products.

For this, you can either automate the uploading process or hire someone to do it for you. One time, I hired a person to create 150 products a day for me. She had to work on Amazon for many hours, but she eventually got it done on time. This will eliminate the stress of doing it on your own.

While hiring is an effective option, it is expensive to handle. However, its long-term benefits cannot be overlooked. But guess what? It gets better from here on in!

Would an automated POD system that automatically handles uploading and key parts of product creation and fulfillment sound attractive to you?

Interesting? Fascinating? Amazing? Ingenious? All of the above?

Well, such a system exists, and all of these words accurately describe it. This system is called PODTurbo, and it’s the next stop on our journey.