What you’ll learn to do: Discuss how to determine resource requirements

A new business owner, a.k.a. a person starting his or her own small business, might check out Amazing Academy, LLC. Amazing Academy provides training, tools and an online community for new and aspiring business owners. But CEO and founder Matt Clark learned a couple of lessons at the “school of hard knocks” when he laid off 32 of his 62 employees in April of 2016 to “get the company down to its proper size.”^[1]

“I read countless books that gave me that advice, but when in the trenches of growth, I made the mistake of rushing hiring and forcing growth,” Clark posted on social media. “It’s easy to hire people. It’s horrible to fire people.”^[2]

Clark was aiming to change the company’s focus from marketing to product, and said, “Trying to make this change with the current team was next to impossible. The culture had deteriorated into a place where people had to walk on eggshells and couldn’t get any work done at the office because of all the distractions and negativity.”^[3]

Careful management of human resources can be key in ensuring sustainability and growth. In this section we will learn how to determine resources, accountability and reporting structure, and when to bring on employees instead of using independent contractors.