The Complete Blueprint for Hiring an Operator to Run Your Business

If you want to scale your company, you have to learn to replace yourself.

When you’re first starting out, you do it all – from sales and marketing to taking out the trash. As you grow, you hire out tasks you’re not great at or don’t enjoy. But then, you hit a wall –

You realize that, even though you hired a team, they still need you to hold everything together. That the business can’t run without you.

That’s when you know it’s time to bring on an operator.

An operator is a higher-level person who can take over the day-to-day so you can focus on growth. People often call this role General Manager or COO. It’s one of the most important hires you can make as a business owner.

But it’s also one of the hardest roles to find, hire, and train.

So I created a blueprint for you to hire your 1st operator and remove yourself from the day-to-day:

Step 1: Brain Dump Every Task You Do

For the next two weeks, write down every single thing you do each day.

I mean everything that takes you more than 5 minutes:

• Strategic planning sessions
• Answering customer emails
• Picking up office supplies

Write it down in a Notion doc.

The key here is to be as specific and granular as possible.

For example:

❌Don’t say “marketing tasks”

✅Instead, be more specific. Break it into subtasks like “wrote and scheduled LinkedIn posts”

Having trouble remembering everything?

Try carrying around a notebook or using a voice notes app on your phone to capture tasks in real-time. The more comprehensive your list, the easier the next steps will be.

​Steal my Notion template for replacing yourself​

Step 2: Categorize Every Task

Once you have your master list, it’s time to group the tasks into buckets. Use my Notion template or Kanban software for this. Create a column for each of the following categories:

1. Tasks I’m doing that someone else should be doing
2. Tasks I’m doing that I could hire an operator to do
3. Recurring problems that need staff training
4. High-level tasks only I as the CEO/owner should do
5. Important tasks I’m currently not doing but should be

Then, go through your list and assign each task to one of these categories. Some items may fit into more than one bucket – that’s okay. Just choose the one that feels like the best fit.

If you get stuck, ask yourself:

“Is this something that requires my unique skill set and perspective? Or could someone else do it if they had the right training and resources?”

Be honest with yourself here.

The more you can take off your plate, the more capacity you’ll have for growth.

Step 3: Create Your Operator Job Description

With your task audit complete, it’s time to craft your job description.

Here’s how:

1. Review the “tasks I could hire an operator to do” column. These tasks become the core responsibilities of the role.

2. Look for common themes across the tasks and group them into high-level functions.

For example, if many of the tasks are finance-related:

…one of the key functions would be financial management.

3. Look at the recurring problems you identified. Ask yourself –

What skills and experience will an operator need to solve these issues?

Add those to your list of desired qualifications.

4. Review the “important tasks I’m not doing” bucket. What skills and experience would someone need to execute those initiatives? Use those to round out your job description.

​Steal my job description template​

Step 4: Source Candidates

With your job description in hand, it’s time to start recruiting.

First, you want to ask yourself –

• Is there someone on my existing team that I can coach into this new role?

(next Tuesday, I’ll send you my blueprint for coaching employees into new roles. If you got forwarded this email, subscribe here.)

If not, here is how I’d find an external top-tier candidate:

• Reach out to your network. Who do you know that might be a fit or could recommend someone? Personal connections are always the best place to start.
• Don’t limit yourself to your industry. Someone with the right skills and experience can learn your business. Focus on transferable skills and culture fit.
• Leverage your social media presence. This role is all about enthusiasm for your vision. If someone is already a fan of your content, they’ll be more excited to support you in achieving your goals. Share the job posting across your social channels.

Step 5: Run a Rigorous Interview Process

Hiring an operator is a big decision, so take your time and be thorough.

A few tips:

• Do multiple rounds of interviews.
• Include other key employees in the process to get their perspectives and buy-in
• Ask behavioral questions to understand how they’ve approached similar challenges in the past. One way to do so is to feed ChatGPT your job description and telling it:
• “I’m looking to hire a General Manager for my business with this job description. Please help me come up with 10 interview questions. They should help me see how they handled similar challenges like these in the past”
• Give them a realistic preview of the role. You want them with eyes wide open.
• Check their references. Talk to people they’ve reported to, worked alongside, and managed in the past to get a 360-degree view.

Step 6: Set Them (and You) Up for Success

Congrats, you’ve hired your operator!

Now the real work begins. To set them up for success:

• Give them a comprehensive onboarding. Walk them through every aspect of the business, your vision and values, and your goals.
• Set clear expectations and metrics for success. Make sure you’re aligned on what a win looks like in the first 30, 60, 90 days.
• Give them access to everything. Have them shadow you all day, sitting in on every meeting, listening to every call, and being cc’d on every email. The more context they have, the faster they’ll start thinking like you.
• Once they have a strong foundation, have them start taking tasks off your plate one at a time. Give them the freedom to run with things while providing feedback along the way.
• Continue giving them access to high-level information, even if they’re not directly involved. The more they understand the big picture, the better they’ll be able to step in and lead.

Hiring an operator isn’t a quick or easy process.

It requires significant upfront time and energy. But it’s hands-down the highest-leverage thing you can do to grow your business and get your life back.

By hiring a second-in-command you trust, you’ll finally be able to step out of the day-to-day.

And once you’ve removed yourself from the day-to-day of one location, you can do the same for your 2nd, 3rd, and so on.

Hiring an operator is just one of the many skills you need to grow your business.

If you ever want more guidance from me, there are 2 ways I can help:

If you want to get your first franchise business off the ground, consider booking a discovery call with my team.

And if you’re a driven franchisee and want to scale your business to 8-figures and beyond, consider joining my 8-Figure Franchisee community​

Cheers,

Brian Beers