Accounting Basics: When to Make a Part-Time Subcontractor a Full-Time Employee

You’re three to four years in your wedding planning business and you’re getting stretched thin.
You know that you have to spend money to make money and starting to wonder how it would look to hire your part-time subcontractor into a full-time employee.

40 weddings a year has been a comfortable number but what would it take to get past that number and grow?

I’ve been where you’ve been friend. You’re not so much worried about filling up your calendar as you are busting through the ceiling to grow a sustainable business. It almost feels like the awkward middle, right?

It might feel awkward because you are still doing e-ver-y-thing. The selling, the contracting, the payments, the social media, and the networking, and not to mention still trying to have a normal social life.

It’s time to let some of the things go and take on support. Full-time support. It’s less about figuring out how much you’ll pay them for the work they already do and more about what else they can do to help you increase revenue. It’s getting back to the accounting basics of how much is your ROI.

So let’s talk through what full-time support looks like in such a seasonable business like ours: 

Being Open With Your Team

I’m very, very open with my employees. I don’t have it all figured out but when we grow, they grow.

I want them to feel open to bring their ideas and input to the table because I want them to make more money and build their career. That’s the power of hiring a full-time employee because they will become just as invested in your growth as you are.

However, that means building a position where they feel like they can shine. Once that makes them happy and gives you more CEO time.

Asking the Question

“How much should I pay a full-time employee?”

That’s always the burning question. I hate to be that person that doesn’t throw out a specific number but honestly, you need to have a conversation with that person.

If you have a person on your team that’s currently a contractor and they’re working a nine to five, ask them what would it take to leave their job and work full-time for you?

You can do every salary study in the world. But if you can’t offer them what they need to leave their job, it really doesn’t matter.

You might even be surprised to hear them say that they hate their flipping job so much that they’d be willing to take a pay cut for the versatility of working from home with a more flexible schedule.

We give ourselves such anxiety to figure out this perfect number but before even doing that, we have to bring them into the conversation first!!

Breaking Down the Math to Pay a Full-Time Salary

Let’s just say you pay a contractor $500 per event, and they do 30 events a year for you right now. So that means you’re paying them $15,000 a year.

If you want to pay them full-time, let’s say you need to pay them $30,000. If they come on 40 hours a week, that means you only need to make up another $15,000 which might only be three to five more packages to make up the income.

Paying them more will force you to give them way more events because you’ll think to yourself “Well if I’m paying them I might as well give them more events to make the investment worth it.” More events for your full-time employee means fewer events for you and more time you can spend as the CEO to move the needle in your business! By the way, if you want to dive deeper into knowing your numbers, here a free budget template I used before I had an accounting team so I can understand my business on an intimate level. 

What Else Can They Do

Imagine what it will feel like to have all this time to focus on being the CEO in your company and lean into your zone of genius!

I know what you’re thinking…

“But Brandee, how did we survive during the slow season?”

And good news my friend you most certainly will! Because before when you were paying a contractor, you only pay for their labor per event. While that’s helpful, they aren’t putting effort into your big picture vision.

Whereas if you had somebody full-time on your team during the slow season or part of their hours during the week, imagine all the things they could take off your plate!

Things like blogs, writing timelines for your clients, creating a training manual, managing your Instagram or Pinterest, and the list goes on!

The cool thing about the basics of knowing your numbers and having your accounting down-packed is that you now know how much you need to pay them to cover events, and how much work you need them to do to cover the rest. You might not feel like there’s a lot to do, but trust me when I say once you have all this time freed up you will feel a weight lifted all of your shoulders.

Imagine How Much Your Business Will Grow With Full-Time Support!

When bringing on a person full-time, stay away from the mindset of “How can I pay this person during the off-season because I won’t make enough money.” Instead, just imagine the possibility of how much your business can grow by thinking “How much more could I make in my business with the help of a full-time role.” 

Then it will feel much easier to sustain that income. Remember, it all comes down to knowing your numbers on a basic level and collaborating with your accounting team to make it happen! In the meantime, if you need a budget template to better understand your numbers, feel free to use mine!