Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Key Takeaways
- Relying solely on the talent in your immediate geographic area is a self-inflicted mistake.
- Although there is an entire global industry built to help companies hire remote talent, you don’t need to rely on it.
- As solopreneurs, we can hire in a more effective way if we are ready to build relationships in online communities. And it does not cost any money.
Solopreneurship, despite its name, is anything but a solo pursuit. As we find success in our agency work, we inevitably need to build a team that can help us serve our clients and expand our footprint.
As MVRK, my CRM strategy and implementation consulting agency, starts its seventh fiscal year, I’m very happy to say that my team is now composed of seven individuals who operate from six different countries. What’s more, none of us live in the three countries where we mainly do business (USA, Canada and the UK).
I have hired each of the individuals who are on the team myself. And I discovered them in a unique but repeatable way. In this article, I’m going to review the method that I’ve used to build those relationships with potential talent and share how I’ve been able to make them a part of my team. All with zero dollars spent.
Use the offshore recruiting industry — it’s an easy way to start
For the first three years of running my business, I operated fully solo. But as I started to build success, I had an important realization: The clients that enjoyed working with me did not want to leave.
That meant I faced two options:
- Either I had to tell some of my clients that I didn’t want to work with them any longer. This didn’t feel like the right choice, because I really enjoyed working with all my existing clients.
- Or I had to find an additional pair of hands to assist me.
One of the projects that I worked on in my early years was implementing an entire Salesforce CRM system from the ground up for a Philippines-based recruitment agency. This agency was staffing talent in North America, so I knew I had a connection I could leverage to find that initial team member.
I defined the requirements, and that recruitment agency put some talent in front of me. From there, I selected somebody who I felt was going to work. I believe that I got quite lucky with my first hire because that individual is still a member of my team.
While I support the recruitment agency model and believe it works for many companies, the reality is that an agency is still a middleman that does not add a tremendous amount of value. In my case, eventually, the individual in question wanted to continue working with me, without having to go through the agency. As a result, we formed a relationship directly.
Of course, it’s important to check any terms of service that you’ve signed before you make this kind of transition. But using an agency is not the only option. There is a way that you can leverage remote talent without relying on the offshore recruiting industry. It’s a little bit more work, but it’s a lot more rewarding for both you and the talent that you hire.
As we come to the end of 2026 and move towards 2027, you need to realize that relying on talent only in your immediate geographic area is limiting your ability to grow. Except for industries where in-person presence is required for regulatory or delivery purposes, there is no reason why you should limit yourself to hiring people in your city, in your state or province, or in your country.
This world is big, and there’s talent to be found in a lot more places than just your backyard. The best way that I have found to discover that talent is to go to the online communities where they hang out, share their knowledge and build a network. Crucially, these are also the places where they can discover you without tremendous costs.
I have found Reddit in particular is an incredible source of talent. What’s more, I haven’t spent a single dollar on advertising job ads or on recruiter fees. I’ve been able to build those relationships myself. Reddit has various communities, many that are specifically niched to your industry, and it is those places where individuals from across the world are hanging out.
To find talent via Reddit communities, I’ve built simple intake forms asking the right questions to vet individuals. Forget about asking for resumes. Instead, my process is simple. I share a request for talent in a relevant community, ensuring I follow the rules of that community. Within that request, I ask people to fill in my form as a first step. This gives me everything I need to find individuals who look like the best potential options and invite them for an interview.
From here, I vet them using the standard process and offer extended initial term contracts to those who are a good fit. Extended initial term contracts are ideal in this situation. They allow you to extend the term if you find you work together effectively, but also provide a clean separation if things don’t work out.
As you can see, there’s no need to pay somebody else to find talent for you. For many solopreneurs, this is a waste of money and time. Instead, go to relevant online communities (Reddit is just one option) where those individuals hang out, build real relationships with them and hire the right people for your team. It’s a valuable route to solopreneur success.
Key Takeaways
- Relying solely on the talent in your immediate geographic area is a self-inflicted mistake.
- Although there is an entire global industry built to help companies hire remote talent, you don’t need to rely on it.
- As solopreneurs, we can hire in a more effective way if we are ready to build relationships in online communities. And it does not cost any money.
Solopreneurship, despite its name, is anything but a solo pursuit. As we find success in our agency work, we inevitably need to build a team that can help us serve our clients and expand our footprint.
As MVRK, my CRM strategy and implementation consulting agency, starts its seventh fiscal year, I’m very happy to say that my team is now composed of seven individuals who operate from six different countries. What’s more, none of us live in the three countries where we mainly do business (USA, Canada and the UK).
I have hired each of the individuals who are on the team myself. And I discovered them in a unique but repeatable way. In this article, I’m going to review the method that I’ve used to build those relationships with potential talent and share how I’ve been able to make them a part of my team. All with zero dollars spent.
