The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
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Join us every week as we celebrate the unsung heroes of our local business community and explore the vibrant tapestry of entrepreneurship in our area. Tune in to The Alimond Show and get ready to be inspired, informed, and motivated to support and nurture the businesses that make our community thrive.
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The Alimond Show
Lori Wimmer - Transforming HR for Small Businesses with Fractional Support and Expert Insights
What if you could transform your small business with expert HR support, without the hefty price tag of a full-time team? Get ready to meet Lori Wimmer, the powerhouse behind Simplified HR, who has revolutionized the way small businesses approach human resources. With 18 years of industry experience, Lori offers invaluable insights into the concept of fractional HR and executive support. Discover how she helps small business owners in the US and Canada streamline their HR operations, set up effective systems, and create a thriving workplace culture.
Join us as Lori shares her inspiring journey, from her early days in a small recruiting firm to becoming a fractional CHRO. This episode dives deep into the strategic advantages of remote HR consulting and emphasizes the importance of a well-organized onboarding process. Lori also addresses the common entrepreneurial pitfall of procrastination and highlights the critical moment when business owners should seek help. Don't miss out on this episode filled with practical advice and compelling success stories that could redefine your approach to HR and business growth.
So I'm Lori Wimmer. I am the owner and fractional CHRO for Simplified HR, so we are a fractional HR business.
Speaker 2:Okay, and tell me how you serve your clients.
Speaker 1:So we partner with small business owners to provide them with HR support. Many times the clients that we work with are not quite in a position to budget a full-time HR team or a full-time HR manager somebody of that sense budget a full-time HR team or a full-time HR manager somebody of that sense. And so we come in and be able to provide them with the support that they need with building out employee handbooks, employee policies, hiring all the things that they need to have done at a fraction of the cost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm just now starting to learn about fractional executives. Describe to me what that is and how it's beneficial for businesses.
Speaker 1:So fractional executives again, are really primarily for businesses that don't have the resources, either financially or just the time capacity, to be able to hire someone in as an executive in a certain position for their business. So some sort of executive role. So many times businesses that truly need that support will look to fractional support help so that they don't have that added expense of, or trying to find somebody in a profession that they're not really familiar with. For example, if I were hiring somebody in a marketing management role, I'm not very, you know, knowledgeable of marketing, so for me even knowing what I would need to hire would be difficult. So hiring somebody in a fractional role will be able to be more of a strategic support for the business as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, and how did you get into this? Oh, my goodness, so 18 years of HR is really how that started. So I started in a actually a recruiting firm that was. It was a very small business in the Midwest and we expanded quite drastically over 18 years. So we started about a $4 million business and then expanded up into almost a billion dollar business.
Speaker 1:But after 18 years in that specific role and COVID hit right, I think COVID happens. That's really all I have to say, covid happened. So COVID happened and it really changed my passion for what I wanted to do long-term. So I had all of this experience and knowledge and I felt like that there was a gap with a lot of businesses. They would outsource for hiring, but they still missed the onboarding piece. Or they would outsource for benefits or somebody to consult with them, but they still had to take the time to implement in their business. Okay, and that gap was really what I recognized and I felt is a massive need. There's such a great audience for small business owners out there to you know, to acquire, to be able to purchase this type of program, and so that's really why I decided to go into this, this business, into this business. What?
Speaker 2:do you find? So what do you find most rewarding about what you do?
Speaker 1:When I see my clients succeed. So I have had so many success stories from my clients that just when I hear them it really just gives me chill bumps. It actually just really empowers me to push forward, even when days are really hard, because some days are tougher than others. Some days are great, some days are definitely difficult. For example, I have a client that just recently had a number of her team exit on her very randomly and just unexpectedly. So she was really left with a lot of responsibility on her plate and a lot of need for hiring, a lot of need for just strategic support and knowing what the next step should be, and I was able to jump in and help her identify okay, this is the next step, these are the positions we probably need to fill immediately. Actually find those people for her, do the onboarding. So you're doing the recruiting, doing everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So we are truly taking a massive amount of work off of our clients' plates. And with that being said, you know she now that was probably four months ago when that happened and the entire business has changed. So she at one point felt like she didn't want to walk into the business, like she just felt so stressed out, the culture wasn't great, and now that she has a new team in place and she's had an opportunity to really step back and we started with a clean slate, it's night and day difference. She's happy, the team is happy. We have people that really are working for the business versus just working for a paycheck.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:That's what drives me, yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's hard to find these days People that are willing to put their full self in and not just be there from nine to five. Exactly Right, actually be invested in the business.
Speaker 1:I think many times people don't. They kind of cloud the judgment when it comes from a work-life balance perspective. So, for example, you know they think, well, if I come in and I work my nine to five and then after that I'm just done and that's completely fine. But you still need to have that dedication to the business and the business owner. And I think you know many times that it does happen. And even in the onboarding or screening process we don't share that level of commitment that we want from our team. And it doesn't mean working 12 hour shifts. It means when you're there for eight hour shifts, that you really are thinking of the business. You're thinking of the values and the mission of the business, versus just there to do your job and then leave Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, take me back a little bit about. I know you said you were working for a company and decided to go out on your own, but what kind of got you into HR to begin with? It was this something you kind of knew you wanted to do in college, or what was the path it did.
Speaker 1:Actually, it was a position that I just kind of fell into, to be honest with you, in my early 20s. So I started in more of a business development and sales role. So that was kind of you know. My direction I wanted to go into was more business development, just being able to have a lot of independence, a lot of freedom and a lot of opportunity to make income with no limits. And I joined the firm that I was with for 18 years in their sales capacity, and after about six months of working with them I quickly found that I was really drawn to employment law.
Speaker 1:I loved working with people, helping them find jobs. I enjoyed working with my clients, and so I was able to really kind of get a taste of it before I decided to fully go into HR. So I had a little bit of everything, a little you know from the sales, from hiring, client success and fulfillment and I realized that the HR was really what fueled my fire, so to speak. So I decided at that point that I wanted to pursue that as a full-time career, really focus on building teams, focus on building culture and making sure that my teams are revenue generators. So that's another big piece of my business is that teams should generate more revenue than you're putting out right, so they should be bringing more money back into the business. And how do you measure that? You know those are questions that a lot of business owners don't know how to measure.
Speaker 2:Right, absolutely, and how do you help them kind of realize the importance of that?
Speaker 1:So I think the number one way is to outline where they're at now. So many times I work with a lot of different industries. I also work with a lot of med spas. Ironically, I'm not really sure how that kind of evolved, but you know, I feel like they're on the rise.
Speaker 1:There's just a lot of med spas there are and it's really making me recognize my need to visit them more too, follow them on socials. But, that being said, you know I work with a lot of med spas and identifying what their current pay structure is for their team and what revenue they're bringing to the business, and you know what that return on the investment is for the business owner. Because you know, truly, you know, we can't break even and we certainly can't take a loss right. So I come in and we identify metrics that we can measure with their team. So when I say that, though, a lot of times people will say, oh, I don't want to micromanage, I don't want to. You know, I don't want to.
Speaker 1:When I start putting numbers on things, people get uncomfortable, and I think that my approach to it is a little bit different. I think that you need team buy-in. You need for them to understand the reason for the tracking, and it's not for, you know, to be able to reprimand somebody. It's to be able to really understand where they're succeeding and how can we support them to better perform their job or how to be more successful in their job. I don't instinctively think people come in with the thought process that they don't want to do a good job. Right, right, they want to come in and they do want to do a really good job.
Speaker 1:The desire is there Exactly, but sometimes they don't know what good looks like in that role, right. So so we help identify that Right. And then we get the team buy-in, we talk to them about what their metrics are, where they're currently at, and then we do talk about industry standards. So in each business obviously there's a standard and we just start tracking. So it's not about okay, you're not hitting the mark, then we're going to put you on a warning. It's about tracking and seeing. Are we seeing improvement? Are we seeing stagnation? Are we seeing a decline? And then from there we create a plan of action to really help grow the business and grow the team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what companies like? What's your ideal client? What kind of companies are you catering to? You said you've had a lot of med spas. Yes, Is there certain, like you know, not super large companies, not super small companies. Is there like a certain niche that you look for there?
Speaker 1:is yes. So typically my employers are between two to maybe 15 employees. Typically they generate anywhere from, you know, maybe $250,000 a year up to maybe 2 million a year, if you are kind of over that threshold. Again, it varies based on the business right. There are some businesses. Their revenue may be much higher but their team's still going to remain small, so they're still a good fit for our services. But if they get more than 15 employees, typically they may want somebody full-time, somebody who they can hire in-house. I had a client once ask me you know well, when my business gets to that point, are you still going to be able to help me? And I said absolutely, you know, I can help you.
Speaker 1:But when you do get to a point where you need someone in-house, it's my job to be able to transition and help you find that person and to be able to eventually go off on your own right and have that in-house and pass things over, exactly, and over to them, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what challenges are you seeing in the HR world? These days.
Speaker 1:So the workforce is definitely the number one challenge. I think I'm finding employees and team members that are committed to the business, um, that have the drive and desire that the business owner has, and it's tough to match that because when we open a business we have that drive and passion really, because you know it's our business, it's our baby, right, and when you hire somebody in it's not their baby, so we can't expect that from your team exactly. But having the outline, having the understanding and you know what your mission and vision truly are, makes a world of difference. So many times it's just covered in a handbook, right? It's just like oh we just this is our values.
Speaker 1:These are, you know, and it's never exactly, yeah, and nobody reads it right, nobody takes it home.
Speaker 1:So for me, you know, I also set with my clients a standard to do some weekly meetings and actually use those values in your weekly meetings so that you're doing a team call out, you're saying, hey, you were a great team player this week. That's one of our key values. Thank you so much for doing this last week. That really displayed our values. So it's about just setting that standard within the business. But the challenge again is to have people that have that buy-in, and so you have to have compassion. Challenge again is to have people that have that buy-in, and so you have to have compassion. You have to really build just the rapport with your team and be able to communicate with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what are you doing for advertising and marketing these days? What's working for you? What's not working for?
Speaker 1:you. So for advertising, marketing, really social media probably my number one source. So we definitely use social media daily. We do updates daily. Referrals are also another big marketing piece for us, so that is probably Same with us.
Speaker 2:We love our referrals.
Speaker 1:Yes, I would say probably 80% of my clients are referrals. So it's just, you know, when you work with somebody, you provide them with great service and support. They want to tell their friends and family. So that's where a lot of our business comes from. But other than that, social media is really the number one source.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you told me earlier a little bit about the areas that you serve. It's not just local. No, tell me a little bit about where you, how you're finding your clients, where they're located and how you can help them remotely.
Speaker 1:So we really work with anyone in within the United States and Canada. So we technically can work in Canada as well and employment laws are a little bit different in Canada but you know it's there's a lot of similarities as well. But we work with clients from Arizona up into Maine, new Jersey you know I've got Georgia, gosh, indiana they're anywhere is really where we can serve With 18 years of experience in HR and I'm also a member of the SHRM Society, which is for a human resources professional site where we have support from other HR professionals. So if it's a situation that I have not dealt with which 18 years? I'm going to say I've dealt with a lot, but in 18 years you definitely experience a lot. But if there are situations that come up that maybe I want to call on a colleague, I have that additional support.
Speaker 1:But you know we serve remotely. So everything we don't need an office space in your building, we don't need equipment, we don't need any of those things. Really, what we need is just a little bit of your time to be able to identify what your goals are, and then we come in and we set the systems up. We set the structure up in place and get organization going for you. So it's all done remotely. Even our orientations with the team members are done remote.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's great that you can serve so many people in that aspect. Yeah, it's amazing. Where do you see this all going? Where do you see your business and yourself going the next few years?
Speaker 1:That's a great question and I don't know the exact answer to that. I think that it's evolving just every single day. It changes a little bit, in the sense that I see a lot of potential and I see a lot of I see for myself, probably, you know, obviously growing my team out. Additionally, I do have a team of HR consultants that work with me as well to support my clients as we continue to grow, but probably just to continue my building of my business. You know I love to travel, so I definitely see a team that's going to be able to support me so that I can travel more as well, and then give them the flexibility to. You know, they have full flexibility being remote. So I want to have a really good environment where everybody feels happy, they feel fulfilled in their life, financially and personally.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, yeah, what advice do you have for business owners when they get to a certain point that they feel like they need to start outsourcing HR or accounting or whatever. What tips do you have to kind of help prioritize what they're going to outsource? Absolutely so.
Speaker 1:I would say the tips that first I would say don't wait.
Speaker 1:If you are even in a position where you're a solopreneur and you feel like I probably will need to hire someone in six months, Don't wait until you're ready to hire, to outsource support. Many times people come to me and they say I have somebody starting next week and I don't have anything in place. I don't have a handbook, I don't have all the things in place that I need. And that's a tough spot to be in, because you definitely and not that we can't put those things together but to put together a system that's going to feel comfortable for the new hire takes a little bit of time. So, being able to really have a system set up so that their experience from day one is smooth, they feel comfortable Again, you know, if you put yourself in the position of an employee, you want to know that they expect you, that everything's set up and that they have a system in place for you to train.
Speaker 1:So I would say don't wait first. Second would be to make sure you have your mission and values really identified and again, it's one of those pieces that when you're opening a business and many times you may get, you know advice from people to say you know, create your business plan, and I think that's really important. But I think that the piece that's missing is truly living the mission and your values. So when you go to hire, you look at those values and you say, OK, these are the five things that I want in my team and when I'm interviewing. If one of those pieces is missing, then that's not the candidate for me.
Speaker 1:Right, because that's most likely going to be the reason you fire them, and nobody wants to do that. You know, unfortunately, in the years that I've been in this, we've had to do that, but it's not something anybody likes, even when somebody is super uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:And you feel, you know it's, even if they've done wrong, you still feel bad. So it's important to have those pieces in place. And then clarity Clarity is probably the other thing is being really clear with yourself with where you're at, being clear with where you're going, and then sharing that clarity with everybody involved. Right, and then, sharing that clarity with everybody involved. Organization and communication those are things that sometimes get put aside when you're busy building your business, because you need to generate revenue. That's the goal Get money in the door right, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:How important do you feel like the onboarding process is to employee retention?
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. It's very, very important. I think that it sets the stage for the experience in general being able to just identify what are the first steps that they're going to learn in the job. You know what is, what does the organizational chart even look like? You know, these are things that they need to know coming in, versus showing up on the first day and there's five faces that they have no idea who they are right, Maybe a computer that's not set up for them.
Speaker 2:There's just so many things and all these systems they're not used to. Yes.
Speaker 1:So you know, the orientation and the onboarding gives you an opportunity to introduce those things and pieces and it's like putting those puzzle pieces together. So, for example, when I do my orientation I may say you know, these are the programs you're going to use. I'll show them the programs that they use and then from there, you know, the first day they'll say, oh, I recognize that program. I remember you know Lori showed me this. Or you know they'll know lunches at noon or lunches at one 30. And you know this is the owner of the business and this is the director of operations, and I recognize that face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and bringing it all together Exactly. Director of operations and I recognize that face. Yeah, and bringing it all together. Yeah, as we kind of wrap up here, are there any words of advice you'd like to leave us with, or maybe just a life mantra that you live?
Speaker 1:by oh my gosh. Well, I've kind of shared it a little bit, but I say clarity is kindness. That's probably my my number one thing that I share with all of my clients.
Speaker 2:I have not heard that before.
Speaker 1:Really it is so true, it is very, very accurate at every piece of your life. I think that being clear with people and it's difficult because I'm an empath so for me, I relate, I'm like, oh my gosh, like I don't want to hurt somebody's feelings. I, you know, I'm very cautious about what I say to people and I learned that many, many years ago that if I'm not transparent and I'm not upfront and I don't share with them, that it's not only affecting me but it's actually being unkind to them. Right? So that's my piece of advice. Otherwise, I say again don't wait. That's the biggest thing is we procrastinate and we know things need to happen. Just don't wait to the last minute. Ask for help. As an entrepreneur, we like to just take it all on our own shoulders and I think that it is. It's a necessity for some timeframe, but there comes a point where you know the wait's too much and you have to call out for help.
Speaker 2:Yes, and knowing when to do that, exactly and usually if you need it.
Speaker 1:You probably already waited a little too long, exactly A little too long, but not too late. Not too late.
Speaker 2:Yep, Well thank.