Your Next Hire Might Look Different with Wally of ITXRE

Author: Tracy McCoy

One of the things James and I have learned from building Get Fish Slapped is that growth doesn't always mean hiring another full-time employee.

Sometimes what your business really needs is expertise. Sometimes it's additional capacity. Sometimes it's someone who can come in for a few months, solve a specific problem, put better systems in place, and help you get to the next stage.

In Episode 16 of The Fish Slap Effect Podcast, “Your Next Hire Might Look Different with Wally of ITXRE,” I got to explore that idea through a conversation I had with Wally at the Florida Association of Cosmetic Dentistry Conference.

ITXRE built its business around the idea of making taxes simple, and now they're bringing that same philosophy to staffing and recruiting. Wally heads up that new division, helping businesses find professionals in areas like accounting, finance, fractional CFO work, and high-level IT positions.

But what stuck with me after our conversation wasn't just what ITXRE is doing. It was the bigger question it raised for me as a business owner:

What if the person your business needs next doesn't have to be a traditional full-time hire?

Hiring Doesn't Have to Be All or Nothing

I think a lot of us have a picture in our heads of what hiring is supposed to look like.

You create a position. You find someone. You hire them full time. You pay a salary and benefits. Then you hope the business continues to generate enough work to sustain that position.

Sometimes that's exactly what you should do. But sometimes it isn't.

Maybe you need the experience of a CFO, but you don't need a CFO forty hours a week. Maybe your business is going through a transition, and you need someone to get your financials organized. Maybe you've reached a point where your technology needs are beyond your current team's expertise.

You may need someone for six months instead of six years. That's where fractional, contract, temporary, and other flexible staffing arrangements can create opportunities that business owners sometimes overlook. The goal isn't necessarily to hire more people. It's to get the right expertise into the business when you need it.

Sometimes You Need Expertise, Not Another Task

This part of my conversation with Wally really resonated with me because I've experienced it firsthand. When James and I were building Get Fish Slapped, we did what most business owners do. We wore a lot of hats. You figure things out because you have to. But eventually, doing everything yourself becomes its own limitation.

Accounting was a big one for me. It's important, obviously, but it's not my area of expertise. There was a point when trying to manage those responsibilities ourselves wasn't saving us anything. It was taking time away from the things we actually needed to be doing to grow the business.

Working with qualified CPAs and financial professionals changed that. They didn't just take tasks off my plate. They brought expertise I didn't have. That's an important distinction.

Delegating isn't simply about getting rid of work you don't want to do. It's also about recognizing when someone else's knowledge can move your business forward faster than trying to become an expert yourself.

When Does Not Hiring Become More Expensive?

This is one of those questions I think more business owners should ask. We tend to focus on what hiring someone will cost.

What's the salary? What are the benefits? How much will a contractor charge? Can we afford another expense?

Those are important questions. But there's another side to the equation:

What is it costing you not to get help?

If your team is consistently working overtime, there's a cost.

If you're turning away opportunities because you don't have capacity, there's a cost.

If clients aren't getting the attention they deserve because everyone is stretched too thin, there's a cost.

And if you're spending hours every week doing something another person could do better and faster, there's definitely a cost.

Eventually, a lack of capacity can cause a business to plateau. You become so focused on keeping up with the work you already have that there's no room left to build what's next. That's when the right hire, even if it's not a traditional hire, can become an investment instead of an expense.

Know Where You're Going Before You Build the Team

James made a point during our conversation after the interview that I think is really important. Before you start adding people, you need to decide where you actually want the business to go.

It's easy to say you want to double or triple revenue. Most business owners would probably say yes if you asked whether they'd like their company to make three times as much money next year.

But what would that actually require? Do you have the people? The systems? The equipment? The space? The technology?

And here's the question we sometimes forget to ask:

Do you want the life that comes with running that version of the business?

James and I have had those conversations ourselves. We have children. We want to be involved in their lives. We care about the quality of the work we're producing and the relationships we have with our clients. So growth can't just mean saying yes to everything that comes through the door. We've done that before.

In the early days, we'd say yes and then figure out later that we didn't have enough cameras, enough lights, enough people, or sometimes even enough bandwidth to handle everything we'd committed to.

Growth needs infrastructure. And sometimes the smartest way to build that infrastructure is gradually, bringing in the right resources as you need them rather than trying to build the entire future organization overnight.

Delegation Gives You Something More Valuable Than Time

As our team at Get Fish Slapped has grown, one of the biggest changes for me has been learning to trust other people with things I once felt like I had to handle myself. I can ask someone on our team to take a client call and know they're going to take care of that client the way I would.

That's huge.

It gives me time back, but more importantly, it gives me mental space back. Instead of chasing every task, I can spend more time thinking about client relationships, strategy, what's coming next for our agency, and projects like The Fish Slap Effect Podcast.

Time is one of the most valuable resources we have as business owners, and it's one resource we can't replenish. The right people don't just help you get more done. They give you room to focus on the work only you can do.

Flexible Doesn't Mean Lowering Your Standards

There's another side of fractional and contract hiring that I think is incredibly important. You still have to protect your culture. If someone is going to represent Get Fish Slapped, I care about how they work, how they communicate, and how they treat our clients and our team. That doesn't change because they're a contractor instead of an employee.

We've used trusted contractors throughout different stages of our business, and we approach those relationships carefully. I want to know whether they're a fit before I put them directly in front of a client. They need to understand our values. They need to understand how we work. They need to be comfortable representing our brand.

James said something during the episode that summed it up pretty well: they have to be willing to wear our logo. That isn't just literal. It means if you're representing us, you're representing what we've built. Someone can be incredibly talented and still be the wrong fit. A person who damages the culture can create far more problems than their talent solves.

Don't Wait Until You're Desperate

One of my biggest takeaways from the conversation with Wally was the importance of thinking about staffing before the need becomes urgent. When you're desperate, your options shrink.

If someone leaves unexpectedly or your workload suddenly becomes unmanageable, you're much more likely to rush into a decision because you simply need help. That's when warning signs get overlooked. Planning earlier gives you more options.

Maybe the answer is a permanent employee. Maybe it's a fractional professional. Maybe it's a trusted contractor or temporary placement. Maybe you need someone to come in, establish systems, train your team, and then move on. You don't have to solve every future staffing need today.

But you should be thinking about what the next phase of your business is going to require before you get there.

The Bigger Picture

My conversation with Wally started with staffing and recruiting, but it reminded me of something bigger. Every business owner is building toward something.

Maybe you're building toward growth. Maybe you're preparing for succession. Maybe you're trying to create a company that doesn't require you to be involved in every single decision. Maybe you simply want enough freedom to spend more time with your family without worrying that everything will fall apart when you're not there.

The team you build should support that future. And that team may not look exactly like you thought it would. It could include full-time employees, part-time employees, contractors, fractional executives, consultants, or a combination of all of them. The important thing is being intentional about it.

You aren't just staffing for today's workload. You're building a team that can help you create the business and the life you're working toward.

Watch the Full Episode & Join the Conversation

If you've been wondering whether it's time to add someone to your team, or you've assumed hiring another full-time employee is your only option, I invite you to watch Episode 16, “Your Next Hire Might Look Different with Wally of ITXRE,” of The Fish Slap Effect Podcast.

You'll hear my complete conversation with Wally about ITXRE's approach to making staffing and recruiting simpler, including permanent placements, fractional professionals, and creating flexible options for businesses at different stages of growth.

James and I also dig into the practical side of the conversation, including how to recognize when you need help, what we've learned from delegating inside our own business, why culture still matters with outside professionals, and how thinking differently about your team can create more options for the future.

Follow The Fish Slap Effect Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or subscribe on YouTube. We release new conversations every week about marketing, leadership, business growth, entrepreneurship, and the lessons we're learning alongside other business owners.

If you enjoy the show, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow business owner, entrepreneur, marketer, or leader who's trying to figure out what their team needs next.

Because your next hire doesn't have to fit the traditional mold. It just needs to be the right person, with the right expertise, for where you're trying to go next.

To learn more about ITXRE, please visit their website at www.itxre.com.