First Hire - Who Should It Be and What Should They Do?

[Josh Gorokhovsky]

Hi BP Familia,

If you're reading this, I hope your families are all healthy and staying sane! 

My company is getting to a deal flow point where I can no longer handle running the show myself. We are a fully integrated real estate investment and development firm so I have done everything the past 3.5 years from origination, acquisitions, construction, and asset management with the help of contractors and subcontractors.

I need to free up time  to continue running the job sites under construction and increase our pipeline but do not feel I am at a place to hire someone full time just yet. Probably by the beginning of next year I can transition to that. My thinking at the moment is to bring on 2 people: a book keeper (monthly to do upkeep on accounting) and a virtual assistant. My goal is to outsource or hire the "$10/hr tasks" that I shouldn't be spending time on anymore such as:

Pipeline and Lead Generation:
- Identify potential properties to buy near existing job sites
- Project research
- Deal analysis
- Connect and message agents, investors, appraisers, attorney's and fiduciaries on Social media
- Reach out to press publications
- Contact sheets

Development and Construction:
- Contacting utility companies to remove and start service - set appointments, etc
- Contacting Los Angeles Building and Safety for documents, submissions, appointments, etc
- Get bids from vendors
- Schedule appointments with vendors and follow up

Does anyone have experience with this and what has your experience been once you've gotten to this point? What mistakes can be avoided and what are things that must happen? 

Thanks in advance.