With the new year now full steam ahead, you want to make sure you have a great team to make 2013 the best one yet. Whether you own the corner coffee shop or an upscale boutique, in this 4-week series, we will give you some easy tips to make sure you build a great team for your small business.

Where do you start? First things first. Let’s find employees to interview.

1. Ask your best customers, they love your business already.

This is Kacy. She comes in every other day for your specialty boba tea. Not only did she rave about it on your Yelp page, but she also attends the local college around the corner.

Kacy is tech savvy and loves to post about her favorite places online.

Who better to hire than your best advocates? Your employees are what represent your business to customers who come in the door every day. Customers come in not only for your goods, but also for the experience and customer service. So make it a point to ask Kacy and your other regulars if they are interested this week.

2. Post catchy flyers to community boards in your neighborhood.

Think about the type of vibe you have in your small business.

• Are you funky and artsy?
• Casual and laid back?
• High end and chic?
• Where do those types of people hang out? This is where you want to find your employees.

Most business owners post a generic “Help Wanted” sign in their window. Go a step further and make your flyer reflect your business with a catchy title, picture, and a short description of your business and what you are looking for.

Here is a simple example of a flyer. You can use tools like Power Point or Google Docs to make something like this on your own.

Remember: If you saw your flyer, would you want to work there? Now go post a few of your flyers on the community boards in your neighborhood library, college student center, local Starbucks, or places that you like to go.

3. Make a job post on Craigslist.

Not many people check out the jobs page in your local newspaper anymore. When looking for a part time job, Craigslist is the place to find it. Just think of it as an online classifieds section. It will run you about $75 bucks, but it’s worth it for the amount of applicants you will get from it.

This is the Craigslist homepage. Just click on “post to classifieds” to get started.

Like I said earlier, make sure you are thoughtful about your post. Make it reflect your business with a few pictures and a description of what you are looking for. Just re-use the text from your flyer and include specifics on what you want the applicants to send you (previous experience, contact information, etc.).

Most importantly, make it really easy for potential employees to contact you and apply. Give an email address at minimum, but a phone number to call or text is also good to have so really eager applicants can follow up. When you have applicants who are on the ball about following up, you can probably expect that same kind of enthusiasm when it comes to work ethic.

4. Ask your Facebook and Twitter friends.

Who better to ask than your friends? Make your post short and sweet, and ask them to send you a message if they know any good people who would be a good fit at your small business. To get more feedback from your friends, give your friends an incentive to send you referrals. If my friend owned a cupcake shop, I would definitely send over a couple of my contacts for a free cupcake!