For small business owners, the new year often means a lot of new stuff: new budgets, new goals, and new employees. So we focussed on hiring in January. We wanted you to be enlightened and equipped to navigate the murky waters of hiring.  We even gave away one of our most powerful tools, The Business Owner’s Guide for Employee Interviews! (Still free for download until February 1st!) 

AND we hosted a fantastic webinar with Dave Delaney: The 2015 Guide to Using LinkedIn. It was such a huge hit that we’re offering it again in April. (Register here!)

We have just a few more slots open in our Mastermind Groups. These groups are designed for all you business owners who are serious about breaking through barriers you’ve encountered in your leadership or your business. If that’s you, let us know!

Here’s the top small business articles for January 2015!

1. Hiring employees? Here’s 5 things you need to know

Hiring employees is hard. It’s time consuming and it’s risky (mistakes are painful and costly). For most of us, it’s not something that we’ve been trained to do. But if our business is going to grow, a big part of our job is going to be getting good at hiring and training employees. Here’s what you need to know.»

2. Employee Compensation: 3 mistakes small businesses make

When it’s time to start recruiting for a job there’s always the question, “How much should I pay employees?” Maybe you aren’t hiring, but your employees are asking for raises. How much do you need to offer in raises to keep them? For starters, don’t make these mistakes.»

3. The ULTIMATE Small Business Hiring Guide: Everything you need to know about hiring an employee

We know how tough hiring can be first hand. So we put together a comprehensive, step-by-step epic guide to hiring just for small businesses. If you’re hiring (or soon), this is your ultimate resource!»

4. The phone screen interview: What questions should I ask?

You wrote a great job ad, you know what you need to pay for it, and you have some candidates lined up. What should you do next? Phone screen them before bringing them in for an interview! Brad shares the questions you should be asking.»

5. Top 10 hottest small business articles of 2014

We looked back at last year and found our top 10 most popular small business articles read by you — business owners — in 2014. We wanted to find out what articles had the most impact on owners, what topics were most important to you, and what you wanted to know and learn more about. Check it out.»

What was your favorite article this month?