505. Remote Hiring Key to His Success

Nathan Hirsch

When Nathan and his business partner, Connor, took a long overdue vacation, they left their business in good hands. On Day 1, they learned they had lost a major vendor. The same day, his CPA called to tell him his identity had been stolen and a false tax return had been filed in his name. But putting his life and business back together was not going to stand in his way.

Nathan Hirsch is a serial entrepreneur and expert in remote hiring and e-commerce. He is the founder and CEO of FreeeUp.com and the co-founder and COO of Portlight. Nathan started his e-commerce career on the Amazon Marketplace and successfully built a $7 million business within 4 years. After seeing the potential of using remote workers within his first business, he founded FreeeUp to make the remote hiring experience simpler for all e-commerce business owners. FreeeUp now provides reliable e-commerce workers to hundreds of clients around the world. Nathan is an expert at building efficient systems and processes, sales strategies, and business management. He currently lives in Orlando, Florida.

How Did You Start Using Your Talents?

“I started an Amazon business when I was in college. I hired my first employee before I could legally drink, and I grew a multimillion-dollar business out of my college dorm room, hiring lots of remote workers. I’ve been hiring for more than seven years, and now I’m in the business of helping entrepreneurs and other employers find high quality remote workers.”

The Most Impactful Turning Point?

“I’ve had some really great hires—people who still work with me today—and, like any entrepreneur, I’ve made some really bad hires, too. It has been frustrating at times. Some of the lowest points in my life as an entrepreneur came when I was seeing all the time and energy wasted, terminating people after only a week. So, I created FreeeUp.com based on my hiring experience, and on what I wished had been out there when I was hiring people for the first time.”

The Most Powerful Lessons Learned?

“The business was growing really well, and that led me to take my first vacation in quite a while. My partner Connor and I, and a few other people who worked for us, went away to the beach. We left the business in good hands. On day one, I got a call from one of our good vendors, telling us they had decided they would no longer work with us. A few hours later, my accountant called, telling me he just got word from the IRS. Someone had filed a $40,000 false return in my name and my identity has been stolen. My company had to start over! It really taught me a lesson in diversifying revenue streams and employees and having different processes and back-up systems in place. It changed my whole business model from being too reliant on one person to being very diversified.”