There’s a lot of grousing out there about hiring. So when it’s our turn to hire, you’d think we’d be really good at it.

After all, we’re hiring people all the time. Yes, hiring people to work for us. Our life is our business, remember?

From the time we start living on our own, we’re hiring. Mostly, we hire temps or independent contractors.

So, who are we hiring?

• Personal service providers — hair stylists, manicurists, fitness trainers
• Home maintenance folks — grass mowers, plumbers, electricians
• Finance and legal eagles — CPAs, insurance agents, attorneys
• Health and wellness pros — physicians, dentists, message therapists

When it’s your time to hire, what’s your process?

If you’re like most people, you don’t have much process at all. Your steps probably include:

• Asking a friend or family member for a referral
• Going on line or looking in the yellow pages
• Posting what you need to your social network

Usually, we end up with the names of one or two people. We contact them and the first available person gets our business.

When we hire services for ourselves, we generally don’t use a systematic process like businesses do. That can be a problem.

When we’re clear about what we want, we’ll make a good hire.

I once hired a man to save my old barn from falling off its foundation. He was referred to me by my friends at the feed mill who had used him often.

My hiring process for this construction work was very clear. I asked him about:

• his prior experience and his plan for this job
• the size and skills of his crew
• the estimated time-to-complete and cost

The result was a work-for-hire that met everyone’s expectations.

When that job was done, I asked if he would take down a couple old pine trees. He said, “Sure,” and I left it at that.

I came home from work one afternoon to find him trying to cut those trees down by hand. Why? Because his chainsaw broke. The job had taken him all day. His bill was an outrageous surprise! I never used him again. So, he was fired!

Lesson learned: I hired smartly the first time and like a dope the second.

Too often, we don’t take our personal hires very seriously.

Why? Because we think we’ll just get someone else if they don’t work out. The reality is that we tend not to “fire” them.

I once had an ophthalmologist who was extremely well-trained and competent but dismissive when I asked questions. I stayed with her for 8 years because it was too much trouble to switch.

Then her staff made two disturbing gaffs that she “blew off” when I questioned them. It was time: “Fired.”.

When we live with our bad hires, it costs us frustration, stress, and money. Since our life is our business, we need to avoid those costs to be successful.

Here are some tried-and-true steps for your personal hiring process:

• Prepare a list of skills and traits, like trustworthiness, quality, reliability, and availability, that are your “must-haves”
• Ask for and check references from people who had a job done like yours
• Have a direct conversation beforehand about how the work, billing, and communication will be done
• If you have any reservations, walk away—and find someone else

The hiring you do in your personal life is not easy. But when you do it right, your business fitness quotient goes way up. Good luck!