How to Hire a Remote Team for Your Amazon FBA Business (Step-by-Step Guide for 6–7 Figure Sellers)

Are you an Amazon seller feeling stuck? You’ve built a successful 6 or 7-figure business, but now it feels like you're chained to it. Every day is a whirlwind of putting out fires, chasing deadlines, and juggling tasks that feel urgent but don't actually grow your business. You know you need help, but the thought of hiring feels like another overwhelming project added to your never-ending list.

It’s a common story. You started this business to gain freedom and control, but now it controls you. Your personal life suffers, stress builds, and the joy of entrepreneurship starts to fade. You’re the bottleneck, constantly wishing for more time and mental clarity to focus on what truly matters: strategic growth and innovation.

Many Amazon sellers find themselves in this exact spot. They're spread too thin, doing everything themselves because finding the right people and training them properly feels impossible. But what if I told you that building an efficient team isn't just possible, it's the only way to unlock the next level of growth and reclaim your time?

I’m Michael, and I've been there. I scaled and successfully sold an 8-figure Amazon brand. I know firsthand the challenges of growing a business while trying to manage every single detail. That's why I created Scaleport – to help sellers like you systemize their operations and build powerful, efficient teams.

In this guide, I’m pulling back the curtain on our exact hiring process. Whether you’re looking to make your very first hire or refine your current approach, this blueprint will give you a clear, step-by-step guide. We'll cover everything from defining roles and accountability to building effective hiring funnels and filtering candidates. By the end, you’ll know how to systematically hire the right team members at affordable rates, so you can step out of the daily grind and focus on scaling your Amazon business.

Ready to take back control? Let's dive in.

The Foundation: Understanding Delegation vs. Outsourcing & Types of Hires

Before you even think about posting a job ad, it’s crucial to lay some groundwork. Many entrepreneurs mix up delegating and outsourcing, or they don’t truly understand what kind of talent they need. Let’s clear that up first.

Delegating vs. Outsourcing: Where's Your Control?

It might seem like common sense, but I often see people confuse these two.

• Delegating means assigning tasks and responsibilities to internal employees – people on your own team. All processes and workflows are created and managed internally. You define the steps, you oversee the work, and you maintain high control.

• Outsourcing means paying an external organization or agency to handle specific processes. They have their own employees and their own methods. Think about hiring a PPC agency; you're paying for their expertise, but you’re also paying their overhead and their margins. Your level of direct control is much lower.

Neither is inherently "bad." Both have their place. But how do you decide which path to take? Ask yourself these questions:

• Is it a core process? Is this how your business creates value? If so, you’ll want a high level of control, meaning delegation is usually the better choice.

• Do you have the process or expertise to develop it? Maybe you’re not an Amazon PPC expert, so outsourcing makes sense. But if you know how to manage your supply chain, for example, you can build an internal process and delegate it.

• Is it advantageous to store know-how? For things like product development, building internal knowledge about your customers and market is invaluable. This suggests delegation.

For the purpose of this guide, we’ll focus on building your own internal team through effective delegation.

What Type of Hire Do You Need?

I break hires down into two main categories:

1. Delegation Hires: This is when you want to hand over something you’re already doing. Maybe you’re managing all your shipments and inventory. A delegation hire takes that off your plate. You’re looking for someone with a similar skillset in that specific area – you know how to do it, but you choose not to, so you can focus on higher-level activities.

2. Expertise Hires: This is when you need someone with a skill you don’t have. Maybe you want to explore external marketing channels like Facebook ads, but you have no experience. You'd hire a marketing expert. While it’s always good to understand the basics of an area before hiring an expert (so you can manage them effectively), the goal here isn't to save your time directly, but to bring in specialized knowledge.

Understanding Competence Levels: Who Are You Looking For?

Clarifying competence levels helps you define your requirements accurately and quickly filter candidates.

• Level 1: The Follower. This person strictly follows a predefined procedure. You train them, show them the steps, and they execute. They don't make decisions or build workflows; they simply follow your instructions. Think of a general VA. This is often the most affordable labor ($4-5/hour from common remote hiring regions). To get results, you must have clear, step-by-step procedures in place.

• Level 2: The Specialist. A specialist can follow a process, but they also bring contextual knowledge and experience. They can hit the ground running with existing processes and tools. They can make some decisions and are usually more resourceful, finding solutions when stuck. Examples include a supply chain manager with prior experience. These roles are typically more expensive ($10-20/hour, depending on location and skillset). With specialists, you need to clearly define their fit and then transfer accountability; you want them to own the process and its outcomes.

• Level 3: The Expert. An expert develops their own processes. They have deep experience and can tell you what needs to be done and how. Your job is to define the objective (e.g., "explore external traffic"), and they'll figure out the strategy. Often, you might outsource to an expert (like a consultant) to develop a process, then hire a specialist to implement it. Experts can command hundreds of dollars per hour. Be warned: many people claim to be experts but aren't; a true expert knows their topic through and through.

Common Mistakes with Competence Levels:

• Trying to turn followers into specialists: Good followers excel at following steps. Forcing them into decision-making roles often leads to stress for both of you and poor results. Let good followers be good followers.

• Delegating everything to one employee: Don't expect your first hire to be a mini-entrepreneur who understands every facet of your business. Focus on finding someone with a unique skillset that fits a specific need.

Setting the Stage: Essential Hiring Guidelines

Before diving into the hiring funnel, let’s talk about the mindset you need. This isn’t just about the process; it’s about your approach.

1. Plan Slowly, Hire Fast, Fire Faster:

   • Plan Slowly: Invest significant time upfront defining the role, objectives, and building your hiring funnel. This preparation saves immense headaches later.

   • Hire Fast: Once you find a great candidate who’s a good fit, move quickly to bring them on board. Good talent gets snapped up.

   • Fire Faster: If someone isn't a good fit, or isn't performing as expected, don't drag it out. It's better for everyone to part ways quickly so you can repeat the process and find the right person.

2. Make It a Good Fit (for Both Sides):

   • When hiring, it's easy to focus only on what you want. But you also need to consider what you offer.

   • A truly successful hire is excited to work with you. Understand their desires, motivations, and goals, just like you would with a customer. You want them to be happy and stay for the long haul.

3. Look for a Unique Skillset:

   • Don't try to mold an employee into an entrepreneur. If someone is passionate about supply chain management, don't force them into product development.

   • Find someone who excels at one specific thing and let them own a significant part of that area of your business.

4. Hire Based on Current Skillset, Not Just Future Potential:

   • While potential is nice, if you need leverage and fast results, hire someone who can already do the job.

   • Spending excessive time training and coaching for basic tasks delays your growth. Unless you specifically want an apprentice, prioritize immediate capability.

5. Focus on Leverage, Not Cost:

   • Many people view hiring as a cost to minimize. Instead, see it as an investment in leverage.

   • How much time will this person save you? How much money will they help your business generate? Often, paying a bit more for a truly effective candidate (e.g., $10/hour instead of $5/hour) is a no-brainer when you consider the upside and the ability to attract better talent.

The Hiring Process: A Step-by-Step Blueprint

Now, let’s get into the practical steps of our hiring process, designed for remote workers but perfectly adaptable for in-house employees.

The fundamental shift in thinking when hiring is to ask yourself: "What do I want to delegate?" not just "Who do I want to hire?" This helps you focus on processes, not just tasks, and gain maximum leverage.

Step 1: Identify Your Labor Bottleneck

This is where you figure out what needs to be delegated. Your goal is to identify the process that, once delegated, will free up the most time and mental capacity for you.

1. Understand Your Time Allocation:

   • Start tracking your time. Tools like Toggl can show you exactly where your hours go.

   • Look at the last 30 days. You might find 30% of your time goes into supply, and 60% of that is just managing shipments. That’s a huge opportunity! Why? Because managing shipments is a low-level activity that doesn’t actively grow your business.

   • Actionable Tip: Use a time tracking app for a week or two. Categorize your tasks (e.g., product research, PPC, customer service, supply chain, strategic planning). This data is gold.

2. Differentiate Growth vs. Maintenance Work:

   • Growth work is often creative, requires out-of-the-box thinking, and is generally harder (and more expensive) to delegate. Think new product development, market expansion.

   • Maintenance work involves routines and repeated actions that keep the business running but don't directly drive new revenue. Examples include managing purchase orders (POs), handling customer service inquiries, or routine PPC adjustments.

   • Actionable Tip: Prioritize delegating maintenance tasks first. It’s easier to define clear steps and processes for these, making delegation smoother and more affordable. It’s usually easier to find someone to manage POs and shipments than a new product developer.

3. Assess Effort vs. Impact:

   • Think about tasks that demand a lot of your time and mental capacity (high effort) but have a low direct impact on business performance.

   • This is where the 80/20 rule comes in. These tasks still need to be done regularly (monitoring, tracking shipments, basic competitor checks), but they don’t require complex decision-making. Yet, they consume a lot of your mental energy.

   • Actionable Tip: Look for these high-effort, low-impact tasks. They are prime candidates for delegation because they free up your mind for high-impact activities.

The Common Mistake:Many sellers tell me, "I haven't launched a new product in six months. I need a product development specialist." But the root cause often isn’t a lack of product development skills. It's that they're swamped managing shipments or PPC. You could hire a product development expert, but you'd still be stuck managing shipments.

Instead, ask: Why aren't you spending enough time on product development? If it's because supply chain tasks consume 30% of your time, then hiring a supply chain manager is a cheaper, easier way to free your time. You can then reallocate that time to product development, becoming the "product development expert" for your own business. Find the root cause of your labor bottleneck and remove it the easiest, most affordable way possible.

Step 2: Define the Position (Meticulously!)

Once you know what process you want to delegate, it's time to define the specific role.

1. List Specific Tasks and Decisions:

   • Brainstorm every single task and decision you currently handle within that process. Don't hold back.

   • Example: Product Development - keyword research, creating titles, populating listings, photo briefs, creating PPC campaigns.

   • Pro Tip: If you’re stuck, ask AI for help: "Hey AI, I have an Amazon business and I need to delegate product development. What are all the tasks I could potentially delegate in this process?" This often sparks ideas you missed.

2. Define Requirements:

   • Position Level: Is this a Follower, Specialist, or Expert role?

     • Do you have a super clear, step-by-step procedure already defined? You just need someone to do it repeatedly? -> Follower.

     • Do you have a clear idea of the result, but need someone resourceful who can make some decisions and study on their own? -> Specialist.

     • Do you not really know what you’re doing in this area, but you know you need to do it (e.g., "I need to try Facebook ads")? -> Expert.

   • General Requirements: These are as important as hard skills. Think about:

     • Analytical mindset

     • Problem-solving abilities

     • Process-driven mind

     • Availability (fixed hours or flexible?)

     • Responsibility and ownership of results

   • Critical Requirement (The Filter): Set one absolute non-negotiable requirement. If a candidate doesn't meet this, nothing else matters. This will be key for filtering later.

3. Clarify Employment Details:

   • Hours Required: Based on your time allocation exercise, you have a solid estimate. I recommend increasing your current time spent by about 50% to account for ramp-up and initial oversight. Is it full-time or part-time? Fixed or flexible hours?

   • Pay Rate: Have a clear idea of what you can afford, but don't just aim for the absolute lowest. Remember to focus on leverage, not just cost. A slightly higher pay rate often attracts significantly better candidates.

   • Benefits: Beyond money, what can you offer? Mentorship? Profit share (for managers)? Define what makes your opportunity attractive.

4. Position in the Company:

   • Be clear about reporting structure: Who manages this role? (Initially, it will likely be you).

   • Who will they interact with? (Internal team, external partners like photographers, graphic designers, PPC agencies). Write it all down.

5. Define Success and Failure (The Most Crucial Step!):

   • This step is often skipped, but it's vital. It clarifies your expectations before you even start interviewing.

   • What does success look like in this role? For a Supply Manager, success might mean: "Supply chain is running smoothly according to our processes, no delays due to miscommunication, and all milestones are tracked."

   • What does failure look like? For the same role: "Manager has to step in, delays caused by miscommunication, losing track of milestones."

   • What is the ultimate objective of this hire? For a delegation hire, it’s usually to save your time. Quantify it: "Save 10 hours of my time every week." You'll use this metric to evaluate the employee after a few months. If you haven't achieved it, you know something needs to change.

Step 3: Build Your Hiring Funnel

Think of hiring like product development: maximize "shots on goal" (candidates) while minimizing your effort in filtering them. No process guarantees 100% success, but a good funnel dramatically increases your odds. If a hire doesn’t work out, you simply repeat the process with the funnel already built.

1. The Job Ad: Your Product Listing

   • This is your sales pitch. You're selling an opportunity, not just a job. Make it exciting! Would you be interested in applying?

   • Discourage unqualified candidates: Make the job ad as detailed as possible. People not genuinely interested won't bother reading or applying, which saves you time.

   • Job Ad Structure:

     • Hook/Sales Pitch: Catch their eye immediately. This is your headline on a platform.

     • Scope of Employment: Hours (part-time/full-time), long-term potential, remote/in-office. Put this upfront, as it's what applicants often scan for first.

     • Responsibilities: Be very detailed. What exactly will they do?

     • Bonus Skills: Mention specific software or industry experience that’s a plus.

     • Position in Team & Onboarding: Where do they fit? Who do they interact with? What are the initial expectations? Highlight exciting aspects, like working directly with the founder of a 7-figure brand.

     • Salary & Benefits: Be transparent and attractive.

     • About Your Business: Who are you? Your vision, goals, culture.

     • Clear Call to Action: Tell them exactly what to do next.

   • Where to Advertise:

     • Your Network: Don't skip this! Post on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. You might be surprised who from your past is looking for a remote opportunity.

     • Hiring Platforms: Upwork, Onlinejobs.ph, Reddit, FreeUp are common options. The how you hire matters more than the where, but cast a wide net initially.

   • Bonus Tip (Engagement Filter): In your call to action, instruct applicants to start their application with a specific, unusual phrase (e.g., "Let's do this," "I love Amazon,"). This immediately filters out candidates who didn't read the ad carefully.

2. The Questionnaire: Your First Filter

   • Use Google Forms or Typeform to quickly filter a large number of candidates. This allows for quick export and spreadsheet filtering.

   • Questionnaire Structure:

     • Personal Information: Name, email, relevant past experience.

     • Process Requirements: Ask questions specific to the role. "Why should we choose you?" "What's your experience with Amazon [specific area]?" Look for detailed, relevant answers. (Resourcefulness is key: if they find answers online, that’s not necessarily bad if it shows they can solve problems.)

     • Expectations: Are they looking for long-term? Full-time? What pay rate are they seeking? This ensures alignment early on.

   • Bonus Tip (Hidden Filter): Choose one question as a "critical filter" (the hardest, most important one) that candidates don't know about. Review only the answers to this question first. If they don't get it right, you can immediately discard their application, saving you immense time. Then, review the rest of the applications only from those who passed this initial filter.

3. The Interview & Decision: Final Evaluation

You’ve narrowed it down. Now it’s time to truly get to know the candidates. When making your final decision, focus on these critical traits:

• Skills & Expertise: Of course, they need the core skills.

• Communication Speed & Accuracy: How quickly do they reply? Do they deliver results promptly (e.g., a test task delivered in 2 hours vs. waiting until the deadline)? Is their communication clear, structured, and easy to follow, or do you constantly have follow-up questions? This is super important for remote work.

• Independent Problem Solving & Common Sense: Can they figure things out on their own? You don’t want someone who asks you questions every single day. The goal is to get your time back, not to become their daily coach. You want someone resourceful.

• Honesty & Accountability: Can they own up to their mistakes? It’s perfectly fine to make errors, but you need someone who can say, "You're right, that was wrong. I’ll fix it and do it differently next time."

Bonus Interview Steps:

• Prepare Questions Ahead of Time: Don't wing it. Have a structured list of questions ready.

• Record the Interview: This is a game-changer. Use a tool to record the call.

• Leverage AI for Notes & Evaluation:

  • Use AI to transcribe the interview.

  • Then, feed the transcript to an AI and prompt it: "Act like an HR hiring manager. I’m looking for a person for [send the role you defined earlier]. Here's the transcript of an interview with a candidate. Do you think they're a good fit? How would you evaluate their ability to take ownership, solve problems independently, and demonstrate a process-driven mind?" Even if you're not an HR expert, the AI can provide valuable insights you might miss.

This systematic approach minimizes guesswork and helps you make a data-driven decision, increasing your chances of finding that perfect team member.

Reclaim Your Freedom and Fuel Growth

Hiring isn't just about getting tasks done; it's about strategically investing in your freedom, mental clarity, and business growth. When you bring on the right talent using a proven system, you stop being trapped in the daily grind. You move from constantly putting out fires to actively designing your future.

Imagine having that extra 10, 15, or even 20 hours a week back. What would you do with it? Launch new products? Explore new marketing channels? Spend more time with family? Reconnect with your passion for entrepreneurship?

By buying back your time, you transform from a doer to a manager, and eventually, a true leader and visionary for your Amazon business. You regain the vision and drive that initially led you to success, moving out of survival mode and into a continuous state of growth and fulfillment.

The Amazon landscape is constantly evolving, and stagnant businesses get left behind. Don't let your time be the bottleneck that holds your 6 or 7-figure brand back. It's time to build the team that empowers you to work on your business, not just in it.

Ready to stop doing everything yourself and start building the team that truly scales your Amazon business? Implementing these strategies can feel like a lot at first, but the results are invaluable.

If you’re ready to dive deeper into systemizing your Amazon business and building an efficient team, check out more resources at Scaleport. We’re here to help advanced Amazon sellers like you move past the plateau and reclaim their freedom. Let’s make your next hire your best hire.