[popschedule]

At what point does one go from the feeling that they have to do everything themselves to make sure it's right to actually taking the leap of faith to hiring someone. I feel like I am constantly bottle necking growth, but it gets scary. What experiences have you guys had with this? What does it feel like to hire your first employee?

[jason_tko]

Hiring someone has it's own set of challenges and issues you'll need to deal with, so if it's new territory to you, I'd highly recommend getting a VA or paying for hourly assistance.

That'll make for a smoother and easier transition. Ideally you can find someone who can scale out with you, and perhaps even become your first fulltime employee.

[prawn]

"What does it feel like to hire your first employee?"

It's terrifying. Not just because you're changing something you're used to and giving up control, but because you are becoming somewhat responsible for someone's livelihood - they are literally banking on you to help them live, eat, support family, etc. If you run out of work, what's going to pay their rent?

I started a web dev studio in '98 with a friend. After 6-7 years, he moved to London, wanting to work there, and I was a sole trader, using a few freelancers.

Today, I have a full-timer, a 0.7ish (who cranks out stuff fast enough to be considered a full-timer) and take on paid trainees from time to time. I pay myself much less than I did when I was a sole trader but it doesn't really bother me - I get a lot out of providing fun opportunities for two young employees.

But before my first hire, I ummed and aahed for a long, long time. I made half-hearted efforts to find someone and usually bailed before committing. In the end, I gave a young, less-than-qualified but fast-learning, good-hearted kid a trial and he did well. I can't even remember reading his resumé but we met at a café to talk things over, got on fine and I can remember that he could spell "definitely" in his emails. Sounds trivial, but the HN post the other week about "when in doubt, always hire the better writer" really resonated with me - when you're letting someone loose contacting the clients you've nurtured for 5-10 years, you don't want them embarrassing you. You need to trust them and it's easier if they show care and can spell.

I've never regretted that hiring, nor my second one either. They have jobs for as long as I can keep the money coming in to pay them. Either my character-barometer is sound or I got really lucky.

Terrifying to begin with, but rewarding later.

The only problem now is that I'm still the bottleneck. At 3-5 people, we're big enough to need a production manager, but too small to be able to afford one. All the worst parts of small business magnify too - even with an accountant and bookkeeper, there are more boring and annoying parts to deal with than ever, and I have sacrificed salary to bring employees on board. But it's tough to jump from sole trader to a ten-person team, so perhaps this is just a rough intermediary step.

A few keys:

  - start them on a trial
  - pick someone who fits your working culture (we are all very social in this shared office) and is a good personality fit
  - pick the person that can spell "definitely"
  - you might need to make sacrifices to take that next step
  - don't worry about running out of work to keep them busy, just roll the dice. As my friend is wont to say: No balls, no babies.

[popschedule]

"no balls no babies" haha, love that. Thanks for the great advice prawn. Yea, definitely a leap of faith.

[prawn]

Hey, you can spell "definitely" --> hired! :P