[unclebucknasty]

>My fear is in hiring a new employee and having their livelihood dependent on my business that has a single point of failure.

Man, I have absolutely been there! I mitigated this concern by hiring part-timers who also had other jobs. An added benefit was that having multiple part-timers vs. one full-timer also gave us redundancy in the event of vacation, illness, etc.

BTW, my situation was primarily with customer service reps as well.

Hiring multiple people does require additional training and administrative overhead, etc. and your business needs may or may not allow for such a solution. But, you can also mitigate your legitimate concern by being completely transparent with candidates with regard to the company's position. You might even consider offering a little upside bonus for the good months/quarters or paying slightly higher than market to offset their downside risk.

Given the current labor market, you will possibly find that candidates who would otherwise have no prospects are happy to take on the risk of having even potentially short-lived employment.

In the end, you can find a solution that works for all. Communication and openness are the keys.

Good luck!