Key factors to consider
Cash coverage
Can you cover the full loaded cost — salary, taxes, benefits, tools — for at least six to twelve months from committed revenue?
The right first role
Hire for the bottleneck that is losing you revenue, not the task you dislike most.
Contractor first
A part-time contractor tests the need with a fraction of the commitment and paperwork.
Management load
Onboarding costs you output before it adds any. Budget several weeks of your own time.
Legal and payroll setup
Contracts, classification, insurance and local employment rules vary sharply and are expensive to get wrong.
Common mistakes
- Hiring a generalist to fix a problem you haven't defined.
- Hiring from overwhelm rather than from a documented bottleneck.
- No written role, no success criteria, no probation plan.
- Paying below market and re-hiring within a year.
- Misclassifying an employee as a contractor to move faster.
Questions to ask yourself
- 1.What specific work will this person own in week one?
- 2.What revenue or time does this hire unlock, and how will I measure it?
- 3.Could a contractor do this for three months instead?
- 4.Can I still pay them if revenue drops 30%?
- 5.What does 'this hire isn't working' look like, and when would I act?
Ready to decide?
ThatEcho turns this into your own workspace — goals, criteria, weighted options and a transparent recommendation you can question.