The Brutal Truth About Hiring Your First Employee
Dec 17, 2025
Every small business owner eventually reaches that moment. You’re flat out with work, plates spinning everywhere, and someone asks: “Shouldn’t you hire?”
It sounds simple, but the reality of bringing on your first employee is anything but. Let me share the hard truths, the story of my own first hire, and five lessons that can make your leap into hiring less painful.
The Hard Truth Nobody Tells You
When I spoke to Raymond, the decorator painting my house, he was stuck. Swamped with work, clients on a waiting list, but completely trapped. He couldn’t take a day off, couldn’t cope if a job overran, and dreaded the thought of a family emergency.
Raymond asked how Sue and I took the step from “just us” into building a team. Here’s what I told him:
Go into hiring assuming you’ll be a bad employer at first.
That might sound harsh, but it’s true. You’ve trained in your trade or profession. You’ve done the hours, maybe earned the qualifications. But managing people? Most small business owners have never read a book on it, never had training, and suddenly they’re responsible for HR, payroll, holidays, and even a bit of psychology.
Don’t assume you’ll be good at it. Assume you won’t be and then work every day to improve.
Why Management Is Harder Than You Think
Here’s a quick reality check. In 2024, the average employee in the UK took around nine sick days. The top reasons? Stress and being overworked. That’s not “lazy staff.” That’s poor management.
And only about a quarter of staff think their managers are effective. Which means most bosses especially in small businesses are winging it.
Even after reading 30 books on management, I still get things wrong. But because I take it seriously, my team of nine people only had three or four sick days between them last year. Culture and leadership matter more than most owners realise.
My First Hire Story: Why I Hired for Grit, Not CV
Let me tell you about Nicola, my first real hire.
On paper, she wasn’t the obvious choice. No accountancy experience beyond studying in her own time. Her background was retail, doing a fairly menial role for a large retailer. She was a single mum, up at 5am to get her daughter to swimming training. In her interview, she admitted she wasn’t great with IT and we were an accountancy firm putting technology at the forefront.
So why hire her?
Because I wasn’t looking at CVs. I was looking at discipline, grit, honesty, and motivation.
I knew I could train the skills. What’s almost impossible to teach are those qualities.
The first months were tough. Training her pulled me away from client work, my productivity dipped, and profit took a hit. But the payoff has lasted for more than a decade. Nicola, and others I’ve trained since, now run independently of me and drive the business forward.
The Five Lessons of a First Hire
So, what should you take from this if you’re stuck at “should I hire?”
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Accept you’ll make mistakes. Don’t hide behind “I’m new at this.” Learn how to be a better manager; a good book, blog, or podcast can change how you lead.
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Hire for character, not just skills. You can train technical ability, but honesty and determination are priceless.
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Budget time for training. Progress will feel slower, but it’s an investment. Book training time like you book client work.
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Expect a dip in productivity. Even experienced hires need to learn your systems, clients, and standards.
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Put simple structure in early. Job scorecards, a weekly one-to-one, and a few written processes make life easier for you and them.
Final Thought
Hiring your first employee is not the magic solution to being overworked. It’s messy, stressful, and at times you’ll wonder if it was a mistake. But get it right, and it will be the single most important step in growing your business.
And if this post helped, do me a favour: share it with another business owner who’s stuck at that “should I hire?” stage.
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