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Evening all.

I’m a one man web agency based in Surrey. (near London)

I’ve managed my workload quite happily until the past six months - I’ve got busy and I’m at the point where I’ve let a client down on some timescales and have by my own admission been working too hard. Client has been very understand but has advised me to make my first hire - something I’ve been thinking myself for a while now.

Can anyone share their experience of going from a one man agency to making their first hire. I’m not too keen on a remote worker - I feel many things need a face to face chat and a sit down - happy to hear other peoples thoughts on this.

This would also probably mean moving into some form of office - currently in a home office that just couldn’t take two. Would a serviced office be the answer?

Looking forward to hearing your input fellow EE’ers

JFP

This is a tricky phase. The person can be junior to you, but has to be equally dedicated and efficient as you are towards your business requirements. You too got to understand that the hire would be an employee and not a proprietor to put all what it takes for profit. 8-10/hrs work day for him/her.

Hiring is always tricky and risky when you’re a one man band, you will have to fork out wages every month so if the work dries up for a while chances are you could be in a position where you can’t pay your employee.

Another option would be to subcontract work out to fellow devs whenever you needed an extra pair of hands. I know of a lot of agencies (and one man operations) that do this, more than you may realise! Of course you’d still need to consider remote working but if you could find someone in your area they could still attend meetings etc as they wouldn’t have to travel far.

Yeah the EE community is particularly good for subcontracting. I tend to sub for folk that I know relatively well (although all have to start somewhere).

Simon Campbell penned this very good article on being an employer http://erskinelabs.com/business-tips-create-great-team/ and highlighted things I’d never considered before.

In terms of office space then I’d say yes, serviced would probably be the best to start with. The way our economy is though you may be able to get some decent deals.

Hi Johnnie
I too am in this exact same position and actually not that far from you Herts.
I was going through the do i hire, do i contract, do i sub contract, and every bit of research i do throws up new issues and complications.

Ignoring the fact of the new person, if you hire staff - you need to consider their actions will make you as a business liable. Anything from using a wrong image and getting sued by getty, or to making a coding slip that releases info - in short, you need to protect your business more, be it more insurance, and indemnity, or going ltd if your a sole trader.

In terms of the new person, its just not that easy. I have tried many sub-contractors (home and abroad) and never been happy with the results. Whether this is because i have stupid standards, or whether i am not a good boss/manager i do not know. In short always understand as posted above that they are turning up to just do a job, the business is your business and not theirs, and so their care level might not be as good as your own.

Moving on from that - i personally would recommend getting a free lancer to work in house on short term contract. This means you can limit your risk to a time period (wages) and if their skill or personality does not suit the end is always in sight.
If not, you going to have to start looking at PAYE which you might already do if your limited company, but guessing your a sole trader this might complicate your accounts a bit - may even drive up costs for your accounts a bit. Considering National Insurance contributions, too.

In short i have found it bloody hard to solve your problem and then end result was actually working harder and longer and being more selective about clients and projects. But this did not work, i ended up getting sick, giving away a few clients and currently running in “limited capacity” mode.

The big decision is really what do you “want”. If you want to expand and become an agency then costs will have to rise, you will have to learn or pay that accountant for the extra bits, and change how your business works. If your happy with you setup, then perhaps setting restrictions in place to limit your time issues might be a more sensible solution (i.e. book slots, and not take on too much - easier said than done for big clients though right!).

I know i have not been much help - as i have not been able to make this step either and suffered as a result of it. It is hard, but one i advise being careful and thoughtful about but make your decision on what is most important to you and then work out how to do it. (i.e. in my case “client satisfaction at a good job” rather than running myself into the ground!).

N

Nevsie actually makes some excellent points, particularly surrounding the business being your business. You need someone who completely buys into what you’re trying to do - that comes with responsibility on your part too though, investing in that person as an employer, ie giving them the tools and ongoing support to be the best at their job.

Finding a worker and setting up the payroll is easy. The hard part would be training them to perform to your expectations and can they earn your trust through their work performance? Congratulations though. Your entrepreneurship and hard work has created a job. We need more of you in this economy.