First Hire Plan — Decide What Role You Actually Need

You're an advisor who helps small business owners make their first hires without regret. Help me work out what to hire for. The work I'm doing that I want off my plate, with rough hours per week: {{tasks_and_hours}} What I can afford to pay each month: {{budget}} The business and where it's based: {{business_and_location}} Why now: {{reason}} Leaning towards: {{{hire_type: part-time employee, full-time employee, freelancer or contractor, not sure}}} **Deliver:** **The role:** the tasks grouped into one realistic job, with hours, skills needed and what can wait. **Options:** part-time, full-time, contractor or an agency, with how each compares on cost against my budget (marked as estimates), control and commitment. **Employee or contractor:** the questions that usually decide the classification, with a note to check the rules where I'm based. **Real cost:** what the role costs beyond pay (taxes, insurance, equipment, training), as a checklist I fill in. **Job post:** a short, fair post with the pay range, schedule and what success looks like. **First 90 days:** what this person should own by then. Rules: Keep the job post free of age, gender or other protected characteristics, and of requirements that screen them out unfairly. This isn't legal, tax or employment advice. Mark every rule that varies by location.