Hiring Your First Employee or Contractor: A Step-by-Step Playbook for Solo Business Owners (PDF Workbook)

You've hit the point where you can't do it all yourself — but you've never hired anyone, and one wrong move (the wrong classification, no written offer, no onboarding plan) can cost you time, money, and legal exposure.

Hiring Your First Employee or Contractor is an 18-page digital workbook that walks you through the entire process, in order: deciding whether you actually need to hire, choosing between an employee and a contractor the right way, defining the role, budgeting for the true cost, finding and screening candidates, interviewing and making a written offer, handling the paperwork basics, and onboarding your new hire with a 30-60-90 day plan.

Who this is for: Solo business owners, freelancers, and small business owners who are considering their very first hire — whether that's a part-time contractor for a few hours a week or your first W-2 employee — and want a clear system instead of guesswork.

What you'll learn:

• How to tell whether you're actually ready to hire, or need to delegate/drop tasks instead (Chapter 1)
• The real test for employee vs. independent contractor classification — and the misclassification traps to avoid (Chapter 2)
• How to write a one-page role brief and job post before you ever interview anyone (Chapter 3)
• What a hire actually costs beyond the headline wage or rate, with a budgeting worksheet (Chapter 4)
• Where to find candidates by role type, how to screen applications, and the red flags to slow down for (Chapter 5)
• A ready-to-use interview question bank, reference-check questions, and what belongs in a written offer (Chapter 6)
• The general paperwork basics to bring to your accountant or attorney before your start date (Chapter 7)
• A complete 30-60-90 day onboarding system with a day-one checklist and review questions (Chapter 8)

Key benefits:

• Make your hiring decision with a framework, not a gut guess
• Avoid the classification mistakes that create real legal and tax exposure
• Walk into interviews and offers with a repeatable process
• Onboard your new hire so they're contributing with less back-and-forth

What's included: An 18-page PDF workbook (instant digital download) with 8 chapters, worksheets, checklists, comparison tables, an interview scorecard, a true-cost budgeting table, and a 30-60-90 day plan you can print and use for every hire that follows — not just your first.

Why this guide is useful: Most first hires go wrong not because the wrong person was chosen, but because a step got skipped — no defined role, no classification decision, no written scope, no onboarding plan. This workbook gives you all four in one place, so your first hire starts on solid footing.

How it works: This is a digital product — after purchase, you'll receive the PDF as an instant download to save, print, and reuse for every future hire.

Ready to bring on your first hire the right way? Add it to your cart and start with Chapter 1 today.