What's different when you hire employees?

My company now has four employees, which makes six people if you include me and my business partner.

Here are a few differences I've observed between being a solo 1099 and having a company with even one employee:

  • Admin work becomes significantly more burdensome (need to find a good accountant, payroll service, etc.)
  • You add multiple jobs to your plate (recruiter, manager, company operations manager, etc.)
  • Your reputation becomes affected by your employees' work, not just your own
  • It's a cool feeling to get "passive" income from your employees
  • You need to worry about financing (You'll need a few months of employee payroll upfront)
  • You need to worry about finding your employee's next gig their contract is ending
  • It's cool to say you have employees. It makes you feel legit
  • It can be fun and they can become your friends (or were already your friends)

It's a mixed bag and something I'm still learning about, but it is significantly different. It's not an obvious choice to hire employees and it may be worth just staying solo if the upside is not worth it to you.


Get a free chapter of
Going 1099

Subscribe to receive Chapter 5: How to model and compare your 1099 income to your W2 compensation.

    We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

    Leave a comment

    Please note, comments must be approved before they are published