One risk of hiring employees: betrayal!

I had an employee who was supposed to start this week to replace me on the project I just left.

He is a nice guy and I thought he would do a good job.

This weekend I was checking on something in his clearance profile on DISS and noticed his clearance was approved for another agency.

I gave him a ring and he told me he accepted another job offer with a different company.

That would be annoying enough on its own. I get it, people need to do what's best for them and get the maximum compensation they can.

But, the company he is going to is the prime on the contract I just started!

And even worse, on the same contract! I will have to work with him!

Here are the consequences of this double betrayal:

• I look like an idiot with the prime I just left
• I can no longer trust the prime on the contract I just joined
• I lost out on a healthy profit opportunity
• I am incredibly angry, and I am normally a pretty calm guy
• I need to figure out an exit strategy with this sub-contract, which is harder because I have a new employee on it, not just me

This hasn't convinced me to abandon the employee growth strategy, but choosing any venture is about choosing the particular set of problems you'd prefer to deal with. There is no magic business that doesn't have any problems.

So if you're a solo 1099 and are considering growing the company beyond you, just be realistic about the type of obstacles you'll face.

Want the full playbook? Check out Going 1099.