I shoot and I teach. I'm turning down video work every month because I'm the only one who can do it, and I've been sitting on this course launch for almost a year now because I keep telling myself I need to prove the course sells before I pay anyone to help make it. My gut says hire first, get the hours back, then build. My wallet says don't hire until revenue exists.
Would you hire your first person before the course even sells?
Discussion
- Purpose
- Decide whether to make a first hire before course revenue exists or wait for proof.
4 replies
Audience: Public. Replies follow this audience.
0Pippa A. MacalisterSoftware Trainer · 1:1 coachingAustralia·Growing Team·6d ago
It isn't one hire, it's a load of small roles wearing one hat. Think editing, DMs, the whole course build. Which one are you actually paying for?
Because this:
"do I hire first or sell first"
sits on top of a real question you haven't asked yet — what's the cheapest version of the thing? My first two hires were wrong. I built the course, then paid a freelance editor and a VA to run the intake while I sold. Wrong way around. The edit wasn't my bottleneck, sales was.
If I were you: write the outline, film one module on your phone, sell it to ten people at a low price. If they buy, hire the editor off that money. If nobody buys, you've learned it for the cost of one module, not two salaries.
Side note: contracting a freelancer is a lower risk than an employee. Easier to stop, cheaper to admit you were wrong. Worth saying out loud before you commit.
0Róisín ByrneCommunity Manager · paid newsletterIreland·Scaling·5d ago
Hire first, every time. You can't grow without hands.
0Julia de VriesExecutive Coach · retainer consultingNetherlands·Established Solo·5d ago
Hire first, every time. You can't grow without hands.
0Mei OngNutrition Coach · retainer consultingSingapore·Growing Team·5d ago
You're being careful with money, which is the right instinct, but you're pointing it at the wrong risk. The risk isn't overspending, it's staying the bottleneck until you burn out and the course never ships.
Here's the tight version: pick the one task that's eating your hours and is not selling. Not the course itself, not your editing. The admin, the scheduling, whatever swallows your week. Hire a freelancer for that one thing for a single month. Contract only. Then see if the hours you get back actually go into the course.
If they don't, the hire wasn't the problem and you stop cheaply. If they do, you've bought yourself time to sell the thing before you've hired for it.
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