The #1 thing that kills new service businesses isn’t bad marketing.

It’s bad hiring.

I’ve built dozens of these over 20 years. The pattern is so predictable it hurts:

Founder gets clients. ✓
Founder does great work. ✓
Founder hires first employee. ✓
Everything falls apart. ✓✓✓

Why? Because most first-time owners hire like they’re staffing a Fortune 500 department. Writing job descriptions nobody reads. Building interview processes designed for companies with actual HR teams.

Stop it.

Here’s what actually works for a service business under $500K:

1. Hire for reliability first, skill second. You can teach someone how to do the work. You cannot teach a grown adult how to show the fuck up on time.

2. Pay 10-15% above market. Cheap hires are the most expensive mistake you’ll make. I promise you.

3. Give them ownership of outcomes, not tasks. “Make sure every client is happy” hits different than a 47-point checklist.

4. Fire in 30 days or don’t fire at all. You know within a month. That knot in your stomach? Trust it. I ignored mine early on and it cost me every single time.