Your First Hire: A Cash Flow, Compliance, Hiring, and Training Foundations Workbook

Most first-time employers ask themselves one question: can I afford to hire? Then they answer it with a feeling instead of a number, and that's how businesses end up either understaffed and exhausted or out of cash three months after a new hire starts.

Your First Hire replaces the feeling with four foundations, worked in order because the order matters. Whether you can actually afford it, using a specific test instead of a guess. What has to be in place legally before someone shows up for day one. How to find and choose the right person instead of the first available one. And how to onboard and train them so the hire pays off instead of becoming a second job managing someone who was never set up to succeed.

This isn't a guide you read once and set aside. It's a workbook. Every section explains why a step matters, then gives you a fillable worksheet to do it right there, working through it alongside a composite example business, Clearwater Home Services, as it makes each of these calls in the real world.

Your First Hire is for small business owners approaching their first hire, or who already made it and are realizing the paperwork and training got skipped. It's also a strong fit for business advisors and consultants who want a structured tool to walk clients through the decision. A companion Instructor Guide is available separately for anyone delivering this as a paid coaching engagement.

What's Inside

• 30 pages, fillable PDF. Type your answers right into the file and save it.
• Part One: The 40-hour test for knowing it's actually time to hire, the fully-loaded cost of an employee, and what to do first if the math doesn't work.
• Part Two: The registration, insurance, and paperwork that legally has to be in place before day one, plus how to choose a payroll system.
• Part Three: Writing a job description that attracts the right person, screening, structured interviews, and reference checks that actually tell you something.
• Part Four: A documented first week, turning what's in your head into a real SOP, and a 30/60/90-day plan that catches problems before they're expensive.
• A readiness scorecard, a 90-day action plan, a glossary, and a resources page.

Format

A PDF you fill out on your computer. 30 pages. Works with Adobe Acrobat Reader and most PDF apps.

Who This Is For

Small business owners weighing their first hire. Owners who already hired and want to close the compliance and training gaps after the fact. Advisors and consultants who want a ready-made tool for client engagements.

Pricing

• $75: Your First Hire, single download
• $399: 10-Seat Instructor Bundle: 10 copies of Your First Hire plus the companion Instructor Guide, built for an advisor or consultant running a 10-person cohort or webinar