So we finally hired a second person after two years of me doing everything solo. I thought I'd be relieved, and I am, but honestly the whole vibe of the business feels different now. Not bad exactly, just... different. Anyone else go through this? I keep second-guessing whether I'm giving them enough autonomy or hovering too much. And the weirdest part is I feel like I have to perform being busy now??
Team Dynamics
Adding a second member changed more than I expected
yep. first hire is basically a mirror. you see all your own bad habits reflected back at you and it's uncomfortable.
The 'performing busy' thing is real and nobody warns you about it. I caught mysefl reorganizing a shelf that didn't need reorganizing just so I wasn't sitting at my desk while my one employee was answering emails.
How long has it been? First month is always weird. Give it a quarter before you decide anything's actually broken.
Three weeks. Which is probably my answer right there, ha. But the autonomy question is the one keeping me up at night. I don't want to be the owner who hires someo ne and then does everything themselves anyway.
I did that. Hired a guy, then redid half his work at night for months because I couldn't let go. He quait eventually and told me in the exit chat that he felt useless. That one stung for a while.
ouch. yeah but also kind of fair? people want to actually do the job they were hired for
counterpoint: mzaybe they quit because they were useless and you just cleaned up after them. we always assume its our fault as owners. sometimes it's just a bad fit. not saying that's what happened in your case, just that 'let go completely from day one' is also not a great strategy for a tiny business where there's no cushion for mistakes.
sure, it can be either. in my case I'm pretty sure it was me. but it's hard to know from the inside.
Honestly the thing that changed for me was less about autonomy and more about energy. When it's just you, the business is basically your mood. Adding someone means your bad days now have an audience. Took me months to stop apologizing for being grumpy on a Monday.
this is the underrated answer imo. it's not about tasks, it's about no longer being alone in the room with your own worst days.
Quietquill that hit me. I didn't even think about that part but yes. I've been weirdly self-conscious about the messy parts of the day that nobody used to see.
fwiw the the messy parts are usually the parts employees trust most. polished all the time reads as fake.
eh, I think it depends. new employee seeing the owner have a meltdown in week one is not necessarily a trust-building exercis. there's a line.