The hardest business decisions always require a little soul searching. Deciding to hire an employee is no different. You need to examine the motivations behind your desire to hire. The insights you discover will help you determine whether you’re just feeling inundated by the tasks required to run a business or whether you truly want to expand your business. They’ll also help you look realistically at your alternatives to hiring.

• Do you want to offload tasks you don’t enjoy, such as bookkeeping?

• Are you working longer hours just to stay even with routine chores, such as copying, filing and faxing?

• Do you need to accomplish tasks outside your area of expertise, such as developing a Web site or creating marketing materials?

If you answered yes to these questions, a permanent employee isn’t your only option. Outsourcing and independent contractors could relieve some of your workload. Simply streamlining your office or improving your time management skills could also be solutions to carving out more hours in your business day.

• Do you want to take on more customers or bigger projects than you can tackle alone?

• Are you having to turn away business that you’re interested in pursuing?

• How large do you want your company to be?

Being solo has its limitations. But, growing your business presents a new set of issues. And a bigger business doesn’t necessarily translate into a more satisfying one.

“Often businesses that are profitable and satisfying when they are small turn into cash-gobbling, ulcer-producing monsters when the owner tries to expand the business without considering all the implications of growth,” advises Janet Attard in her book The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book (Owl Books, 2000).