10/28/2026
I got asked "Can I afford to hire?" so often, I built an answer (and it's yours to try for free)
It's the question I hear more than any other. By the time an owner asks it, she's usually been carrying it around for a while. She's stretched thin, she already has the role in mind, and what she really wants to know is what happens to the business if she says yes.
So I built the "Can I Afford to Hire?" calculator. It runs the same math I use with clients and takes about fifteen minutes. Upload your P&L or type in your numbers, add the cost of the role, and it estimates whether the business can carry the hire. That includes what it does to your cash cushion and your own pay (because your pay counts too).
The first issue of my newsletter, Life by the Books, walks through what's behind the answer:
β What a hire really costs once you add taxes, benefits, and the rest
β What to do if the margin isn't there today
β The four questions to answer before you post the job
Links to the calculator and the newsletter are in the comments.
What role do you keep going back and forth on?