Yes. A solopreneur can hire employees, part-time workers, contractors, or offshore staff. There's no revenue level you need to hit first.
You would have to decide which work you need to take off your plate, how many hours it consumes, and what kind of help that work requires.
For a US business owner, hiring an employee also creates tax and payroll responsibilities. The IRS requires businesses to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor before deciding how to report and pay them.
Can a Solopreneur Legally Hire Employees?
Yes. A solopreneur can hire employees even when the business has no other staff. A sole proprietor, a single-member LLC, or a corporation can all have employees.
Hiring someone doesn't automatically change the business structure.
Hiring an employee also adds responsibilities for the business. A US business hiring an employee generally needs an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and has to handle employment taxes, payroll reporting, and the required employee forms.
The IRS treats employees and independent contractors differently for tax purposes. Classification depends on the actual working relationship, including how much control the business has over the worker.
Calling someone a contractor does not automatically make them one. State and local rules may also apply.
How Common Are Businesses Without Employees?
Businesses without employees are common in the United States. The US Census Bureau recorded 30.4 million nonemployer businesses in 2023, generating nearly $1.8 trillion in receipts, about 6.4% of US GDP that year.
A non-employer business is one with no paid staff that still files federal income tax and meets the applicable receipts threshold.
A business can have no employees and still use outside help. The owner might work with contractors without adding employees to the business.
Gusto's research on the solopreneur economy found that 43.5% of solopreneurs paid at least one contractor during 2025, and most of those who use contractors work with more than one.
A separate Gusto survey of new business owners found that one in three solopreneurs had already hired at least one contractor within their first year, and more than half of those planned to expand that contractor base further.
What Are the Signs It's Time to Hire Your First Employee?
Look first at the work taking up your time each week. A recurring task that takes several hours and does not require your personal expertise can be a good reason to consider hiring.
Revenue matters when you are working out whether you can afford help. It doesn’t tell you which tasks are worth handing off.
Consider two solopreneurs: one earns $40,000 a year and spends 15 hours a week on invoicing, scheduling, and routine customer email. Another earns $150,000 but spends nearly all of their time on the specialist work that generates that revenue. The first one, despite the lower income, usually has the stronger case to hire.
Knowing when to hire as a solopreneur starts with looking at where your time goes each week. Which recurring tasks are taking time away from work that needs your own skills and decisions? That gives you a more useful hiring signal than waiting until you reach a certain income level.
What Should a Solopreneur's First Hire Be?
A solopreneur’s first hire should usually take over recurring work that takes time but does not need the owner’s direct involvement. Start with the tasks taking up most of the owner’s week.
A Virtual Assistant can handle calendars, inboxes, scheduling, research, and routine administrative work.
A Customer Support Representative can respond to customer questions, support emails, and order updates.
A Bookkeeper can manage transaction records and other routine bookkeeping tasks while the owner keeps control of financial decisions.
A Sales Development Representative can handle lead research, follow-ups, CRM updates, and other sales administration.
If another person can take responsibility for a task without affecting the decisions only you can make, that task may be a good place to start.
Should a Solopreneur Use AI, a Contractor, or an Employee First?
The right option depends on the task you need to hand off. It depends on the work itself, not a general preference for one over the other. AI tools suit repeatable tasks with a clear, single output. Contractors suit defined projects or specialist work with a clear end point. Employees, including offshore hires, suit ongoing responsibilities that need regular availability and a real understanding of the business over time.
Hiring option | Works well for | Main limitation |
|---|---|---|
AI tool | Drafting, basic research, scheduling, repetitive tasks | Limited judgment, no real business context |
Contractor or freelancer | Projects, specialist work, short-term needs | Not built for an ongoing daily responsibility |
Full-time employee | Recurring work, customer support, admin, sales support | Requires hiring, payroll, onboarding, and management |
Offshore full-time hire | Recurring work that can be performed remotely | Requires a structured hiring and onboarding process |
A solopreneur can use more than one option at the same time. AI might handle basic research while a contractor builds a website and a Virtual Assistant manages recurring admin work. The right choice depends on the work being handed off.
When Does an Offshore Hire Make Sense for a Solopreneur?
An offshore hire can work well for recurring tasks that can be handled remotely. Common examples include administrative support, customer support, bookkeeping, sales support, and content operations.
For US businesses, the Philippines is one established location for offshore staffing, and LevelUp hires professionals there for roles that can be performed remotely. The model gives a solopreneur access to dedicated, full-time support without taking on a local hire at US labor costs.
The role still needs clear responsibilities and working hours. You also need an agreed way to communicate and measure the work.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Offshore Virtual Assistant?
LevelUp's published rate for a dedicated Virtual Assistant starts at $9.00 an hour. At 40 hours a week, that works out to roughly $1,560 a month before accounting for any variation in hours, holidays, or billing arrangements.
The comparison shouldn't stop at the hourly rate, though. Start with the hours you currently spend on the task. Then consider what you could do with that time if someone else handled it.
Fifteen hours a week spent on admin work makes a very different case for hiring than two hours a week spent on the same task.
Those 15 hours of admin work each week add up to about 780 hours a year. Those hours could go toward client work, sales, product development, or other responsibilities. If a task only takes an hour or two each week and does not get in the way of other work, hiring for it may not make sense yet.
How Does LevelUp Help Solopreneurs Make Their First Hire?
LevelUp uses a five-stage recruitment process called Establish, Explore, Engage, Employ, and Elevate.
Establish defines the role and expectations during the discovery process. Explore focuses on sourcing candidates for the role. Engage covers vetting and interviews. Employ covers signing and onboarding. Elevate provides ongoing support after the hire starts.
This gives a solopreneur a clear process to follow without having to manage every part of recruitment alone.
Can a Solopreneur Stay a Solopreneur After Hiring Someone?
Yes. Hiring an employee or a contractor doesn't require building a large team or giving up the solo structure of the business.
The term “solopreneur” refers to an owner-operated business. The owner can still pay contractors, employees, or offshore staff to handle specific work.
The owner can keep control of the business while someone else handles day-to-day responsibilities.
Gusto's research on contractor use among solopreneurs shows this is already common: a meaningful share of solopreneurs use outside help regularly while remaining owner-operated, one-person businesses in every way that matters to how the business is run.
What's the Best First Step If You're Considering a Hire?
Start with one recurring task that takes up a significant part of your week. Write down how often you do it and how long it takes. Then decide whether AI, a contractor, or a dedicated hire is the best fit.
Your first hire can focus on one recurring workload that is taking time away from higher-value work.
If that work can be done remotely, an offshore hire may be worth considering. LevelUp can help define the role, source candidates in the Philippines, run the vetting process, and support the hire after they start.
