The Handyman Startup Podcast · Dan Perry: Handyman | Small Business Owner

Stay Solo or Hire Employees? Here's How to Decide

·36 min·2 clips

Dan Perry calls passive income and early retirement “overrated” and ties them to the arrival fallacy.

Dan Perry opens by saying he has been thinking about whether it makes sense to hire employees and scale a handyman business, or keep it solo. He frames the episode as part of the Handyman Startup Podcast, meant to help listeners build a profitable and enjoyable home repair business, and says he wants to bring some clarity to anyone facing the same choice. The episode stays centered on the pros of keeping the business small versus the pros of hiring employees. He then widens the lens to the bigger tradeoff: whether the extra money and other benefits of scaling are worth the added stress, time, risk, and sacrifices that usually come with it. He does not try to push listeners toward one answer. Instead, his goal is to give them ideas they can use to make a better call for their own business. He also points out a common mistake people make with big decisions: rushing ahead, skipping steps, and trying to do too much at once. That can create more stress, sometimes less income, and a less enjoyable business. On the other hand, scaling can give an owner more leisure time and more options if the business is set up well. Another upside is delegation. A solo handyman often has to handle follow-up, scheduling, payment collection, material runs, estimating, marketing, and the phone. With a team in place, some of that work can shift to people better suited for it, leaving the owner free to focus on harder and possibly more interesting problems. Dan connects that idea back to interviews with Brian Clayton and Rick McFadden, who said they enjoy the tougher problems they get to work on now. He also notes that even a solo handyman can outsource tasks like bookkeeping, marketing, or answering the phone, though it is harder to justify the expense. The episode closes by treating good systems and employees as part of a more valuable business, while also inviting listeners to share their opinion on the topic, read the written version, or schedule a call directly.

As heard by us

A practical look at whether hiring employees or staying solo makes more sense.

Dan Perry treats the hire-or-stay-solo choice as a real operating decision for a handyman business. He keeps coming back to the tradeoffs behind growth: more stress, more time, more risk, and the extra sacrifices that come with employees.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You need a clear read on whether hiring your first employee buys leverage or just adds stress, time, risk, and sacrifice.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Handyman Startup Podcast