Creative Chaos #79
The Hidden Hire
A few months back, my sister Elena — she runs a daycare — called me frustrated.
She said, “Tom, I think I need to hire another person. We’re drowning.”
I asked her what “drowning” meant.
Turned out, it wasn’t the work.
It was the chaos.
Parents texting late. Invoices scattered. Supplies always running out.
She didn’t need another hire.
She needed a system that acted like one.
So we spent a Saturday setting up:
A shared Google Sheet that tracked payments automatically.
A reorder schedule for supplies.
A standard message template for parent updates.
Two weeks later, she called again.
“It feels like I hired someone invisible.”
That’s when it clicked —
most small business owners hire humans to fix process problems.
And that’s expensive.
Before you post that job ad, ask:
Is this a people problem or a pattern problem?
Can a $10 tool or a 30-minute routine fix what a $40k hire would?
Is my current team slowed down by missing clarity, not missing hands?
Sometimes your next best hire isn’t a person.
It’s a system that never calls in sick, never asks for a raise,
and just does its job every day.
Your payroll doesn’t just buy people —
it buys peace of mind.
Spend it wisely.