Should I hire my first employee, or stay solo forever?

I've been solo the entire time, and I've built a real business out of it. No meetings I didn't want, no payroll to worry about, no politics, no one to manage. When I want to ship something, I ship it. When I want to take a slow week, I take it.

But I'm starting to feel the ceiling. There's a list of things I know I should do — better onboarding, real docs, a proper support system, actual marketing — and I simply never get to them, because every day gets eaten by the work that

only I can do. I'm the bottleneck on my own growth, and I've been the bottleneck for a year.

Hiring would change that. But hiring also changes everything. My costs become fixed instead of flexible. My decisions become conversations. I'd have to trust someone with my customers, my code, my reputation. And if it doesn't work out, I'm not just losing money — I'm losing the freedom that made this whole thing worth doing in the first place.

I've watched solo founders stay solo forever and stay small. I've watched solo founders hire and immediately become managers of a business they no longer enjoy running.

Do you hire, or stay solo? And if you hired, when did you know it was time — and did the freedom you gave up feel worth what you gained?