Everybody wants to tell you about scaling and Series A. Nobody sits down and says, "Here's what it actually costs to get one person helping you when you have almost nothing."

So that's what this one is. Between the two of us, we've done it every way there is — freelancers, contractors, offshore, W-2, fractional, all of it. Some of it worked. Some of it cost us money we didn't have.

We're giving you real numbers. Real mistakes. The rules we follow now because we learned them the hard way.

Sheena tells the story about the freelancer who had one of HER OWN apps sitting in their portfolio. That one still gets us.

We also got into whether your first hire can just be an AI agent in 2026, and we don't fully agree on it. Let us know where you land.

If you're building with a small budget right now, this one's for you.

WHAT WE GET INTO
▸ Where we actually find freelancers, and which sites we prefer
▸ Offshoring vs outsourcing — people use these wrong all the time
▸ The 3 AM problem nobody warns you about with offshore work
▸ Why we don't fully trust 5-star ratings anymore
▸ How to vet a portfolio (including reaching out to their past clients cold)
▸ The freelancer who had Sheena's own app in their portfolio
▸ Milestones, escrow, and the upfront payment rule that saves people thousands
▸ Real numbers: what engineers and designers cost right now, here and offshore
▸ Why 2021 was the wildest hiring year either of us has seen
▸ When fractional work makes sense — and when it doesn't
▸ How much runway you need before you make a real hire
▸ What a W-2 employee actually costs (it's not the salary)
▸ Can your first hire be an AI agent? We go back and forth on this one
▸ Why the moat isn't tech anymore
▸ Our richest lessons: fire fast, and the order you hire in matters

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RICH LESSONS PODCAST
Hosted by Sevetri Wilson Taylor and Sheena Allen

LISTEN & SUBSCRIBE

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rich-lessons/id1787798124

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/40jGSUvVrMbxKcJ1ghE8kl

WATCH & SUBSCRIBE ON YOUTUBE

https://www.youtube.com/@richlessonspodcast

FOLLOW RICH LESSONS

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richlessonspodcast

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@richlessonspodcast

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