Talk it through with Aurelius
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Aurelius · Work & Leadership
Knowledge + Guidance

We're ready to hire. What do we actually owe, legally?

You are stalled, and you are calling it caution. Look at it plainly: you have a business that needs a hand, and you are hiding behind paperwork you have not yet read. The law did not get harder because you decided to grow. You simply have not done the reading yet. This is not yours to carry alone, and it should not be. You have a team or a partner. Good. Then stop letting one person quietly absorb all the dread while the others wait for news. Divide the unknown like you would divide any other task — by naming it out loud first. The obligations are finite and knowable: registration, withholding, insurance, forms, deadlines. None of it requires genius. It requires that someone sit down this week and find out, then tell the rest of you plainly. Choose who that is. Choose when.

◆ How this problem reads on the two dials
GuidanceKnowledge
Coaching
More to learn
1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)
Some one-to-one
Practise with peers
The obligations themselves are factual and learnable, but the real obstacle is delay and diffusion of ownership, so coaching must push action alongside the facts.
How the two dials adapt to you →
What’s really going on

You do not need to master tax law. You need five things done: an employer ID number, state registration, payroll withholding set up, workers' comp insurance bought, and the right forms filed on time. Hire a payroll service or accountant to do this with you. That is not weakness — that is choosing competence over guessing.

🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting
A moveCall a payroll service or accountant this week and ask exactly what they need from you to start.
A moveSit down with your team and list every employer obligation you can each name, even guesses.
A moveAssign one person to own compliance and deadlines — not everyone, one person.
A moveSet the hire's start date now, and work the filing deadlines backward from it.
A moveWrite down what none of you know, and get it answered by a professional, not a search engine.
PractiseDivision of Duty · a Pod of 4 · 30 min

What changes unlock by starting

  • You know the exact filings and deadlines required before your first hire starts.
  • One named person on your team owns payroll and compliance, not a vague 'we.'
  • You have a written list of who does what in onboarding, agreed by the group.
  • You stop using 'legal unknowns' as a quiet excuse to delay hiring.

Related problems

The same struggle, seen by other coaches
One object, two jobs: a public answer to a real problem, and — the moment you start the chat — Aurelius’s live plan for your version of it.