My accountant said to hold off on hiring until Q3, and I should have listened.

I run a small machine shop in Sterling Heights, and back in January, my accountant, a sharp guy who's been in Detroit for thirty years, told me not to bring on a second shift lead until at least July. He said he was seeing a dip in orders from the big automakers and that the summer would be a safer bet. I was swamped with work at the time and thought I knew better, so I hired a guy in March. Sure enough, by May, two of our main contracts slowed way down, and now I'm stuck paying a full salary with not enough work to keep him busy. It's costing me about $4,500 a month I didn't need to spend. I should have trusted his view of the bigger picture instead of just my own shop floor. Has anyone else gotten burned by expanding their team too fast around here?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_kelly10d ago

My accountant is basically my business psychic.

faithn5110d ago

Yeah like my friend's tax guy told him to hold off on a big buy last year, saved him a ton. Totally get what you mean @patricia_kelly, some of them just see things coming.