Taking on your first member of staff whether full or part time is one of the most scary prospects for a new business. But, on the positive, employing someone is a great indication to yourselves that you are a) doing something right – because you need more resources and b) tackling the problem head on rather than ducking the issue. Often many small businesses become too scared to take that first tentative step to really grow their business and then risk stagnating. So having made the decision to “go for it and get someone” the big question is how?

You really need to evaluate exactly what you want from this person or people (it could be small bits from more than one person), what potential gaps in your skill-set or experience you need to fill beyond the more menial and time-consuming jobs that need to be done and what are your immediate priorities. Will the person who can solve your immediate problems still be of value to you in the future?

The trite answer to the question of when to take a salary in response to Fish 2 is, of course, when your business can afford for you to do so. However, that covers a multitude of sins and your comments confuse the motivations slightly as you start by talking about a salary but end by suggesting you want to start reducing your personal debt, presumably into the business. To me these are two different things.

Your experience so far, boot-strapping and self-sacrifice ‘skint’ lifestyle, will strike a chord with every determined new entrepreneur. I applaud your acknowledgment of the necessity to make such sacrifices, and agree that it forces you to make very conscious decisions on what to spend your limited resources on. Don’t stop doing that now or in fact ever until you can describe yourself as “comfortably off”

I have been consulting with experts from different fields of financing and strategy to find out what the best way to fund the growth of Rico Mexican Kitchen in response to Marcela's blog on finding the right funding to take Rico to the next stage. Things are looking very good with new customers and large orders, just as we forecasted on the business plan.

There are those who think that bank loan and overdraft, and potential invoice factoring is the way forward. Then others think that bringing in investors is best. I like the idea of bringing investors who have got relevant experience to make take the business forward. What do you think?