Most stores here are one person, and most should stay that way. These are the signs that yours should not.
The four signs
1. Dispatch times are slipping. The measured one, and the first to go. If a good show means three days late, the bottleneck is packing. Your dispatch deadline
2. Messages are going unanswered for days. Especially returns — an unanswered return freezes that order's money and counts against you.
3. You have stopped listing because you are packing instead. Stock in a box earns nothing.
4. Shows have become the thing you dread. Hosting and making are different skills, and doing both badly is worse than doing one well. Is selling live actually worth the effort?
What to hand over first
In this order, because it is the order of cost per hour saved:
Packing. The most hours, the least judgement, the least risk. A Packer role covers it and nothing else. The roles in a store team
Chat during shows. A Moderator or Show producer reading questions while you sell is the single biggest quality jump a busy show can make. Handling questions while you sell
Listings. A Catalog role adds items and photos — but keep writing condition descriptions yourself until you trust somebody else's eye, because that is where returns come from.
Buyer messages. Customer care. Later, because tone is the hardest thing to hand over.
What never moves
The money. No role withdraws. Payouts and bank details stay with the owner whatever else you delegate — which is exactly right, and the reason handing over work does not mean handing over risk. Getting someone to help run your store
The alternative to hiring
Turn capacity down before you hire. An order you cannot fulfil on time is worth less than no order, and the dial exists precisely so a one-person store does not have to become a two-person one to stay honest. How to set daily capacity
Sell fewer, better things. Sell-through matters more than volume, and a smaller lineup shown properly often earns more than a bigger one rushed. What is sell-through?
Shows less often, kept. Once a fortnight you can sustain beats weekly you cannot. Do I have to go live on a schedule?
Two of those three cost nothing and reverse easily. Try them before adding a person.
If it is a family business already
Then the team feature is the honest shape for it, rather than everyone sharing one login. Can two of us run one store?
More: I got far more orders than expected, the roles in a store team, selling alongside a job.