How to Hire a "Day Of" Assistant or Second Shooter

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Having a sidekick is AWESOME. They are that person that’s always there to have your back on event days. They hold the utility belt of emergency supplies. They fluff the dress. They hold the veil for that epic “veil shot". Heck, maybe they also bring you snacks when you’re getting hangry from herding groomsmen.

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But what do you need to do to get one of these mystical unicorns? 🦄🦄🦄

Well, I can’t help you too much with finding this elusive person in the wild a la Ash Ketchum, but I can give you some details on what you need to do once you get them inside your Pokeball (cringey anime reference, I know).

Legally speaking, there’s going to be some bases you DEFINITELY want to cover. Let’s dive in.

1. DETERMINE THEY WILL BE AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR or an EMPLOYEE

This is the first critical distinction to make. I’ve written a lot about why this is so important in other articles, and I won’t go too far into the weeds here, but know this: the government automatically assumes everyone is an employee. You have to fight to show that they are indeed a contractor.

Make sure you not only have a signed agreement that says they are an IC, but that you are actually treating them like an IC. That’s the kicker here— it’s the treatment.

On a basic level, you can control employees and the way they do their job. True independent contractors (“ICs'“) lack that control factor, meaning they can make their own schedules, bring their own tools, etc.

Once you make this decision, ensure you keep up to date on rules for contractors in your state. Note that these are regularly narrowing to exclude more individuals from IC status (and make them an employee). Re-evaluate this each year in the context of what that individual is doing for you. What starts as an IC might easily change to an employee in the eyes of the law.

>>>Need Help deciding if they are an IC or an Employee? I’ve got a blog post and free guide for that!

2. GET IT IN WRITING.

Y’all. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1000000000000000 times. GET ANY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP AGREEMENT IN WRITING. There are a few reasons you need to make sure you’ve got a written agreement with anyone who works for or with you, but here are a few that come to the top of mind:

  • to actually get a copyright transfer, which must be in writing. Remember: just because you pay someone to create something does not mean you own the copyright in that thing!

  • to firmly establish boundaries and expectations;

  • to make sure they don’t attempt to claim they actually have an ownership stake in the company;

  • if they get hurt on the job, to ensure they don’t try to claim they are actually an employee and you owe them back wages/ unemployment/ etc (this happened a LOT during Covid);

  • to prevent the other person from “going rogue” and attempting to “steal your clients.”

There are a good number of other reasons, but these are the most common scenarios.

3. IF YOUR ASSISTANT/ SECOND SHOOTER IS AN EMPLOYEE, MAKE SURE YOU ARE RUNNING PAYROLL AND WITHHOLDING THE CORRECT AMOUNTS FROM THEIR PAYCHECKS

Nothing ticks off an employee more than owing money to Uncle Sam come tax time because their employer didn’t withhold the correct amounts from their paychecks (ask my husband, who owed $6k this year).

Use a service like Gusto to ensure you’re withholding the appropriate amounts for Medicare, SSN, FICA, etc.

And if you have an IC? Remind them to withhold enough for taxes, especially if they are newer to the industry.