When to Hire?

In the fall of 2009 business was booming.  I was working in my home morning to night, non stop. Like tending to a newborn: 4 hours of sleep was glorious, looking "presentable" was relative and I seemed to constantly have a smear of something (buttercream) on my face. Then all the sudden I looked ahead to a "6 wedding cake week" and decided THAT is when I would finally hire someone to help me, and pull me out of the madness. I finally had enough  revenue to afford help, right?!
I hired a very enthusiastic gal that was going to pastry school, but never worked in a real kitchen. The enormous week began and I was excited to finally work with someone that had an real interest in cake! That quickly wore off when I found myself stopping what I was doing to teach her what I expected and how to do it. I wasn't able to work at my normal pace and now there was a time clock clicking away with so much still to do! By the end of the week I had an excited employee-in-training and a mountain of work ahead of me. What went wrong, there were two of us?!
Well, it wasn't her.... it was my flawed idea that I could hire someone to immediately jump in at my side. Its not possible(ever)! Save yourself mountains of stress, sleepless nights and possible negative repercussions for your business (and/or morale) by hiring someone BEFORE your busy season hits. Not only do they need to be fully trained for battle, but you need to know their strengths and have a system of communication and expectations already in place (more on this later).
By some miracle all the projects were finished and delivered.  I did have to refund $75 :( because of a design portion I delegated unsuccessfully to another newbie I pulled in at the 11th hour. However, I completed two cakes that turned out so amazing I used them in my promotional materials and it was also the first time I heard the phrase "better than the picture" from a a client.  
All in all I survived .....to work another week.