You hire a designer. Portfolio looks great. But two weeks in, you realize they're waiting for you to make every decision. They need constant direction. You're spending hours in Loom videos explaining context. Instead of getting leverage, you've added another person to manage.

Here's the brutal truth: Most designers on Upwork are good at execution. They'll make your app look professional. But they won't help you figure out WHAT to build, WHY it matters, or WHETHER it's worth building at all.