I'll take a contrarian position here. You paid for professional services that you could afford, you got them, and they made you more money. It's the definition of a good investment and a successful project.

Will also add that based on the happy conclusion of your story the title is almost clickbait — and highly effective clickbait at that, since you've now gotten 1000s of targeted HN eyeballs. I can't imagine how much that would have cost you!