Business-focused custom software

If you are new to hiring a programmer and have little programming experience, it is definitely a possibility that the project will go badly. Some of that may be the programmer's fault - they may not listen carefully enough to your requirements or they may make poor implementation decisions. However, good software development projects require a partnership between the customer and the developer. A project can also go badly if you do not clearly identify your requirements and priorities, or if you have unrealistic expectations about how much effort is involved in building your application. You need to respond in a timely fashion to questions, and understand that constant changes midstream will have a negative impact on the effort and cost involved. 

Bottom line: both sides in the customer / freelance programmer relationship need to treat the other respectfully and professionally, not as if they are a bad actor trying to steal from them. That approach will doom the project to failure.