Next | Previous | Back to Ezine Index
Don't fall for the Do-It-Yourself Trap
March 2006
I should know better. I'm constantly urging my clients to delegate grunt work and menial tasks. Yet here I am typing this story with a blister on my right index finger. Why? Because I got sucked into a do-it-yourself handyman project for one of my businesses. I know I'm not the only one who falls for these time-wasting activities. Let's analyze why this happens and what you can do about it.
The do-it-yourself trap often just sort of sneaks up on us. Being entrepreneurs, we are good at many tasks and have jump-into-it personalities. So in the middle of doing the real work in our business, a fax machine breaks, a sink plugs up, or in my case, an equipment locker has gotten rusty. It looks bad and is ruining equipment that is stored in it.
As I'm staring at the locker, my thought process goes like this. I paid $250 dollars for it just a year and a half ago. I don't really want to shell out another $250 for a new one. I'm thinking I could get some Rustoleum and paint over the rust. Maybe with a good coat of primer and a nice coat of finish, it will look almost as good as new. Maybe I'll get another year out of it. The paint won't cost much and it will only take me a half hour or so. Or so I thought.
Why is it that we underestimate the amount of time we will really spend on a silly project like this? In the end, I spent an hour buying the paint and three hours painting. Plus, I spent almost $30 on paint and supplies. And here I was on my one night off, sweating in the heat, breathing in fumes, with blue paint in my hair. For what? To save $220.
What if I'd taken those four hours to develop new marketing materials? Or prepared my calling list for the next day? Maybe that would have translated into a new client that could have brought in substantially more than the $220 I saved. Or what if I'd just had my night off and relaxed like normal people do?
This is an obvious example of a timewaster. I'm sure this type of thing has happened to you. I don't think I'll fall for this kind of do-it-yourself trap again any time soon. I hope you won't either. But what about all those other traps we fall for that aren't so obvious?
Are you really saving money designing your own website? How many hours did you spend learning the software and how good was the quality when you finished? Maybe you were smarter than that and hired the website design. Did you fall for the trap and write your own copy? Yes, you saved some money, but how many customers have you lost because the writing wasn't that good? And how many clients could you have gotten in the time it took you to write it?
Where do you draw the line? How do you decide which projects to take on and which to delegate or dump? First off, put a price on your head. What is your time really worth? Next ask, "Can I get as good a result as a professional and if not how important is this to my business' success?" In the case of marketing materials and product quality, don't skimp. Ask yourself if you can easily delegate it to someone else without spending a lot of time following up on it. If so, delegate it. In my example, I should have just picked up the phone and ordered a new locker.
Here's an even quicker way to decide. Imagine yourself going through all the steps needed to complete the project. Then imagine how you will feel while you are doing it. If you think you'll feel good and it's energizing, go for it! If you think it will drag you down, delegate it or dump it. Save your energy for the important tasks that turn you on. And keep up your guard for that next little thing that just may be a do-it-yourself trap.
©2006 Michael Clark. All rights reserved.
