(Add to Favorites | View All Articles | Resource Directory)
|
|
|
Do Your Best; Hire the Rest
One of the hidden perks of raising six children is the learning laboratory it provides for the parents. My wife and I have learned how important it is to teach our children to do things for themselves and become problem solvers. There isn't enough time to do it any other way with a house full of children. Learning how to tie your shoes, make a telephone call and solve for two unknowns in an algebraic equation are examples of goals society sets for children. Undeniably, do it yourself skills are important for all of us to acquire. As we mature, we get comfortable with the fact that doing it ourselves will save time, create a feeling of accomplishment and definitely save money. We do it yourselfers develop a feeling that the control of doing it ourselves will also lead to a job well done. How many times have you heard, "If you want it done right the first time, do it yourself." What parents intend to be a lifelong asset of independence for their children can later be a lifelong hindrance on their financial growth, however. I notice that D-I-Y is a curse at times. We become so accustomed at doing everything, that we spend all of our time doing everything. Unfortunately, this leaves little time for doing the few things we do best. I can prepare my own income taxes, but I gave up the preparation part many years ago. The money spent to hire a professional freed up time to do more productive things in my businesses. I know the basics of how a website is created and how to transfer html coded pages for uploading, but I hire out that service, too. I understand how the stock market works and how to analyze the performance of a stock, but I use a financial consultant to help me with my investments since I just don't have the time to do it all. Many small business owners started their own businesses as "solopreneurs" and got comfortable with being a do it yourselfer. Operating as one-man bands, they are destined to be soloists the rest of their business careers unless they ask for help. When they are ready, they may choose to seek help with bookkeeping, marketing or planning. They will just say help with hiring, payroll or product development. Focusing on what they do best will cause them to ask for help with sales, pricing or maintenance. The paradox of being self sufficient and asking for help is hard to handle. When we do it yourselfers wrestle with the temptation to be jacks-of-all-trades and pin it to the mat, we will be able to grow in our business and personal lives. Next time you have the urge to do everything yourself in your business, think about the Spandex Rule: Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Doug Emerson trains consults and coaches business owners on how to make more profit in less time using 8 key strategies. He writes a free electronic newsletter about the business of life called Getting to the Point. Free subscription available at the homepage. http://www.douglasemerson.com
MORE RESOURCES: News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News Snow rakes help small business weather rough economic climate (CNN) President-Elect Obama’s Proposed Revisions Could Devastate Small Business (National Center For Policy Analysis) Full Sail wins small business sustainability award (The Oregonian) $1M goes to Mass. small biz supporters - Bizjournals.com Apple Reworks iWork for Small Biz - bMighty.com |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Looking into the Future for Profits How to identify future solutions and opportunities?Your power page, if used extensively, will help you to identify areas where the client may need more help or may need to purchase additional products. When you read through your notes, you will be able to pinpoint areas that will be a business pain. Yeah, It IS Lonely At the Top Sometimes when you run a business you feel as lonely as the Maytag repairman. Loneliness and isolation are very common problems for business owners. Technology Community Helps SMBs Focus on Their Core Business If you're starting your own business or currently work for a start-up, you wear a lot of hats. Any disruption in your business can eat up hours of your time and kill your productivity. Putting PR "magic" to work for your small business Why? Because they have access to world class public relations no matter how small they are.That's one way of saying, take care of your key target audiences, Mr/Ms small business owner, and they'll take care of you. More Rules for Franchising? The FTC- Mighty Federal Trade Commission has unilaterally decided to change the franchise rule. They changes are sure to hurt American business, Franchisors and the over 400,000 Franchisees in the United States today. You Are Invited Business card size works well for invitations to special events.What do you visualize when you think about invitations? More than likely you are thinking about a wedding or a party. But This Is Just My Opinion Hi, Charles.. How To Build Business Credit Having their own business is something many millions of people dream of doing. Many do, of course, but so many others never quite get around to it. 11 Things Small Business Owners Can Learn From The Miracle On Ice 1. Know Where You're Going - Coach Herb Brooks had a strategic plan for assembling the American team. SBIR - A Nice Add-on Business If you are a small business and qualify to participate in the SBIR program, it is a natural enhancer to your existing business. If you are small enough you may be able to start a company using SBIR funding, but you will soon come to realize that if your sources of income are not diversified (with SBIR being only one source) you might fall victim to funding cycles and no income. 25 Valuable Phone Numbers For Small Businesses Success Starting and growing a small business can be a daunting and sometimes lonely process we have compiled a list of 25 helpful phone numbers for agencies and services that work with small businesses. They can give you information, ideas, and resources to help you be more successful. Franchising and Royalty Payments If you are thinking of turning your current into a franchising company you will need to determine a fair and equitable franchise royalty fee. There are a number of questions you will need to ask yourself in determining this fee such as what services you will provide to your franchisee team and what that will cost. 10 Best Practices to Consider as Your SBIR Negotations Approach Contract Signature 10 Best Practices to consider as your SBIR negotiations approach contract signature:1. Draft your confirmation of negotiations, be sure to memorialize that this is an SBIR type contract along with the applicable data rights and SBIR related terms and conditions. What To Consider Before Buying A Franchise Here are some useful tips on what to consider before buying a franchise. Before investing in any franchise system, be sure to get a copy of the franchisor's disclosure document. Tips and Tricks for Legal Debt Collections If a customer owes your local business money, it's hard not to feel angry, like you want to do anything possible to get your money back. But the days of going all out to collect on a debt over. Collaborative Negotiating: A Win-Win Strategy COLLABORATIVE NEGOTIATING:Collaborative negotiating is a win-win strategy that can focus the resources of the people involved in the process towards strengthening results, productivity, quality, creativity, and innovation in problem-solving. To use the collaborative approach to negotiating you will have to agree on the aim of negotiations. Pressure Washing Business; Steam Cleaner Fuel Maintenance It is essential that you fully understand how the fuel system works on your hot water pressure washer or steam cleaner. If you mess it up it could catch on fire and if you are not right there to put it out, you could potentially lose your machine. Computer Related Habits From Small Business Owner - Be Prepared, Avoid Despair Aside from the fear of losing a spreadsheet or research project prepared for a client, what prompted me to write this article was the realization that it takes nothing short of persistent follow up to stay ahead of computer threats which could ruin my business. I also accepted the fact that keeping my computer free of viruses and spam is paramount to ensuring my computer is not going to harm others. Pressure Washing Companies; Pricing Dock and Deck Cleaning If you own a Pressure Washing Company and wish to get business at the local Marina there are a few things you should know. You need to be careful in bidding these types of jobs. Making Your Purpose Your Business Step #2- Getting From Point A to Point B In my previous article, Step 1, your challenge for the month was to research where your passion lies. Based on your research you might have discovered that self investigation can lead us to two places; either we find out our answer or we realize we need to ask more questions to get that answer.
|
| home | site map | articles |
| © 2006 |