Hiya Accounting fans!
Here’s another startup school lesson! A lesson that I have just realised over my two week publishing break.
I set aside two weeks so that I could focus, with laser-like intensity on polishing this website (my baby!) and building up a new professional services website.
I thought to myself:
“With tools like WordPress and all its easy to use plugins – how hard can it be to build something that I like?”
Me – being overconfident
The answer was:
TOO HARD.
You see, having a PhD does not make me the smartest person in the world when it comes to things. But being a cheap-ass accountant means that I will do my darndest to do things as cheaply as possible – even if it means doing it myself!
So do it myself I did!
I researched other business’ professional websites and other financial blogs. I sketched out on paper some draft outlines of website designs. I installed a whole bunch of wordpress logins to test each and every one out to see if they could do what I wanted.
Overall I must have spent 10~ish hours trying to figure this stuff out! I was getting frustrated, angry and emotional all at the same time. All over web design! I was definitely feeling a very strong sense of ‘Argh!’.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks:
“If my clients pay me to take their ‘Argh!’ away from them, why can’t I pay someone else to take my ‘Argh!’ away from me?”
Me – getting slapped by obviousness in the face
So I put out some feelers and talked to a few web designers and I can happily say that I found a small business that spoke to my needs and agreed to do up my websites for a very reasonable price!
Instead of feeling like I just blew a bunch of money on my website – I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders and I could focus on what I do best – serving MY clients.
The lesson here is simple:
There are going to be parts of your business that you simply don’t have the skills and/or expertise to do. When you are starting up, it may be cost effective to try and learn how to do these yourself. However, when your business is running smoothly and is generating a steady stream of cash for you, you really are better off hiring a professional to do it for you!
It’s the exact reason why I’m still in business – simply because my clients pay me to manage their finances/accounts/taxes because they don’t want to have to worry about it and that’s what I’m good at!
It is good to have a DIY attitude and learning how to do things yourself is always useful. But if you are looking at getting a good result while saving yourself some time, energy and frustration:
Get a professional to do it!!!