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DQ News: Should You Do It Yourself (DIY) or Pay the Experts (PTE)?

It’s the big mistake that we have the power to fix.  But it’s also the kind of thing that we could spend a lifetime getting wrong—without intervention.  When should you do it yourself (DIY) and when should you pay the experts (PTE) to do it for you?

Small business owners are the kings and queens of creating something out of nothing, of learning every skill that they have to learn in order to move their businesses forward.  Cash-strapped individuals with great ideas have been known to be highly innovative—but that doesn’t have tp mean doing it all by yourself.

When is it time to grow the team?  Here’s a simple reality check.

What are you doing?

If you are designing your own graphics when your skill set lies in writing or negotiations or product design, then you may need to re-evaluate your efforts. If you are writing your own marketing copy when you excel at graphic design or customer service, then you may need to add a writer to the team to maximize your time and effort.

How are you doing it?

If you’re creating lowbrow solutions that make your company look like a hobby instead of a business, then you may need to upgrade the team. Just as a weak product is bad for business, weak visuals and weak content hurt your bottom line because they fail to attract the right clients.

Does your current system cost you money or make you money?

If the expert charges $300 to create a custom WordPress website but it takes you 300 hours to do it yourself, then you have to factor in the cost of your time to see which option offers the true savings.

Keep this in mind: Hiring an expert doesn’t mean that you stop learning or that you turn your brain off. It means that you have more time

1. for the parts of the business that you excel at and where you cannot be replaced,
2. to further develop your communication skills, because that’s a crucial ability for every business leader,
3. to spearhead the overall strategy behind the business, because no one will care about the big picture as much as you do.

What time is it?

Sometimes it costs too much to DIY. And sometimes it costs too much to PTE. It’s up you, the business leader, to know the time involved and how to make the most of it.

Image from Kalim/Shutterstock

From Small Business Trends

Should You Do It Yourself (DIY) or Pay the Experts (PTE)?

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