Stick to your knitting?

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Permalink Reply by Phil Astley on July 11, 2009 at 12:58pm

Interesting question. I think the answer's yes and no. (Typical accountant eh?)

We should definitely not tackle alone those areas which aren't our strengths. However, can we ever learn / develop in those areas if we leave them alone? I think of Gerber's "The E-myth Revisited" - and the entrepreneur, manager and technician. The personality types of the first two are almost opposites - so it's no wonder no one person cannot do everything well.

But surely it's human nature to develop new skills as we grow. So for example, in the business area, one of my strengths is accounting. An entrepreneurial type might not feel a natural inclination toward that - but by running their own system properly and with help as needed, they can build up that essential part of their business and at least understand the results. Conversely a managerial type might not take naturally to marketing - but by getting familiar with the effects of types of advertising, they at least gain familiarity with the area. Both might use appropriate resources to supplement their skills (accountant, marketing) and maximise their effectiveness.

And the question of money is important. Like you we've got our own web site being developed - almost ready my son tells me. Hiring a pro would be great - but since we don't have the budget, we have to have the first cut at it ourselves. Just as I have helped a few people do their own accounts - they didn't want to / couldn't pay a full fee. They're taking their own risks and short-cuts - but they've used my services as an advisor.

So I'd still say each case needs to be decided on it's own merits - but particularly in your own business each owner needs familarity with and understanding of the key areas - vision, strategy, structure, culture, products / services, marketing, finance, systems, and people.

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Permalink Reply by Phillippa Jacobs on July 13, 2009 at 7:03am

Hi :)
I think we all want to try to do things we can save money at. IF your website is extremely professional, and has all the SEO (search engine) needs set up well, and you get lots of work from it. Then sure you've done a good job, IF you aren't getting what you wanted out of your site. Then yes - leave it to us :) as we are the ones that make the difference! You can always have a coffee with us, and we can see if you are on the right path :)
just remember, using experts, can get you expert results! Want results? thought so! See you soon!
Cheers, Philippa

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Permalink Reply by Ted Fox on July 15, 2009 at 10:41am

It's a catch 22. Web sites are relatively easy to set up, and "If I hadn’t saved myself quite a bit of money, I would have agreed" may be an illusion. In the short term you may have saved money, but in the longer term I'd say 'no'. How much quicker would a professional, who cannot afford to make mistakes, have done it and assisted with the fine tuning? But, Catch 22 again, not all 'professionals' know about online marketing per se. I'm not a Web design person, but I can analyse Web sites, brief Web designers and write meta tags and I work in a team of loosely associated affiliates and draw on the expertise I need. I could teach myself Web design, it's not rocket science, but why should I invest a lot of time and money when the expertise is there when I need it. Oh, and I didn't stick to my 'knitting', and took up up the equivalent of crochet.

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Permalink Reply by Heather McDonald on July 15, 2009 at 4:40pm

Hmmmm, there's got to be some cost/benefit analysis involved. The last quote I got from a marketing company to build a five page website was in the thousands of dollars. It would take me some time to get that money back through increased business.

But to those who say leave it to the experts, I look forward to hearing from you about your bookkeeping and administration needs! As long as the charge-out rate for your time is more than mine, you're better to be working on revenue-earning activities.

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