TomNuzum.com
TomNuzum.com

My Lesson Of The Week: Stop Being Cheap and Hire Help

I have often hesitated to hire help for small tasks.

As a business owner I try to manage expenses. I pulled my own phone lines and set up the sound system in my clinic when I opened. It was going to cost $2000 to have somebody else do it. I thought that was a bit expensive for some time on a ladder with a fishtape pulling speaker wire and phone line. So I did it myself.

I have learned during my business education from Seth Godin that I am the cheapest person to do a job and the last person that should be doing it. Many small business owners do not place enough value on their time and will do the job rather than hiring someone to help. His warning was not to be one of them.

I was tweaking website layout and trying to knock the dust off my WordPress, CSS, and HTML skills. After some struggle and delay I hired a classmate of my daughter. He had it fixed in a few minutes.

Thomas Plummer tells gym owners in his books and seminar that they do not have enough employees to run a profitable gym. There should be one employee in charge of each of five profit centers. Attending his seminar and seeing gym owners wrestle with that message is eye opening. They want to keep costs down and payroll low. They are told the profit center should cover the employees salary and add to their net income. That is easy for me to say because I am not running a gym with five or more profit centers but I understand the message.

Value your time. Hire some help. Get the job done better and sooner. Spend the time you save doing higher value activities.