There will be times in business when you stumble upon the needs of utilizing a new skill which you're currently not up to. Before making any decision to learn or to hire an expert, consider these following factors:
1. Urgency
Is this new skill required to complete a project that's due very soon? Or can it be done within a certain length of time that will be enough for you to learn as you go?
2. Result Quality
Do you need this for your own work? Or for client's work? How often do you get to create something flawlessly the very first time utilizing a brand new skill that you just acquired? Ask yourself and be honest.
3. Result Type
Is this an ongoing project that you can fix as you go, or there is no completion to it, i.e. a web site? Or is the result going to be one solid outcome, i.e. product, report, etc. that once you complete and give it away, you can't revise anymore?
4. Skill Type
Is this something you would need continuously? Or something you'd just need every once in a while?
5. Skill Cost
How much does it cost for you to learn? How much is the initial investment (software, books, tools, etc) and how much would it costs you to hire an expert and get it done, in maybe, 30 minutes or less?
6. Other Cost
Don't forget to add the unseen costs. How much of YOUR TIME would be required to learn this new skill? Put into consideration what you won't able to do while you're learning, and how much would that take away from your earnings.
7. Your Sanity
Do you have any interest, whatsoever, in learning this new skill? If this is not something that you enjoy doing, you either will be dragging in learning it and take forever to master it (Negative figure: YOUR TIME & MONEY) or you would completely losing it while you're doing it. You'll be stressed out and it will effect everything else in your work (& your life too!).
Of course it's completely fine to take the middle ground. Have the experts do it the first few times, while you learn the new skill on your spare time.
However, don't forget to put your interest into consideration. It's good to learn new things, but don't push yourself too hard if it's not something that you enjoy doing. If you can make it work, it's good enough.
Truth is you can learn anything you want. But you will not always enjoy doing everything that you're capable of.
And most certainly, don't offer something that you're unsure of how-to-do to clients and figure out how to deal with it after they've agreed to hire you.
Not to mention, doing something that you don't enjoy would take up a lot of your valuable time. And why would you want to do that when you can earn the same doing something else that you enjoy a lot more?
As a solo entrepreneur, it is solely up to you to take care of your business and your clients. Don't let your ego gets in the way and ruin your credibility in the long run; or, wasting your valuable time for something that you don't see yourself using forever.
Jean Kurniati works with Solo Entrepreneurs who struggle with time-management and work-life imbalance. She helps them get clarity of their focus and priorities, which would ultimately lead them to that satisfactory life they worked so hard for, and living it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment