Dear Direct Response Letter Subscriber:
It's no secret that whether around the house or in my business,
I am no fan of do-it-yourself.
From tax return preparation to web site design, I would much
rather hire a professional -- for several reasons.
First, the pro will do it much better than I would. If they
could not, I would hire someone else who could.
Second, the pro will do it faster than I can, because she has
done it dozens or hundreds of times before.
Third, using the pro saves me time and actually makes me
money by allowing me to focus on my core business activities:
researching, writing, and thinking for my clients.
The late, great direct mail guru Dick Benson had a similar
attitude. He said to do only what you do best in-house, and
outsource everything else.
When freelance copywriters ask me what software or templates to
use in building their web sites, I tell them, "Stop wasting your
time and hire a professional web site designer!"
My go-to web designer (see my P.S.) tells clients who come to
her after trying to design their own site themselves the
following story:
"When we bought our first house, we had a minor leak, and my
husband went to Home Depot and bought, in his words, a 'Mamma
wrench.' The thing was huge.
"After the flood was cleaned up, the plumber said to him, 'I
love guys like you.'"
Amy and I had a similar situation. We hired JL, a lanky,
gray-haired tile guy who had 40 years of experience to retile
our bathroom. Amy started to tell him the 'right' way to tile
based on an episode of This Old House she had watched. JL turned
to her and said kindly, "Miss, a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing."
The experienced vendor has been doing the task you need done for
years or decades. What gives you the illusion that you can do it
as well or as fast?
I haven't mowed grass or raked leaves on our lawn in decades.
The reason is simple arithmetic: I earn per hour 10 times what
my leaf guy charges. Every hour I pay him $25, I can be at my
desk earning $250 or more per hour.
Also, raking leaves bores the bejesus out of me, as do
bookkeeping, tax preparation, programming (and I have forgotten
most of my FORTRAN and BASIC), and a dozen other tasks.
Outsourcing helps me avoid boredom and have fun doing what I
love to do, which is writing.
Sincerely,
Bob Bly
P.S. This is my go-to vendor for web site design (not for my
info product landing pages, which Filipino Web Masters does for
me, but for company web sites for my clients):
www.WebDevelopersStudio.com
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