The Catch-22 of Seeking Help During a Breaking Point
Posted by Anthony
When people are short on time, they tend to look for outside help in order to complete complicated projects as quickly and efficiently as possible. Money becomes less important than time. It's capitalism at its best.
In the past year, our business found and worked with a CPA, a lawyer, two freelance designers, one web hosting company, and a server administrator. That's a lot of time saved and tasks done right, without any nonsense... right?
Well, sometimes yes, sometimes no. I won't get into individual case studies (I'm sure none of the people who have helped us this past year would appreciate public report cards). But one thing I can say is that we've learned some lessons the hard way; a lot of time needs to be put into the vetting process in order to find a service provider that can truly save you time and make your life easier. This process should consist of a few different stages:
- Explore what you actually need done. You may think you know. But write it down. Discuss it with a business partner, peer, etc. Is it one time, or is it actually an ongoing need? You may find that what you ultimately need differs from your cursory assessment.
- Decide how you will seek these services. You can use your relationship network, a certain website, etc. The medium you use needs to match the type of individual/firm you are looking to find. Don't go on craigslist for a professional, and don't expect high profile contacts to link you up with value (read: cheap) providers.
- Spend a decent amount of time vetting a good number of service providers. Ask them relevant questions and try to determine if they're truly the right fit for your needs. This isn't a time to judge. It's time to write down the facts of your findings, thank the potential service providers for their time, and inform them you'll be getting back to them in the near future.
- Begin to formulate a decision. Don't fall in love with one and ignore the fact that another provider may be a better fit on paper. Don't get overwhelmed by all the options and pick one randomly.
- Realize that you usually pay for what you get. Generally speaking, a good rule of thumb is that if you can't figure out how a particular provider is able to stay in business at the rate being asked, there are probably a lot of corners being cut and quality being sacrificed to make it happen. Once you get over that hump, there are providers that are charging anywhere from fairly to exorbitantly. At that point it's a crapshoot and cost isn't necessarily indicative of how good of a match you have on your hands. You need to know what you want (see step 1), and choose a provider from this group that you trust will competently carry out your vision for you.
These steps may seem obvious. But they are counter to how most people decide to seek out professional services. Most people tend to seek help at some sort of breaking point. When there's absolutely no more time to do a task, your first inclination is to call a service provider who can do it more efficiently. The problem is you end up ignoring a majority of the steps above. You assume you know exactly what you need, you seek services via the simplest medium possible, you talk to two or three people, convince yourself one is perfect (and somehow extremely affordable!), and move forward.
Then comes the disappointment. Hundreds or thousands of dollars later, you realize you spent almost as much time managing & fixing the project as you would have just doing it yourself. You realize that not only did you waste time, but money as well. Completely counterintuitive.
I'm not a fan of over-optimizing or wasting time on non-issues. That can kill a small business. But the fact is, the most successful small businesses understand there's a fine balance between over-optimizing and waiting too long. You need to anticipate your need for help, and should be able to identify when you're close to a breaking point. When you are there, begin exploring and vetting immediately. Because by the time the breaking point comes, you will be in no place to be making sound decisions; you need to be on auto-pilot.
