The Don’t DIY Business Plan

Multi Ethnic Hands Making a CircleI work each day for my businesses, but I would never dream of doing everything myself.

I receive email after email telling me about a new webinar that’s going to teach me this or that and to Do It Myself, but really, who has the time? To watch all those webinars and to Do It Myself! Now, I will say that I’m totally for empowering business owners by giving them the knowledge so they know the possibilities, and I too watch as many webinars as I can fit in.

I love to learn and teach others also, which is why I create written and video tutorials, so those that want to gain more insight, can. But I also have set time frames and schedules each day for work, managing social media and marketing. Which doesn’t leave much extra time for DIY training, and just because I could, should I?… learn to build shelves, fix a sink, or should I hire an expert who surely would do a great job, since they know what they’re doing.

As much as I love to take photographs, I certainly wouldn’t showcase them in a gallery. When I step in front of a video camera, I’m still a beginner and just getting used to it and learning how the camera works. Even writing blog posts is something I have been playing with.

So why lately do I see Do It Yourself everywhere and why is everyone trying to teach us to do everything ourselves, from building our own website, publicity campaign, social media posts and more?

The answer is that everybody’s wallet is tight with the struggling economy and instead of hiring experts, everybody is learning to do it themselves. But how well? And isn’t it a poor reflection on a company and their “brand” when something is off or crudely done?

Instead of pitching for us all to learn everything, each small business owner needs to hire one professional and help that business grow. This is what would jump start the economy, because it builds confidence and spending and the circle continues to grow. We also need to face the reality that we each have our own gifts and talents and that’s what we should be doing. If we continue to focus on that we’ll be happier as well. I’ve seen so many businesses fail in the last few years and it’s for this very reason. We all think, I’ll just do-it-myself. Frame a picture, paint the house, cook gourmet food and yes learn to be a graphic or web designer overnight.

To run a business smartly and effectively is knowing what needs to be done and delegating the work to those that know what they are doing. If we all did that we’d get this economy moving forward in the right direction. Each business supporting another and then sharing that business with others.

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