As an entrepreneur who is just taking off, it is difficult to manage all the tasks and take care of every department on your own. Therefore, you might feel the need to hire experts to do the jobs that you are unable to do.
But experts do not come in cheap and one has to pay quite some amount to gain access to their expertise. Thus, you may feel that why should you pay an amount to hire an expert when you can do it yourself by putting in some extra time and effort.
This is a dilemma that almost every entrepreneur faces. But do not worry. In this article, we will clear up this dilemma for you so that you know if you should pay for the services of an expert or do it yourself.
Situation of DIY
1. When you can afford to spend time
Time is one of the most important aspects which is decisive in the process of hiring an expert. You can only think of doing a task yourself when you have the time to do so. If you can make out time from your busy schedule, then you can consider doing the task yourself instead of hiring an expert. By putting in some extra effort, you will be able to save the money that you would have spent on an expert.
But you always would not be able to find the time. Hence, try to create time instead of hoping that you will find it somehow. Look for small-time windows throughout the day and utilize them properly by completing your tasks.
2. When you want to learn something new
By doing a task that you previously have not done before, you will certainly learn a lot. If you hire an expert, he or she will effortlessly complete the assigned task by leveraging their experience and knowledge. As such, your work will be done quickly but you will not be able to learn anything new which may come in handy at some later point in time.
Every challenge contains in it, an opportunity for learning. Therefore, by attempting a new task, you will be able to learn valuable skills and gain knowledge that will allow you to become independent. You will be able to rely on these skills whenever needed and will not feel the need to hire an expert over and over again.
3. When your product is truly unique
If you have managed to build a product or service that is truly unique and one of its kind, it is better to resort to your own skills and knowledge instead of hiring an expert. However, this is only applicable to experts who will be directly linked with your product. For example, a marketing, sales or technical expert.
Since your product is completely off the charts, they will have a hard time relating to it. Their previous experiences will not be useful in this case. Also, you will not be able to get your thoughts, ideas and beliefs about your product implanted in their minds completely. As a result, they will not be able to provide their expertise in the way you want them to.
Hence, it is better to do the jobs related to your unique product on your own, rather than paying for services that you will not be able to optimize.
Why Should You Hire an Expert?
1. They know what they are doing
A good expert has immense knowledge in his or her field. He or she is totally aware of what he or she is going to do when assigned a particular task. Thus, they can seamlessly complete a task in a very less time. It is not possible for an entrepreneur to know everything about the business. He or she may be really good in a particular field but will certainly lag in some other field.
For example, an entrepreneur may have a lot of knowledge about manufacturing but may not hold the same level of proficiency in the marketing department. This is why experts should be hired to take care of that particular department.
2. They can leverage prior experiences
Experts have tens of thousands of hours invested in their skills. They have previously worked for a lot of clients and have handled many tacky situations. They have learned a lot from their previous operations. Thus, they have the access to a well of experience that they can leverage in order to handle similar situations.
Also, if you try to tackle a dicey situation in which you lack experience by yourself, you will be making mistakes. Of course, you will be learning from them but in big and important projects, mistakes can prove to be deadly. Therefore, it is advisable that you leverage the experience of experts who have previously taken care of such problems.
3. They save you time
As mentioned earlier, experts can seamlessly utilize their skills and knowledge to quickly accomplish an assigned task. Their expertise thus saves a lot of time for your company. If someone who does not have the necessary skills for a required job tries to do it, it will take a long time to finish it. This will cause subsequent delays and reduce overall productivity.
On the other hand, as an expert will be able to complete tasks in the minimum time, more useful work will be done. As such, the overall productivity of a company would increase.
4. They allow you to focus on other important things
Having an expert will take the burden of doing something out of your league off you. He or she will single-handedly take care of it, allowing you to focus on other important things. This will allow you to do the things you are good at while working on your skills at the same time.
All these pros suggest that having an expert is beneficial for your company.
Things to Look for While Hiring an Expert
1. Interest in the company
The expert that you hire should exhibit enthusiasm for working with your company. He or she should be knowledgeable about the purpose and mission of your company. This will ensure that he or she feels connected to the projects and do them with utmost diligence.
If he or she is interested in the company then chances are a higher quality of work will be yielded. This is because then, he or she will be able to customize the work to suit the needs and style of your company.
2. Robust examples of work
Any expert that you consider hiring should have some robust examples of his or her works. He or she must have good references backing up his or her claims of expertise. These references will help you in understanding the potential of that expert.
Also, the references provided must be relatively recent. They should not be older pieces of work that hold no value now. Newer pieces of work will enable you to grasp what the expert can accomplish in current times and situations.
3. Collaborative skills
An expert must be good at collaborating with others. This is because they might need to work with a team at some point- whether throughout a project or just in the final steps. He or she must be able to share his or her knowledge with the team members to draw the best work out of them.
This will result in tasks getting completed even faster as everyone involved with the team will be able to utilize the skills of the expert.
4. Communicative skills
The expert should definitely be good at communication. Communication is an essential part of any business operation. Good communication ensures that ideas and knowledge are shared clearly. As the expert that you hire will be working with people he or she has not met before, it is overriding that he or she is able to effectively communicate with them.
This will ensure a good rapport between the team members and the expert and will add to the effectiveness of the expert’s knowledge as it will be shared in a better manner.
5. Time management
This goes without saying that time management is an essential skill that should be paid heed to while hiring anyone and not just an expert. Good time management skills allow an individual to optimize whatever time window is available.
An expert without proper time management skills is not desired as improper time management will mean that his or her skills and knowledge are not utilized to their full capabilities.
Conclusion
Hiring an expert for a specific project or task is not always necessary. There are times when the works of an expert can be done by the entrepreneur himself/herself. But that requires impeccable time management skills and effort. Therefore, the idea of hiring an expert is not thrown away.
Experts bring a lot of skills to the table. They hold immense knowledge about their particular fields. Added to these, is the fact they are highly experienced and tested. Hence, experts must be hired when it is necessary. They will be able to accomplish tasks in a lesser amount of time along with a high quality of work.
I hope this article was insightful and cleared the dilemma of whether you should hire an expert for your company or not.
