Adding up the personal cost
I’m the first person to squint a bit at the thought of using an external advisor and paying for their services.
It feels expensive and excessive at the outset.
A few times recently where I have had to make a commitment to costs involved with running the business I have talked myself round and round in circles trying to justify it.
It wasn’t until I sat down with one of my mentors that he helped me to break it down and see that the value outweighed the cost, much of that was down to the time I would personally save by outsourcing tasks I simply am not good at.
Let me explain
It’s easy to think that things will only go well when you are in control of everything and trust me, I have been burned many a time before when I have committed to others and been shafted.
However, sometimes you have to do your research, trust your gut, and take that leap of faith.
I’m really aware of the things that I am good at within my business, and the things I am not good at.
For instance, social media scares the bajeesus out of me!
But I know it is an important communication tool and also the way of the future, so I pay people to help me understand it better and facilitate it quickly and efficiently.
I also know that the reason I do this is because it would take me forever to try and figure it out, and I’d be terrified of mucking it up.
Does that mean I don’t know what my content would be? Heck no, I can do content on QS acumen till the cows come home.
However, the last thing I would want to do is have my messages mixed up or hitting the wrong audience or anything else that could make it look like I don’t know what I’m doing.
Where a QS comes in
Using a QS for upfront pricing is not dissimilar…. And when you really break it down, it is a cost saving.
Breaking it down the same way my mentor broke it down for me, you need to ask yourself a few questions.
How long would it take me to price it myself?
Am I the best person to do the job?
If you were to put a cost against the hours it would take, how much would that be?
You are not just a worker, you are a business owner, so have you factored in the true cost as an hourly rate of what that would look like?
How much could you have earned if you were on the tools or managing a site?
This is your opportunity cost, and should be added to the cost to complete in the first place because while you are pricing, you are paying someone else to do your jobs.
The way I see it, it is probably worthwhile to at least know how much it would cost to take that pain away by your QS.
Ask for an up-front quote for a job, and do the numbers for you doing it yourself so you can at least decide with all the facts at your fingertips if it is valuable or not.