The Parable of the Writer and the Garage

Let me tell you a brief story. Then I’ll make a little wager with you.

I’m a do-it-yourselfer; I have an engineering degree; I’ve built houses. I wanted to insulate my garage, hang some drywall, put up shelves, and get all the clutter off the floor. As a bonus, we’d like to actually park in our garage. And I didn’t want to hire anyone to do it for me.

Pretty simple? Apparently not.

Why? Because I don’t do it enough to be good or efficient at it. Your time is worth something and so is mine. I woke up one day and finally realized it actually costs me far more to not hire someone.

The devil was in the details. No one step involved in that project is hard. Using a cordless drill or cutting insulation isn’t hard. However, getting materials required me to find a truck and make several trips. I needed to trim insulation and drywall to fit around all the doors, the window, and all the nooks and crannies. Then I needed to tape the joints, mud and sand the walls, paint them, and get around to hanging shelves, all of which required more materials. The list goes on and on. My confession - it’s still not done a year later. I could hire someone and have it done in one morning.

I thought I was saving money doing it myself. I then realized that if I’m working on my garage, I’m not doing work I can bill for. On top of that, apparently it takes a hundred times longer to not actually ever finish your garage yourself than it does to hire someone to do it for you and finish the same morning.

Here’s the wager. If you don’t write or design web sites for a living, trying to create a project like that to connect you with your customers will likely end up frustrating you like my garage does.

Writing words in sentences isn’t hard. Human beings have been doing that for thousands of years. With word processors, it gets even easier. In addition, there are now quite a few tools you can use to put a basic web site online or create a newsletter you can e-mail. The tools and materials you need to create your project exist if you decide to go it alone.

The question is whether you’ll end up with a great project or a frustrating, unfinished garage. More important than that, will the result be a project that reaches your customers and increases your business? And did it do so in such a way that all of the effort you put into it was worth it?

Call in the calvary, save yourself the frustration, and do it right the first time. A friendly tip - just don’t hire me to work on your garage.