Just Back Off Already: Knowing When to Let Others Take the Reins

It is absolutely laughable how BP manages to continue in this mess. Last I heard something like 12 nations internationally have stepped forward to say “hey! We’ve made that mistake before. We know how to fix it. Let us help.”

But have we let them? No, of course not. The government is in bed with the union, so we have to hire companies that keeps the work here.

But the people here are FAILING.  I mean, I’m all for keeping work here. That’s great. good economic move. But sometimes enough is enough. Up to this point, I’m going to have to take the perspective that our people have tried–tried hard—and we have failed. Time for someone else to step in. Seriously, it isn’t like we have more options up our sleeve that might work any second now. We are out of options, we are spitting in the wind, and the situation is going from dire to hopeless–if it isn’t already hopeless.

It is SO past time to phone a friend. What are allies for if you don’t let them come in and help?

Entrepreneurship and good business skills are the same way.

I had someone ask me the other day “Why would someone be a blogger? That is so easy to do. Why would anyone PAY someone else to do that?” At which point I just stared at them. Have you ever taken your car to a car wash? Have you ever bought a frozen pizza? What about hiring someone to babysit your kids while you go out for an evening? All of these jobs are “easy” to do, but we PAY others to do them because that is easy too–and often, these choices to hire out something easy ends up making us more money because we are freed up to do something more productive with that time.

When you are running a business you have to set prioritites. Sometimes it makes sense to do things yourself, save that extra dollar. But other times you might spend an extra dollar outsourcing some work, because the time you have available while you’re NOT doing the “easy” task, you might double your company’s income.

If you spend three dollars so you can make a hundred, that’s a good business move. So while you’re planning your business, or if you’re just looking to be better at your current business–go ahead and evaluate outsourcing. Sometimes “keepin’ it on the homefront” will actually cost you more money than spending to hire someone else.