DIY or Delegate? The Smart Way to Approach Tech

Hello and welcome to the You Can Podcast. I'm your host Sarah Jolly Jarvis and we are on episode 33.
How has that happened already? Well, I've been talking over the last couple of weeks around automation and tech and when to use it, when not to use it, the value it brings, how it can free up time, how you want to be using it at the right time to create opportunities in your business. So, you know, you've kind of got clear on should I be using it? Should I not? And now it's kind of like, well, okay, do I do it myself or do I pay someone else to do it? And that is the next step we're going to be talking around today is to DIY or to delegate.
And so I'm going to be sharing with you my own take on this, plus some key things to think about when making this decision. So the DIY versus hiring dilemma, yeah, it's a decision that often comes down to budget.
Okay, particularly if you're in the early stages of business, you feel you have to DIY it, you have to do it yourself because the cost incurred with people doing it for you. But if the timing's right, so please, if you haven't done so already, do tune into last week's episode, so episode 32, where I share with you when is the right time, then your offer is priced, and your offer is priced correctly, you should have the funds to get help, unless you are taking too much money from your business, which is what i covered in i can't even remember what episode it was now um but you know you can be in a position where if you're taking out too much to cover your own expenses then your business isn't in a position to support itself and so you know if you haven't got the funds ask yourself why do i need to be putting this automation into place yet and if the answer is yeah you know what i do then it I do, then it's like, okay, well, where is that money gone? And remember, it's your business.
So if you want to take all the money out of your business, if you don't wanna have that money in your business for development, then that's your choice, okay? But it's being aware, where has this money gone? Why can't I spend it in areas that would help me and potentially speed up the process and give customers a better experience? Just because you can do it yourself, okay, just because you've seen that other people do it and people have shared with you their journeys or you've looked on YouTube and you've seen how people talk people through it, it doesn't mean you should, okay, or does it? Well, the things to think about if you are thinking, yeah, you know what, I think I'm going to do it myself, is how much do you actually need to learn? So for me, I am not an overly techie person. I have done little bits with websites.
I can do updates. I'm generally quite good when something is in place to follow a process to get things up and running.
I have delved in deep on things like go high level with the CRM and areas like that because they have been relating to my skill set which is the sales which is the marketing and so it has made sense for me to upskill myself on these elements because I am constantly in people's CRMs I'm constantly in my own CRM looking at what's going on what's going on with clients where they are where the opportunities are if the enough, etc. So for me, it made sense to learn those things because they kind of complemented what it is that I do.
Okay, I help people with their businesses. And so to be able to basic understanding of different ways of setting up sites, navigating, putting up courses, I tell people to go and do courses and put courses online.

If I didn't know how to do that, if I wasn't aware of the processes involved, then I feel that would take away what I can bring to the party and how I can help those individuals. But if you are somebody, for example, who I've worked with clients who are are um,

athelesticians or dentists.

Um,

and if you're a dentist,

there is no value,

you know,

when you've got somebody. I've worked with clients who are, um, atheisticians or dentists.
Um, and if you're a dentist,

there is no value, you know,

when you've got somebody with their mouth open, um, on your,

on your chair going to them, you know what?

I can show you how to create a course.

I can show you how to update it on go high level.

They're going to be like, that's great.

Do you actually know anything about teeth?

And so, you know, it is way outside of your skillset.

It's not something that's going to bring value. Understanding it isn't going to bring any value to your end customer.
Okay. So equally, if you are a massive, massive tech phobe, but you want to have something up and running that is technology based, then you've got to either understand you know what i mean i need to get my

head around this or i'm going to be able to choose the right people or know that i've got the right safety blanket and set up there for me if something goes wrong with this that i'm not going to be left with not knowing how to fix it who to fix it what to do so how much you actually need to learn that learning curve how steep. So how much you actually need to learn, that learning curve, how steep is it? How much do you want to learn? Yeah.
So if you are a massive tech phobe and you don't really want to learn about it, it doesn't really have any value. It's just one of those things that needs to be done.
And once it's done, then the idea is that other people could help you maintain it.

Then get those people involved at that initial stage.

Also, the how long it will take you.

So, you know, I have spoken to people who have spent days, literally days,

doing something that somebody who knew what they were doing would take an hour to do.

And not only is that really demoralizing,

but also it's just an absolute waste and a devaluation of the value of your time you could have spent that time adding value to somebody and actually getting paid for that they could have spent time with clients they could have made the money back um you know doing days something that a next book could take an hour to do you know your time is money like if it's taking you away from your family even if you know what you're like well i don't have any clients right now or then that's the question whether or not you should be doing tech but you know if i don't have that many clients right now then you could be doing business development to get the clients you could be working for minimum wage and probably end up being better off, particularly for those individuals who spend days doing stuff. When it would take an hour, they would be absolutely better off getting some sort of temporary work and doing those few hours and then paying somebody else to do it.
And it would have taken them less time. So my personal belief on this is that even if you plan to outsource, even if you're going, you know what, I'm never going to touch this ever again, upskill yourself a little bit so you understand the basics.
If it is a fundamental element of your business, you kind of want to know what to do with it, don't you? It would be like having a child and it it being your child but relying on somebody else to change its nappy is that a fun job absolutely not but is it an essential job yes is it one that you're not always going to be able to call on somebody else to do i believe so um you know even if you had people in if you had a nanny they need a day off um but you know that kid's gonna keep pooping

so you might as well learn how to do it and it's the same with your business is yes you can have an individual who you're like this person really knows their stuff they're in house i'm paying their wages they're going to be here once that person's off ill what happens if that person leaves you don't want to be in a position where you know so little about it that you haven't even got an understanding of who could do the job who would be suitable if that person was doing a good job or if they weren't you can easily be taken advantage of and that's something that we find all the time from an agency point of view is that people will come to us and say this person is doing this but is that right and it's really sad because the vast majority of the time when their gut is telling them like this doesn't seem right it's because it's not and so these people have been taken advantage of because they have no idea how to run ads so even if you know you're thinking i want to outsource this as soon as i can then i would encourage you to to delve into it a little bit but that is my personal belief does that mean you have to create an entire funnel does this mean that you have to do all the automation i don't think it does but it does mean that you need to understand it a little bit so you know getting somebody and working alongside somebody asking them about it and better understanding um you know can be a great way of doing it because they're doing it you're getting an expert to help you do it i'm a massive massive fan of mentoring um martin also does mentoring with the ads and you know that can really help because they are directing you they are giving you the correct information you're getting the correct outcome but you're getting that support along the way so you're not wasting money you're not wasting time um but each step of the way you're able to to speak to that person and to get their feedback that would be my preferred way of doing it but that's not always possible okay my thought process is you don't have to be an expert but knowing that something doesn't sound right or work right or that doesn't seem to be my understanding of it and being able to you know open up the software look through the software ask questions on it um is is a good place to start. If you can get somebody who can help you to create it, and you can go off, they can say, right, now you need to do this, then you can go off and do it.
I feel that is a better position, because you can understand it, you can understand the steps you had to do. But it might be then that you're going to get that finished to that standard of that individual um but you're going to get a better understanding in the process that that's my preference but it is absolutely entirely up to you if you do hire okay what do you need to look for so you've decided you know what i don't want to touch this i'm just going to make it go all wrong what am i looking for what am i going to do well look for experience do they actually know what, I don't want to touch this.
I'm just going to make it go all wrong. What am I looking for? What am I going to do? Well, look for experience.
Do they actually know what they are doing? Ideally, get a recommendation from somebody, okay, personally, if you can, but if not, then look at reviews or client success stories. If they are quoting somebody, and this is the thing, right, with social media is they quote somebody, so they do a screenshot of that person or that person's name.
It is very easy to find that individual again and to speak to that individual and find out what their experience was like. Are they still experiencing the positive things they put into that testimonial or that feedback? Equally, like Google reviews, you can see that somebody is verified.

It's an actual bonafide overview.

It's not just that person getting their auntie

or something else to do it.

That person is of that name with that account.

And so you can do your sort of due diligence.

You know, ideally it is somebody that you know

in the business world who's used that person before,

but that is not always possible,

particularly if you're not surrounded by individuals who are doing what you're doing and who on the same journey as you so you know look at their reviews look at their client success stories chat to those clients I've had people ask if they can speak to my clients and absolutely they can and I'm more than happy to do that and so but you know it depends on the individual it depends on where they in their business. Somebody who won't let you talk to their clients.

Somebody who starts with the whole,

well, if you're not able to make a decision

without doing that,

then you're probably not right for the program,

et cetera, et cetera.

Trying that kind of reverse psychology on you,

absolutely steer clear.

If that person won't let you anywhere near

somebody who's used them,

there's a reason for that.

And it's because that person, in my opinion,

it's because that person isn't going to give you the review that you're looking for, or that they'd hope to get in order to get your money. So what I would do is avoid the trap of paying someone who overcomplicates things or sells your solution you don't actually need.
So, you know, a good rule of thumb is to hire for strategy, not just for the execution side of things. And what I mean by that is, is, you know, you're saying to somebody, this is what, you know, I think that all I want to do is do this.
And they're selling you into this resource and that resource and this software, you know, you'll need that. And if they're bamboozling you, if they are not able to provide you succinctly with a clear understanding of what they would do and what they would bring to the project then you know they're kind of you end up feeling a bit sort of bamboozled with the whole thing then I would I would steer clear okay so go for somebody who doesn't overcomplicate it who talks to you where you're at with your understanding that you've got okay and a solution that you actually wanting um not something which is even more complex which is even more wrapped up in support and additional um expenses or resources or um complications you want to keep it as simple as possible and you want to look at the work that they've done if for example if you're looking at a funnel go through go through a funnel that they've created, look at it, see if you actually, you would like your customers to have the same experience.
And that would be what I'm looking for. Again, you can go back to social media, you can look at the reviews that they've got, see how those individuals are using those resources, if they are still using those resources and what sort of experience, user experience you get using them.
If you aren't sure what bits were created by that person or how the tech or what tech they helped with then reach out to that individual and ask them um you know you you gave a testimonial for this person um i'm just wondering you know what what they did for you um and and if i can see an example of that if that is something that you're still using. Okay, the key here is to understand balance.
Know enough to make informed decisions, but don't get stuck in that DIY mode, creating something for weeks on end, for months on end. That's going to slow your business down.
If you are not working within your zone of genius, if it doesn't add to your zone of genius, then get involved involved and know enough but that doesn't mean you have to be doing all that implementation okay you can get somebody to do it for you and ask loads and loads of questions and get more clarity okay the key things to ask yourself are how much do i need to learn how much do i want to learn and how long will it take me to do this and is that investment worthwhile if your offer is priced right you should be able to reinvest in hiring help when that time comes when it is right for you okay if you are thinking you know what i haven't got those funds why haven't you got those funds if you haven't got those funds because you haven't generated the income yet then go back to last week's episode episode 32 and listen to when is a good time my final thoughts on this guys are whether you diy or you delegate make sure tech is working for you not just making things more complicated it's supposed to make your life easier it's supposed to make your customer journey better. So that's it for me

this week, guys. Thank you so much for listening.
If this episode helped you, then please share it

with a fellow business owner. Subscribe for more insights on building a business that works for you.

And I look forward to speaking to you again next time. Bye for now.