Paying The Price For Growth

Saturday night on the Suze Orman Show, the one-on-one guest was a graphic designer who needed Suze's help. In addition to her bills, the graphic designer had a total of $40,000 worth of work she'd performed but had never been paid for.

I know. I had the same dumb perplexed expression on my face too.

But get this. It wasn't because folks had skipped out on paying her. She - the business owner - hadn't bothered to bill the clients! She said on tv, in front of the Lord and everybody, that she would get so caught up in completing the work, she'd just move on to the next project without invoicing.

At the end of the show, Suze gave entrepreneurs two pieces of advice. One I agreed with. The other I didn't.

GOOD ADVICE

Hire someone to do the stuff you can't do. Or the stuff you're not good at. It makes sense and sounds doable on the surface, however I understand that not everyone is in a financial position to outsource.

In this particular situation, it appears the graphic designer had the means to hire help. And we all know in the age of the ever-popular virtual assistant, recruiting a freelancer takes away the risk of hiring a permanent employee. And it's a helluva lot cheaper too.

YOUR BLOG AS A BUSINESS

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the #BlogTrends chat on twitter. The topic was expanding your blog. During the course of the chat, I made the comment that at some point, you have to hire help.

Well what did I do that for?! Folks got all upset telling me how they would never hire someone to write for them.

Ok. That's fine. Neither would I.

When you look at your blog as a business - instead of a hobby - you have a different perspective. Yes, you love to write, Yes, you love to share whatever it is you're sharing, but you don't lose sight of your blog being a source of income.

BAD ADVICE

Suze acknowledged there are quite a few people starting businesses as a result of the crappy job market. She went on to say if you can't afford to outsource your weaknesses, you probably shouldn't take the entrepreneur route.

Suze. I love you, but you're wrong.

HIRING FREE HELP

I've been really bummed out about not posting more videos on my blog. In case you didn't know, The Girl is my videographer. She enjoys going out with me to different places to shoot and then doing the editing.

While you may not have access to a tech-savvy teenager, I'm sure there's someone in your network who would love to give you a hand. You just have to ask and be willing to offer some assistance in return.

When I made the statement about hiring someone to help expand your blog, that's what I was talking about.

What do you need to take your blog up a notch?
Sidenote: You can remove the word 'blog' and insert business, quality of life, etc.

Where can you find the resources to help you get there?

I examined every penny I have looking for extra money to bring on a project-based videographer. That's just a fancy way of saying I was in desperate need of someone to follow me around town and hold my flip camera.

Low and behold, it turns out an employee of one of my coaching clients was willing to do it for free to get experience. She has a homebased business and wants to integrate video into her marketing.

Perfect. Problem solved. It's a win for both of us. It didn't cost me anything, but had it - I was willing to pay. What I could afford, of course.

If you're looking to grow in the upcoming year, it might help to think with the end in mind.

Don't look at yourself as a struggling blogger (if you google 'struggling blogger' and my picture comes up, please don't tell me!).

You know the popular blogger who boasts about making money and gets invitied to all the conferences and commands big bucks for her sponsored posts? At some point she realized she couldn't do it all on her own.

When you're ready to treat your blog like the thriving business it can be, you'll realize it too.