As business owners, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do it all. Especially in the start-up phase, we try to “in-house” as much as possible. But time is not an endless resource. We can’t manufacture more time when the business becomes successful. No matter how much money the business generates, there will still be only 24 hours in every day. To prioritize and implement, we have to learn how to leverage our time.
But often we feel that asking for help or hiring out work is akin to admitting defeat. Like we’ve somehow failed because we’ve deferred to someone else’s expertise instead of making it our own.
In the early days of starting my firm, I lived downtown and, in January, bought a bicycle online – my first ever “brand-new” bike. I read the reviews and knew there would be some assembly required but, having fairly good mechanical inclinations, I wasn’t worried. The box arrived in all its heaviness, and I dragged it into my studio apartment with excitement and anticipation.
The excitement vanished when I saw a large warning sticker on top of the box: “WARNING! Failure to install pedals correctly will result in thread damage requiring the replacement of the crankarm.”
My heart caught in my throat. “Holy crap, I don’t want to screw this up.”
From that moment on, the box became a $250 table for papers and other sundry items. I kept telling myself I would get my toolkit out of the trunk when was the weather was better. “It’s too cold. There’s too much snow. It’s a day ending in Y. I’ll do it later.” Procrastination set in.
A month later, it was a beautiful, 50-degree day in February, and I still had not opened this box. Angry with myself at being such a coward, I marched out to my car and got my toolboxes. Facing the box, I took a deep breath and started removing the giant staples holding the box together. I tore through the warning label and ripped the top of the box off.
“Ohhhh boy.” I took a deep breath and talked myself through it. “Okay, we just need to get the pieces out of the box and see what’s going on. Just take it one step at a time, nice and slow. You can do this.” With Herculean mental effort, I finally extracted all the pieces from the box.
Instead of gaining confidence with each small success, I found myself more and more terrified along the way. Conversations in my head became more ominous. “Dude, we are SO out of our element here. This stuff is not intuitive at all. Where are the assembly directions?”
Trying to remain calm, I decided to approach this like assembling furniture. Get all the pieces laid out, look through the directions, and take it one step at a time.
However, instead of finding assembly directions, I found myself faced with more warnings. “WARNING: Failure to properly adjust Quick Release may result in wheel loss and serious personal injury. If you have questions about how to operate the Quick Release mechanism on your bicycle, please refer to your Owners Manual received with your bicycle or contact your Authorized Dealer. Please follow instructions carefully.”
Silently cursing the fact that my “Authorized Dealer” was a website that couldn’t pick this up and assemble it for me, I pressed onward. “IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT PEDAL INSTALLATION.” Oh great. More pedal warnings. Why didn’t I just buy a $25 bike from Purdue Salvage?
“Grease the axle threads on each pedal.” A cursory review of my inventory of supplies told me that although I had WD-40, this was probably referring to lithium grease, something I don’t keep on hand. Mental note to stop at Menards and pick some up. “Using a PEDAL WRENCH (an open end wrench or small adjustable wrench may not tighten the pedal sufficiently)…” Are you kidding me?? “For pedals installed with an Allen wrench, be sure to use a long-handled or “P” handled wrench, not a 3-way or T-handled wrench.”
At this point I should explain that, despite being female, I am no slouch when it comes to tools. I grew up working with my dad in his workshop, I spent years doing household renovations, I’ve fixed my own washer and dryer (replaced belts, hoses, and power cords), and I successfully drove an 18-wheeler for almost 2 years. So I know what an Allen wrench is and actually own a whole set of them. But they are all L-shaped. “What the heck is a P handled wrench? Was that a typo? Is the L-shaped wrench actually called a P-shaped wrench?” I called my friend who used to work on forklifts and therefore knows all kinds of weird tools. “What’s a pedal wrench? And is a P-handled wrench the same as an L-shaped Allen wrench?” He didn’t know either and suggested I ask at Menards when I go to buy the lithium grease.
My panic was at an all-time high. This assembly was so far out of my league I wasn’t even in the same ballpark.
I decided it was time for a break. I would get a coffee, head to Menards, and see what I could find out. I tucked the paperwork under my arm and headed out the door. After picking up coffee, I started thinking about a bike shop downtown that was within walking distance of my apartment. “I bet they would know what these things are. I’ll talk to them before I go to Menards.”
Inside the bike shop, the person working there was very helpful. He explained that although he could sell me a Pedal Wrench for $20, they’d be happy to install the pedals for me if I wanted to bring the bike in. It was the same with the lithium grease – he could sell me a tube for $10, but given that I would only need a small amount, if I just brought the bike in they’d do it for me at no extra charge.
Wow! Feeling elated and with renewed determination, I headed home and started to assemble the bike. The results were almost comical. Although I had pieced it together enough that I could wheel it somewhere, the front wheel flopped independently from the handlebars, I had no idea if the Quick Release adjuster was installed correctly, I couldn’t figure out how to link up the front brake line and its myriad of assorted parts, and I was cursing the bike company for not sending some @#$% assembly instructions with their so-called “Owner’s Manual”!
I decided to visit the bike shop and see if they could help. Since the handlebars were not controlling the steering properly, I had to pull the bike behind me by the front fork. (Turns out I had installed the handlebars upside down and facing the wrong direction.) By the time I had wheeled the bike 4 blocks to the bike store, I didn’t have the patience to teach myself how to assemble this thing. I just wanted it done. So when the guy at the store said they could assemble it for me for $55, I gladly handed everything over. He said they would have it done in 1-2 days.
I walked home with an odd mixture of relief and disappointment. It was not like me to back down from a challenge. But the safety and complexity involved in assembling this bike were beyond what I was willing to commit to. I was glad to have the bike in the hands of experts, but disappointed in myself for not being able to figure it out on my own.
This morning, as I sat drinking my coffee and looking at my fully assembled bike, I wondered if many entrepreneurs feel the same way about bookkeeping.
As a business owner, you obviously have the intellectual capacity to learn anything you need to know about running your business. And you’re probably a hardcore DIY’er like myself, which is partly why you went into business in the first place.
But at some point, we all have to prioritize our energies and be realistic about our abilities.
Would I ever need to know how to assemble a new bike in the future? Probably not. If I took the time to assemble this myself, would the end result be the quality I needed for safety and function? Doubtful. For these reasons, it was not a productive use of my time to go through the painful process of learning about bicycle assembly. I left it to the experts. And was very pleased with the results.
If I had it to do over again, I would have sent the bike directly to the bike shop and saved myself a whole lot of grief. They could have assembled it right there and I could have ridden the bike home the next day.
Bookkeeping is very similar. Even though you may be perfectly capable of doing your own books, is that the most profitable use of your time? The hours and days I spent agonizing over my bike assembly took far more time than it would take to earn the $55 it cost me to hire an expert to do it. They completed in one hour what would have taken me 8-10 hours with lots of agony and stress. I saved $800-1,000 of my time for only $55. That’s money well spent.
As a busy business owner, you probably hate to spend your precious time on the non-revenue generating hassle of bookkeeping. In addition, you may feel completely lost on where to begin. Maybe you purchased a copy of Quickbooks desktop or signed up for Quickbooks Online and found yourself thinking, “Now what?”
Here’s what our customers are saying about life with Starlight Bookkeeping:
“If I had it to do all over again, I would have hired a bookkeeper from the beginning.” Jason S.
“I feel so much better now – I think we’re making good progress.” Leon D.
Even if you want to remain hands-on with the daily entries, having an expert set up the framework and provide monthly or quarterly reconciliation of your books can make all the difference in the world. Then when your business starts to grow to the point that your time is better spent outside of bookkeeping, it’s an easy transition from DIY to full service.
Click here to request your free consultation to see if Starlight Bookkeeping is right for you. We purposely limit the number of new clients we take on to ensure everyone receives the highest quality of service and attention to detail. Our current waiting list will re-open in May. Stay tuned!
