“Doing it Yourself” may be costing you more
“Doing it Yourself” may be costing you more
Do you seem to always have a list of things to do around the house? Are you always trying to do things yourself in an effort to save money? Is it frustrating when you don’t have time for family, friends, or the activities you really want to do because of your DIY projects? Ever ask yourself is it really worth it? In the long run, maybe not.
Today I picked up my laptop from the repair shop (Wintronics in Welland ON, fast friendly and did a great job). Not only is it nice to have my laptop back, but they have it working better than ever, and they inspired me to write this blog post.
A few weeks back, that which we all dread, happened – I turned my laptop on and it wouldn’t boot. So I tried again and again, did everything I could think might work, and even made some stuff up (really I tried booting it plugged in without the battery installed, as if that might fix my problem). Once I finally gave up, I had a computer guy retrieve the data (thankfully the important stuff was saved), however he told me my hard drive was ruined and I should just buy a new laptop.
Well, stubbornness and small thinking overcame common sense, and I decided I would see if I could fix it myself. Now, I consider myself a pretty smart guy, but admittedly now, when I consider my previous laptop repair experience amounted to replacing a power cord once, I should have realized I was headed down the wrong path. So, with the help of Youtube, Google and Ebay ( sound familiar fellow DIYers) I researched, ordered, and installed a new hard-drive, and with the money I “saved” I upgraded my RAM.
I was a computer repair genius… for two weeks. And then my laptop would not boot again. Genius no more. Seems my installation was missing a carriage from my previous drive, and without it the new faster drive failed very quickly. This time I did the right thing, and have someone experienced and skilled do the repair and the result it truly better than brand new.
Now if you are keeping score, I spent approximately $400 including both drives, the memory and all repair costs. Admittedly my laptop is better than anything I could buy new for $400, so if I was thinking small, I would conclude was money ahead. However, if you look at the big picture, and the hours lost researching, the production lost waiting for my orders, or the downtime caused by my failed repair, you begin to see the true cost of my DIY repair.
“Doing it Yourself” may be costing you more
If you have been following my blogs, you know my strong beliefs in the value of Goals and Vision. I have to admit that nowhere in either my Goals or my Vision does becoming a laptop repair technician receive any mention. And when I look closer, neither do most (more honestly all) the DIY projects I get myself involved in. These are distractions. And the costs far outweigh the savings. If I had invested that time more wisely what would I have done to become closer to my goals. An extra call, another post, some quality time with my wife. And when you consider the compound effect you see even greater costs: what referrals did I lose from the calls I did not make; who did not receive help or value with the posts never written, and who could they have helped with the knowledge; and my wife and I got married to spend time together, not repair laptops.
So the next time the phrase “I don’t mind mowing the lawn” or “I am sure I can get a couple of guys over to help me with that” consider the full cost. You are distracting yourself from your path to success and the life you want to live. Ask yourself “if money was no object, would I be doing this?” If the answer is no, then it is a job for someone else (who usually has more expertise as well). The result will likely end up better than what you could do yourself, and you now have more time an energy to focus on what truly matters. The DIY project you should be focused on is reaching you goals, fulfilling your vision, achieving success and living the life you want to live!
Hope you found as much value in this post as I did living it. If you found value please Like, Share, and Comment below. And as always, if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.
Mike Hisem
I don’t guarantee everyone success, but I guarantee everyone a chance.
