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Tip
25: Distinguish Between One Time and Repetitive Tasks
Tip
# 19: Determining Your Personal R.O.I. explains how trying to do everything
yourself when you are your own boss can be destructive to your business and
your personal life. That is very true when it comes to repetitive tasks. Tasks like accounting (what is less creative than bean
counting!) are killers. Nobody really wants to do them, and 50% of the
ones who do may not do it the best way they should or could. But the reality is that many small businesses struggle
with money. And a one time task can be well worth doing by the owner.
For example, if you are not completely computer illiterate, why not spend ten hours building a
Web site rather than paying $5,000 to a web designer?
You will be in control for future changes, you
won't need to have all your ideas ready by a certain date, and you won't be
at the mercy of a $200 per hour designer. One time tasks are rarely a problem, and doing them can be a financial
advantage to the small business person. But repetitive tasks are a killer.
To illustrate this, let me tell you a story that happened 20 years ago in a 50
person company. At this time, fax machines were not so common and the company only had one
fax machine that needed to be replaced.
The chief accountant was asked to study what sort of fax machine should be
purchased and how it should be paid for.
Being an accountant, he choose the cheapest one, proudly showing his boss that
the 'project expenditure' figure was under budget. What he didn't think of was that the fax machine he chose didn't have sending memory nor
automatic redialing. Therefore, people from the lower floor had to go back and forth
many times between their desk and the fax
machine because someone else was already using it, a big fax was coming in or
the line was busy. The saving on the fax machine purchase ? About $200. The saving on productivity ? About MINUS $200 PER DAY. So you have to keep productivity in mind when you're figuring out your true
bottom line. Claude Debetaz Contribute a Biz Tip to this Index Go to the Small Business: Canada Biz Tips Index
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Contributed by:
The Kookaburra Game
Telephone: 612-9804-1224
Email: manager@kookaburragame.com
Web site: www.KookaburraGame.com
