Hiring a pro can save you money and headaches

I had a client contact me the other day. I had helped her set up her website a year ago, but she took on maintaining it herself and had done a great job. But she ran into a problem. There was one thing she needed to make happen, and she just couldn’t figure it out. She then spent twelve hours working on it. Twelve. Hours.

Finally, she threw her hands in the air and emailed me. Fifteen minutes later I had her problem resolved. I’m not writing this to tell you how awesome I am, but to highlight something that people often forget. We do this all day, every day. And because we do it all the time, we can often diagnose and fix your problem faster than you can.

My question is – would you rather spend twelve hours of frustration trying to fix this problem yourself? Or pay me $25 to take care of it for you?

I sometimes like doing handy stuff around my house, but I’m not very good at it. I decided I needed new outlets in a few of my walls, so I went to the hardware store and got some. I turned off the power, yanked the old outlets, and rewired the new ones. Excellent! It was tough, but I felt satisfied with my work.

Until my front porch lights wouldn’t come on anymore. Which didn’t make sense because the outlet I’d replaced was in my bathroom. I finally called in an electrician to take a look, and I’d swapped a wire in the wrong spot and that was the cause of my problem. It cost me more to have him fix it than it would have to have him replace the outlets in the first place.

Sometimes, it’s just better to hire someone who knows what they are doing.

I’m a big proponent of people learning how to manage their own websites. That’s why we use WordPress. That’s why we provide video tutorials to help our clients learn how to do their own updates. BUT, sometimes things are going to be outside your comfort zone. It’s okay to call in a professional to help with your website. And sometimes, doing that will save you time, money, and headaches.