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The Late Epiphany of The Penny-Wise And Pound-Foolish Computer Consultant

by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan

Let me see. Last year alone I surfed the web for over 460 hours for marketing resources, spent over $10,000 attending marketing seminars and workshops all across North America and bought some $5,000 worth of CDs, tapes, manuals, and other home study programmes.

I have spent another 580 hours reading, listening, attending and attempting to implement what I've learnt.

What am I missing?

Oh yeah, I have spent close to $ 1,500 on a logo and business cards. Then another $2,000 to buy webdesign software and learning materials, so I can design my website.

I spent some $ 1,000 on learning how to write marketing copy. Now I know it would take me several years to become just reasonably good at it.

So, I've invested $ 19,500 in learning materials and some 1,040 hours to learn marketing.

As a computer consultant, I charge $ 110 an hour. Having lost 1,040 hours, 70% of which could have been billable hours, that's a massive $ 80,080 loss.

Adding this $ 80,080 to my initial $ 19,500 investment in materials and seminars, I'm $ 99,580 out of pocket, just because I "couldn't afford" to hire someone to help me.

And after all this investment I'm not even sure if I'm doing the right things, if I'm implementing the seminar stuff in the right way. I'm just going by dead reckoning.

For this money I could have hired top notch marketing help and could have focused on actually building my business, and better serving my clients, instead of wasting my time and money on doing something I know nothing about.

Now while being $ 99,580 and 1,040 hours shorter, I'm not even sure if I'm any closer to my goals than I was before. So, I guess I'd better cut my losses and start all over again by hiring someone who already knows this stuff.

And remember! Don't sell harder. Market smarter. Both you, your employees, your clients and prospects will find it more enjoyable, profitable and attractive.

Copyright 2007 Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan. All rights reserved. You are free to use this article in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including a live website link. Please also let me know where the material will appear. Thanks a lot.

Attribution: "This article was written by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan who, using his decade-plus experience as an engineer and buyer for technology solutions, helps technology service businesses to develop automated client acquisition systems and build peak-performing business development teams, using the battle-tested principles of military strategy. For a broad range of articles, white papers, including his FREE Executive's Guide to B2B Online Business Development, and other resources visit his site at http://www.varjan.com.

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