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Jon’s Journey Episode 5: Are you good at DIYs?

Hey it’s Jon’s Journey Episode 5: DIY.

I’m Jon as you know. I bought a new house using tradies, playing the game of sharing my experiences with you as a customer of a trades businesses and seeing what we learn. I’m not going to go over what I’ve learned so far mostly because I can’t remember it all.

But today, I thought it would be fun to share what happened when I didn’t use a trade because I tried to do it myself.

I’m not very good at DIY but I’m going to share with you some of the work I’ve done.

Let’s have a look.

See that there? The dog dug under the gate. (Bastards.) I’m so great at this stuff that I’ve managed to bury some blocks in there so they can’t dig. It’s quite effective, but it’s not very attractive.

Let’s look for some more…

Here we are in my kitchen. I mounted those knife racks on the walls. I know enough to get those gyproc things that go in the wall, wall plugs, whatever they’re called. But as you can see there’s a bit of a wobble on that one. And they’re not quite straight, are they? (I like to keep the big knife there so it’s not so obvious.)

You’re getting a theme here, aren’t you? ‘Jon’s not that great at this stuff.’

Let’s look in the garage.

There’s a bike rack that I bought, possibly 15 years ago. And over there leaning up against the wall are some blocks of hardwood that I plan to bolt it to so that the bikes don’t fall over when you try to get one of the bikes out of the bike rack. As you can see, I haven’t done it yet.

Over there in a box is a new doorknob for the front door which I’ve realised I’m not skilled enough to fit. And I’m not going to even try.

So a few slightly amusing examples of my attempts of the Do-It-Yourself handiwork. I’ve realized I’ve made a list of jobs for a handyman to come and do instead of for me to try and do. And I thought you’d find it amusing that I’m so s**t.

When I started writing this little video half an hour ago, I thought the point I was trying to make was that most people are like me and your average customer isn’t an expert at what you do.

You’re the expert, and you should be proud of that, and you should value that, and you should charge for it appropriately.

But I don’t think it is. I’ve posted on that before. It’s a valid point, and it’s true, and you should, but that’s not the point I want to make.

Recommended Reading: You’re a Bottleneck. What to Do? Jamie’s story

The point I want to make is: I’m not embarrassed or upset at being s**t at this.

I’ve been s**t at it for a long time now. I’m used to it. (Apparently, I’m pretty good in bed and I can cook okay so I’m safe. She’s not going to leave me even if I’m s**t at DIY.)

My point is you shouldn’t be embarrassed to not be good at everything. And in your business, as trades, you should be ready to outsource the things you’re not good at, to get help to do the things you’re not good at. It’s not your job in your business to do everything yourself. Or to be good at everything yourself.

It’s your job to make it happen. It’s your job to find the people, hire the people, and find the businesses to work with you to help you grow your business. It’s your job to figure out what needs doing and get somebody to do it, and not try and do everything yourself.

That’s what I want you to take away today.

Figure out what you need to do, figure out what help you need to get, figure out who you need to hire to help you grow and scale your business.

Don’t get bogged down trying to do everything yourself because there’s only one of you. You’ve only got so much capacity, and you’ll grind to a halt or get pissed off if you try and do it yourself.

And if the hint wasn’t strong enough… I think I can help you with that.

Adios.

There are four ways you can engage with me:

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4. Book yourself a 10-minute chat with me. We’ll talk about whether coaching is right for you now and if it is, we’ll go further into the process before you have to make your mind up.

See you later.

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