August 16, 2008

When a Hammer Beats a Swiss Army Knife

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 4:07 pm

One by One by One Thing Well

Working Plans logo

Any tradesperson will tell you, “Use the right tool for the job.”
The same logic applies when it comes to the people we hire.
Get great art and design from the people who went to art school.
Get great writing from great writers.
Get great programming from . . . you know who.

That’s the most efficient way to get the work done well.

In your own shop concentrate on your stellar skills and get other folks to do what they do better than you. Offer your best and nothing else, and smart business folks who value their time will value what you do.

Clean, Clear, Simple: Example 1

e-junkie

At SOBCon this year we were offered a pro account at e-Junkie.com. If you were an attendee and didn’t take advantage the promocode was SOBCon08. Check out their services. They do what they do so well that I’ve set up my affiliates there.

Clean, Clear, Simple: Example 2

How to Start a Business Website logo

Another great example of focusing on what we do well is Michael Martine’s new eBook launch. His book, How to Start a Business Website and Hire a Web Designer focuses in on on specific problems and how to solve them well. The answers he’s brought are the best tools for the job, and his discussion of the product only talks about that. I think his product — content and presentation — is so well done that I’m selling it to you. I don’t do that unless I find the values that I would put there myself.

Click here to see what I’m talking about.

When a Hammer Beats a Swiss Army Knife

People have problems and search for answers. The answers they search for are straightforward and specific. They want the best tool fix what’s broken not an expensive toolkit. If you want to win their attention, solve the small problems before you try to win the big ones.

Be the best answer to what they’re searching for. When we need to pound a nail, a hammer beats a Swiss army knife every time.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Buy the ebook and find out the secret.

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6 Comments to “When a Hammer Beats a Swiss Army Knife”

  1. August 16th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
    Cath Lawson said

    Hi Liz - this is great advice. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve tried to do DIY jobs in the past. Trying to network the office computers myself was one of the worst disasters.

    I almost always wasted lots of time, wound up making a complete hash and had to pay someone to put everything right.

  2. August 16th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Oh yeah, Cath!
    I’ve broken my blog too many times to count. :)

    When we try to save money that way, it always costs us more and gets us less. I’ve been the same places you describe [blush]. :)

  3. August 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
    Michael Martine said

    Liz, thanks for the mention! I was watching the new VH1 show “I Want to Work for Diddy”, which is a reality show about people competing to become Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ new personal assistant. One task the contestants had to do was detail a limo. They did the labor themselves, which surprised me. They had money to spend, but they didn’t pay a service to detail it. They did it themselves. They didn’t realize they should’ve been playing on a new level. So, not only is that a little business lesson, you get to know about my “guilty pleasure” TV-watching! :)

  4. August 17th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Michael,
    We don’t value the work of people who’ve been doing it for years. That’s why they get paid to do it. They do it better than we ever could. I’m with you!

  5. August 17th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
    Michael Martine said

    Did you get your computer woes fixed?

  6. August 17th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Yeah, thanks for asking.
    Some things are acting new.

    I’ll get used to them. :)

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