Are you too cheap?

Here's a question I got yesterday:

"I know I need someone better but that’s expensive. It’s easier to do it myself."

Sound familiar?

That's your scarcity voice talking. And it's choking your business to death.

Look, I get it. Maybe you grew up hearing "money doesn't grow on trees" or watched your parents stress about every dollar. That programming runs deep.

But here's what's really happening: You're so afraid of spending $500 that you're missing out on making $500,000.

The Real Problem

You're treating every hire like a marriage proposal instead of a six-month pilot program.

Stop it.

That offshore bookkeeper? That's not a lifetime commitment. It's a $2,000 experiment over 90 days to see if they can free up 10 hours of your week.

Those 10 hours are worth what to you? If you can sell another $50,000 or $100,000 a year client with that time was that extra $2000 worth it? Do the math.

Don’t do $20/hour work when you could be doing $10,000 an hour work.

Here's Your Action Plan:

Week 1: Track every hour you spend on $20/hour tasks. Bookkeeping. Scheduling. Data entry. Write it down.

Week 2: Pick ONE task that's eating your time. Find someone who can do it for $15-25/hour. Set a 90-day trial with clear output and outcome based metrics.

Week 3: Set up weekly check-ins. What got done? What didn't? How much time did you save?

Month 3: Evaluate ruthlessly. Did they save you more time than they cost? Keep them. Didn't work out? Cut bait and try something else.

The Secret Sauce

Create a "Growth Fund" in your budget. Set aside 1-3% of monthly revenue to experiment with ways to buy back your time.

Every successful business owner I know has figured this out: You can't scale what you won't delegate.

Your scarcity voice will scream bloody murder the first time you hire help. Good. That means you're doing something that actually matters.

Bottom Line

The business owners making real money aren't the ones hoarding every penny. They're the ones who figured out that the right $500 investment can generate $5,000 in value.

Start small. Test everything. But for the love of profit margins, START.

Your future self (the one with actual free time) will thank you.

P.S. Still paralyzed by "what ifs"? Here's a what-if for you: What if you're still doing your own bookkeeping five years from now while your competitors are scaling past you?

Time to make a choice.