6 Services You Have Paid Others To Do You Could Do Yourself?

They say: “Knowledge is power”.

But, have you every really pondered what that means?

Today, I’m going to give you 6 elements that come to mind. These are tasks that you pay others to do for you that you could easily begin taking care of on your own. Instead, you would rather outsource or pay someone else to feed you the information you could have researched yourself?

Request someone you pay for a service to, to invest a small amount of time to run you through their process and see their reaction. Obviously to keep the exchange of money from your hands to theirs requires they control the process and maintain some level of mystery for you to remain dependent to them. Doesn’t it?

Why would you pay someone to do something you could yourself? Right?

6 Services You Have Paid Others To Do You Could Do Yourself?

1) Bookkeeping — Ask a business owner about his core business and he/she could talk your ear off, but let the discussion turn to categorizing expenses or tax planning and watch the panicked, clueless look on their face. At that point, there’s no reason to believe they are actively managing their own accounting software (QuickBooks…Peachtree)

Most software-based accounting software is created with the intention of being used by the new, novice business owner. A stronger understanding of how business operations affect your accounting transactions would really be priceless to a business owner… as would the tracking and verification of his money. (Well, that’s another article!)

2) Credit Repair — Many years ago, I was approached by a husband & wife team that were recruiting associates that would meet with people who had either responded online or by phone for help rebuilding their credit. Obviously, these companies got slapped hard for “making guarantees” that your credit could be improved, but still persisted.

The more I heard about the concept, the more I liked it. As I studied the process, it seemed very simple. You simply sent “Credit Dispute Letters” to the three major credit bureaus. The likelihood of the entry on your credit report being researched by the company who reported it was not always likely (with 30 days to respond back) — so incorrect, (correct), and derogatory information was deleted.

Extracting small remnants of information from your credit report and placing it in the same letter template was easy and took but a few minutes. So why were all these people paying hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for something they could easily do themselves?

So, I started doing this, as a side business, on my own — starting with my own credit report!

3) At Work — How many times at work have you asked for training or help on a project only to hear: “Don’t worry about, I’ll take care of it!” ? Of course they will. As the recession in this country persists, more workers are viewing their unique talents as “intellectual property”.

You can forget about that cross-training.

And in sales? If you want to be trained, you better be ready to have your commissions split like a samurai master!

4) Stock Market — When I look at Financial Advisors, I see them more as salesman than someone really in tune with your personal, financial goals. Their sole purpose is to control assets and derive income for themselves and their company — all while trying to accomplish this with only a small measurable loss to your portfolio… so, you don’t cry “foul” too loudly.

It’s your money. Why wouldn’t you spend the time to research the stock market? Investing is a true and total change to your lifestyle. You begin to research the economic and financial impact of how each stock relates to each other in their sector and industry.. as well as to the economy overall.

It means becoming more informed on the government, banking, politics, economics, etc.

I’ve been effectively managing my own portfolio since the dawn of online trading accounts. Made a bundle, saved a bundle!

5) Blogging — I’ve never quite understood all the money people spend to buy their way toward more followers, more subscribers and better Alexa Rank?

And how about some of the books written on the subject of Blogging, SEO, and Social Media? It’s like eating your favorite food with a clothes pin stuck on your nose. You know you tasted it, but still feel unfulfilled!

The blogging kingdom is set up to take advantage of fools who think they have the option of quitting their day jobs and writing recycled, irrelevant articles everyday… and most will spend a pretty penny for the “secrets” on how to achieve this! Most information you receive from “experts” is stuff you already know!

Get real!

6) Incorporating — Have you ever really looked into just what it takes to obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number from the IRS and incorporate your business with the state? Or how about putting together an LLC Operating Agreement? Or getting a Duns Number? (Dun & Bradstreet).

While delving into certain portions of C-Corps and S-Corps can be tricky, there is no reason you cannot take care of this yourself.

I’m a single-member LLC and I took care of all this in less than 30 mins. total.

Now, putting a business plan together. I admit, I really struggle with putting the Marketing Section” together. I just have not been able to locate local statistics on my industry of choice. But, I’ll do it before I ever pay someone. Or have the bank that wants to receive the finished copy have their team help me on it!

Self-Empowerment

Many people would rather make excuses than make progress. I feel uncomfortable paying for something I can do myself. When that happens, I practically obsess over wanting to master the subject on my own.

Many times when I do, it’s not always about not having to pay someone else, but for the feeling of self-accomplishment.

Do you know what I mean?