Reed A Prescott III

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

"HELP!"

Now under the category of full disclosure I need to tell you "I am a man". What this means is that asking for help does not come easy for me. Remembering this story told to me by Ron Rood I realize I am not the only one with this problem.

Years ago there was a lady in Bristol Vt who went to her basement to find a skunk had made its way in.... but could not get out. Perplexed she considered all her options and decided to open her hatchway and put a couple of boards across the steps so the skunk could find its way out.

After waking the next morning she decided to go down cellar to see how her plan worked. To her surprise it worked better than she had expected.

Now she had two skunks in her basement.......

One of the basic beach rules is that if you see someone distressed in the water.. do "NOT" go to their aid unless you are trained to do so. You can quickly go from 1 person in need to 2 people in need.

To be successful in business you need to understand this basic axiom. A successful business will access what services are best to hire out and what are best done in house. Although you might be able to do all your book keeping if you are the creative thinker who starts innovation... it might not be the best use of your time. You might be able to service your own vehicles yourself ....but it might be a better use of you to hire someone to do this. You get the picture.

First step is to access what skills bring in the most benefit for your business or home. Then what skills are easy for you to do but take up much of your time at little benefit and can be completed more efficiently by someone else.

Second step is to access the expense to have it done by someone else

Third step is to analize this information and decide if it is best done in house, out sourced, or maybe not even done at all then budget for that expense.

Yesterday I went to a framer with a computerized matt cutter. I had been cutting 8x10matts for small prints and found that it would take me 3-5 hours to cut 50 matts. Once the measurements were set in their computer they could cut 100 matts in an hour and at a cost to me of around 60 cents above my material cost.

This frees up time for painting, planning, and networking which have proven to be more beneficial to my business. With this I can increase my mini print market and have even more time to do the next painting.


So the next time I am in Boston and lost..... I might ask for directions.

Prescott Galleries

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