Why Your DIY Website is Holding You Back

The problem with entrepreneurs is that they think they can do everything themselves. This is probably because building a business from the ground up requires a person to figure out most things as they go. Trying to find clients? Nobody is going to help you with that one. Handling your finances and books? Gotta figure that one out yourself too. Building a brand? Giving a talk? Networking? Developing an elevator pitch? These are all things that have to be figured out on your own when you’re an entrepreneur (at least at the beginning before you’re able to outsource all of these things).

For the most part, this works to our advantage because we’re forced to become extremely resourceful. However, once in awhile, it would be good to ask for help. Once in awhile, it would be better to have someone else do the work for you, rather than spending the time figuring it out yourself. Designing and building a website is one of those instances. Below are three reasons why you’d be making a very smart move investing in having a professional design and setup your website, rather than choosing to go it alone.

1) It will help you in ways you can’t now predict.

Have you ever made a purchase because you knew it was going to help you in one way, but then it ended up helping you in a bunch of other ways that you hadn’t even considered? For example, when I made the switch from a “dumb phone” to a smartphone, I originally did so predominantly because I felt I needed to have email on my phone. I was tired of missing opportunities because I couldn’t check my email until the very end of the day. However, as you’ve probably guessed, now that I have a smartphone – it helps me in many other ways that I had no way of foreseeing back when I made the decision to switch. For instance, I am no longer scribbling down driving directions to a new destination before I leave the house. I’ve replaced my old paper planner with an electronic calendar that syncs between my devices. And so on and so on. You may think you know all the ways a professionally built website could help you. But the reality is that the things you’re thinking of are a mere fraction of the total ways your website is going to enhance your career in the future.

2) It will allow you to think bigger and outside the box.

I guarantee you that if you build your website yourself instead of having it professionally done, you’ll be short-changing yourself in one way or another. Even if it’s not a conscious thing, I promise you, you won’t be setting the bar as high when you’re doing it alone as you would if a professional were in charge. This is because if you have a professional build you a website, you no longer have to worry about any of the nitty-gritty technicalities of it. You can just say: let’s do it this way. Or, I’m envisioning something like this. Or, I think it would be cool to offer this option to site visitors. The worry of whether or not you’ll be able to figure out how to do something is gone, so you’re free to expand your thinking, get outside the box, and start dreaming BIG in terms of what you want for your website. And in my opinion, when it comes to dreaming up your website, there is no other way to think. Hire someone else to do the dirty work for you, so you can stop thinking about what you’re able to do, and start thinking about what you really want to do.

3) Your time would be better spent doing other things.

Speaking of time, when you’re a business owner, time management is of the essence. After all, you are the administration, accounting, marketing, production, and sales teams for your business, all wrapped into one. And hopefully, you’re finding some leisure time amidst all of this as well (Leisure? What’s leisure?). Think about how many hours it would take you to figure out all the challenges that come with setting up a new site. Choosing a hosting company? A domain name? What about page design? Good navigation that makes sense? Shopping cart? Subscribe form for your site visitors? The time it would take you to figure out all this stuff would be much better spent doing what you’re supposed to be doing when you’re a business owner – working in the business! You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor by having someone taking care of this who knows how to get it done and get it done right. And as a result, you’ll have more time to spend doing what you love most. What could be more important than that?