Many website owners are hesitant to click the buy button for products and services they need. Others reach for their credit card as soon as find anything they like. I am somewhere in between. Regardless of your buying habit, your aim should always be to get value from your purchases.
As we all know, value can be very subjective. What is valuable to you may not be valuable to me; and vice-versa. The benefit from a product or service may not be quickly recognised either. For example, say you spent $100 on an online course about programming. After completing the course in a week, you may feel that the course was a waste of money. Over time, this opinion may change as you see other aspiring programmers making mistakes that you avoided because of the course.
The Case of the Expensive Lights
I began thinking about value the other day when I was speaking to my brother. He plays lead guitar in a band. They have been actively playing in pubs, weddings and events since they were fourteen years old. He was speaking about the abundance of bands around this area but noted that there are a few bands that have been successful locally for many years.
He spoke about one band who recently spent £20,000 on lights. He noted that it would take them an eternity to get any sort of return on this investment and I tended to agree that it was an extravagant expense.
Whether those lights will prove to be a good investment for that band is unsure. In the entertainment business, a lot of your reputation can be built by how you are perceived.
For example, my brother spoke about how a bar owner the other month criticised their speakers for being too small. This is despite the fact that the speakers they currently use are too loud for most events at only 20%-40% of their maximum output. Yet this client thought my brothers band were small time as their speakers were not eight feet tall. My brother had to explain to him that bands who do purchase large speakers spend ninety minutes packing up their equipment at the end of the night, whilst they are away in thirty. Not to mention the fact that their existing speakers are sufficiently loud.
This illustrates how important image is to some businesses. £20,000 is a massive expensive to most bands, however if those lights allow them to charge clients more money, it could prove to be a worthwhile investment. Or perhaps my brother is right and the band have threw their money away needlessly. What do you think?
Always Think About Your Return
It is important to know how a product or service will help you and your business. This will help you decide whether the purchase is worthwhile. Unfortunately, you will not know the true worth of something until you have used it; however you should still do as much research as possible.
Over on Rise Forums, we are currently having a discussion regarding outsourcing work through Fiverr.
On the surface, Fiverr seems like the best place to outsource certain jobs as it only costs $5 per job. However, you may find that the quality of work that the Fiverr users submit is sub-par. This can prove to be very time-consuming. You would need to bear this in mind when comparing the work against alternative services.
Whatever you are purchasing for your business, think about how it will help you. Will it make you more money? Will it save you time? Does it improve your knowledge of a subject?
The key is to be smart about how you invest your money online as higher expenses reduced your profits.
One thing to always remember: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Good luck,
Kevin