Have you ever heard the phrase “don't reinvent the wheel?” And yet when we look at our own businesses, how many times do we see systems and processes and procedures that have been cobbled together from the ground up? Things like quoting templates, or websites put together by Wilbur the Website Wizard five years ago? Or marketing plans that got drawn up one afternoon but exist only on paper?
And the problem with the things that we built ourselves is that we become so attached to them that we honestly believe that they can never be replaced. They're like our babies - and we don't throw our babies in the bin..
But what are the consequences of clinging to our old ways of doing things? It means that there are always going to be all these Newer, Better, Faster, More Effective ways of doing things out there but we're not doing them because we're welded to our own DIY systems, our babies. We're stuck in a psychological trap. But although we're not moving on, we can bet that our competitors are. And they're the ones reaping the rewards.