Professional Help

We all need it. It's never cheap, but sometimes required. We think we can go it alone, but help is not too far away. In this DIY world, a "pro" may be all we really need.
This reminded me of a few things I've noticed recently within some circles. Being a professional at one thing doesn't mean your necessarily one in another. On some photography forums I frequent, I've noticed that while professional photography issues are discussed and photographers hope to get hired as a pro, they think nothing of designing their own website which many have never done before. I know that many have a good eye and may be capable of it, but it's not their focus. Why not hire a professional designer to show off your brilliant photography skills, not your lack of website design. Designers sometimes exhibit similar traits—we think we can design anything.

Amy and I were recently discussing whether or not to hire someone to help us landscape our backyard. It is hilly and terraced and would require moving a lot of hard-scape materials up and down a long hill. I figured this aspect of the job would've taken me several years alone. Wisely, we reviewed several bids to hire out the work and talked with friends and neighbors who had hired landscapers to do similar projects. We decided the best route would be to hire a professional who worked in our community allowing us to enjoy our backyard instead of doing what we probably could've never done in any amount of time (plug - hire our friends and you'll be happy you did).

In about a four weeks, they finished the job and still allowed us to do what we like—tending to plants, flowers and trees. It was the right decision and turned out even better than we had imagined.

While we often can't afford a project like this and do our share of DIY projects, this was money well spent. When it needs to be done right, hire a professional.