Do you shovel your own snow?

I read this thinking that there is actually someone who shovels snow. I live in upstate NY, we have lots of snow if any of you guys want some.

Now, I personally do most of the grunt work myself. I do this because I feel that I can get it done right, and free. Even if it takes me longer than it would. At least I have complete control over all the quality and content.

There is one thing that I have outsourced in the past. I outsourced setting up a WP blog and installing the plug ins. I have since learned this and now I do it all.

Still haven't gotten the hang of html but I am working on it.

I shoveled snow away from the chicken coop a little bit ago so they would come out and get some fresh air for a bit, lol, didn't bother with my own sidewalk.

Watching your video now. My major goal for this year is outsourcing as much as I can.

Hi Ron,
Once in a blue moon I'll shovel snow but most of the time my wife enjoys doing it.

I look at it this way, If she likes doing it then why should I deprive her of what makes
her happy?

Have a Great Day!
Michael

I live in upstate NY, we have lots of snow if any of you guys want some.

I've got a crew of 8 right now that shovels the snow for me, though I do, on occasion, make a snowman.

RoD

Well I shovel my own snow as well, ... and that's because of the NST ( not sufficient tools ) in my garage ( read $$$$$ ) .

Tonight I will watch your video. Thanks.
.

I live in the South and it seldom snows down here anymore. But, if it did, I wouldn't shovel it. I'd be out playing in it and enjoying it, til it melted... which would be only a few hours.

As for what you really meant in the post... yeah, I do all of my own work. I am what they call a one woman show lol.



Cindy

I had to shovel it this morning

Last night we got a lot of snow and early morning, before I got up, they cleared the street... which means the plows pushed a huge pile of snow along the sidewalks, so it was impossible to get out from the garage.
My wife had to leave early morning (with the car that was in the garage, of course) so at that time I couldn't get anybody to shovel it.

Oh well, once in a while I can consider it as "exercise"

P.S. But you are right, Ron! Usually, I avoid this type of work and hire somebody with the money earned on the net.

Don Lapre drilled this into my head in 1992:

"Never do anything yourself when someone else can do it for $5 an hour."

It's important to note that it's CAN do it, not WILL do it. Plenty of people will do a crap job of something for $5 an hour because they want the $5. It's important to understand whether they CAN do it before you hire them.

And applause for actually saying "opportunity cost" - econ geeks like me all across the forum are dancing in glee.

I like the exercise and the quiet in the early morning is a great time to let my mind wander free.

Simple things in life like breaking a sweat shoveling snow give me pleasure. I sometimes head over early in the morning or even in the middle of the night and secretly shovel our elderly neighbors driveways and walks.

But I also hire neighborhood kids in the spring/summer/fall to work in the yard and garden so that they can make some cash and so that I can make even more :-)

And... when you want to head up to the slopes and hit the fresh powder while your automated systems are taking orders and making you money as you snowboard... there is no waiting around for anyone else to shovel for you ;-)

great thought provoking post. I personally shovel my own snow, but when it comes to spring and summer yard work, I pay someone to do it. I agree with your 'time is money' as long as we don't spend our lives paying someone to live our lives!
Shoveling snow and working in the yard allows for interaction with real live people and to see the sky once in a while. Although I do pay someone to cut the grass, both here and at my parents house, a total of 12 hours a month which is valuable time being lost on grass!
When it comes to tasks that can perhaps be completed by someone else affordably, I go for it. Especially if it is someone who needs the work. I pay them fairly, not overseas outsourcing wages. It is a horrible state of mind to be in when you think that someone's time is only worth 5.00.

Hey Ron,

I live in the middle of Saskatchewan it snows a LOT here I do not shovel the snow.
I hire the town and they bring the bulldozer and bammo it is gone and I am free to get in and out of the driveway.

summer time I hire them to do the lawns . When I was a kid I would go door to door and make money that way sometimes a couple hundred in a day now I am older and for the time it takes to do it I simply don't consider it worthy of my time.

That said if I gotta get out and they can't get here in time YUP you got it I gotta shovel the stuff but that is rare.

Having said that and to answer your questions right now I hire some people to do what I need done but I do lots of my own grunt work online even when I get millionaire status I may still do I enjoy some of it.
cheers
-Will

Hey Ron,
A little Trivia Fact for you:
Did you know that on Jan. 11, 2011 that 49 of the 50 US. States had snow on the
ground? The only state that didn't have snow was Florida!

Gotta love the Global Warming...lol
Ref: Snow present in 49 of the 50 U.S. states – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

Have a Great Day!
Michael

Good analogy, Ron, but I'd like to add a couple points.

I don't shovel, I take out my "cadillac" of a snow blower and blast the snow 25 feet away!

Yes, I could pay someone else, but not everything that can be outsourced needs to be outsourced. There can be benefits to doing your own work, at least some of the time.

I get some of my best ideas while I'm getting the exercise of snow removal.
Similarly, by doing your own "grunt work" some of the time you can get better ideas about your whole operation. For example, you may have trained someone to do something a certain way. If you do it yourself now and then you may discover a better way of doing it that will save your outsourcer time and you money.

I often stay at home for days at a time, so getting some FRESH air while snow blowing is good.
We can get into a rut doing the creative, money making things. Breaking the routine can refresh our enthusiasm and give us new ideas.

Good post, dude.

Pftt snowblowers...
and so the war of the neighbors begins!

Really depends, when I'm lazy or just don't feel like it, I pay someone to do it. If I actually want to get some fresh air, exercise and just away from my computers to clear my mind again, I'll happily do it. Good metaphor you put there though

since this morning I did twice. i still have the sidewalk and parking to cover!

man wish i bought a machine.

I don't shovel my snow. I wait until it melts... (Serious) Snow melts faster when spread out than when it is piled together.

But that's actually an interesting point of view you put out. I've actually heard this being said by many marketers time and time again... But I have never really agreed with it.

The reason being that it only takes into consideration the opportunity cost from a financial point of view. How about the physical, mental and emotional opportunity cost of paying someone to shovel rather than doing it yourself?

By sitting in front of a computer and earning some money rather than going out and shoveling the snow, you have lost the opportunity to exercise your body, to get some fresh air, to walk through the driveway and enjoy the scenery, and to say hi to the neighbor shoveling his driveway next door.

In other words, it does help you to build financial wealth, but in exchange you lose physical, mental and emotional wealth. It leads to an imbalanced lifestyle and sometimes deterioration of other life skills.

For example, if I taught my son to pay someone to clean up the driveway instead of learning how to do it himself, he'd grow up to be a scrawny and weak kid who doesn't know how to do anything except earning money.

Well, like I said, I think life balance is important. Sometimes it's good to shovel the snow yourself, sometimes it's good to pay others to do it so that you can relax after a tiring day of jogging through the hills.

But let's take into consideration what happens when you shovel the snow yourself. Every time you shovel the snow yourself, you get more proficient at it. You get stronger, and over time you start to be able to do it faster and faster.

Meaning that, initially, there is some opportunity cost to shoveling the snow, but over time that cost grows less and less as you do it more often and you become better and better at it. When it reaches such a stage, you lose more by not shoveling the snow than by shoveling the snow.

You become stronger and faster. Your healthy body leads to a healthy mind, and as a result of shoveling the snow everyday, you become more productive in all aspects of your business.

It's important to invest time in your business, but more important than that, I think it's vital to invest time in yourself as well.

Cheers,
Allen Walker
The Mysterious Marketer

P.S. After you become an expert at shoveling the snow, your neighbor sees how amazing you are and asks you to teach him how you do it. You release an eBook about How to Shovel the Snow in 5 minutes or Less, and the rest is history... In the end, not only can shoveling the snow benefit you physically, mentally, and emotionally, but it can benefit you financially as well.

Personally... I love industrial strength toys. Ya'll need one of these...

Great thought-provoking post, Ron. I'm an econ geek like you, and absolutely love calculating and hypothesizing about the opportunity costs of doing certain tasks.

While opportunity cost is a very valid way of looking at things, it's also important to determine if your time can be utilized in a higher-value manner at that particular point in time. For example, if one of your high value activities is consulting with clients and you find that you need to be shoveling snow out of your driveway at 7 am when there is no one to talk to, then the opportunity cost of shoveling snow at that point in time is really nothing of consequence, because in this case you do not have a vastly higher-value activity to participate in.

When it's snowy and dreary like it is at this time of the year, let's not forget that it's important to get some exercise too. Clearing your head and getting out of the house will do you some good - a change of pace and environment can help spark new creativity, and the exercise doesn't hurt either.

As they say, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and by trying to outsource everything you may end up working too much on your business, to the point where it yields diminishing returns.

Paul

I can't remember the last time I shoveled snow...don't remember it being much fun.

Ron, I don't have to shovel snow - I live in an apartment.

As for the metaphor, yes I do customer support. But I don't do SEO, link building and all those other (for me) useless tasks. They don't make me money and I rather become an authority site by word of mouth than from being in Google for some obscure keywords - thanks to my link being spammed across the internet.

INTRIGUING... 3 of my compadres live the 4-hour work week by outsourcing just as you have described here - the idea was incubated in best-seller "The 4-HOUR Work Week" by Timothy Ferris. You are correct - assess what you can make per hour versus what it would cost to pay someone less to do menial up to general business tasks. SusanPoole

I actually like shoveling, it's great exercise and is often a much needed break from the computer

Learned the hard way that outsourcing snow-shovelling is the way to go.

At first the labourers might not work as fast as you would. They might not do as tidy or thorough a job as you would. They might actually slow you down at times or interrupt you with questions in the early days (do you want to snow moved to here, to or here?).

But if you persist then your time can be freed up to do the really valuable tasks or the tasks which only you will ever have the exact skill set to deliver.

No, I have 50 cent to do it for me:
50 Cent Shovels Snow — For $100! | 50 Cent : Just Jared