Without value, a cost is just a cost

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from a potential client who seemed quite surprised that I couldn't give him my hourly rate.

I mean, if I had one, I would have told him. But the work I really like to do — and honestly, the work I like to hire outside help for — isn't at all about how much time it takes to complete a task.

• When I take my truck to my favorite mechanic, I don't care how long it takes him to do the work.
  I just care how long I need to be without my truck, and whether it gets fixed right.

• When I visit my dentist or my doctor, I don't care how long they spend on keeping me healthy.
  I just care that what they do does help keep me healthy.

Heck, I'd gladly pay them both more if they could provide the same results more quickly. That's less time for me without my primary transportation, and less time sitting in an exam room with the doctor.

For this person who called me, this all seemed hard to understand. My impression was that what he really wanted was an easy way to compare the cost of hiring me with the cost of hiring someone else.

But there are two problems with this approach:

1. Hourly rates aren't a real reflection of cost. After all, what is an hour of work? How many hours will a given project really take? Does anyone really care how many minutes I spend puzzling out a complex workflow, or typing geek-speak into a code editor?

2. Cost is only part of the equation. Expected value is at least as important. No matter how little it costs to have my mechanic replace my brand-new tires with other brand-new tires, that's not an outcome that I'm willing to pay for.

Or, for a more salient example:

You could hire someone to make your "donate now" button more visible, but I'm guessing that's not really what you're after. Probably what you really want is to measurably increase your online donations. That's an outcome that has real value.

Here's the thing:

When it's time to hire outside help with any of your systems, take a moment to consider what it is you'd really like to achieve, and what that's really worth to your mission.

With that, you'll have a notion of what constitutes a reasonable investment toward that value.

Without that, you just have a cost. And even the lowest cost — hourly rate or otherwise — is still just a cost, if it's not getting you something of measurable value.

All the best,
A.