Success in Sweatpants

This is a "don't do as I do, do as I say" post. I've talked about this before, but I sometimes forget my own insights, especially in "non-work" settings.

When I moved to my dream house last summer, I had a challenge that involved three active dogs and beige wall-to-wall carpeting: How could I keep the carpet looking good for as long as possible?

I decided I needed to get a new vaccum cleaner and a new steamer so that I could extend the life of the floor covering until I could afford to install something more practical, like dog-claw-proof laminate.

I knew from my sisters and a couple of friends that the claims made by Dyson regarding their vacuums are valid. My brother-in-law in fact has become a vacuuming addict because the Dyson he bought is so great. I hesitated, though, because the dang things have a pretty high price tag. Surely I could do a good job of carpet cleaning without paying that kind of money?

I bought Bissell for both tools and spent reasonable funds for them. The steamer has worked fine, but the vacuum has been a nightmare. I can't understand why, after at least a half century of design experience, a vacuum cleaner can't function efficiently. The bag didn't fit properly, which made all the sucked up detritus clog up the works. The motor would overheat at some point, the thing would turn itself off, and remain unresponsive until it cooled down enough for safety.

I tried to work with it. I took apart the various suction tubes and cleared them out. I adjust, readjusted,and rereadjusted the dang bag, hoping I'd finally find the right positioning to make things work properly. But I couldn't get the vacuum cleaner to work well enough to make one complete pass of the carpet.

I came to realize two things:

1. I was spending a significant amount of precious time getting the job done–way more time than I would spend if the sucker worked properly.
2. I was putting off the job of vacuuming (to the detriment of my carpet and my goal of keeping it as long as possible) because I knew it would be a chore every time I did the job.

And I re-remembered something that I've told my freelancing coaching clients for ages: Invest in the tools that are key to your work.

So many freelancers I know are managing their businesses on a shoestring. Granted, low overhead is a great part of Success in Sweatpants. But chintzing out on tools that are directly related to your revenue producing services is not a strategy that works. You will spend far too much time, put too many deadlines at risk, and compromise the quality of your work if you are using software, hardward, or other tools that are not optimal.

• If you are a copy writer, spend the money on a proven word processing program and forget the Open Source stuff (I use Microsoft Office with Word and Powerpoint).

• If you are a designer, invest in the right and best software for your type of designing (I have the Adobe Creative Suite).

• If you use audio recordings in any form that directly generates revenue, buy a good sound editing program (I use Adobe Audition).

• And so on.

This doesn't mean you need to buy every tool you use–you can do fine with the free versions of YouSendIt or eFax or Free Conference Call. At least for a while. But for your core services, the things you do that directly impact your income and that you need in order to deliver output to your clients, get the best and most mainstream you can get, even if the cost makes you pucker a bit. It will pay off in the long run.

And I'm sure you saw it coming–I went out and bought a Dyson. Let's not talk about the actual cost of not going ahead and buying one from the beginning (I say, rolling my eyes).