Let's Talk Quality

After speaking with several small business owners, I've noticed a rising trend within the already strained list of concerns of grassroots companies - especially in the businesses that are strongly service driven. It seems that, with the access of technological gadgets and equipment so accessible today, small business owners are not only having to compete with other "like" companies but, now are also up against the weekend warriors.

Clarifying the term, by weekend warrior I don't mean someone who will take on an occasional project for family or a friend without charge to gain experience while continuing training and while currently continuing their education to learn all the important technical aspects of the field. This is a person who takes the direction of their career seriously - someone who respects the difficulty factor and is committed to performing at the highest level possible. I'm also not talking about the person who works a full time job to support themselves and their family while building up their new business - this is the person who, as I stated earlier, will also be continuing their education with periodic classes and training to keep their skills, service, knowledge of current equipment and new techniques up to date - a person who takes their business seriously.

By weekend warrior, I am talking about the people who have simply decided it's pretty cool that people will pay them to practice their hobby. They think they are "good enough" to make a few bucks doing something they like anyway. Maybe it was something they picked up on in high school. And with the explosion of social networks and several other free internet forums and web hosting ... they actually can compete by asking for a fraction of what small business owners charge. BUT ... caveat emptor ... Let the buyer beware when putting important events or projects into the hands of the weekend warriors.

Established businesses charge what they do for a variety of very important reasons. Important to them and important to their clients. They have invested money into continued education and training, update equipment, update supplies, purchased the current programs and material, researched the best and newest techniques and presentations, arranged for assistants to provide full service and improve availability. There is also investment into providing the proper brochures and paid web site layouts and hosting, sample albums, items, products. They do all this for ease of access and information for their clients - because they care about how their clients see them and trust them.

There are vital differences between the Professional and the weekend warrior. The old saying of "You get what you pay for" is seldom more clear than in this situation. For something that is important to you - your wedding, business promotion or any other event that comes only once - can you really afford to go cheap? Shop the Professionals. They have already shown that they care about what they do by investing in their business. And they have already shown they care about what you want by investing in attracting you as a client.