The importance of professionals
A woman received a phone call at work, letting her know that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left the office and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication, but when she got back to her car, she discovered that she’d locked her keys inside.
Desperate, she started to pray: “Dear God, please help me get back in my car so I can help my daughter.”
Just then, a man pulled up on a motorcycle. He had a long beard and his arms were covered with tattoos. He asked what the matter was, and the tearful mother told him.
“Don’t worry,” the biker said. “I can get inside the car.” He went into the drugstore and came out with a coat hanger. In minutes, he had the door open.
“Oh, thank you!” the woman cried. “I prayed for someone to help me, and God sent me the kindest man in the world!” Embarrassed, the man took a step backward. “I’m not actually a good person, ma’am. In fact, I just got out of prison last week for stealing cars.”
The woman looked up toward heaven. “Thank you, God, for sending me a professional!”
Whenever I need to get something done and I realize I don’t have the skills for the job, I hire a professional. Maybe you need help designing a marketing piece or a website. Or you are writing a book and need a professional editor. How about public speaking or planning a special event? You will save yourself many headaches and mistakes if you hire a true professional.
After all, you want the best results possible. And most of the time, the payoff far exceeds the expense.
Professionals are knowledgeable, experienced, focused and, most importantly, they are cool under pressure and used to dealing with the unexpected. They are not infallible and still make mistakes, but they are better equipped to deal with them.
We all have specific skills, but we can’t know everything. There is no glory in trying to fix a problem if your efforts only make matters worse. You think you will save time and money? It’s far less expensive to swallow your pride than to choke on arrogance.
If I want to learn a new skill, I hire a professional coach to teach it to me. I want to practice the right concepts, so I won’t get it wrong. “Practice makes perfect” should really be: “Perfect practice makes perfect.”
Legendary Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry explains, “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.”
Over my lifetime, I’ve had numerous professional coaches help me develop whatever natural talent I may have. I understand that I will never be as good as the coaches I’ve hired, but I can surely improve on my limited abilities. So I go to the people who know what they are doing.
I’ve hired professional coaches for public speaking, writing, ideas/creativity, foreign languages, running marathons, golf, tennis, water- and downhill skiing, swimming, dancing, bowling, boxing, scuba diving, ice skating, basketball and many others.
I’m not spending a single penny; I’m making an investment in myself. And, believe me, it comes back tenfold.
Many times over the years, when I’ve purchased a new electronic gadget, I’ve hired the person who sold me the device and paid them to come to my office to teach me how to use it. Technology can be difficult for me, so I hire a pro to teach me. Does that seem frivolous? Not to me. The sooner I can be up and running, the more efficiently I can work.
Mackay’s Moral: Admitting your own weaknesses is a sign of strength.
Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times best-seller “Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.” He can be reached through his website, www.harveymackay.com, by emailing harvey@mackay.com or by writing him at MackayMitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.