The folly of overdependence. Are you guilty of it?

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Recently, Indonesia banned the sale of sand to Singapore, citing environmental problems as a result of over harvesting of sand. This move send shockwaves among the building and construction industry here.

The implications are huge. Construction projects have to be put on hold. The price of sand from other sources, have risen with this sudden surge of demand, meaning significantly more expenses will have to be incurred!

Have you ever faced a similar situation, whereby your partner, supplier or worker have suddenly left you in a lurch without warning, leaving you to face all the s**t that ensures alone?

I know for sure, many people I know have. Personally I have experienced this before. And it is definitely NOT NICEEEE!

Focusing is a virtue I always advocate, especially when it is investment-related. However when it comes to work issues, I will prefer to diversify and not over rely on someone.

Ask yourself these few questions (all the more so for Biz owners):

• Is there anyone on your team that is not indispensable (everyone is expendable, and yes, including YOU)?
• Are their ideals and beliefs aligned with yours?
• Are they properly motivated and that their loyalty is not in question?
• If they were to leave suddenly, will your team be able to carry on as before?
• Will that scenario leave not result in money and time wasted?
• Do you have adequate cover to ensure smooth continuity and minimal disruption to work progress?

If yes to all, you have nothing to fear. Good for you! You will be more than prepared to meet most challenges along the way.

If the answers to most or all of them is no, I seriously feel it is time for a serious re-think.

My own take

As someone who is looking to build a web business and just starting out, I prefer to get my basics and fundamentals right.

Simple technicalities such as doing basic HTML programming, operating the cPanel, setting up various email accounts myself and so on, are areas I have never ever done or touched before prior to the setting up of this site but these are definitely areas I feel I should know as a budding webmaster.

Yes of course, I do prefer to do the more exciting (some say sexy) things like marketing, promotion and coming out with info articles instead, but someone has to do the ‘dirty’ backend job. It is gotta be me for now.

Some people may say that it is not good to waste time and effort to do such things, and it is better to leverage on others and outsource.

Yes of course, in an ideal scenario, outsourcing is always great!

Who ever wants to do everything himself? It can be real crazy and taxing at times, trying to learn everything. However there are many factors to consider such as money. You can’t expect people to work for free. They too, need to be compensated for their time.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against paying and letting others do the work for you nor am I always for the idea that you should be doing everything on your own.

For someone who is starting out, especially with a limited budget, it is better for him, in the long term to get stuck in, get his hands dirty, learn and master the groundwork and set off on a solid footing, instead of settling for a quick-fix solution to simply just out-source right at the beginning.

Am I being cynical here?

The harsh reality out there is that people do tend to look after their own interest first. Nothing is wrong here. It is just purely survival of the fittest.

We have to accept that people’s ideals and beliefs do, and can change over time. We cannot assume that a path will be laid out nicely for one to thread upon. S**t does happens. And when it does, we must be ready to overcome it.

At the end of the day, ultimately, YOU, and not others, determine your own destiny and fate.

I’m quite sure some people will disagree with me. Just my 2 cents worth and food for thought for us all.

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