Do it the hard way

“You want to know something I really don’t understand? Danny hires me on as the new cook, right? But then he won’t let me cook. I don’t know about you, but this, to me, looks a lot like potato peeling.”

• Pacey, Dawson’s Creek - Capeside Revisited

The Internet and technology makes all sorts of wonderful tricks and shiny tactics available.

But not for you.

It’s going to be a waste of your time.

Do you remember Season 5 Dawson’s Creek where Pacey becomes a chef?

I’m guessing no, but humour me.

Pacey starts an apprenticeship with a chef and gets very frustrated with the chef almost right away.

The chef gets him to chop potatoes for days and days, and finally Pacey loses his cool and shouts:

“Why on earth am I doing this if I’m training to be a chef?”

The chef cooly gazes at Pacey and slides a potato-like-object across the table.

“CHOP IT!”

Pacey grabs it and slices cleanly and expertly just like he did with all of the potatoes.

“That’s $800 worth of truffle. That’s why you did potatoes first. Cut it incorrectly and it costs me a fortune.”

Doing things manually first helps you get really close to your marketing.

Without knowing the nuts and bolts on why things work, you’re never going to appreciate where the value of automation and technology is.

It will also help you appreciate expertise when you need it and not earlier.

I coached a founder on delivering songs into nursing homes. They told me they needed this whiz-bang thing, data collection tools and lists, and automated reminders and follow-ups.

Do you know what landed the first few trials?

Picking up the telephone and politely offering one.

Doing things manually gives you an appreciation of what can be generated from the ground up with sheer effort, then you introduce tools to reduce effort.

But chop the potatoes first.