Being Cheap Is Expensive 🫰💲😲

I bought a $180 pair of dress loafers in 2015.

I wore them maybe twice per week, at the most. They got wet in the rain once and practically fell apart. They lasted less than a year. When I got rid of them, they looked like I’d been a door-to-door salesman who’s walked the beat for ten years.

I replaced those with a $600 pair of dress loafers. I wear them more often. They’ve been in the rain, sun, on planes, and suitcases. The only maintenance cost is polishing them every week or so, and I got the heels reinforced last year for $38. I still wear them.

$180 loafers every 1.5 years x 8 years = $960

$600 loafers x 8 years = $600

[This excludes the time & energy costs of re-buying more shoes, plus the less-valued experience of wearing the lesser-quality shoes over those same years.]

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I’ve interviewed, hired, fired and lost many assistants over the years.

Here is the worst mistake you can make in the hiring process: Trying to find shortcuts and not following your hiring and training processes diligently.

Every time I’ve made this mistake, I either hired the wrong person, didn’t properly train them, or both. Then I had to get rid of them.