Specializing vs. Doing Everything

Some people love the thought of being able to do anything and everything under the sun. You look back at those old renaissance men who were carpenters/ mathematicians/ philosophers/ doctors/ painters/ sculptors/ writers/ cobblers/ bakers/ used car salesmen/ ballroom dancers/ cake aficionados, and you think – wow, I’d like to be like them.

Being able to do absolutely everything is certainly an appealing idea, and with the internet being chock-full of how-tos and DIY tutorials, even seems possible. However, there is a big problem with trying to do everything, and that’s specializing in nothing.

That’s not much of a concern if you’re simply trying to be the best at cocktail partying, but when it comes to a profession, it’s more significant. By diverting all of your attentions into trying to have a comprehensive understanding of all things, you can’t devote the time you need into specializing in a single thing.

A jack of all trades, a master of none. That’s a quality you look for in a trivia companion, not a professional.

Let’s say you’re in need of a major surgery. You wouldn’t go to a surgeon/ toaster repairman. You would go to a specialist who does one thing, and does it extremely well. That’s not to say that the toaster tinkering physician isn’t a skilled surgeon, but it’s more likely that the specialist is more skilled.

So whether you’re a toaster repairman, or a surgeon, you’re not a web content specialist, or social media expert, or SEO strategist, or web designer. You might be able to find some information online about how to put a website together, or how to launch an SEO campaign, or how to use social media effectively for your business, but that doesn’t mean you should try and do those things yourself.

You don’t have time to continue being the best at what you do while simultaneously trying to learn how to do something unfamiliar to you. Supposing you do find the time, the quality of work suffers in both cases.

While the notion of being a renaissance man or woman might appear bright and shiny, the reality of it is often lackluster. Dabbling in everything means that you can’t specialize, which means that you can’t provide the highest caliber of work in what you do.

It makes more sense to hire a web firm to take care of your web marketing, SEO, and website needs. Specialists provide knowledge, expertise, and skill, that a generalist or amateur cannot.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply