How to make decisions
One thing that I knew I’d find tricky is knowing how fast to make decisions. Whether “simple” decisions like which accountant to use, or which bank to use. Or complex decisions like which product to develop, etc. I do tend to be quite anal in assessing these things in my normal life; for some decisions I have been known to make embarassing spreadsheets of the pros and cons of particular options.
Looking at the simple decisions, I knew I’d struggle if I took ages deciding everything – there are just too many things to decide on – bank, accountant, IFA, solicitor, whether to register for VAT, what sort of company, how many shares to issue, etc. etc.
I was right – it’s been tricky. On occasions I have got bogged down in decisions – the bank was a particular pain. I filled in application forms for Barclay’s, Co-op and Alliance & Leicester before deciding which one to use. Mostly, however, I’ve been able to remember that time is money. Contracting for X pounds per hour for part of the week does put a very definite value on your time – especially when you’re ekeing out every remaining hour to try to get your own business of the ground. So on the whole, I’ve made decisions much more quickly than I normally do.
Methods to make quick decisions:
- Get professional advice. If your accountant suggests doing things a certain way, do it!
- Use friends and family to get recommendations for advisors. This worked for my accountant and my lawyer.
- Remember how much the procrastination is costing you.
- Convince yourself that, in the long term, it doesn’t matter much. In the case of the bank account I think I may have overdone this self-delusion… but hey, at least the decision is made.
- Avoid too much internet research. This tends to suck up time and doesn’t actually get very much information into your brain. If you’ve got a professional advisor you can phone, or a branch you can visit, you’ll probably learn more.
With the exception of the bank decision, I haven’t made a single spreadsheet to look at pros and cons – and even the bank one only had about five rows!
What about the more complex decisions, such as which product to develop? That remains to be seen. The only one I’ve had to deal with so far is whether or not to patent, as per my last post. I appear to have decided to do so.