If fixing a problem saves me less than it costs to fix it, I usually just ignore it.

Here’s an example:

I own a painting company that’s part of a franchise. Most franchisees tie their paint store receipts to individual customer jobs. This is so they can refer back to them if they ever need to know the paint color.

But hold on a minute.

It turns out we only need to refer back to the paint color a few times a year.

And because we buy thousands of gallons of paint implementing this would cost me half of a full time employee. In the Boston area, that’s about $35,000.

I decided long ago that we didn’t need to tie paint receipts to customer jobs, and it’s never been an issue.

The one or two times a year we need the paint color, we have a $100 gadget that can determine the brand and color of paint that’s on a wall. 

An instant savings of $34,900. 

There are all sorts of things that may not be paying you back:

• Dividing your already-read email into folders, when you can simply search for them instead.
• Saving paper copies of bills and statements when you can find them online.
• Making bank deposits at the bank, instead of from the comfort of your desk.
• Running to the store when you can buy it online.
• Mailing a large envelope at the post office when you can have $1 and $2 stamps on hand and stick it in your mailbox.

Many things seem logical, but aren’t. And many tasks you may have had in place years ago are no longer relevant.

What processes do you have in place that are not paying you back? 

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