DIY, DWY, DFY - Playing to Win

Do it Yourself (DIY), Do it With You (DWY), Do it For You (DFY)

In this week’s blog, I want to share what I experienced with the above model regarding my Home Improvement Project and the similarities I see with regard to business. So, let me start off with what I am regarding the DIY, DWY, or DFY model. My preferred method is the DFY, (do it for me) model, especially when it came to my Home Improvement Project. It was so wonderful to go with the kitchen remodeler, who handled everything. I never had to be the general contractor/project manager to find and coordinate all the other tradespeople. All that was required of me was to make 4 decisions: cabinets, flooring, countertop, and tile, and away we went! However, the next phase of the project, decorating, has been much more challenging, time-consuming, and full of never-ending decisions such as:

Oh, the Choices!

Working with a decorator for window treatments and looking at hundreds of fabrics (DWY)

Perplexing Pillows!

Deciding on pillows for the window seat; do I get them from Amazon, Etsy, At Home, the list goes on…(DIY)

Plethora of Paint!

Picking a paint color- do you know how many shades of blue there are to choose from??? Calypso Blue, Gun Metal Blue, Baby Blue… (DIY)

Rugs Galore!

Rugs for the new hardwood floors - do I want Indoor, Outdoor, Oriental, Striped, Patterned..? (DIY)

Furniture Frenzy!

New Furniture - do I want traditional, formal, comfy, rolled arms, swivel? What color, pattern, or solid….? (DIY)

Fabrics, and pillows, and paint colors, OH MY! You get my drift, right??? As you can see, lots of choices, and lots of decisions to make. This is supposed to be fun but instead, it feels overwhelming and stressful!!!

And of course, we all know that we pay the most for the Do it For You (DFY) model, less for Do it With You (DWY), and the least for Do it Yourself (DIY) So, what does all this have to do with the business you ask? Ok, let me connect that dot. In business, there are objectives and outcomes we want to achieve, like growing profits, meeting or exceeding goals, creating a dream team, etc. And how we get there can incorporate the same 3 models:

- DIY (bootstrap, work hard, nose to the grindstone, etc. and will take longer and is filled with more effort and sacrifice)
- DFY (pay someone, usually a lot of money, to work their magic and get us there quickly and effortlessly)
- DWY (work with someone, a consultant, subject matter expert, facilitator, etc., and will take less time, effort, and sacrifice)

Now, here is what I’ve observed and experienced: Do it For You, (DFY) is appealing and tempting I might add, but Do it With You (DWY) is the most effective and produces long-lasting results.

Why do you think that is?

That will be the topic of next week’s session…Stay Tuned!!!

Are You Playing to Win? Or Playing Not to Lose?