This is gonna be a short one. It's just a tale from a satisfied customer. I'm describing a fairly usual event: I bought myself a new laptop.

Be Good To Yourself

I can't speak for you but when it comes to buying new equipment here for our little small business, I tend to cheap out. Price ends up being my main decision metric when buying hardware. I mean, not so cheap that I buy a Lenovo (Boom, roasted Lenovo!) But as long as the brand is fairly trustworthy, I spend low. And if it's for me personally, I spend lower.

It's time to get the direct flight instead of one with a connection. (On that awful return flight date on a too-long layover, how much would you pay at that moment to have had a direct flight? An extra $400 at least?) With summer here, it's time to buy a bigger window air conditioner. (On a hot night when you can't fall asleep, wouldn't you pay $250 right then to be in a cold room?)

Like many of us, I spend at least 8 hours a day on a computer and 8 hours a day in a bed. As such, a laptop and a mattress should be THE two things that we don't skimp on. Treat Yo Self.


Laptop

What's important to you in a computer? It's different for everybody. But really the only thing I cared about in my decision making was processing speed & internal memory. Life is too short for a hanging computer, it really is.

I ended up with a Dell Precision laptop. Can't say enough about it.

More than that, buying it from Dell customized so it had extra dedicated graphics memory also is making this computer a delight.


Using A Procurement Specialist

The other treat yo self aspect of my purchase? I outsourced the buying of this computer to a specialist. We've extolled their virtues before but I used Procuretech to do our purchasing.

Here's how it worked: I called Kevin at Procuretech telling him what I was looking for in new monitors, peripherals and the laptop. He asked me what my priorities were (processing speed, tired of apps hanging, etc.). The next day he sent me the specs on a specially built machine direct from Dell at a price I couldn't get. I emailed Kevin to say "Let's do it." Three days later he was on my doorstep.

Your time is valuable. Depending on the project my hourly, billable rate ranges from $125 to $150 an hour. I saved a good 3-to-5 hours buying through a procurement specialist, which saved us hundreds of dollars; and still got a price better that I could have gotten myself.


The Takeaway

Again, short blog post here with just one message. Life is too short. It's too short to keep using burnt cookie sheets and it's too short to limp along with a bad computer.

On top of all of that, "treating yourself" actually saves time which ends up saving you money. It's hard to argue against all of that.