The Cost of Doing It All Yourself: A Real Look at Opportunity Cost

There’s a common myth in entrepreneurship: “It’s cheaper if I just do it myself.”

At first glance, it makes sense. Why pay someone $15–$20/hour when you can handle the task in five minutes?

But here’s the truth: every “quick” task you do yourself has a hidden cost—opportunity cost.

What Is Opportunity Cost?

Opportunity cost is what you give up by choosing one action over another. If you spend an hour answering emails, that’s an hour you didn’t spend networking, selling, or improving your product.

If your time is worth $100/hour and you spend 10 hours/month on admin work, you’re effectively losing $1,000 in potential value—not to mention the energy drain.

Tasks That Drain Value

Founders frequently waste time on:

• Scheduling meetings
  
  

• Manually posting to social media
  
  

• Research and data entry
  
  

• Customer follow-ups
  
  

• Invoice management
  
  

These tasks are important—but not important that you do them.

The Math of Delegation

Let’s say you hire a VA at $20/hour and delegate 30 hours/month. That’s a $600/month investment.

If you use those 30 hours to:

• Close an additional client
  
  

• Build a new product feature
  
  

• Plan a growth campaign
  
  

You could easily generate $2,000–$5,000+ in revenue—or more.

It’s Not Just About Money

Doing it all yourself also:

• Slows growth
  
  

• Increases burnout
  
  

• Leads to errors and missed opportunities
  
  

Delegation is how you move from solopreneur to CEO. From reactive to strategic.

The real question is: What is your time worth?