I had a job to do, a job which I could have done myself. It would taken a good amount of my time, and it would have slowed me down some, as there were some things I’d have to teach myself to complete the work.

I didn’t want to make either investment, so I decided to outsource. I needed to borrow time and a bit of talent.

I posted a job on Fiverr. Got a lot of — too many — proposals for doing the work. That’s a good thing.

The guy I hired looked at the materials I’d shared with him. He protested that this may be too much work for him (though the situation had been clearly laid out in my proposal request). Then he went on to explain the work to me, maybe assuming that I didn’t know how it should be done.

I replied in such a way that he understood that he wasn’t talking above my knowledge level. I also asked him if he could still do the job, or not. I was ready to move on to another eligible candidate.

I asked because I knew how easily and quickly I could replace him: I had received 24 new proposals just in the hour since this guy had been hired.

Him: “I can do the job, no problem.”