I was doing a detailed audit of the weekly costs on one of my shows recently, and I stumbled upon a small expense for a service that I implemented over a year ago.  Because the expense was so small, and because the day-to-day auditing of the expenses had changed hands a few times during that year, the value of the service wasn’t questioned.

10 minutes and 3 questions later, we deemed the expense no longer valid, and we cut it, saving the show some moolah.

It could have been done earlier, but we made the mistake of many shows.  We fell into an expense comfort zone.  You’ve been doing the same thing for the same money for so long, it seems like you just have to keep doing it the same way, right?

Wrong-o.

You probably do this with your own budget.  Ever stop reading a magazine but it keeps showing up?  Ever order a pay cable station but never watch it?  Ever get your hair cut at the same place every month, even though you don’t love it . . . but it’s what you’re used to and you don’t want to take the time to look somewhere else?

Don’t beat yourself up.  It happens to everyone.

Which is why I’m introducing a new Super Hero to the scene.

Duh-dah-dah!  It’s Efficiency Expert Man!

Our industry needs third party consultants to come in, spend 1-2 weeks analyzing all of our expenses and provide us with a detailed list on what we can do to trim down (new vendors, questioning services, etc.)

Why would we pay for such a superhero?  Here’s how it would work:

Hire Efficiency Expert Man to come in and pay him only if he finds savings, and only what he could save you over 1 month.  The other 11 months of the year become super savings.

Or trade it.

You be the Super Hero for a peer’s show and let him/her be the Super Hero for yours.

You’ve got nothing to lose but unnecessary expenses.