"When you buy something cheap and bad, the best you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it. When you buy something expensive and good, the worst you’re going to feel about it is when you buy it." - grandmother of Sasha Aickin, former CTO at Redfin.

I love this quote because it can be applied to so much of what my clients experience when acquiring technology (and yes, consulting services!).

Too often I'll encounter associations that have technology that isn't serving them well because they bought what they "could afford at the time" rather than buying what they actually needed. Like the quote above, they felt good when they bought it, but that was probably the last time they felt good about it because it wasn't what they really needed!

I have a good friend in the construction business whom I often ask for advice when buying things for my home (products or services). He likes to remind me that if you buy cheap, "once you buy crap, you always have crap."

My advice is this: spend as much as is required to get what you need. And if you can't afford it, you might be better off waiting and "saving up" until you can afford what you need. Because like my friend says, once you buy crap, you always have crap.