This is why experts are worth it

Hari shares an insight that came to her from building bunk beds. Yes, really.

Last month my son's new bed arrived - a brand new 6 foot tall cabin bed with an integrated desk, sofa and fold out single sofa bed. The delivery guys arrived at 7:55am sharp. They unloaded the van, carried everything upstairs, and assembled this enormous cabin bed with integrated desk and seating area that folds out into a single sofa bed.

Then they left before 8:30am.

Thirty-five minutes. Start to finish.

The month before, Aaron and I put together a standard king-size bed in our room (it's been a season of overdue home improvements). That bed didn't involve a ladder. No integrated desk. No seating area that transforms into a sofa bed. Just a straightforward bed frame.

It took us four hours to put it together.

Four. Hours.

We wrestled with the instructions. Misidentified parts. Started sections in the wrong order and had to backtrack. Debated whether we'd actually tightened things properly. By the end, we were exhausted, slightly bickering, and seriously questioning our DIY capabilities.

Meanwhile, those delivery professionals? They didn't even glance at the instructions. They knew exactly which piece connected where, which screws went into which holes, and the precise order to assemble everything so they weren't climbing over their own work. They had the right tools immediately to hand. They worked in smooth coordination, anticipating each other's movements like a well-rehearsed dance.

Thirty-five minutes versus four hours.

This is why experts are worth it.

I'm an expert in storytelling and presentation skills. I'm an experienced workshop leader and trainer with years of practice honing my craft. But here's the thing—lots of people know about storytelling. In many of the industries I've worked in over the years—consultancy, marketing, internal communications, media, publishing—you don't reach a senior job level if you don't know something about storytelling and communication.

Senior managers have presented countless decks. Marketing directors have crafted numerous campaigns. Communications leads have shaped company narratives. They all understand storytelling principles.

But knowing something isn't the same as being an expert trainer.

Understanding how to tell a story yourself is completely different from knowing how to teach others to tell stories effectively. It's the difference between being able to assemble your own bed and being able to assemble any bed, anywhere, in record time, whilst also teaching someone else how to do it.

Many organisations try to save money by getting their senior staff to share their knowledge and upskill others. "Sarah knows about presentations—let's get her to run a session for the team." "Mark's great at stakeholder management—he can teach the juniors."

And yes, Sarah and Mark probably do have valuable insights to share. But will they know how to structure a training session for maximum retention? Can they create safe practice environments where people feel comfortable making mistakes? Do they understand different learning styles and how to adapt on the fly when something isn't landing?

More importantly—how much of Sarah's time are you taking away from the strategic work she was actually hired to do?

It's thirty-five minutes versus four hours all over again.

Here at 13 Times, all our trainers are experts. We've spent years not just mastering our subjects, but learning how to teach them effectively. We know which exercises work and which fall flat. We understand how to build confidence in nervous presenters and challenge overconfident ones. We can read a room and adjust our approach in real-time. We've seen every possible question, objection, and learning block, and we know how to navigate them.

All of them could, metaphorically, build the bed in thirty-five minutes.

We can do more, quicker, and with better results. We leave your teams with frameworks they can apply immediately, not vague advice to "be more engaging." We create lasting behaviour change, not just a nice afternoon out of the office.

When you hire internal experts to train, you're asking them to learn training skills on top of doing their day job. When you hire us, you're getting people who've already put in those thousands of hours of practice. We've made the mistakes, refined the approaches, and built the expertise so your teams don't have to learn the hard way.

This is why experts are worth it.

Because I've learnt my lesson about when to DIY and when to call in the professionals.