As a business owner or manager, you cannot afford to waste your time on tasks that don’t add value to your business, or on activities that steal your attention and focus away from your company’s bottom line. To be successful, you must consider your time and your operating cash as investments that should pay you back
How to Value Your Time
Most new business owners consistently undervalue their time when starting a business. They also (incorrectly) assume that working longer hours is, somehow, going to show them the path to prosperity. However, highly successful business owners innately understand that “time is money” and “money is time.” YOU need to value your time the same way, and tightly guard it, so you do not miss out on profits by wasting it.
Once your business is up and running, you need to re-evaluate how you value your time. Consider your own labor cost, at the market price, and set your service rates or product prices accordingly. If you are not selling enough products or services, to pay yourself what you are worth, then you should examine where your time actually goes. If your Quickbook skills are lacking, or your computers or equipment are often “down”, you’ll likely find that your productivity and profitability are also suffering. “Googling” for free business legal advice, instead of simply calling an experienced business lawyer, is almost always going to be another waste of your time.
Example: Let’s say you would like to earn $300,000 this year from your business. If you work 2,000 hours throughout the year, you need to make $150 per hour, every hour. This is why it is so critical that you consider every hour of your time an investment that you demand a return on. Put another way, if you spend an hour fixing your printer or looking up what an “attornment” clause does, then you’re out $150, and your workday just got a an hour longer.
How to Delegate Tasks to Save Money & Time
Once you know exactly what your time is worth, you should to prioritize your tasks, so your time isn’t wasted performing jobs that can be delegated to employees at a lower rate, or outsourced for a fraction of the cost.
For instance, let’s say you are in need of an employee handbook for your new startup. You can either waste your time surfing the internet for a generic boilerplate template that will expose you to heightened risks and liabilities, or hire a skilled attorney to draft one for you. Though hiring an attorney may seem expensive in the beginning, in the long term, utilizing the services of a skilled attorney will likely save your business thousands of dollars.
The bottom line is, you need to focus on the part of your business that you do best and is the most profitable. Do not waste your time “chasing butterflies” that will take you away from growing your business.
Resources
Placing a Value on Your Time — and Increasing It
First Person: As a Small Business Owner, How Do You Value Your Time?