“If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of”
Bruce Lee
How much do you spend every month on time?
It might sound like a ridiculous question, but here’s the thing – whilst you can’t buy back time, you can buy time in the future…
For busy professionals and entrepreneurs, this is worth looking at.
Audit every hour of every day. Prioritise your activities in line with what really matters in your life and business.
Managing your life
Look at how much time you’re spending doing mundane tasks, can they be outsourced?
This isn’t just about being time efficient, it’s about being financially efficient too.
If you pay a company £50 per week to clean your house and it saves you five hours, that’s a trade worth making if during those five hours you could have earned an extra £250.
How much would paying for help in other areas make you? Doing the garden, the weekly shop, cooking? Obviously this depends on your individual circumstances, but if you are capable of increasing your income during any time saved then this is a massively valuable exercise.
It might not always be a straight financial trade. That extra rest time might improve your performance overall. That extra free time will buy you time with your family.
Consider the possibilities.
What about business?
It’s no different. What could you be paying someone else to do that will free you up to focus on what matters? In my world, that’s business development and existing client work.
I’ve been guilty far too often of trying to do everything myself and I bet I’m not the only small business owner who should be admitting to that.
I even did 90% of this new website myself and only hired an expert for the finishing touches. On one hand, I’m the least technical person I know so this is a great achievement. On the other hand, I’m an idiot who could have saved a few months!
Now, I’ve learnt why you need to hire help whenever you can:
- Time: save time for doing what you’re best at in the business
- Talent: some skills are worth learning, like me doing this website is another string to the Pearson Brown digital marketing bow. But if it’s a one-off job or something you don’t like (or find extremely difficult), hire the talent that you need and focus on running your business
What are you lacking: time, talent or both?
Copywriting is never the easiest thing to persuade businesses that they need. Think about it, we’re all taught how to write at school, so a lot of small businesses just let their best writer do the job.
The problem is, copywriting is a different skill entirely. It’s writing to sell, to have impact, to grow your business. Content writing is a different skill too, you can’t be matter of fact about it, you have to offer something more.
You have to understand your tone of voice as a business, your ideal client in intricate detail, and put your message across in a way that inspires and engages your audience.
This is something that you need both time and talent to produce.
I see the same problematic solution in place with social media marketing. Getting the youngest or coolest person in the office to run your social is not a strategy!
Digital marketing stuff aside, what other areas of your business could you get help with? What about a virtual assistant, an apprentice, or even a new co-founder?
When to get help
You shouldn’t only look for help when you’re lacking time and talent, you need to see what’s available if you’re lacking time or talent.
You need to have both.
If you lack time but have the talent it will become one of those things you want to do but never get around to.
If you lack talent but have the time you’ll either do a bad job or you’ll become very miserable very quickly. You’ll also take your eye off what matters – getting clients!
Every time you try and do everything yourself, you’re leaving money on the table.
Save time, get things done right, and grow your business with professionals by your side.
-Matthew Brown, director
To find out more about how we can save you time and help you with our talents in these areas, just click the relevant link!
Alternatively, please contact me on 0333 009 0060 or email matthew.brown@pearson-brown.co.uk to discuss in more detail. I look forward to hearing from you 🙂
