Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

Only if you want more time and money in your life right NOW …

One of the key traits that wealthy people and happy people have across all walks of life is a true worth on what their time is worth. They are of the opinion that if I am going to do something I am going to do it well and it is going to be worth my while.

Business owners who are amazing sales people or amazing marketers or amazing technicians in their business should not be updating their accounts in MYOB or Quicken software. This is something that can be done twice as well by someone who will charge between $10 - $40 per hour.

Work out what it is you do best in your business – pick three 3 things.

Now work out how these things contribute to the results of your business …

Are you amazing at sales? Are you amazing at following up leads? Are you amazing at dealing with customers one on one? Are you amazing at training people? Are you great at lifting the performance of your team members? Are you great at doing the technical work? Etc

Once you have identified this, now ascertain what financial value you bring into the business by doing these 3 things amazingly well!

How many hours do you do these activities a week – just these 3 things?

Now divide the value you bring in by the number of hours you focus on these activities per week. This gives you what your hourly rate is for the business.

For example – if I am amazing at selling and I bring in $10,000 of sales in a week for the business and I do it for 20 hours a week, then the hourly rate I am generating is 10,000/20 = $500 per hour.

Now look at the other things you are doing OUTSIDE of the 3 things you do amazingly well, and work out what value they bring to the business or what money you are saving by doing it yourself. Then ascertain the amount of hours you do this per week and establish your hourly rate for this.

For example, if you are doing the data entry for your finances and it takes you 30 min a day plus 2.5 hours at end of week for payroll, this is (5x30min) + 2.5hrs = 5 hours. This does not bring in money for you, but you could have someone do this for you.  Someone who either comes into the office, or does it remotely for $30 an hour. Hence, your 5 hours is SAVING the business $150 a week for your 5 hours.

BUT, if you outsourced this and trained someone over 2-3 weeks to do it the way you want it and familiarise themselves with your system, within 1 month you would get 4 hours back. In real life you would more than likely ‘double check’ things that you outsourced to ensure they are on track and doing it right (old habits die hard), hence why you get 4 hours and not 5 hours back!!

If you want an amazing book (or CD) that will demonstrate the value of this and teach it to you with great inspiration, then read The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris.  click here to view and buy.

So you have a choice now. Use these 4 hours in sales hours to generate the business an extra $2,000 per week (as your average hourly rate is $500) or have this time off and be with your family.

So if you paid $150 to an outsourcer and you brought $2,000 into the business that would make the business $1,850 better off! This is just ONE thing you could let go, so STOP doing low income/low return actions that can be outsourced!!

Problem Mindset:  Do everything yourself as it will save you money.
Solution Strategy: Outsource what others can do better than you or that is a low return for your time.

Some of the reasons why business owners do not outsource things in their business that I have heard over the past 8 years are;

• Everything I do is critical for the business and no-one else can do it (you mean, you need to feel important so you tell yourself this)
• I do not have anyone to do it for me (you mean, you have not looked properly!)
• No one will be able to do it like I can (I am not prepared to train someone to do it, otherwise I may become redundant)
• What would I let go, I do not have the cash to pay anyone as I am not big enough (I do not realise how much me doing all this is costing me, so will stick my head in the sand)

It is critical to identify what it is you do best, what it is you love and what is that is sucking a LOT of time, energy and confidence from you and the business.

There are people in this world who work for outsourcing companies who can do just about anything and everything for you at low cost. They are receiving an income that helps them support their family that is relative for the lifestyle they live in their country. So make sure you do not let ignorance get in the way of you making the decision to LET GO of low value, time sucking activities you currently undertake!!

What will happen for you when you do LET GO is this;

• More time will become available to either take off or use in other areas of the business
• You will develop new and stronger communication skills, as you will need to instruct who you are outsourcing to very well to get the job done the way you want it done
• You will learn new ways and new opportunities to achieve certain things, e.g. technology options, new service providers, new applications, etc
• You will focus more on growing the business as opposed to surviving the business!

Take the step and STOP doing work that does not serve you. START doing work that makes you grow, gives you great returns, makes you feel satisfied and a valuable person.

ACTION FOR YOU: Make a list of the 3 things you are great at and 10 things you need to let go and then what dates you will let them out of your life!

Now email me as a way of having a 3rd party support you and we will send you a gift of “companies and contacts we use, that can help you outsource and achieve your goals”.

Have an amazing week and shine your gold even brighter

Trent