Your Time is Your Money
Posted by Steve Hochman on Mon. Feb. 9th, 2015
Do you think Oprah Winfrey cleans the bathroom in her sound stage? Have you ever heard of Bill Gates dusting the furniture in his office? Can you picture Mark Cuban polishing a basketball court?
I thought not.
When I Imagine the lives of major businesspeople, movies stars, successful money-makers, I don’t see them doing mundane tasks. And yes, that’s because they’re filthy rich. They have shmucks like us do anything that isn’t glamorous enough for them.
But there’s more to it than that.
How does Bill Gates bring success to his massive entrepreneurial empire? It definitely isn’t by dusting his office furniture.
He’s brokering mergers, making deals, approving new project developments— he’s doing the big stuff. Everything that really matters, the jobs and the decisions that make him the big-bucks, those are the only things he spends his valuable time doing.
And this isn’t just because he’s too good for chores. Sure, ego and sense of self-worth probably factor in, but this attitude is more practical than you might realize.
Whenever Gates or Winfrey or Cuban commit time to anything other than a major, important business decision, their inefficiency is losing them massive amounts of dollars. Menial tasks, while absolutely crucial, are not going to help these leaders live up to their managerial responsibilities.
It isn’t just that they are to good for this kind of work, it’s that they shouldn’t ever do this kind of work. Time worth millions of dollars should never be spent on tasks that bring a few cents.
And while these examples are quite extreme, the exact same principle applies to you and your business.
You’re a Fit Body Boot Camp owner. That means that your business’s success or failure rests solely on your shoulders. It’s up to you to make things profitable, it’s up to you to keep things running smoothly, and it’s up to you to get clients the results they expect.
And yes, for all of this to happen, many, many preliminary requirements need to be satisfied. Bathrooms need cleaning, carpets need vacuuming— all that menial labor needs doing.
But the next time you find yourself reaching for the toilet brush, ask yourself this question: “How could I spend my time bringing the most success to my business?” I guarantee that washing the toilet bowl will never be the answer to that question.
You’ll realize that you should be out establishing a new marketing campaign, forming relationships with local businesses, teaching new sales techniques, negotiating a better lease, networking with your colleagues, whatever it may be for that day or that month don’t ever forget that you’re the big guy. You’re the head-honcho and you should never, ever be wasting your highly valuable time scrubbing toilets.
Again, it isn’t because you’re too good or because you’re better than that kind of labor. Many respectable, hard-working people spend their lives cleaning bathrooms. My point is that your business needs you. It needs you to use your time wisely by working on those things that directly contribute to your overall success.
How should you do this? Well, you hire people.
Now, hold off on your freak-out for just a minute. I know the whole point of this Boot Camp model is having less employees, less people you need to pay, and as a result you have more profits. All this is still true. But keep in mind what we just talked about:
Your time is of the utmost value. You need it to grow your business, make your business successful, and market your Boot Camp. Therefore, while employees are certainly expensive, hiring this particular employee will actually make you significantly more money than it will cost you.
Think about it this way: If you are spending any amount of time performing those tasks that aren’t important enough for you, that’s time that isn’t spent marketing, growing the business, making money.
Lets assume that half your time is spent on tasks that you shouldn’t be doing. If you hire an assistant to take care of these tasks and you focus your time solely on those things that matter most, then your output will essentially double. You’ll produce twice as much work. You’ll put out marketing that’s twice as good, you’ll form relationships with twice as many local businesses, you’ll essentially double your output.
Hiring one person for this simple position is, in a round-about way, like hiring a whole other you at the same time.
That’s two yous for the price of one assistant. Not bad, by my math.
But it’s more than just spending additional time on these big, important tasks. When you eliminate those distractions that were keeping you from performing in top gear, the quality of your work will dramatically increase. You won’t just have more time for your business, you’ll have uninterrupted quality time that lets you get your work done in the best way possible.
And hiring someone for this position should be pretty simple. There are so many qualified candidates looking for work right now. Just put together a list of all the things you do now, or all the things someone needs to be doing, that aren’t worth your time. Put out some job ads on free websites, screen the flood of resumes you’ll receive, find someone who can do the job you need, then pay them what they deserve.
This will not only make your life less stressful, more efficient, and more money, but it will just make everything a little easier for you. How could you say no to that?
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