Tip No. 1 Time and money: which would you like more of?

Work Smart- Not Hard  |  10/11/2023

The first in the series of tips for members from business advisor and mentor Ann Hawkins

 

A while ago I asked a group of business owners: “If you could only have more of one, which would it be – time or money?”Time and money are the two things that small businesses typically struggle with and they seem to be inextricably linked.“If I had more money I could take time off.”
“If I had more time I could make more money.”They can also be linked in more subtle ways. The more we feel under pressure with time, the less likely we are to make good decisions about anything.

 

The vast majority of people who answered my question said they’d prefer to have more time. But time is finite. We all have the same amount and while we talk about wasting it, spending it, and saving it, this is never the same as doing these things with money.Perhaps a better question to ask is, “Which scares you the most, losing time or losing money?” I bet most people would answer money. And yet money is unlimited – we can always make more. The most important thing about money in business is that it can buy time. When we make more money, we can hire people to do the things we don’t like doing or don’t need to do ourselves, so that we have more time to do the things we really want to do or the things that make more money.If you want to work smart, focus on the things that make you the most profit. Automate everything that can be automated, especially repetitive tasks, and outsource or delegate all the things you don’t need to do yourself. Try to avoid swapping your time for money and look for ways to create something once and sell it on repeat.

 

Pricing is an art, not a science so this could be a good place to start. If you’re in any doubt, check out whether a single ice cube could be sold for $8: annhawkins.com/work-smart/how-much-would-you-pay-for-an-ice-cubeThere are always ideas on how to make money and often its people who are not too close to the business who can see them. So, the best work smart tip is to brainstorm ideas with people who are not too close to the problem! Start with how to make more money and then look at how you can buy more time.

 

Ann Hawkins
ann@annhawkins.com