Think you’re too busy to make money? Think again!
I’m too busy to read my emails!
I’m too busy to talk!
I’m too busy to meet!
I’m too busy to reply!
I’m too busy to take on new projects!
I’ve heard this bullshit a million times. People who are too busy doing a million things that make them feel important, but are not actually making them any money!
How are you spending your time today? Are you really focused on the things that matter?
If you’re running a business, there are always going to be endless things you have to do just to keep the wheels turning. The trick is not to get buried by all the different tasks and lose sight of what is actually making you money!
Everyone claims that they’re so busy all of the time – and of course it’s easy to be overwhelmed, especially as there are so many different communication platforms to potentially distract you.
I’m going to share with you my do’s and don’ts on prioritising your time – and you can’t afford to ignore this because it’s absolutely critical to the success and growth of your business!
How to prioritise your time
Busy is bullshit!
Being ‘busy’ makes us feel good. It ‘proves’ to ourselves that we’re not lazy – or that we’re trying harder than everyone else. But you can constantly coast through life living your version of ‘busy’ and still not see any growth or success – because you’re just filling your time with stuff that’s not making you any real money.
Being busy doesn’t pay
It doesn’t matter how many hours a day you’re working – being busy is not going to make you rich! Are you wondering why your bank balance isn’t a reflection of how busy you are? Well it’s because you’re prioritising the wrong things!
Packing your day with back to back meetings might make you feel important, but what are you actually achieving? One of my team used to work in a large organisation where their boss used to come in and moan most days that she had meetings from 8 til 5 and would get nothing done. Well don’t go to the meetings then!! Someone would usually take minutes, or just have a quick chat with someone who did go to catch up! In my experience, they won’t have missed much.
Make time work for you
You have to take charge of your time and start making it work for you – not the other way around. If you’re spending all day being busy doing low value tasks instead of prioritising your time on closing deals that are actually going to make you money, you’re doing it wrong!
Ask yourself now – what have you done so far today? And how much money has it made you?!
Get smart – use the 80:20 rule
You might have already heard of the 80:20 rule, which is also known as the Pareto Principle. This rule states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the causes. In this case the idea would be that 80% of your productivity should come from just 20% of your time. So basically, if there are ten things on your to do list, investing your time in the right 2 of them is going to be worth the same, or more, than the other 8 put together.
The problem is that most people prioritise all the insignificant shit, and leave the vital 20% until last. Don’t be one of these people!
If you take this principle even further – think about what the single most important thing is for your business. The 1% vs the 99%. If this is selling, then get out there and fucking SELL!
Look at your customer base as well – if the low value customers are taking up a disproportionate amount of your time, you need to take action. What would happen if you invested that time into growing your big spenders instead?
Make the changes you need to manage your time better!
If you find there are tasks taking up your time which someone else could do – outsource these tasks. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg is spending his morning trying to work out how to set up his new printer?
Get the right people in place to look after the jobs you do not need to be doing, and spend your time on what matters!
I totally understand that with a new business, which you’ve set up from scratch and is your ‘baby’, you started out doing absolutely everything in that business – so it can be hard to let go. But for the future success and growth of your business, this is absolutely essential!
Give away all of your ‘£10 tasks’
If you can get someone to do a task cheaper and quicker or better then YOU MUST DO IT! If you find yourself doing photocopying, accounts or other admin stuff, surely you will be better off money wise – and time wise – hiring someone else to do it on £10 or £20 an hour, or £15k or £20k a year, whatever.
In fact, the salary doesn’t really matter. As the business owner and figurehead, your time is your most prized asset, so get hiring! You’ll be amazed at the large blocks of time this will free up, and in turn you’ll realise just how much time you were spending on these tasks. You can then plough those saved hours back into your business – or you can even allocate them to social and/or family time to help out your work/life balance!
The same theory applies at home too. Have you got a cleaner? A gardener? A chef? A nanny? If not, then you need to seriously look at why not because if you are serious about building your business then your time and your worth has to be more valuable then the cost of delegating these activities.
People laugh at me because I don’t even know how to turn a washing machine on! But why should I?! Why do I want to be wasting my time, hours and hours, doing laundry when I can hire someone in at £10 / £12 an hour to do it for me? If you want to try hiring me you will find out that my hourly rate is a little higher than £10! So I want as much of my time freed up as possible to concentrate on my most profitable activities or to spend on my time as I choose.
Stop making excuses
If you want something you make it happen, no excuses. So are you ‘too busy’ to make money?! Stop fucking about, get your head in the game and start prioritising what’s important for your business!
Maybe funding is a pressing priority? It is with most businesses! If you’re a motivated business owner or entrepreneur, regardless of what stage of the journey you’re on, I can help – whether it’s a small business loan, asset finance or commercial property finance. I’ve funded all kinds of entrepreneurs who are serious about making money – there’s no reason this can’t be you too. Contact my team today!
My YouTube channel features hundreds of straight-talking advice, tips and tricks from myself – and fab interviews with reality TV stars, influencers and business leaders too!
