Your time is your most valuable asset.

If you have ever traveled to a gas station 20 miles out of your way to save ten cents per gallon, or if you drive to four grocery stores to save money on milk at one, eggs at another, and soda at yet another, or if you spend so much time focused on non-profitable work, this article is for you. Until you factor in your time to every single decision you make, you are not making financial decisions with the full field of view.

To put in perspective, if you make $62,400 per year, your hourly rate is $30 (considering a 40 hour workweek). This means that each minute is worth $0.50 of income value. Your true value is something we will address later in the article, so follow my logic here…

If you were to go to your local gas station for your fuel, you would be in and out in 10 minutes. Assuming you have a 10 gallon tank, and each gallon of fuel is $4.00, your fuel cost is $40. Your time value is 10 minutes at $0.50 per minute equaling $5. The total value of your fuel fillup is $45.

Presume you drive 20 miles to save ten cents per gallon. Your fuel cost is $3.90. You have driven 20 miles out of the way, so you now need 12 gallons of fuel. Fuel total is now $46.80. It takes 40 minutes to drive out of the way for the fuel, 80 minutes total, and it takes 10 minutes to fill the tank, for a total of 90 minutes for the journey. The time value for this trip in 90 minutes times 50 cents which equals $45. The total value for the tank of fuel is now $91.80, or more than double.

How does this impact your work?

By living in the weeds of the business, you are unable to sell enough to grow and scale the business. You are working on low value work that should be either outsourced or delegated off your plate. If you are not a bookkeeper, you should not be doing your bookkeeping. It takes you 5-10 times longer than a professional. If you are not a social media specialist, you may not be doing the best to represent your brand on the internet. Seek out help! You need to set yourself up for success. 90% of your time should be spent in high value work - sales and delivering to your clients. If you are out of money mode, you are setting yourself up to fail.

If you run your personal checkbook like the business, you are running around trying to save a few bucks, and spinning your wheels a great deal. It is imperative to your overall success that you take the time to factor your hourly VALUE into every decision. Go back and reread the opening to this blog article. There is a point where the savings are lost. Pay special attention to them so you can focus more energy on making money.

You will burnout if you chase savings more than if you create income. The above example is perfect for putting it in perspective. But look at it from this angle as well: if you spend 5-10 times longer doing a project than someone you could outsource it to, then your workday will be a ton longer than it needs to be, and you will never feel like you are catching up. Stop doing that.

Focus on your strengths and hire for your weaknesses. Contractors, VA’s, and other freelancers are available to help take the burden off. You will be more productive, more profitable, and have more time to build relationships outside of your work. Take the time to focus on what your amazing is and spend more time in that zone. Everything else will fit like a shirt that just isn’t made for your body.

To calculate your hourly VALUE, research the market for what you do best. Are you a digital media specialist who can charge $1000 per hour? Are you a consultant who can sell a package for $6000 for 13 weeks? Are you an attorney with a highly specialized niche? Whatever your strength, research the market for the going rate, increase your brand value (internally and externally), and set your personal value at a higher level than you currently realize. Then work to become it.