Trading time for money is one of the
hardest ways to make cash. But when it’s your job (or hobby, or second
job), you must use it wisely or you lose. Since time is finite, every
second wasted means dollars gone.
When you waste money, car payments may
come up late, rent may be hard to make, or you may not have enough to
buy the extras you want. Either way, wasting time hurts your bottom
line.
Here are a few ways to help service-based business owners and hobbyists find more time, so they can make more money.
Start out with a detailed plan of what you must accomplish each day.
Never go to bed without knowing what you
need to do the next morning (or whenever you work your gig). This is
your Do-or-Die List. If you don’t do, your business dies, and so does
your money. Create a focused plan before you sleep. Then, check it again
when you wake up. Make it a habit to check it before you sit at your
computer; it can help jog your memory before you get lost in the
Facebook rabbit hole.
Schedule your most complex and time-consuming tasks when your mind is freshest.
If you work a primary job, this’ll
require a little creativity. You’ll need to figure out your best days
for getting things done. It may be at 8 pm in the evening, when the kids
have gone to bed. It may be when you get up on Saturday morning and
don’t have to work. Whenever it is, make sure you’re focused on your
best and most profitable projects then.
To find out when your most productive hours are, follow these steps:
Keep a running log of your energy for
two weeks, noting your energy in the morning (before work, if you have a
“day” job), at lunch, in the afternoon (after work, if necessary), at
dinner, and in the evening.
Rate your levels from one to five, with
one being the least productive feeling and five the most. Chart your
results to get an idea of your body’s patterns and energy levels. Then,
start using that time to hit your hardest, most profitable projects.
Leave the stuff that can wait until you’ve taken care of the money.
If you have client work to handle, or
products to deliver, the dishes should wait. Dinner is a different
story, but you should put clean-up on the back burner.
Manage your email; don’t let it manage you.
Running a service-based business,
especially online, means you’re at the mercy of your inbox. Answering
each notification with drool to your chin means you’ll spend a large
chunk of time fishing through other people’s baggage. Cut yourself
loose.
There are courses on Udemy teaching you
how to be more productive by mastering Gmail, and there are programs
like Sanebox to help you beat the inbox blues. Take control of your
email and gain at least an hour in your day.
Invest in time-saving projects.
If you’re busy tweaking your website or
doing laundry, instead of doing what earns you money, then you’re
wasting your time and, therefore, your dimes. I know people in my
industry that don’t even touch their laundry or the house cleaning. And
these people are insanely productive because of it.
These are investments well spent. Take a
look at the activities that take up most of your time and budget having
someone handle them for you. But, you don’t get to play while they tend
to your “chores” — make the most of your investment and spend that time
earning.
Prioritize.
Work on the money first. Leave the
movies for the people who don’t have an agenda for earning. We all love
vegging on the couch, but we have to be smart about how our time’s
spent. If the goal is to collect minutes and earn dollars, be prepared
for this — especially in the beginning.
Master your craft.
You’ll earn more when you can quickly
crank out whatever it is you do. The guy cutting grass knows how to mow
four lawns an hour, when it takes you one for your own. He’s a master.
He knows how to work quickly, so he earns more money mowing lawns than
you would. Master your craft and you’ll also earn more in less time.
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