Want to learn the 6 ways to increase the value of your time?
Then read on…
This article is for: entrepreneurs who want to earn more money in less time… and employees who want to get a raise. First let’s take a look at 4 basic financial truths.
Financial Truth #1: We get financially rewarded in direct proportion to the value we create in the world.
FUCK entitlement. The world doesn’t give us what we THINK we deserve. It gives us our share of what we EARN.
Want to know how to get a raise? It’s easy… make your company A LOT of money.
Want to crank up your company’s revenue?
The key is to create VALUABLE products and effectively market it’s VALUE.
Obviously, you need to create kick-ass products and services if you want to last. However, that’s not enough. You also need to MARKET IT’S VALUE.
Marketing is how you highlight the VALUE of your products and services. You can write the greatest book ever written, if nobody knows about it… you won’t sell a single copy.
Want to ask for higher fees as a consultant?
Here’s an example of how I do it… when I do optimization deals — I make the bulk of my money tied to a fair percentage of the extra revenue I bring in. If I don’t perform — I don’t make much. If I knock it out of the park, I get rewarded for it.
Financial Truth #2: If you want to make a lot of money, master VALUABLE skills
Why does a brain surgeon ($589,500/year USA) earn 867% more money than a nurse ($67,930/year USA)?
Be careful with your headaches.
They both work in the hospital. They both help people.
The difference is simply the VALUE of the skill.
How do you determine the value of a skill? It’s the good old supply and demand formula.
First, let’s examine supply.
There are 3,131,003 nurses in America. There is approximately 4,500 brain surgeons in the USA. There are 69,577% more nurses than neurosurgeons.
Then, let’s go deeper into demand.
Demand is not just how many people want it. It’s also HOW BADLY DO THEY WANT IT.
If someone NEEDS brain surgery, they’re in a BAD spot. Most likely their life (or quality of life) is on the line. They’ll pay almost anything to solve the problem.
In business, there are dozens and dozens of business skills. Which ones are the most valuable? Which ones should you focus on?
Inside the 3X Your Productivity book, I break down the most valuable money skills you should focus on.
Financial Truth #3: Nobody will give you what you want unless you powerfully ask for it.
This truth is about selling yourself (if you’re an employee) or selling your products and services (if you’re a business).
If you’re an employee, you need to SHOW VALUE (see truth #1) and make sure your employer knows it. And then ask for it.
As someone who employs dozens of people, I always focus on how much value each person is bringing. I’ll write a post in the future about how to become a superstar employee and rise up the ranks.
The same goes for your products and services. If you want to sell a lot of your stuff, you need to POWERFULLY market it.
This is why becoming a master of copywriting, influence and persuasion is one of the most valuable skills you’ll ever build.
Later this year, I will be launching the most powerful marketing and copywriting training program ever assembled. If it’s something you might be interested in, enter your name and email in the form below.
Financial Truth #4: We’re all trading time for money
“I don’t want to trade my time for money” is something I often hear from young entrepreneurs.
Guess what? We’re ALL trading our time for money.
Even top investors who intelligently deploy their capital have a “per hour return”. The investor might of spent 100 investigating the opportunity. Then he spends 10 hours a year managing the investment. Let’s say the investor makes: $10,000,000 in net profit over 10 years — how much did he earn per hour? He spent 200 hours (100 hours upfront + 10 hours a year X 10 years), which means he made $50,000 an hour.
When Mark Cuban looks at a deal, he calculates how much money per hour he can make (if it’s a homerun). If he doesn’t think it has the potential to make him tens of thousands of dollars an hour, he passes.
The real power question is: how can you INCREASE the value of every hour you work.
That’s the second part of this article.
First let’s do a quick calculation and figure out how much your time HAS BEEN WORTH. And then we’ll discuss how to bump up this number.
QUICK MONEY EXERCISE TO CALCULATE YOUR CURRENT VALUE
Part 1: What’s your last year’s hourly rate?
- Last year’s salary:____________________
- Hours worked a week on average: __________
- Number of weeks at work (52 – weeks on vacation):
If you made $100,000 net last year and you worked 40 hours a week avg (and worked 48 weeks) then your hourly rate is: $52.
This means ANYTHING that can be hired for $52 or less an hour (and this is true for your personal life: cutting the lawn, cleaning, cooking, etc…) should be outsourced.
If you made $100,000 net last year and you worked 40 hours a week avg (and worked 48 weeks) then your hourly rate is: $52.
This means ANYTHING that can be hired for $52 or less an hour (and this is true for your personal life: cutting the lawn, cleaning, cooking, etc…) should be outsourced.
Part 2: What should your value your time NOW?
Always be thinking “How can I increase my time’s value?”.
If you want your income and business to go to the next level, start thinking and operating like those that are at the next level. I suggest you take your hourly rate and add at least 50% to 100% to it.
This means you should value your time between: $78 and and $104 an hour. Anything tasks that is worth less than that is NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.
6 Steps To Increasing Your Hourly Value
1. Start A Business
You’ve got little hope of doubling or tripling your hourly rate quickly if you’re working for someone else. The normal raise is 10% a year if you’re in a good work place. As an entrepreneur, the sky’s the limit.
One of things I love to say when we improve any part of a business is “We got a pay raise.” I can earn pay raises EVERY SINGLE WEEK by optimizing things.
2. Stop Doing Low Value Tasks
The first exercise in this article was designed to give you a solid grasp of your value. Now, it’s time to put that into action by eliminating all the things that aren’t worth it.
Here’s a list of things that you should avoid like the plague (and use this hiring priority list):
- Customer support
- Webmaster
- Graphic design
- Operations
- Accounting
- Personal assistant
- Ordering things/Inventory
3. Focus On Money Moves ™
Money Moves ™ are tasks that bring home the bacon. It’s revenue generating activities. Your goal should be to spend 80% of your time on these. Anything less than that means you’re not effectively outsource those low value tasks.
Read chapter 5 in the 3X Your Productivity Book to get the list of the top money moves you can make in business.
4. Evolve As An Businessman/Employee
Keep evolving as an entrepreneur.
To constantly grow your income as an entrepreneur, you must evolve as a businessman. What got you from Point A -> Point B won’t be the same thing that will bring you from Point $ -> Point $$$$$.
Here’s a quick summary of my evolution:
- Started giving guitar lessons ($10 an hour)
- Started doing personal training (started at $25 an hour — retired at $75 an hour)
- Became a copywriter, launched simple 1 product websites and drove traffic with Adwords (6 figures a year)
- Learned how to build, grow and manage SEVERAL 7 figure businesses simultaneously
What’s my next level? Learn how to build, grow and manage SEVERAL 8 figure businesses simultaneously. The rules and skills change at each level. The only way I can go to the next level is to EVOLVE.
It’s easy to get stuck at a certain level. We develop a few powerful Money Moves tm and become complacent.
One of the beautiful things about business is, there’s always another level.
Look at Elon Musk, he went from becoming a wealthy entrepreneur with Paypal… and evolving into a multi-billionaire growing 3 world-changing companies.
Elon Musk : The Man Behind Tesla Motor and SpaceX.
What’s your next level as an entrepreneur?
5. Work Less
If we go back to step 1 of the “calculate your hourly value” exercise, one of the easiest ways to increase your value per hour is to WORK LESS.
I outline the 10 key strategies to achieving more in 20 hours a week than most people do working 40 hours, inside my FREE BOOK: 3X Your Productivity. Just fill out the form below to get your hands on it.
6. Master Investing
Becoming a master investor is the quite possibly THE MOST VALUABLE SKILL IN THE WORLD.
There’s virtually no ceiling to how much you can grow your wealth as proven by Warren Buffett, who in early 2016 is the world’s third richest man.
I certainly don’t consider myself a “master investor”. Yet, I’ve done well in the last few years by following a few key principles.
I’ll write some articles in the future about some investment fundamentals you should focus on (as well as get some guest posts from true experts).
This topic deserves it’s own blog post.
The key point I want to share about investing is: START LEARNING NOW. Get in the game TODAY. The sooner you start learning, the faster you’ll be good at it.
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