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Renew
Online
You may now renew your annual membership dues online. Annual dues are $45.00.
By Stephen Ingle, Wordco
You've all heard the expression "Time is money," but
doesn't it seem that when you're earning more money you usually have
less time, and vice versa? Somehow time and money are related, but
how?
I won't get into a philosophical discussion of what time and money
actually are, just how thinking about time vs. money can make your
home business more efficient and profitable.
The way I see it, all of our "work time" is not equally productive.
I'm earning nothing when I'm going through my mail, earning
something when I'm marking up a book for indexing, and earning a lot
when I negotiate a $1,000 contract increase in 30 seconds over the
phone. I'm sure there are similar productivity differences in your
business. Think about it. Write down the different tasks you perform
for your business, how much time you spend on each task, and
estimate how much your business makes on each task (hourly). The
idea is to get a feel for what tasks bring in a lot of money and
which tasks don't.
Now look at the tasks you do that don't bring in a lot of money. How
much time per week do you spend on these tasks? Could you pay
someone to do them so you could spend more time on the profitable
areas of your business? Could you use technology to automate some of
these tasks? For example, analyze how many hours a year you spend
going to and from your local copy center. If you bought your own
copier for $800, would you save the 100 or more hours that would
make such an investment worthwhile? Could you use the time saved to
focus on the more profitable areas of your business?
Remember, the success of your business depends on how well you can
utilize your unique skills and experience to produce a product or
service that fulfills a market need. The better you can do that, the
more profitable you'll be. To use a sports analogy, it's easy to
pedal your bicycle in first gear, but if you really want to get
anywhere, you'll have to pedal in eighth or ninth, at least
sometimes. Challenging yourself is often difficult, but ultimately
the most rewarding (both spiritually and financially). And the more
profitable you are, the more freedom you'll have to decide want you
want to do when you want to do it.