The Value Of Time

I'm not sure when you are reading this, but I'm writing it the day after Thanksgiving. I saw a lot of stuff happen this weekend that made me think about the value of time.

If you are living in the US, the day after Thanksgiving is called "black Friday" because all the stores have huge sales to get them back into the black.

Now, Friday afternoon I was playing w/ my twin boys, but when my family got back from shopping, I heard stories about saving $20-$30 on some stuff... but having to wait in line for 2-3 hours to buy the product.

That doesn't even count the time it takes to drive to the store, find parking and then fight your way through all the people.

This made me think...

If someone spent 4 hours saving $20.... how much did the actually save?

I'm not sure about you, but I value my time very highly. It's the only thing in the world that I don't get more of.

So, what do you value your time at? If you are working for a job, getting paid $8 an hour... then your time is valued at $8 an hour.

So, if you were shopping this weekend, and you spent 4 hours - it cost you $32 (if you are charging $8 an hour). If you value your time at higher - then it could have cost you a fortune.

Well, I personally value my time around $1k an hour. The reason...? If I spend a focused hour on a project, it will always turn into at least $1k (usually more).

So, when people call and want me to consult them on a project, I charge between $600 - $1,000 an hour depending on the client and the situation.

That is why I believe so strongly in outsourcing - because it's usually a lot cheaper to hire someone to do a task - then to personally do it myself.

Last weekend we paid 2 people $650 to clean up my yard for the winter. It took them 7 hours each to get the job done.

So, If I would have done the work myself, it would have cost me $14,000 to do it (7 hours X 2 people X $1k an hour).

In that case - $650 is a no brainier.

Now, with that said... I want to show you some ways to free up some more personal time for yourself to get done the stuff that YOU have to get done.

1st - learn to cluster your time. One of the things that kills the productivity of online business owners is instant communication.

People want to answer their emails or phone calls the second they come in. I can tell you from experience that this will kill your productivity.

Every time you start into a project, you are interrupted by email, phone calls, instant messages....

Learn to cluster your time - tak