“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn.
A few years ago, an acquaintance asked me if I would do some consultancy for his start-up, for free. Remembering how many people had helped me when my business was brand new, and wanting to pay it forward, I happily agreed. We arranged to meet at a mutually convenient location, in a fortnight, for a couple of hours’ work. The week before, he called and asked to move the location, to somewhere adding an hour to my 30-minute journey. I was mildly annoyed at the inconvenience but agreed.
On the day in question, I travelled the 90 mins to our meeting point… where I was then kept waiting for another 2 hours, as our appointment had ‘slipped his mind’. When he finally arrived, we got maybe 15 minutes of work done, as he’d booked another appointment. I spent the 90-minute journey home raging, not only at his thoughtlessness, but also at myself.
You see, whilst waiting for him (drinking coffee that he didn’t reimburse me for), I worked out how much this was all costing me. Not only in terms of what I’d spent that day on travel and coffee, but in terms of my time, if I’d been charging a consultancy fee. I won’t be vulgar and give you an actual figure but suffice to say it made me cry a little.
A whole day completely wasted; no real work done, no money earned, and I wasn’t getting those hours back.
Now, I’m not telling you all this just to have a moan. I learned that day the true value of my time and vowed there and then to not only stop people stealing it, but to stop wasting it myself. This helps me, my business and my clients in so many ways.
“Time is money” – Benjamin Franklin
Firstly, I know the real cost of spending time on low-value tasks. Every minute that you spend on basic jobs is a minute you aren’t spending growing your company – tasks that could and should be delegated eat up your hours to the extent that when you need to do the real graft, you’re exhausted.
Our mission at VA Agency is to give that time back, so you can get back to working on your business, as opposed to in it. But I would also offer a note of caution to my clients, in the heady early days of working with a VA: don’t just use your time wisely, be aware of your VAs.
I’ve seen clients scratch their heads as their monthly hours have been eaten up, as if by magic: it’s easy to forget how long some jobs can actually take, no matter how efficient your VA is (and believe me, my associates are the very definition of efficient!). Time can disappear very quickly when you’re doing a ‘quick’ clean up on a mangled PowerPoint presentation or an unruly inbox! And by the same token, whilst we actively encourage you to delegate any job that you can, asking your VA to spend an hour trawling hotel sites to save you £5 on a room booking probably isn’tthe most cost-effective way to make savings.
“There’s only one thing more precious than our time and that’s who we spend it on” – Leo Christopher
It’s all very well me lecturing you about time, money and using both wisely, but how are you supposed to action anything with your whole to-do list staring at you and the minutes ticking away so quickly you feel like you’re living your life on permanent fast-forward?
Look at your diary and think about where you can make savings. Does that meeting really need to be an hour, or could you get everything done in 30 mins? If you switched your phone off for 45 minutes, along with any other distractions, would that stop it taking 2 hours to get your invoicing done? If someone has asked you for a catch-up call, choose a time that’s convenient to you and don’t be afraid to say how long you can spare – be ruthless!
Guard your minutes as you would your pennies – they’re just as valuable, if not more. If you want to know more about how we can help you with this, book a Discovery call today – we can’t wait to help you start giving you back your time!
Interested in finding the right VA for your business? Click here to book in a Discovery Call today or email us at info@vaa.support.
Until next time!
Stay productive.