Money-Leverage!
How to leverage the maximum amount of money out of every hour you spend working.
I’d like to talk about one of your most precious, but grossly under-valued commodities…
Your Time!
You see, most of us are taught that you’ve got to work long, hard hours if you want to be a “success”.
By the time you’re through reading this article – it’s going to become “crystal” clear to you that…
Nothing Could Be Further from The Truth!
I’m going to reveal to you my little-known but highly effective system for working “smarter” not “harder”. How many times have you told your spouse, friend, or significant other “I work so damn hard, I should be a millionaire by now” or ” My competition must be doing something illegal to make all that money since I work three times harder and make one-third less money than they do!”
If you haven’t figured it out yet, making a lot of money has absolutely nothing to do with how “hard” you work.
Let me try to be more specific with you.
A renowned business consultant named Michael Gerber wrote a book called The E-Myth (which I highly recommend all business owners should read). This book is great in dispelling many business E-Myths.
I strongly urge you to read it for yourself, but here is a brief synopsis of the invaluable lessons within the book.
1. Most Business Owners Are “Technicians” NOT Entrepreneurs.
Gerber explained that most successful employees figure to themselves that they could make far more money if they owned a business rather than working for someone else.
So, what they do is go out, start their own business, and create a “job” for themselves.
In most cases, these people end up working harder for themselves with less money to show for it because they now also have a dozen other “jobs” to worry about, and there are no other employees to do them. These business owners are worse off with their own business than they were working for someone else because they never truly understood what it meant to be an “entrepreneur”.
2. You Must Work “On” Your Business Not “In” Your Business.
If you truly want to be successful in your own business, you cannot and should not do everything yourself.
Your job should be marketing and sales, getting and keeping customers. Not ordering office supplies, doing your own bookkeeping, answering your own telephones, making copies, faxing, typing, and doing everything else your business requires.
If all of your time is spent doing administrative “detail” work, you will never have time to focus on truly important things like marketing, getting new customers, and keeping current customers happy.
3. You Must Have Predictable “Systems” Set Up for Running Your Business.
Every single business, no matter how large or small it is, must have a “systematized” way of doing things.
Otherwise, your business will operate in constant “chaos” which will ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction, and probably the failure of your business.
A perfect example of a system is a franchise like McDonald’s. They have systematized every single aspect of their business so that any new franchisee can open a McDonald’s restaurant in their area, and their customers will have the same exact experience as they have had at any other McDonald’s restaurant across the world.
Virtually every aspect of your existing business can be reduced to a “step-by-step” procedure that is repetitive.
There are very few things that will happen in your business that are totally new or unfamiliar to you.
Understand that most aspects of business are repetitive, and then set out to put together your own “operation’s manual” which explains how to do every function of your business in step-by-step detail.
This way, when you start hiring new people, most of your training can be done by handing them your manual and telling them to read it. It will make running and growing your business much easier.
Now, let’s talk about “Money-Leveraging”.
What Does “Money Leverage” Mean?
Good question. Let me explain.
A famous copywriter and marketing expert named John Carlton coined the term “money leverage”.
What he meant by this is that the goal of every entrepreneur or business owner should be to literally “leverage” the maximum amount of money out of every minute they spend working.
To be more specific, he explained that most entrepreneurs have a difficult time differentiating between $15/hr. work and $250/hr. work.
In other words, every time you make a copy, send a fax, answer your own phone, order office supplies, or do your own telemarketing or bookkeeping – you are “hiring” yourself to do $15/hr. work.
I’ll bet you’re saying to yourself right about now – “But Brian, I don’t have the money to pay someone to help me do these things – I’ve got to do everything myself.”
If this is the case…
You’re Costing Yourself a Ton of Money!
“How could this be?”, you ask.
Let me explain. Every hour you spend doing $15/hr. work is a “working” hour you can’t spend doing $250/hr. work.
Since most of us work about 8 – 10 hours a day, every hour you waste is money lost that you can never regain.
To put this more simply, there are two types of jobs in every business, I don’t care what type of business a person is in:
1. Money Dissipaters:
These are jobs like administrative work, bookkeeping, running errands, etc. They don’t make the company any money, they cost the company money.
These jobs must be done to run a business, but they do not bring any money into the business, and without sales, these jobs are useless.
2. Money Makers:
These are jobs like marketing and sales, setting up joint ventures, etc. All of these activities bring money into the business. These are the $250/hr. jobs. And if you haven’t figured it out yet…
These Are the Only Jobs You Should Be Doing!
You see, the true definition of an entrepreneur is a person who is a “Rainmaker”.
You’re the one who “makes things happen”.
Your job is marketing and sales, and keeping existing customers happy so they keep re-purchasing from you.
All other jobs should be hired out – period!
Let a $10 – $15 an hour person help you with every aspect of your business other than “Getting and Keeping Customers”.
For example, if you’re still handwriting names and addresses on your postcards, mailing out the FREE reports, doing your own telemarketing, and filling out the financial aid forms yourself – you are now doing $15/hr. work.
The only, and I repeat only thing you should be doing is conducting seminars, doing sales presentations, and continually staying on top of your marketing (i.e., making sure postcards are sent out every week, doing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd notice mailings, sending out a monthly newsletter, etc.).
Every other job that you’re currently doing should be off-loaded to someone else who is probably far more capable in that area than you are.
In fact, this is exactly how I was able to grow my businesses and help my clients grow theirs as well.
I’m always asking myself the question, “Can someone else do this job cheaper and more effectively than I can?”
If the answer is “yes”, I immediately pay someone else to do it!
Every time you start doing $15/hr. jobs, think to yourself…
“I’m Burning Up $250 Bills Right Now!”
That should put you in the proper mindset, and make you feel guilty that you’re “costing” yourself hundreds of dollars.
This is the “secret” to money leverage and making a fortune in your business.
It’s not working “harder” that makes you rich, it’s working “smarter”.
So, the next time you hear someone say, “I work so hard, I should be a millionaire by now!” – ask them if they have employees, or if they have an “operator’s manual” for running their business.
I’ll bet you the farm these people don’t know how to delegate or differentiate between $15/hr. and $250/hr. work!
Contact Biz Coach Steve today to see how he can assist you to get the results you want in your business, steve@bizcoachsteve.com, or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today.
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