How Do You Put a Value on Your Time?

As a small business owner, does the following paragraph sound familiar to you...?

"Other than doing the technical 'fix-its' with my computer...I do it all! I have found that this keeps me very limited in growing my business and taking on new clients. I wish I had someone to help but how can I justify hiring someone when I can do the work myself...when I have the time?"

This is a very common issue for many small business owners. All the work, whether revenue generating or not, needs to be done to keep the business running smoothly.

We need to reconnect with our goals for our business and our vision for its future. We need to focus on why we started this business in the first place. Focusing includes deciding how much our time is worth.

But, how do you put a value on your time? How much is each hour of each day worth, especially when you are doing projects that are not generating revenue or increasing your customer base?

Is your time worth $25, $50, $100 per hour....or more? When you get busy doing those tasks that don't directly generate revenue, consider how much it is costing you.

For example:

You charge $75 per hour for your services/time. You spend a total of 5 hours trying to catch up on your correspondence...entering information into a database, typing and re-typing your letters and preparing them to be mailed.

$75/hr X 5 hours = $375.00 of your valuable time and profit

If it would cost you less to outsource, why not do it? Why not allow a professional to handle some of your tasks leaving you with more time to generate revenue?

$25/hr (sample cost to outsource) X 5 hours = $125.00

$375 - $125 = $250 + the $ of the contract you signed while a professional took care of the non-revenue generating tasks.

Although you are spending some of your hard earned money, you are gaining so much more. Outsourcing gives you professional assistance, which in turn saves you both time and money...the two things that most small business owners need more of.

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About Janice D. Byer, MVA

Janice Byer is a certified Master Virtual Assistant and owner of Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services (http://www.docutype.net). See this and other articles on her website.
jbyer@docutype.net


And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Policies and Procedures Used as Management Key

Managers know the difficulty of getting people to do the right things the right way. And employees need their expertise and understanding of the way things should be done. But how do you get it across so it actually sticks? The answer is well-defined policies and procedures.

Quickly Convey What's Right

Managers can convey the exact way things should be done with policies and procedures, and they can do it faster than ever with pre-written documents. This speeds an organization's standard operating procedures project effectiveness to get results.

Create Strong Operating Procedures

Departmentally-focused manuals provide an excellent opportunity to create strong, consistent Standard Operating Procedures across multiple functions. This includes added savings of time and resources. Departments that benefit with improved results include:

  • CEO Management - Build an effective management procedures system based on best practices for the entire organization
  • CFO Controller - Simplify the job as a CFO or Controller, and speed the development of comprehensive Accounting and HR manuals
  • ISO 9001 Quality Manager - Create ISO 9001 quality policies and procedures manual with prewritten policies, procedures and forms
  • Human Resources Manager - Create HR policies and procedures manual with prewritten policies, procedures and forms
  • Security Manager - Create complete facility security procedures and disaster recovery plans

Customize to any Business

When researching effective solutions, the content should be well-researched and follow industry-standard formats. Moreover, the applications such as MS Word-based standard operating procedures documents should be easy to edit and simple to customize for any business or organization.

Utilize Essential Procedures

Management should have a solution to implement their entire policy system with essential procedures in one concise, consistent format. And they can do it effectively and efficiently because pre-written documents:

  • Saves research time
  • Improves procedure writing
  • Speeds policy development
  • Eases document editing
  • Enhances policy knowledge
  • Simplifies implementation

The Right Documents

Business owners and executives should select a pre-written policies and procedures package specifically created for a particular management scope. And choose the one that identifies their role and needs.

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About Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson has over 18 years of sales, marketing and business management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc.

Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com