What Is Your Time Worth?

Do you take on tasks or projects you’re not good at?

Now to be clear, I don’t mean stepping out of your comfort zone to learn something new and expand your horizons. That’s a great way to approach life. I’m talking about doing tasks that are outside of your zone of genius, you don’t actually enjoy doing, and frankly, they are probably below your pay grade.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve most certainly experienced this. In the beginning of your business, you have more time than money, so you have to bootstrap your way through it. However, have you held onto that mentality as your business has grown, and if so, what is it costing you?

It’s time to set boundaries around what your time is worth and what you will choose to do with it.

An Important Lesson

My stepson and his girlfriend are moving into a new home next month. They are in their late twenties and in an effort to save money, they figured they’d just hire movers to do the furniture and then move all of the boxes themselves over the next week.

If you’re over the age of 35, your back probably started hurting just reading this. You can take an Advil when you finish reading this. If you’ve ever stretched a move into multiple days, you know that this is a TERRIBLE idea. Instead of one day of intense suckage, you spend days if not weeks resentful that you didn’t just suck it up and do it in one fell swoop.

But here’s the real problem… they both make good money. Yeah, that’s not the problem. The problem is that they could make way more money bringing in more business, than what they will pay the movers to haul all their belongings across town.

I wish someone had told me when I was that age to figure out how much my time is worth, and then outsource anything that would cost less to hire someone else to do.

What Are you Good At?

In The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks identifies four zones of function:

1.????? Zone of Incompetence – Tasks you’re not good at

2.????? Zone of Competence – Tasks you’re okay at, but others are probably better

3.????? Zone of Excellence – Tasks you’re very good at and better than most

4.????? Zone of Genius – Tasks that tap into your natural abilities and you’ve spent a lot of time practicing. Tasks in this zone bring you the most joy.

When you read these four zones, where do most of the tasks you take on, fall?

As a new entrepreneur, I had absolutely no money to pour into my business. Every cent I made went to keeping a roof over my head and kibble in my dog’s dish. This meant that I did EVERYTHING myself. Setting up social media? I did that. Creating graphics for my content? Me. Creating a website? Yup, I learned how to do that.

Am I good at writing code? Nope. In fact, while I excelled in most of my college classes, I took a coding class (to avoid math) and almost failed the course. My brain just doesn’t think that way. Now, are there super easy tools these days that can turn just about anyone into a website designer? Yes. Was my website great even with the use of these tools? Nope.

The first thing I did when I had some money to invest in my business… hire a web designer to revamp my site.

Now don’t get me wrong, if you enjoy designing websites and want to add that skill to your repertoire, do it! But if you never plan to use that skill again (like me) and have some money to invest, hire it out and save yourself the stress and the headache.

I used to format my own books too. Then I wasted three days of my life trying to fix a glitch. Never again. When I think about the client prospecting I could’ve been doing instead, it seems like a giant waste of my precious time.

What’s Your Time Worth?

Whether you work for someone else, or run your own company, your time has value associated to it.

As an employee, you either have an hourly wage or a salary that equates to an average number of hours per week. It’s relatively easy to figure out what your time is worth, however, you may not have the ability to make above and beyond your regular salary. If this is the case, you will need to look at what else you could be doing with your time if you weren’t taking on tasks or projects outside of your Zone of Genius or Excellence.

For the entrepreneurs, freelancers, business owners, and commission-based sales people, you have a slightly easier calculation. You can ask yourself these questions:

1.????? What is your hourly rate? Project rate?

2.????? How much do you make from a sale and how long is the sales process?

3.????? How do you prospect for new clients/customers and how long does this take?

Once you’ve figured out (roughly) how much your time is worth, you can understand the opportunity cost – how much money you are giving up by taking on projects you have no business taking on.

There are also experiences in life that you can’t put a price tag on. For example, you have limited time with your aging parents. Would you rather spend your free time organizing their medications or food shopping for them, or could you outsource that to someone else so you can spend quality time talking and hearing stories while the opportunity is still there? ?

DIY vs Outsourcing

Armed with your “hourly rate,” it’s time to decide whether or not you should do it yourself or outsource it to someone else. To do this, we are going to use the Clash Question- Should I Yay or Should I No (slightly tweaked) to make an intentional decision.

1.????? Do you want to or have to do it? As I mentioned earlier, this may be a skill you want to learn because you’ll use it in the future. Or, maybe you enjoy doing whatever it is, even if you fumble through it. If you want to do it, you can move to the next question.

While there are tasks that have to get done, you may or may not be the best person to do them. If you don’t want to do something, but feel it has to be done, consider who you could delegate it to.

2.????? Do you have the resources? While I usually define “resources” as time, money, emotional energy, and mental bandwidth, I’m going to add “skills” and “tools” for our purposes. Can you actually do whatever it is that needs to get done? Will it require time, money, or energy for learning? Do you have whatever tools you need to get it done? These could be software programs or subscriptions, physical tools to fix or update your home or vehicle, licenses that mean you can legally do something, etc. If the task you need handled is one that requires skill (website design, graphic design, accounting, content writing, technical or mechanical know-how, etc.) how much longer will it take you to do that project (well and safely) than an expert in the field? If you’re not willing to spend the time, money, and energy to acquire the necessary resources, outsource it.

3.????? What are you willing to give up. Our resources (especially time) are finite. If you say yes to whatever project you are considering, you will be saying no to something else (bringing in more clients and making more money, spending time with family, relaxing, etc.) When it comes to doing heavy lifting like a move, you may be giving up going pain free for the next few days. If you choose to dabble in an area you have no business dabbling in (i.e.: electrical work), you may be giving up your safety! If you aren’t willing to give anything up, delegate it!

Of course there’s one other piece to consider. ?Be honest, DIYers – at least once in your life, you’ve taken on a project that was smack dab in the middle of your Zone of Incompetence and you made the situation so much worse. If you take on a project you can’t actually do, what is it going to cost you to hire an expert to FIX whatever you’ve broken.

Conclusion

Stop tearing your hair out, spraining your back, wasting time, money, and energy on things you suck at (or don’t actually want to do).

Create healthy boundaries around what you do. Use The Clash Question as a framework to run your decisions through and determine if a project is worth your time, or if it’s better to outsource. Your family, your business, and your body will thank you.

If you are ready to learn how to set boundaries around your time and energy, my coaching program can help. Let’s chat.

For more information on establishing healthy boundaries in your personal and professional life, visit www.SherylGreenSpeaks.com

About Sheryl Green

Sheryl Green is a Mental Health speaker, author, and the “How to Say No” Expert. She works with?individuals and organizations to establish healthy boundaries to improve relationships, communication, and well-being. Her mission is to make the world a better place… one boundary at a time. Learn more about her entertaining and illuminating programs or contact her at 702.885.4309.

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