Turning Time Into Money - The Entrepreneur's Way

Jan 8
16:10

2009

Gary Bailey

Gary Bailey

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There is a small but powerful difference between time on a job and time on your business - when you grasp that difference, you will be able to achieve more and create more money than you ever dreamed possible.

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How often have you applied "Time Is Money" to your own life and finances? If you can master how these three words work - you will have gained tremendous power over your future. The first thing to get a grip on is the infinite nature of money,Turning Time Into Money - The Entrepreneur's Way Articles and the finite nature of time.

Each of us is given a certain amount of time on this earth. For some of us it is longer than others, but two things we know - no-one knows exactly how much time they have, and it is definitely finite. At some point, you will cease to be on this planet and, in the meantime, you have 24 hours each day to work with, just like everyone else!

Money, on the other hand, is a completely arbitrary system - created by humans when we found that the barter system was getting too clumsy. Think about it - why should I give you a very valuable car, for example, just because you gave me some printed sheets of paper? How could a four ton, highly sophisticated vehicle possibly be worth the same as a few pounds of paper? The ONLY value that money has is what we say it has - and they keep printing more of it each and every day, so there's obviously no shortage. Now - in our society, money is an essential part of everyday life - each of us bring some value to the marketplace, which we trade for money - which in turn we trade for things that we need and want.

So - what's the key here? Each of us has the same amount of time each day, and we need to bring something of value to the world in order to get money so that we can have the things we want. We only have a finite amount of time, but ideally we would like to create a lot more money than we do right now...

The way that most people turn their time into money is by selling it - what we call a "job"! You make a deal with your employer that you will sell him so many hours per week, at an agreed rate per hour. For more highly skilled people, they bring more value to the deal, so they can command a higher hourly rate. The problem with this deal is that you have only so many hours - and your employer is prepared to pay only so much per hour for whatever task they need performed. In this context - a job is a very limiting way to generate money - and ultimately you are putting your value in your employer's hands. Think on that for a moment - whatever your monthly paycheck is, you are basing saying that is all you think your time is worth!

Now - we know that your time is worth far more than that, but you HAVE to break out of the "hourly rate" mentality. To truly generate incredible incomes, you need to start thinking like entrepreneurs do. There are two main parts to this:

Firstly - understand exactly what you do currently every day. Now break that down into three lists - the first list is those things that only you can do, for example no-one else could take a shower for you! And no-one else could tuck your kids into bed for you. The second list is those things that you enjoy doing - these are very important for your sanity! Finally, you list everything else. So the object of this first exercise is to free up as much of your time as possible - so everything on that third list needs to be delegated to someone else - kids, a spouse, or even hired help. Now hiring someone may seem a little extravagant as you get started on this - but what value do you put on your time? I have worked with people who earn around $2,000 per hour - if you want to get to that sort of level, then you need to start thinking at that sort of level. Do you think that $2,000 per hour person minds paying someone else $5 per hour to do their laundry? Finally, you need to manage these three lists every day - as more things come into your life, you need to decide which list they belong on, and avoid letting them suck up all of your time.

The second part of the process is the exciting part. Now that you have freed up your time by removing all the things that you do that are non-essential and are not adding value to your life, it's time to use that new time to bring value to the marketplace and start creating that new income. I'm not going to try to tell you what that should look like - you need to find the system or the business or the project that suits you best, but here are a few pointers:

Think in entrepreneurial time: In other words, stop expecting a return for each hour that you invest - start expecting an incredible return as a result of the value you create! So you might spend a week learning how to write great online advertising, yet make no money at all. Yet you could make $500 for almost no work at all the first time that ad runs. That's entrepreneurial time! Donald Trump doesn't expect to be paid to supervise his latest building project, but he knows that time invested in that building will pay back again and again and again - you have to be prepared to invest your time up front, even when it might not be convenient, but this is the road to a huge, residual income.

Learn something new every day: There are many mentors out there, especially with the advent of the internet, so learn a little from them each day. Sometimes you will find an email that has nothing to do with your core project, but you find interesting - go with it, give yourself a time limit to get back on target, but you might be surprised what you find down that trail. If you are looking to start into a system - check into your proposed mentor, find out how far they will go to support you and if you feel you can trust them - but then follow what they did completely! A mentor is only a mentor because they are successful, so don't change what they did if you expect the same results!

Have fun with this: This is a huge key - if you can master having fun while creating your business, then you will create more value, more quickly than you would believe! Enjoy working on projects and doing the best you can, and the market will recognize that commitment and respond. The more you focus on the project and creating something for other people, the more successful you will be!

Finally - have patience. Millionaires are not made overnight, but follow the process through, stick with it - even if you only have a small amount of time in the beginning - and you CAN create the income of your dreams!

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