Have you heard the phrase “time is money?” I don’t agree. I think time is more valuable than money. Here’s why: You’ll always be able to make more money. However, you can’t get your time back. Because of that, I want to tell you how to make more time while you’re busy making money. In this article, I’m going to show you how to use money to get more time, the value of SOPs in getting your time back, and what you can do today.
TIME ISN’T MONEY, BUT MONEY CAN BUY TIME
Recently, I was on a golf trip with my buddies in Florida. We were on our way back, and I was looking for an earlier flight. My current flight would get me home by 1 AM, but it was close to Christmas and I wanted to spend the evening with my family. I found one, and gladly traded a couple hundred bucks to get home around 6 PM. I was able to spend time with my family rather than save a little money and spend my time waiting to travel.
Maybe I’m getting a little nostalgic, but these days I value the time I have with my family way more than making (or saving) some money.
According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America shares, “Despite rising incomes, people around the world are feeling increasingly pressed for time, undermining well-being. We show that the time famine of modern life can be reduced by using money to buy time.” They also posed this question, “Could allocating discretionary income to buy free time—such as by paying to delegate common household chores, like cleaning, shopping, and cooking— reduce the negative effects of the modern time famine, thereby promoting well-being?”
We think that it does. So beyond using your resources to buy convenience and create more time for what you value, how can you gain more time? In your business, we think SOPs are a powerful way to do this.
HOW SOPS CAN GIVE YOU MORE TIME
Picture this: It’s your weekly staff meeting and you’re explaining the sales model…again. Your team takes notes (again). Then, you get a question you’ve answered in the weeks before. Inwardly, you groan. What a waste of time. This is where SOPs come in.
Standard Operating Procedures are a recorded way to train your team. You spend a little time making note of the best way to do things in your business, and then your team can reference it for years to come. This ends the constant re-trainings and repeated questions. Sure, you’re there for your team to help troubleshoot or answer questions, but you have SOPs there as a first point of contact.
The beauty in this is that SOPs can be highly accessible. Cloud-based documents, videos, and tutorials are easy for your team to access anywhere, whether they’re remote or local. A lot of people rely on video these days (thanks social media), so I strongly recommend recording video SOPs whenever it makes sense.
START GETTING YOUR TIME BACK
There are some things you can do today to begin gaining time. First, you’ve got a little legwork. Take a look at your schedule and see where you’re spending time you don’t need. For example, are you doing tasks you can delegate? Or, are you trading time to cut marginal costs, like I did when I booked a slightly cheaper flight? These are areas you can trade a little money for to regain time.
Next, create SOPs that your team can use. For 2022, we’re hosting a workshop on January 20th to help you do just that. The workshop registration is free, and just by attending you’ll support Kids To Love. This nonprofit has been working since 2007 to reach over 275,000 foster children, rescuing them and meeting their needs. Get registered here. Missed the workshop? Scroll down to see three ways we can help your grow your business.
Remember, time isn’t money; it’s more valuable. Start creating more value in your life today!
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