In part one of our series, I explained that working harder would not necessarily equate to a higher bottom line for your respective business. Although hard work and determination are certainly integral components to a successful career, we need to distance ourselves from the notion of trading time for money.
The most successful real estate entrepreneurs have discovered that your income is correlated directly to the wealth you have managed to accumulate — not the amount of time invested.
Having said that, I encourage you to keep reading if you want to manage, organize, invest and allocate your time in a manner that allows you to realize a level of success you might not have even known was possible.
Leveraging the time and knowledge of others
Remember, time is of the essence, or at least, that’s what everyone says. Fortunately, taking control of your time is perhaps less complicated than you might have originally anticipated.
The fastest way to increase the amount of time you have, or would like to have, is to leverage the knowledge of those who have come before you.
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I would like to believe that it isn’t necessary to reinvent the wheel, and thus, I have already accepted that there is a proven way of doing things.
In other words, don’t be afraid to piggyback off of the success of your predecessors. After all, they are successful for a reason. Surround yourself with people who have already done what you hope to accomplish, and emulate their strategies.
You will learn that building a business takes a lot of time, but nobody ever said that time had to be yours.
Time allocation
It’s true what they say: You can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been — or in this case, where your time is currently being allocated.
That being said, the only way to ensure you are properly able to leverage other people’s time is to evaluate how you currently spend yours.
I recommend keeping tabs on where you spend most of your time. Take a week and document everything you do. Note how long each task takes and what you are doing.
Before you know it, you will be presented with a detailed overview of your weekly routine — or in this case, how you subconsciously allocate your time.
You should notice a few trends — what you place a priority on and where you are most efficient. At the very least, you should recognize where you are the least efficient.
Next, analyze how much of that time is spent on productive, income-producing tasks. You won’t be able to officially own your time until you have a better understanding of where you are currently wasting it.
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The 80/20 principle
Assuming you have taken a moment to analyze where your time is spent, I encourage you to select the top 20 percent of activities you deem the most important for producing income.
These activities should center on driving in revenue and might include — but aren’t limited to — the following:
- Marketing
- Networking
- Buyer meetings
- Revenue-driving systems
- Raising money
- Recruiting
- Staff management
Remember these activities and anything else you deem integral to increasing your bottom line because they will serve as your main priorities.
If you want to utilize your best asset (time), you need to understand what is most important. Focus on this top 20 percent, and leave the rest to someone else.
Proceed to take note of the remaining 80 percent of your weekly activities, and understand that they are probably better off left in other hands.
As an entrepreneur, your time should be spent on income-producing activities, and those better suited to your particular skill set. I am willing to bet the remaining 80 percent of tasks I mentioned could be done by someone else. Your time is too valuable to spend hours addressing envelopes or buying office supplies.
The remaining 80 percent of tasks should be outsourced to a personal assistant or even a virtual assistant. Their help will indeed come with a price, but I can assure you it’s worth it.
The time you are awarded by removing menial tasks from your daily to-do list will free you to focus on what is crucial.
Instead of doing the laundry, you can concentrate your efforts on finding another deal, or better yet, closing on a property.
The sooner you remove the busy work from your routine, the sooner you will be able to appreciate the time you are given. That extra time can easily translate into a higher bottom line for your business.
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Should you take my advice, there is a good chance you will be able to grow a real estate business that requires less of your time.
Again, the more income-producing assets you acquire, the easier it will be to rely on income that is entirely passive. Only then will you be able to understand how valuable your time is.
Than Merrill is the founder and CEO of FortuneBuilders and CT Homes. Connect with Than on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @ThanMerrill.