Great question! It really is a very important question because time is our most important asset. Money can be replaced, but time can’t. In my book, Renegade Millionaire Strategies for Real Estate Agents, you’ll find two chapters on this topic. You can download my book for free at www.FreeRenegadeBook.com.
I have some additional thoughts on this question because I recently tested a new work schedule. In July, I spent most of the month on vacation. I won’t get into all of the details, but I will tell you that I copied Andrew Carnegie’s work schedule. Andrew would work for around 3 hours a day. He would accomplish more in the 3 hours he worked than most people would accomplish in a week. Massive action!
During my vacation, I got up early and worked from 6 am to 9:00 am each day. I would then check and respond emails for about 30 minutes at the of the day. After 3 weeks, I learned a great deal about myself! Here is what I learned:
- That I didn’t delegate enough.
- I was only able to work on two areas of my business: customer service and future income generation.
- I didn’t make any progress on current income opportunities.
As entrepreneurs, we have 4 main areas to cover in our businesses. These areas are
- Administrative Duties
- Customer Service – Keeping your current customers happy
- Current Sales and Income
- Future Sales and New Opportunities
The time you allocate to each of these activities will dictate your future income. For example, lets say you spend 30% of your time on administrative tasks (processing sales), 50% of your time on current sales opportunities (showing homes to buyers/getting listings), and 20% of your time on customer service (communicating with your listings, clients and handling problems), you’re future income is in jeopardy. This is because you’re not devoting any time to building your future pipeline.
I think the ideal strategy would be allocate your time to each area based upon the following percentages:
- Administrative Tasks: 0% (Delegated)
- Customer Service: 10%
- Current Income Opportunities: 40%
- Future Income Opportunities: 50%
Have you ever experienced the income roller coaster? I have. You have a great month followed by a terrible month. Why does this happen? It happens because when your slow, you focus on creating future sales. Then when these sales kick in, you’re busy and don’t to continue to build your future pipeline. Your sales dwindle and your slow again. This creates a constant income roller coaster.
My time allocation above was designed to completely end the income roller coaster. It was also designed to increase your income each year. How much time are you currently spending in each of these four areas? How can you re-allocate your time to meet my allocation? You should pre-plan your schedule based around activities in these categories. This will help you stay on course!
