The 3 Different Types Of Time And How They Affect Your Day

We’ve all heard the expression that time equals money. But did you know it resembles cash in more ways than one?

In this article, we're going to take you through the 3 different types of time and how they affect your day…

No matter how successful or systemised you get, the challenge of managing your time effectively will always pop up every so often… When we learn to value our time, we tend to protect it a lot more vigorously. Which is why we see a dramatic change in how our builders operate once they understand their financial reports and how to price their jobs correctly.

Previously we’ve covered how to calculate your hourly rate and how to delete activities using the D.A.D. system so I’m not going to go into that again… Instead, I’m going to explain the three different categories of time and how they relate to money.

With cash the choices are simple, you can gamble it, you can exchange it for goods or services... or you can invest it.

And it’s exactly the same with time when you are operating a building company. You can gamble your time working on sales, you can exchange it when you work in the business or you can invest it by working on the business.

Let’s Start With Gambling.

Most builders start off successful because they get to gamble 100% of their time on sales. Service enquiries, meet with potential clients and ultimately close a few deals.

They are not being paid for their work so the investment of time becomes a gamble. But with no jobs to work on and no time being invested in self-improvement, it’s the one thing a builder has in abundance when they start their company.

The prospects certainly enjoy the extra attention a builder starting out can afford to give them, and this certainly helps to win more deals... But soon enough, reality sets in and time gets consumed by the day to day running of the jobs.

This work can be performed by any trained member of staff, so by reducing the amount of time that is allocated to gambling and investing the time saved into working in the business, we now have a situation where sales will eventually decline.

This creates a cycle of feast and famine that continues until the builder finds a way to balance how he spends his time between gambling and exchanging and… becomes trapped on the hamster wheel.

Running furiously to stand still…

Not enough time to spend on generating the sales needed to employ more staff... and not enough time to do everything that needs doing each day in the business… and certainly, no time to work on the business.

What happens next is pretty depressing…

You Need To Dedicate Time

When you don't have time to work on your business and plan for the future, you become reactive.

Instead of deciding the type of work you want to do and the type of people you want to attract, you end up taking whatever comes your way.

The result? Low margins and unreasonable clients. A recipe for disaster that happens over and over again in this industry.

If you don’t invest some of your time each week working on the business, you’ll spend the majority of it working in the business and the remainder will be gambled hoping and quoting… That’s no way to live…

How Do You Get Out Of A Rut Like That?

It’s not easy, but we all find ourselves in a situation like this at some point so let me share something that I’ve seen work time and time again.

I must warn you, if you’re looking for a silver bullet this isn't it!

We only offer advice that works for us, and has worked for the hundreds of builders we mentor around the world. If you’re in a situation right now where you spend the majority of your time working in the business and the remainder of your working day along with evenings and Saturday’s quoting jobs that may or may not go to contract... There is only one way out…

Work Longer Hours!

You always have a bit more time up your sleeve, so dig deep and invest it. This is not a long-term solution, it is a short-term fix that is going to create more time for you.

Until you start investing some time working on your business and yourself, nothing in your life is going to change.

But when you invest time to work on your business, you end up CREATING time. That’s because running a business is all about planning and delegating.

So get off the hamster wheel and start learning how to leverage your time today!

To discover more tips for running a successful building company, download the proven sales process for builders by clicking on the link below.