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How Much is Your
Time Worth?
How much is your time
worth? Not sure?
Ask any part-time employee and they
will tell you: $9.50/hour (or whatever their wage is).
Hourly workers know the value of their time. Successful
salespeople who work on commission know the value of
their time. Some salaried workers, particularly the
successful ones, know the value of their time.
But what about you? It's a different
story for the online business owner! You probably work
more than eight hours during the day (or night) and
then think about your business even when you are not
sitting at your computer working on it. And, if it's
a passion of yours (and many online entrepreneurs turn
their hobbies and passions into a business), then you've
got an even greater challenge in figuring out the value
of your time.
Maybe you don't know the value of their
time. Many people don't, so you are not alone. But it's
a calculation that will help you manage your time, so
it's worth the five minutes that you will spend trying
to figure it out.
The best thing to do is just do a basic
calculation: income divided into total hours worked.
No, it's not a perfect calculation because it doesn't
account for the hours that you spend thinking and it
doesn't account for your expenses...but you are also
busy enough that a rule-of-thumb idea from a quick calculation
is just as effective and takes less time.
It's probably a good idea to make this
calculation for a week's worth of time or even a month's
worth of time. That way, you will help to smooth out
the fluctuations that occur in your schedule and in
your customer's buying patterns. This calculation might
require you to actually monitor your time for a week.
It's a good exercise to do anyway, regardless of whether
or not you end up trying to discover the value of your
time.
For most entrepreneurs who are just
starting out, the value of their time is just a few
dollars at best. Don't feel badly if that is the case
with you.
Once you have that number, you have
a baseline. Now what?
Now you have something to work for.
Now you have a goal to shoot for. Currently earning
25 cents an hour? (Don't laugh. Many entrepreneurs earn
that when they just start out. It will get better!)
If you are earning that much, make it a goal to earn
50 cents an hour, then a dollar, then five dollars.
Keep track of your current "hourly worth"
in your business planner and use it to constantly remind
yourself to build it up over time. That is the American
Dream! And you are living it!
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