Nothing lights me up inside like seeing women entrepreneurs chase their dreams. In a world that tells us to be small and quiet, I love seeing my fellow women take up space and share their brilliant ideas!
I feel like we’re living in a time of great change, and I’m absolutely thrilled to see so many women launching, promoting, and running phenomenal businesses.
BUT.
Those same women often stumble when it comes to using their time wisely. So many of us fret over expenses, cling to control, and refuse to believe that it makes sense to pay someone else to do work we could simply handle ourselves. Even when I nudge them to do a simple ROI assessment to see if outsourcing makes sense, plenty of women business owners still resist.
And I think I know why.
It’s because we’re learning to value our talents and creativity, but still struggling to value our time. We know that we have so much to contribute to the world, but feel obliged to do all the work entirely alone. We may think that delegating to freelancers is financially out-of-reach, or lazy, or a luxury that only big businesses can afford. And clinging to these beliefs allows us to continually de-value our own time. When we assume that our time as entrepreneurs is equivalent to that of a VA or contractor, we stifle our growth and sell ourselves short.
Are YOU struggling to truly value your own time? If so, I’ve got 3 super-simple exercises that can help you break that cycle and see how much you’re truly worth!
Put a real-time price tag on your time
For starters, pay attention to how long various tasks take you, focusing specifically on work that is directly linked to revenue. For instance, say you take an hour to write an email to your list that results in 30 sales at $47 each. Even if it takes a week or so for all those sales to flow in, that single hour was worth more than $1,400.
Definitely a good use of your time and talents!
Now compare that to other ways your time gets used. If you’re a coach, how much are you charging for an hour-long one-on-one with a client? How much for a group session? You might not be able to start charging $1,400 per hour for everything you do, but if your current rates are waaaay off, adjust them.
Put a projected price tag on your time
Before you start building new offerings, run some calculations to make sure that they’ll be worth the effort and time you’ll pour into them. If you’re creating a course that you plan to sell for $197, think about how many you expect to sell. (Base your ballpark estimate on sales of your own past products, and current list size.)
Multiply that out and divide by the number of hours you anticipate spending on development. So if you expect to sell 150 courses at $197, you’ll make $29,950 on the course. If it took you 35 hours to create it, each hour spent was worth $844. How does that compare with the rates you charge for services? How does it compare with your internal beliefs about what your time is worth?
If the numbers I’m throwing out are blowing your mind, you’re probably undervaluing your own time!
Put a “priceless” tag on your time
The most valuable use of your time might be for things that have no monetary value at all: Travel, enjoying family and friends, treating yourself to a massage or manicure, or just recharging by doing nothing at all.
Creating room in your business life for relaxation and enjoyment allows you to more efficiently and effectively spend the time you need to continually catalyze your success. But if you burn the candle at both ends, doing everything yourself, you’ll burn right out. Instead, delegate to trusted contractors so your own time can be saved for what’s truly important, both personally and professionally.
So! What’s YOUR time worth, beautiful? Punch your numbers into my FREE online calculator now.
