If you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, leader in any size business or work at all to make money, your time is money.
Free lunch. Really?
Sorry, there is no such thing as a free lunch, even if someone else pays for it.
There is more to life than work. The hours you spend on anything are consuming your brain, your emotions, and of course time in your day. The goal is that you are spending your time on things that offer you value in a form that brings you more joy, money, fun, peace or happiness. The goal and chosen form is yours and not for me to decide.
Therefore, if you waste time on something that isn't bringing you a benefit of some sort, either personal or professional, there is an opportunity cost to what you could be doing if you were not doing something negative that wastes time.
It's not so much about the value of the free lunch, it's about the value of time it took you to get ready to go to lunch. Maybe you had to get a sitter, share knowledge with a co-worker or employee so they could cover for you? Or how about the gas money to get there? The list goes on and on so hopefully you get my point!
Case Study from the 12 Year Old Son of the Marketing Nut:
I have a perfect case study in very simple terms on the value of placing time on our services. I hope it will inspire you to think about how you spend your time and how you spend, maximize or waste the time of others.
You can watch the video below, read the short synopsis or both. Bottom line I think my 12 yr old knows more about this topic than some of our clients, prospects, partners and colleagues.
Scenario:
- We are working on a few large brand projects for our clients.
- The projects involve developing concepts.
- I needed some quick photo searches done today to help with concept ideation.
- Even though my son swears he is never going to work with tech, he is a genuis, creative mind and has helped us even name a client's company in about two seconds!
- My son was sitting around in his pajamas doing, well nothing but watching annoying cartoons.
- I figured it would be a good use of his time and mine if he could test his skills at photo searches.
The deal:
- I asked him if he would be interested in helping me on a quick turn project to payout in 24 hours.
- The intial deal was for me to pay $5 tomorrow for work he would do with photo searches today.
- Initially we agreed to one hour of searching for photos.
The project:
- My son ran to the computer, eager to start the project and make a few bucks.
- Within 5-10 minutes he had approximately 20 photos. All were amazing and of the quality we could potentially use for creating concepts.
- I gave him immediate feedback and told him to keep going and find more like those.
The second deal:
- He immediately saw the value he was offering me and was ready to renegotiate the deal.
- His new offer was that I would double my payment to him (making total payout now $10).
- His new deal also put a limit on the number of photos he would search.
- I agreed to the deal and told him to find as many photos as he could.
The end result:
- He found 35 amazing photos.
- He left a bill behind for $12, not $10.
- He told me if I wanted his services again I would need to pay the $12 by tomorrow.
How much did mom pay out.
- I will be paying out at minimum $12 on his payday tomorrow.
The value:
- I love his work and service.
- Chances are I will pay more than $12 on the next project.
- Wish me luck!
The lesson:
- Put a value on your products, services and time.
- If you do, other people will do the same.
What you say?
Are you putting value on your services? Or are you giving away your intellectual property? Working for less than you should be? If you don't place value on the services and time you give your clients, partners and colleagues, they'll never place value on it either.
