Dollar Productive Behavior
In my last post we looked at Living a Life that You Design. It is now time to look at Dollar Productive Behavior and funding your lifestyle.
This post is part of a series I am writing as I revisit a course I did some years ago with Dr Fred Grosse. In the earlier posts I discussed:
- Put a dollar value against every hour you spent working
- List the activities that earned you the most $’s per hour and write the $ amount next to each activity
- List the activities that could have been performed by an assistant for $15 an hour (in our online world we can translate that to “outsourced”)
- List all the “chatter” going on in your head about having an assistant and delegating
- What does it cost you each time you continue to perform these $15 tasks
- List the activities that you perform in your business that earn you the most income. Start with the most dollar productive.
- Make your office the ideal office – list ways you can enhance your office to help you be more productive.
- Thinks I will no longer do – ah that is an important one!
Once you have become clear on how you are spending your time you will know what activities you need to add and which you need to drop or outsources.
I would love to hear your comments on Dollar Productive Behavior. Do you log your time or have you ever done it? Are you doing work you know you should outsource?
Sue Price
Skype: sueprice
Click here to work with me personally
PS
Check out this free video showing how ANYONE can make $150-$500 per day online!
Viola Tam says
Hi Sue,
I love your blog titile! “Dollar productive”! What a great term!
I remember following Dani Johnson’s network marketing training years ago. One key part is also to take a close examination of the ACTUAL way that we use our time. I could not remember how long we did that. However, just logging the time for a few days had us shocked!
I could not agree more about your last point too. WE must decide not to do certain things. For stay-at-home mums who are running a network marketing business, the cleanliness of the home may have to be compromised. By taking ‘acceptable’ instead of ‘spotless’ as the standard, most mums can ‘earn’ back some extra time 🙂
Time needed to be wisely spent on ‘dollar productive’ tasks such as connecting, prospectinhg and following up!
Viola Tam
Sue Price says
Hi Viola
Yes dollar productive says it all really doesn’t it. I love Dani Johnson’s training. I did heaps of it years back too.
It can be quite shocking when we look at how we are spending our time. I know when I did this with Dr Fred I was spending way too much time on email – way too much.
Oh Viola that is such a good point on stay home mums compromising on the cleanliness. After as long as the house is basically clean it does not matter. And if they spend the time prospecting and connecting they will be able to hire a cleaner when they have money rolling in 🙂
Thanks for your feedback.
Sue
Sylviane Nuccio says
Hi Sue,
Very interesting and valuable information here.
I certainly could use that list myself. I am not very good at organizing myself. I mean, I end up doing everything I’ve got to do, but sometimes it’s by rushing like a chicken without its head. I know that if I were more organized I could do the same things, but without having to rush and added stress to my life.
I will bookmark this post and write down the list for myself 🙂
Sue Price says
Hi Sylviane
I really think this info is very valuable too. I often ask myself why I am doing “bla bla” and is it dollar productive. Facebook can be a trap for me. I go there to go to our groups and do syndicating etc then I see my niece on there so then I read her stuff and so it goes. I am constantly having to remind myself what I should be doing.
You seem so calm I cannot imagine you behaving like a chicken without it’s head 🙂
I am currently attempting to do all my dollar productive activities first in my day. Otherwise I get to the end of the day and do the chicken without a head thing and yes get stressed.
Thanks for your comment Sylviane.
Sue
Carol Lynn says
That’s a great process to go through. It’s really helpful sometimes to have someone lay out the “what to do” so you can get some perspective on things. I actually enjoy following people’s lists like this just to see what I will get as the outcome. You can really learn something interesting (and helpful) things. I have recently gone through something like this where I was doing some really time-consuming stuff and it was driving me crazy and all I kept thinking was “I’m not getting paid enough to do this!” And the fact is, I shouldn’t have been doing it. Exactly as you said, I should have outsourced it to an intern or someone at a lower rate, because it wasn’t worth my time when I could be doing other things. This is a good exercise for anyone, no matter what their stage in business.
Sue Price says
Hi Carol
It is great you got to the realization that you should not have been doing something and should have outsourced it. Great that you are conscious of how you are spending your time.
When I was working as a CPA I had a set chargeable hourly rate that was quite high. In order to keep clients fees reasonable I was very conscious of delegating any tasks I could to someone with a lower rate. Now that was easy in an accounting practice with staff. Not so easy when it is now just me. I do share a VA with someone though and I am always thinking about what else I can give him to do.
I agree it is a good exercise for anyone.
Thanks for your comment Carol.
Sue
Adrienne says
Wow, I’m thinking everyone should take Dr Fred’s course Sue. What wisdom you’ve already shared with us up to this post and then this one, dang…
I think it was about two or three years ago now I recall being told to do the money making activities first and get those out of the way because they are the most important ones we should be doing. If the task will not bring you money then let someone else do it.
Easier said then done when you’re first starting out and have limited funds. I had always been in the work force so although I did always work for someone else I had a very high work ethic. It was totally different working for myself because I had to do everything myself. The learning curve too was very time consuming.
Outsourcing the smaller tasks is really the way to go and concentrating more on the money making ones is key. So now if we all can just figure out how to get that done.
Great topic Sue, thanks!
~Adrienne
Sue Price says
Hi Adrienne
Dr Fred’s course was brilliant. He just has so much wisdom. You would like him too as he is so no BS and calls people on it pretty quickly.
That is great advice you were given to do the money making activities first. I am currently working on doing that. I had fallen into a trap of doing email and Facebook first. Mainly because even though we are a day ahead of you when I wake up it is already afternoon in the USA. So I see all the Facebook activity and want to get on there. But easy to waste time.
Coming from being an employee is for sure an adjustment and learning curve Adrienne. For me also coming from being a business owner with people to delegate to has been a huge learning.
I think outsourcing is key. I also think that mastering this topic is critical for success. I think I am too polite. In the 4 hour work week Timothy Ferris says he does not answer emails. Now see I cannot do that. 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Adrienne.
Sue
Donna Merrill says
Oh boy Sue!
This is just what I needed to fall into my lap right now. As David and I are working on a project, and doing so many things, we look at each other sometimes and say “we need an assistant!”
The question always arises of what we would like our assistant to do. Now, after reading this, I have a good focus of writing a list of “Things I Will Longer Not Do”
I can just imagine how long it is going to be lol!
Thank you for sharing this….I am really excited about it.
Donna
Sue Price says
Hi Donna
I am glad this post was timely for you. I am revisiting this content right now as I need to so I thought I may as well share it.
That list of things I will no longer do is so important. Otherwise we just keep adding to our “to do” list and then feel overwhelmed. We cannot keep adding without dropping some things off. The main question for you and David to ask as you do this is “what is the best use of my time?” and “can someone else do this?”
You will get clear on it.
Thanks for your comment and great to see you yesterday.
Sue
Radu says
“How are you spending your time?
There is only one way to really know how you are spending your time and that is to log it. I suggest you keep an activity log for at least two weeks and write down everything you do. At the end of each day go back and work out how much of your day was “dollar productive”. You may be surprised at the result.”
Lately, i was spending my time without earning any dime but i’m getting back.
Sue Price says
Hello Radu
Thanks for your feedback and yes logging your time is certainly the only way to know how we are spending it. It is so easy to lose half a day and not be sure what you have done especially online.
All the best with turning around the earnings 🙂
Thanks for your comment.
Sue
Property Management Minnesota says
Logging can be one of the helpful ways to monitor and be aware of what you are doing. At least you are guided with what you have written down. Of course it is necessary to make the time productive and fruitful. Great tips Sue!
Julia Spencer says
If to be honest, then I have never tried in practice all the things you wrote about, but I guess that there is a golden mean in all this. Thanks a lot for sharing this information, I’ll think about it
Julia Spencer’s recent post.. Collection of Catchy Designs to Create a Festive Mood on July 4th
Sue Price says
Hi Julia
Thanks for your comment. It depends what your goals are and what you are trying to achieve. I hope you give it a go.
Sue
web design santa barbara says
Creating a time sheet can help you dedicate your time to more productive activities and can be a great tool in ensuring that your actions are indeed aligned with your goals.
Sue Price says
A time sheet tells all that is for sure. Most people are surprised when they first use them.
Thanks for your contribution here.
Sue
Life Insurance Vancouver says
This practice is a great way to monitor your daily activities and ensure that you are actually spending most of your time productively. This also help you manage your time appropriately so you can perform your primary tasks for the day.
Sue Price says
Yes it does help you monitor your daily activities and focus on what is important.
Thanks for your input.
Sue