Today I want to talk about OPTIMIZATION in a different way. Yes, optimizing revenue and profits following the strategies I teach is important but in order to do so you must be able to effectively IMPLEMENT. I learned this during a GKIC Peak Performers-Implementation Coaching Q & A Session hosted by Lee Milteer. Perry and I were answering member questions when he shared this simple, yet powerful strategy.

One trap that so many of us fall into from time to time, or frequently for some, is poor time management.

There are 12 principles of time management that we focus on and one of these is “Delegation”. The other day, I and Perry Marshall were doing a Q&A session with a group of entrepreneurs and Perry shared a delegation principle that really hit home with me. In fact, I have applied it to many of my private clients since.

10-100-1000

Let me explain the concept as I understand it…and add a few distinctions of my own.

The concept is to put a value on every activity you do or need done.

  • $10 per hour activities – meaning a $10 an hour person can do this task
  • $100 per hour activities
  • $1000 per hour activities

The first goal is to move as many $10 per hour activities off your plate as “practical”.

I say practical because some tasks make more sense to simply do yourself because they take such little time or require too much direction for the trade off.

How much time each day do you spend doing trivial tasks? If it is an hour that equates to 6 weeks a year!!! Or said another way, your ability to take 6 weeks off with zero impact on any “productive” things you do during the year.

So this is important stuff.

ACTION: Make a list of the $10 per hour tasks you do now and determine what you can delegate to someone else, even if you are a solopreneur. There are numerous resources, such as guru.com, elance.com, odesk.com where you can find virtual help and likely stay at home mom’s, many with extensive work experience, that can help you with almost any business or personal tasks.

The second goal is to move as many $100 per hour activities off your plate as “practical”.

What can you delegate to someone else that you are not particularly good at doing or highly inefficient at doing. As an example, I often speak with business owners that do their own accounting. They often spend hours a month doing what might take a seasoned bookkeeper/accountant a few hours.

Now depending on what you earn per productive hour, where you are contributing to revenue generation, the $100 may be a different figure for you. If you earn more than $100 per hour then you want to continue moving these tasks to someone else.

ACTION: Make a list of your $100 per hour tasks and determine what can be delegated.

The third goal is to INCREASE as many $1000 per hour activities as you can.

A thousand dollars per hour… really! Yes, most of you have the ability to generate $1,000 per hour doing the IMPORTANT things that drive your business… hiring the right team member, increasing leads, optimizing sales conversion and so on. I mean, think about it. If you generate $250,000 in new business a year and have a sales close rate of 20%, increasing that rate to 25% generates a $12,500 increase ($250,000 * 5%). Spend 4-5 laser focused hours on making these improvements and you blow past the $1,000 per hour target easily, even taking into account the profitability of this increase revenue.

ACTION: Make a list of the $1000 per hour tasks you can focus on and determine ONE that you will commit to NOW!

To Your Success,

Scott Hallman

PS Perry, hope I did the concept justice.

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