Are You Wasting Your Most Valuable Asset?

Your most valuable asset is probably the one you use the least effectively.

As an entrepreneur or small business owner you are undoubtedly very busy. You have so much to do every day: customers to find, employees to hire (or fire), potential partners to meet. But is all that stuff moving your business forward? As they say, activity doesn't always equal forward momentum.

As a business owner, your time is your most valuable asset. It's also the easiest asset to lose track of. If you're not careful, it can be very easy as you build your company to spend that precious asset on the wrong things.

Before you waste another minute, take some time to understand how you are spending this limited resource. Consider: What's the purpose of the networking event you are going to tomorrow night? Is it to make new connections that will move your company forward? Or is it just a comfortable group that you enjoy hanging out with?

You make choices every day, and one of the most important choices you must learn to make is the efficient trade of time for money. I always hear entrepreneurs lament that they "can't afford" to hire someone to help them with some aspect of their business--operations, accounting, marketing, whatever. If they look closer, they probably would determine they can't afford not to hire someone.

So what do you do best? Is your time better spent out selling your product or service while someone else builds or manages the day-to-day operations of your company?

Take inventory of how you are spending your day and take count of what you are doing throughout. Next to each activity, write the word "why?" Be very clear as you consider what the end goal is for that effort.

Go a step further and ask yourself is someone else could do that task better. An activity that takes you two hours to do that could be done by someone else faster or cheaper is always a good use of your money.

Always aim to concentrate your effort on the highest value tasks for you and your company. That's the best first use of your time--your most valuable asset.

ERIC V. HOLTZCLAW is a serial entrepreneur who has founded multiple startup companies, including one of the first profitable Internet enterprises. His last company appeared on the Inc. 5000 three years in a row. Holtzclaw advises clients on the whys of business--why customers buy, why teams work, and the all-important "entrepreneurial" why. He is the author of Laddering, and his weekly radio show, The "Better You" Project, shines a spotlight on entrepreneurs' individual business journeys and successes. To learn more about Holtzclaw, visit ladderingworks.com or e-maileholtzclaw@ladderingworks.com.
@eholtzclaw

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