“Time is what we want most, but use worst.” (William Penn)

“My favourite things in life don’t cost money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” (Steve Jobs)

“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” (Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield)

Anyway you look at it, any way you say it, the constant marching of time is the only thing you cannot do anything about. Time is your biggest enemy to making lots of money. After all, we could all make a lot of money if we are given 800 years to do it in!

One of the biggest problems with growing a business is finding the time in your already busy day to actually grow it but be in no doubt that unless you do find the time to focus on growing your business, you will fail. You cannot possibly grow your business if you don’t put the time and effort into growing it.

The idea is absurd, so, what’s the answer?

Find at least 90 minutes every single day or pure, uninterrupted silence to focus on growing your business. Do this from now until evermore to grow your business and the results will be quite staggering.

Get up early, go to bed later, ask your spouse to do the washing up instead of you, whatever it takes, you must find the time to change your life and your business, or nothing will change. Have a good think during today’s 90 minute “power focus time” how you can work it out so you have power focus time, every day, when you won’t be interrupted, when you will have peace and quiet.

Profit

Getting your head around what profit really is is essential to your business success. Profit is far more than the dictionary definition of “The surplus remaining after total costs are deducted from total revenue, and the basis on which tax is computed.”

Profit is more than simply … if I buy something for £1, I sell it for £2, I make £1 profit.

This is what profit really is …

• Profit ensures that you can feed your family
• Profit ensures you can go on holiday
• Profit ensures your staff can go on holiday and you can pay for them while they are not actually working
• Profit ensures you can grow your business organically
• Profit helps you go to the bank and ask for funding with confidence
• Profit provides a buffer to be able to pay expenses, even when you have got no work on at that time.
• Profits increase your employees standards of living through pay rises, performance bonuses, or a few days a year extra holiday.
• Profit will give you the life you’ve always wanted.

Yes, profit is the excess of cash left over from a transaction after sales minus cost of sales. But the above list is really what profit is all about. Getting your head around what profit really is, is one of the most valuable uses of your time … ever.

Case Study

I have a builder friend, now gone bust, who I remember speaking to just 4 days before his company was wound up and placed into insolvency. He asked me to try and help his business very late in the life of his business, and I remember asking him how many large jobs he had going at that time, and he said 9. I then asked him how many jobs he was making great money on, and he said he was making a little money on just 3 of them, and running at a loss with the other 6!

I asked him why he wasn’t making a profit on all the jobs he went for, and he said with a very glum look … “I quoted so low to ensure I got the job to keep my guys busy but that meant no profit for me.”

So, my friend worked so hard, for no money. His workers were fine and getting paid, but it was just the business owner who lost out. He was in business to satisfy his customers’ desires for cheap (but still great quality) work NOT to make tons of profit, and because of this he lost his business, and his home.

He would have been better off working at McDonalds! That’s the truth of it.

Now, my friend was an amazing builder and really nice bloke too, but he became so focused on keeping his guys employed at all costs and getting every job he went for that he lost sight of the fact that he was in business to make money. 

PROFIT IS NOT A DIRTY WORD